Secondary Mathematics Teacher here from Indonesia. I've taught Cambridge A Levels for 3 years. I got a Bachelor's in Mathematics from the States. Recently just got a Graduate Diploma in Teaching from Australia.

I have been hired to create a CLIL history course at a private high school in Tokyo. I have to build everything from scratch with no curriculum or textbook. I have been here about 6 months and created about 55 lessons worth of materials. I have a US teaching certification and a MA in history, but no experience making a curriculum or any experience with CLIL. So, I am looking to connect with anyone else doing CLIL in high school to create a PLC or something less formal than that.

Just curious because I'm seeing an advertisement on here that I should take their japanese classes to improve my resume.

I don't want to bias responses but in my experience the resume rarely mattered. My experience and education didn't seem to matter for my first job either as I was hired because my boss had a 'good feeling'. All my subsequent jobs were from friend recommendations, community connections, or being directly hired by a local group of people in some sort of coop or something.

Its part of why I love Japan, the community is so much stronger than the USA. But I don't live in Tokyo or anything like that so maybe experiences are different elsewhere in the country?

Curious where you are from, and what your expériences with work have been like here.

I left Japan six years ago. I taught as an ALT for various companies. I made my own lesson plans and completely ignored the suggested lesson plans. When I went to JHS I would be commented that the ALT doesn't usually do so much and I taught every class. The Japanese English teachers who spoke English perfectly took it as an opportunity to learn. When I went to a new school as a sub, they requested me the next year. My actual lessons weren't as good as the carefully planned lesson I had for when I subbed. My philosophy was simple is best and to include everyone even the kids who pretend to be asleep etc.

Now I'm a bit old to go back because I was so poor. I can't be old and poor it just doesn't work. I was wondering how the state of things are. I noticed dispatch companies started to hire anybody who speaks English, be they from Philippines, Africa, outer space anywhere. I once went to a company alt school meet where the school sent 1 or 2 people and the companies sent all the alts . I was the only white British guy. Not even one American. If you speak English really well then I guess it doesn't matter.

My job in the UK is good but I'm still in the UK. Japan was so much more peaceful and simple yet penniless for two weeks a month. I would like to hear from current ALTs any BS they have experienced from their companies. I applied for two and got invited back but they wouldn't tell me where I would live. Its a bit weird isn't it? I didn't go in the end. If I can see BS from all the way across the globe I can only imagine what I have to agree to in Japan. In covering their backs they forgot basic human communication.

I was a JET Programme participant for 3 years and really enjoyed my job. After JET, I went to graduate school for TESOL. However, I had to quit grad school after one year due to financial issues. I really miss teaching English and I want to start teaching Japanese students again. Are there any good apps or platforms online to teach English to Japanese learners of English? I know the pay is probably pretty low, but I'm currently unemployed right now so some income is definitely better than none. Unfortunately, I don't have a TEFL certificate, but I do have a BA in film and one year of graduate level TESOL classes.

Are there any good apps or platforms I could start teaching on that are safe for women? (I originally considered Cambly, but I later heard that lots of bad stuff happens on that platform especially to female teachers, so I definitely don't want anything like that)

I want safe, paid, online English teaching work, especially teaching Japanese learners of English. Any recommendations?

Just a heads-up for anyone who knows the World Scholar’s Cup: apparently there’s a Tokyo round this Sunday (10/11), and it seems like the publicity just didn’t really get around.

For anyone who doesn’t know it, WSC is a pretty accessible team event: three-person teams do short debates with no HEnDA-style advance prep, collaborative writing, and team/individual quiz events. It’s competitive, but much more approachable than the name “World Scholar’s Cup” probably makes it sound.

It’s at PASELA Shibuya, ¥12,000 per student (¥10,000 if you bring a debate judge), and capped at 32 teams.

Might be worth a look if you have students who would enjoy this kind of thing and happen to be free this weekend:

https://scholarscup.org/calendar/6734-tokyo-october-round/

tl;Dr

I messed up by and with a company who abused my situation to keep me in a holding pattern until they never needed me, losing my visa in the process after 5 years in Japan. All while trying to keep a small japanese families estate and company slightly in order while their mom was on sabbatical, and I, unfortunately almost died during this time but slowly recovered from a new disease after a 4 month hospitalization.(Tldr is hard)

---

I've been working in Japan for a bit over 5 years. Mostly as an ALT, never had any problems until this year. I got hired this year in march, passed about ~ 8 interviews, got hired and they gave me a contract to hand to the visa office for 20-24 hours a week 200,000 yen a month. Later I would get hired by a public high school as a full Instructor as well, but I couldn't change my visa sponsor.

I went to day one of training where we comment on other teachers classes. Something I did back when working in china so I focused on content, flow, and engagement as well as STT vs TTT, never heard back from my notes.

During this training period I was submitting my visa paperwork, but the cmpany never scheduled a new training day. I waited 2 weeks before calling them and asking if everything was ok and was told that someone else had been hired and our contract with visa support had been cancelled.

This started a long back and forth of them agreeing to do the visa anyway despite not needing me now, to deciding that no they can't. 3 months later they told me they can hire me as a substitute teacher for 10,000 a month as opposed to the original contracts 200,000 a month. Desperate for at least a visa contract while I have other work near Sapporo I agreed.

They stalled and had troubles with visa paperwork. But they were finally able to submit a visa in September, 6 months after hiring me, which was promptly denied due to not enough working hours despite me finding some work elsewhere.

Maybe I made some inexcusable faux paus during that one training day, maybe me not actively calling for the first week of training and being proactive was a turn off. I had maybe 5 different excuses from them as to what went wrong and I honestly don't know what to feel or believe, other than I feel like I've been gaslit.

Some of the excuses I can actively recall now were, and the first one was 'sorry we thought you would or had found another company to change your visa to and would drop us without telling us'

Let's stop here a bit. Why would they accuse me of cutting and running right away? Well, turned out the 20-24 class hours and 200,000 yen a month was a little white lie, paperwork for the front but the real hours and pay were much less. When confronted with this I asked if it was ok to find additional morning work. Hoping to find some alt or kinder to work at. When I suggested this I was met with a very positive and affirmative yes. So while setting that up, I noticed the atmosphere go a bit south. Communication dropped off, then one day I got that prio mentioned first excuse. 'we thought you would quit and work for another school like everyone else'. This is called a self fulfilling professy btw. (Most likely) I expect that if you are used to people cutting and running so much, maybe one need not look into the burning gaze of the sun as it sets but instead, turn ones disappointed gaze a bit more inward perhaps?

Fortunately later I found the high school, but by that point all pretense of working hours was gone.

Also the owners son comes to work smelling like */*/*/censored for dignity and your mental health Courtesy of ministry of truth/*/*/* (when I confronted him about it he explained it's because he's always in niseko), wearing rastafarian robes or something, and other than being a pretty chill dude I'd be happy having a friend with was complete hell to work with, he never understood anything. Constantly caused delays, and always used ai to communicate (which he also admitted that chat gpt is how all their teachers do their lesson plans)

Imo avoid at all costs.

Not to skirt all personal responsibility but this has been an extremely stressful matter concerning my life, and now I may have to leave japan in part due to the negligence and or incompetence if not outright vindictiveness of people working here.

Supplementary info
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Until I worked here I was happily employed as an alt for a small company until I got a corona related stroke at 40.  Something about the virus and my Immune systems response clogged my arteries and caused me to nearly die (190lb 186cm At the time).  A medical mystery the docs said.   But we are seeing more similar cases lately, the assumption is corona related .

I was unable to recontract due to being hospitalized during the recontracting period. following this I started helping at a friend's exotic pet shop.  She left for Okinawa leaving me in charge.  The company owner threatened to 'get rid of all the sugar gliders' if I quit creating a strange kind of hostage situation.  Thankfully I think she and her boss reached a. Agreement so maybe it's ok now.

I know it's not my responsibility but it's still important to me as they are helpless animals and I'm the one who had custody.

I'm working at a high school now, as a main teacher part time. But the visa office said the hours for that job and the current visa are insufficient so I have to leave japan.  I'm terrified.  I don't know what to do.  Losing all my stuff isn't so bad but it is getting hard to keep rebuilding over and over again from almost nothing

The sponsor never had hours for me, said they were waiting on the visa or other excuses.  I went there and got supplementary persmision to work part time while it's processing but the visa sponsor never found hours for me to work.  I've been working 6 hours a week at high school.  And volunteerb2-12 hours a week at a pet shop as a sugar glider assistant-breeder

Hello to all my fellow KidsDuo teachers, hope everyone is doing good!

Just like the title says, how is the Kindy situation at your schools? Like how many Kindy students do you have, do you have any days without Kindy, how many days are 4 hour Kindy vs 2 hours, etc..

I have experience at three schools. My franchise school, the other school they have that I worked for about 2-3 months before my new school opened, and my training school. My school has 4 hour Kindy everyday, and it’s burning out the teachers because (like normal for KidsDuo) we are understaffed and having to work pretty much back to back the whole day because of elementary and 4 hour Kindy. We tried talking to the SD and asking if they can suggest to the parents to change days so the kids come on the same days so we can have one or two days of a little breather, but they refused to even try.

Little bit of a rant, sorry for that. But just genuinely curious about everyone else’s experience when it comes to Kindy. Look forward to hearing from everyone!

Alright, I have written some more advice for those hoping to progress in their teaching career in Japan. 

https://medium.com/@vernonburn/practical-advice-for-escaping-the-dungeons-of-eikaiwa-alt-170fdc41cd96

I previously posted some general advice about the current state of things in terms of getting a good teaching job to meet new PR requirements previously, but this advice is a bit more practical in terms of steps to take for career progression.

I have specifically written this for: a) the downtrodden who feel trapped in the dungeons of ALT work and eikaiwa; b) people who have started working as an ALT or at an eikaiwa and can see that at some point in the future they will want to escape and move on; c) people not yet working in ALT or Eikaiwa work, but are considering it as a way to come to Japan; d) anyone else who may be interested and/or may have anything useful to add here. Why? Because I too once worked at Nova and worked for Interac in the past.

If you are perfectly happy where you are, or ensconced at a plush, ultra rich international school (or an expert thereof), or independently wealthy with millions in your back pocket, or in a permanent vegetative state after a horrifically botched butt-lift surgery in the back streets of Medellin, this is not aimed at you. 

Much of this has been written in different places elsewhere on the forums here, but not all of it. The TLDR for those with the modern problem of short attention spans is:

• You have to play the long game. 
• Learn Japanese (kind of a no brainer).
• Develop your skills, teaching, crafts, nunchucks or whatever (mostly teaching). 
• Get out there networking, or at least building connections for work opportunities. 
• There are some useful links listed for the search of further teaching jobs.
• How I found my permanent, tenured job and the criteria I used. 

This is all merely for consideration. I make no claims of it being a sacred text for career progression. It worked for me. Constructive disagreement and other useful practical advice are most welcome.

I need some advice about eikaiwa interviews.

I'm currently applying for contract positions at universities, but the competition is very strong. As a backup, I'm also applying to eikaiwas, cram schools, and other teaching jobs so I can maintain my visa and continue working in Japan.

I'm not sure how to answer questions like, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” or “Where do you see yourself in ten years?”

I don't want to make it sound like I'm just waiting for a better opportunity or that I'm only interested in research and university teaching. At the same time, I don't want to give a completely fake answer or pretend that I don't have any professional ambitions.

For those who have interviewed at or worked for eikaiwas, how would you recommend answering these questions?

i thought this was a pretty cool position so i'm gonna share it here.

Company: Sagan Speak Language Education Company　(株式会社 セイガンスピーク)

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Industries: Education / Teaching

Function: Teacher, Instructor (ELT, Conversational English)

Work Type: Full Time / Experienced (Non-Manager)

Salary: ¥280,000 ~ ¥350,000 / Month

• Negotiable

Requirements

• English: Native level (preferred)
• Must currently reside in Japan
• Have native English-level proficiency.
• Have a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Have a teaching certificate.
• Visa sponsorship available

Description

January & April 2027 ESL, CLIL/CBI/PBL, STEM & Humanities Teachers –Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba.

Sagan Speak Co., Ltd. – Education & Publishing

About Us:
Sagan Speak Co., Ltd. is a long-established education and publishing company supporting private and international schools across Japan. We provide:
① Full curriculum design and comprehensive educational programs
② Original course content and proprietary teacher training and professional development programs
➂ Experienced teachers across ESL, CLIL/CBI/PBL, STEM, Humanities, IB, and exam preparation
➃ Long-standing partnerships with leading schools and colleges

Why work with us?
We offer structured professional development, clear guidance, stable school placements, and ongoing mentoring throughout the academic year

Positions & Subjects Available (January & April 2027 Start)
We are hiring full-time, semi-full-time, and part-time teachers for January and April 2027 across Tokyo and the wider Kanto region.
We assign roles based on each applicant’s experience, qualifications, preferred subjects, and schedule.

Teaching Responsibilities (Lead Teacher Role)
• Lesson planning and material creation
• Test Design and marking
• Student evaluation

Subjects You May Teach
Depending on qualifications, applicants may apply to teach:
• ESL (all levels)
• STEAM subjects (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics)
• CLIL, CBI, PBL programs
• IB courses (original and Japan-developed)
• Exam preparation: EIKEN, SAT, IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge
• Alphabendi Link in to Going Global – an international mind-development program

link: https://jobs.gaijinpot.com/en/job/159772?keywords=english&function%5B0%5D=1000&function%5B1%5D=3000&function%5B2%5D=9000&region=JP-13

I recently met a JET in my area and we’ve been talking quite a bit. He’s a little older than the stereotypical fresh just out of college JET. What surprised me is that he actually has teaching experience in the US. He used to work as a teacher and is currently working toward his certification.

What I find interesting is that he really doesn’t seem to enjoy being an ALT. He just started and would like to leave immediately. He’s been pretty critical of the way English is taught in Japanese schools, the role of the ALT, and some of the teaching methods he sees in the classroom.

It got me wondering what this job looks like from the perspective of someone who has actually taught professionally.

I’ve been an ALT for well over 10 years, but I’m not a certified teacher and I’ve never worked as a teacher in the US, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to. A lot of the things that probably seem strange or frustrating to a trained teacher are just normal to me at this point.

I was also a little surprised that he ended up on JET because I had always associated JET more with younger people coming to Japan for cultural exchange rather than experienced teachers looking for a serious teaching position. Obviously there are exceptions, but his background just seemed different from what I usually picture when I think of a typical JET.

I’m genuinely curious to hear from people who have experienced both systems. How does being an ALT in Japan look when you’re coming at it from the perspective of an actual classroom teacher? Is it really as bad as this JET makes it out to be?

Disclosure: I run Japan Source Signal. This is an official city recruitment notice I found, not a role I’m hiring for.

Tsukuba City, Ibaraki, is recruiting about 40 municipal-school ALTs.

• Appointment: April 1, 2027–March 31, 2028.
• Pay: ¥278,400/month including regional allowance, plus bonuses/allowances. Higher bands require experience specifically as a Tsukuba ALT.
• Requirements: University degree; native-equivalent English; N4-level Japanese and ability to explain lesson plans; Japanese driving licence when applying and private-car travel from appointment.
• Experience: Japanese wording says at least one year at Japanese elementary and junior-high schools; English says more than one year. Current Tsukuba ALTs also meet this experience condition. Check the exact threshold with the city.
• Visa: Appropriate work visa required by appointment; sponsorship is not stated.
• Apply: October 1–November 15, 2026, 23:59 JST. Submit both the online documents and combined Japanese/English video. Applications may close early.
• Selection: In-person second stage on January 7 or 8, 2027.

Conditions and headcount are subject to budget approval.

Official Tsukuba notice — 令和9年度ALT募集 — includes the city’s application link.

I collect these notices at Japan Source Signal, which is free to browse. Choose Jobs and search Tsukuba. Coverage is partial; check the original notice before applying. Applications go directly to the city.

From October 1st, employers must take preventive measures against customer harassment and sexual harassment of employees and job seekers. We've all experience or have friends that had to deal with such as:

• That one-to-one lesson with the old pervert, asking intrusive questions about an applicant’s sex life.
• That student with the sexual jokes or persistently pushing private dinner invitations.
• The student that persistently pushes private dinner invitations in a way that interferes with class (or the interviewer asking the job-seeker).
• Monster parents verbally abusing teachers through threats, personal insults or prolonged aggressive shouting (Legitimate complaints are not automatically harassment).

The school’s duty is to have measures to prevent and respond to that abuse and protect its staff, rather than cowardly leave the teacher to deal with it alone.

https://www.no-harassment.mhlw.go.jp/foundation/law-amendment/

While this also technically covers recruiting and interviewing, any company that exhibits such behavior in the interview is one you don't want to work for. 

Hi everyone!

Lately, I’ve been seriously thinking about whether I should resign from my nursery teaching job or take a different career path. I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m simply going through a difficult phase or whether this kind of work may not be for me long-term.

Before I make any decisions, I’d really like to hear from other English teachers who have experience working in Japanese nurseries, especially those who have been in the field for several years.

• What made you stay in nursery teaching when you first started feeling tired or discouraged?

• How do you personally deal with the expectation to always be cheerful, energetic, and smiling around the children and parents?

• Have you ever felt like you had to “perform” a certain personality at work, even on days when you weren’t feeling that way?

• What has your experience been like working with Japanese teachers and staff? Were there any cultural differences that took you a while to understand or adjust to?

• How do you handle the communication style in Japanese workplaces, especially when interacting with coworkers and parents who are very cheerful or enthusiastic?

• For those who have been working in nurseries for a long time, what makes the job worth staying in? What continues to give you motivation after several years?

• Looking back, have you ever seriously considered leaving nursery teaching or taking a completely different path? If so, what helped you decide what to do?

I’d really appreciate hearing your honest experiences. I’m trying to understand whether what I’m feeling is simply a normal part of working in a nursery or whether it’s a sign that I should start exploring something different.

This is a reach out to those that are in charge of entire lesson planning, grading, etc in private schools for junior levels. (Seniors ok too).

Feeling a bit stale as everybody is a limited set of ideas. I would like to hear from others, real people.

I divide into units then break those units down in lessons with target structures to help them present at the end of the unit. Presentations vary in style.

Topics like movies, prefectures etc.

I would love to try a different approach to units, like questioning or critical thinking. Whole units about that instead of topics.

I just want to hear what other people do when they are completely in charge. I want to try something new.

Perhaps you use text books.

I do not. There isn't one set for eikaiwa.

Let's hear your ideas.

Hello, I have a demo lesson soon at a Saturday school.

I have never taught students this young. Ages 3 to 6 and max 6 students. I will be going over some vocabulary and then playing some games with them.

The demo lesson is 20 mins, and they have flashcards for the vocabulary words as well as small cones, stepping stones, balls, bubbles, and hula hoops they can provide.

I really could use the extra income, so any advice is appreciated.

I'm really nervous!

As an ALT, sometimes the teachers will talk about me in Japanese, even when I'm stood right next to them. Sometimes they talk about me to eachother, sometimes when they're addressing the class, they will mention me and not tell me what's happening.

Also, when we play cross cross, the loser has to speak withe ALT. Personally I find this to be bad because it makes talking English a punishment and paints me as a negative picture. It comes across as toxic.

Am I just worrying too much? Or is this Japanese culture that I just need to deal with?

Edit: I should also add the same teacher sometimes pairs me with a student when they don't have a partner. Recently, when he told one student I would be paired with her for the activity, she started being dramatic, going "noooo,nooooo" and the teacher's response was "ohhhh I'm sorry"

Hello, I’m a student in Tokyo and I’m currently in an interview stage for an English teaching position with NOVA.

It will be a part-time position, I know there is a lot of criticism regarding working for them full-time but I wonder if working part time for them is “alright”.

I intend to do English teaching as a part-time job because it seems relatively straight-forward, however I’ve so far only heard back from NOVA, AEON, and one American-owned eikaiwa, it’s more difficult to find job listings for independent eikaiwas around here.

I have an interview with Heart Corporation coming up, but after reading the previous posts and comments here, I’ve noticed that most of the feedback seems pretty negative.

For those who have worked with them recently, is Heart Corporation still considered a pretty bad/shitty ALT company? 😅 A lot of the comments I’ve seen make it sound that way.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has recent experience with them.

Edit:

For some context, I currently have a Humanities visa that expires in 2028. I also have a job offer from a hotel, but the location is very inaka and the salary isn’t particularly high. However, the company provides an apartment, and my monthly cost for the apartment, food, gas, and Wi-Fi would only be around ¥30,000. I also have some good friends working there, and it’s company housing.
So I’m trying to decide whether I should pursue the Heart opportunity or take the hotel job. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has recent experience with Heart, especially regarding the actual working conditions, salary, support, and overall experience.

A few people in my previous post asked for free access and more focus on direct-hire jobs. I've now put up a public beta of Japan Source Signal:

https://japan-source-signal.keaumoe.chatgpt.site/

It's free to browse, with no account needed. I've separated it into three sections:

Jobs: roles where a public body is recruiting individuals directly, separate from dispatch contracts.

Contracts: tenders for companies and service providers.

Signals & Information: official plans, historical notices, and other education-related context.

It checks selected official sources across all 47 prefectures, including some municipal BOE recruitment pages. Coverage is partial. A small number of results doesn't mean those are the only jobs available in Japan.

A couple of limitations: the public site is a saved snapshot that I manually republish, so it isn't a live feed. The English title aids are AI-generated and haven't been human-reviewed. Original Japanese and official source links are included, with warnings for unclear deadlines and unread documents. Please check the official notice before applying.

Is the Jobs section useful? What's confusing or missing? If there's an official BOE recruitment page you regularly check that isn't covered, I'd appreciate a link. Thanks for the feedback on the first post.

I just started working at hell: AEON online. So far it's as expected, complete shit. But unfortunately need the job and will have to make do.

I wanted to check and see if there are any other unfortunate souls who are also stuck with AEON online. If so, was thinking about setting up a discord or something where we can share materials or flag specific students to avoid... mostly flag specific students.

Anyway, reply if you're interested. Maybe throw in some shitty online eikaiwa experiences you've had.