Civil Engineer with MS work in Japan

[alphanumeric]

5 years after a 1 year tour in Japan, my Japanese has gone to complete shit. The interest in the place languished, but somehow I still ended up a Japanese wife back in the states.

Now the wife wants to go back to Japan and set up her dental clinic in tokyo. that's great for her. it's not great for my career. i have 2 options:

1. work in shanghai on and do design and construction inspection work on the subway extensions and fly back to tokyo every other week

2. teach at one of these international schools, like Canada School in shinogawa and get free tuition for my kids.

i am not overly worried about getting a job as a senior physics teacher at one of these places, but i am a bit concerned about what they pay. teaching wouldn't make my mortgage payments here in new york. anyone have any idea?

[GomiGirl]

International schools pay well. If you get hired as an expat they should even cover your removal fees, apartment etc.

Or you can get hired locally and the pay is still great but no accomodation or relocation benefits. Think anywhere between 400K - 600K JPY a month. It really depends on your experience etc. Expats are on higher salary.

My mother has worked at a few different international schools as a local hire and the conditions were fantastic. As long as you a qualified and experienced teacher you will have no problems. If you like, PM me and I can give you some agencies that hire for international schools. But they often hire from large job fairs that happen every few months in large cities like London, New York etc. Ask around for these.

Please note that this is not teaching english in a Nova style Eikawa. You will need to be a qualified teacher as these are private schools with high acedemic standards.

[DrP]

I'd vote for Shanghai.
1) Your wife will be spending all her time at her office.
2) Tokyo is draconian compared to Shanghai in every way.
3) For the price of a 1 room squatter in Tokyo you can get a 3bdrm with maid in Shanghai. You live there and let your wife live here.
4) Your wife will enjoy weekends in Shanghai alot more than Tokyo (Shopping, restaraunts, etc)

In fact - I couldn't think of a better arrangement. You live in Shanghai and let your wife come to visit on the weekends. The commuting price is pretty low - less than 40,000 generally, and with build up of miles, even lower.

Compared to teaching in an Eikaiwa??? Come on! Don't even consider that ball breaker.

Oh, and your kids will likely prefer Shanghai to Tokyo. Much more cosmopolitan, varied and alot cheaper to buy clothes and fun things. And there are great International Schools there from many countries.

[alphanumeric]

hm.. about $50k per year? a bit of a hit compared to now, but enough especially i suppose considering the kids should get free tuition.

i'd assume too that physics/chemistry teachers should earn towards the higher end of the scale...

this really does seem like something i might be interested in pursuing... i just got a reply though from Canadian International in Shinogawa, and they sounded ready to take me over asap for a senior chem position, but mentioned i'd need a BEd first. which is kind of surprising, because in the states if you have a masters in civil, you can teach chem and physics.

where do i go about finding these semi annual fairs?

International schools pay well. If you get hired as an expat they should even cover your removal fees, apartment etc.

Or you can get hired locally and the pay is still great but no accomodation or relocation benefits. Think anywhere between 400K - 600K JPY a month. It really depends on your experience etc. Expats are on higher salary.

My mother has worked at a few different international schools as a local hire and the conditions were fantastic. As long as you a qualified and experienced teacher you will have no problems. If you like, PM me and I can give you some agencies that hire for international schools. But they often hire from large job fairs that happen every few months in large cities like London, New York etc. Ask around for these.

Please note that this is not teaching english in a Nova style Eikawa. You will need to be a qualified teacher as these are private schools with high acedemic standards.

[alphanumeric]

the wife hates china. seriously. i suggested the shanghai idea and she said "You want our kids to grow up learning to spit on the street?!"

yeah.... not going there with her again...

[DrP]

Haha! And other nasty things like talk and smile in the elevator! I'll take the street spitting over the oyaji train puking and corner pissing any day of the week, though.