Why You Should Not Teach English in Japan
First of all, teaching English is easy. It doesn’t challenge you. You were born speaking and raised in an English speaking country so why take the easy route. Sure it might give you good pay, give you more time, and let you travel around Japan more but to me it isn’t worth it. Some may say that it isn’t that easy because being a native English speaker doesn’t mean you know the mechanics of speaking in English. I do not disagree in that sense but it is a lot easier than say finding a Japanese only job in marketing etc. This requires you to master the mechanics of Japanese but you need to apply your marketing skills that you learned in English. It’s definitely harder but you may not get paid the same as someone teaching English so why do it? I used to work at JTB Hawaii and my previous boss stated that they look down in those who teach English because it shows your character and Japanese ability. Of course it is just a generalization and it is not necessarily true about everybody who teaches English. I know some people who are really good at Japanese and teach English. However they aren’t able to use it at work and can only practice it with friends which limits your exposure to business Japanese. From a company’s interviewer perspective, they would think that the chances that your Japanese is not good enough is very high.
