Japan is fast becoming a good place NOT to be

[pragmatic]

Japan`s economy continues to sink as the national deficit pushes 250% of GDP. This not only devlaues the yen, but also increases everyone`s taxes. Japan is boasting that the decreasing value of the yen will make exports cheaper, which is true. However, the part they don`t tell you is that it makes imports more expensive, so expect to pay more for your gas, gasoline, groceries and your other favorite products. Gasonline is up 20% + since last year alone as the sinking yen continues to make domestic cost of living more expensive. My gas bill has jumped similiarly despite my efforts to be economical.

People are coming over here and looking for jobs. However, with the growing number of foreigners living in Japan, it puts A LOT OF DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON SALARIES since the growing number of foreigners gives companies NO INCENTIVE to raise salaries.

If you look at you leading Eikaiwa companies, salaries have not gone up since some of them have been open. After all, why should they? Young and dumb 20 somethings continue to chase after these jobs that have SALARIES YOU CAN BARELY SURVIVE ON. Falling salaries and rising living costs means the longer you live here the less money you are able save or make. I take that back. Forget about saving money, be thankful you can survive.

Let`s look at one example (this is from an acquaintance):

After tax salary 170000 yen
Rent: 60000 Yen
utilities 15000 Yen
Food 40000 Yen (unless you play on surviving on cup ramen noodles only)
NHI: 30000 Yen
Misc 20000 Yen

Not much left right?

Those people who are considering coming here to teach English, I seriously reccommend to reconsider. However, the choice is yours.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Tremendous post!

[wangta]

Japan`s economy continues to sink as the national deficit pushes 250% of GDP. This not only devlaues the yen, but also increases everyone`s taxes. Japan is boasting that the decreasing value of the yen will make exports cheaper, which is true. However, the part they don`t tell you is that it makes imports more expensive, so expect to pay more for your gas, gasoline, groceries and your other favorite products. Gasonline is up 20% + since last year alone as the sinking yen continues to make domestic cost of living more expensive. My gas bill has jumped similiarly despite my efforts to be economical.

People are coming over here and looking for jobs. However, with the growing number of foreigners living in Japan, it puts A LOT OF DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON SALARIES since the growing number of foreigners gives companies NO INCENTIVE to raise salaries.

If you look at you leading Eikaiwa companies, salaries have not gone up since some of them have been open. After all, why should they? Young and dumb 20 somethings continue to chase after these jobs that have SALARIES YOU CAN BARELY SURVIVE ON. Falling salaries and rising living costs means the longer you live here the less money you are able save or make. I take that back. Forget about saving money, be thankful you can survive.

Let`s look at one example (this is from an acquaintance):

After tax salary 170000 yen
Rent: 60000 Yen
utilities 15000 Yen
Food 40000 Yen (unless you play on surviving on cup ramen noodles only)
NHI: 30000 Yen
Misc 20000 Yen

Not much left right?

Those people who are considering coming here to teach English, I seriously reccommend to reconsider. However, the choice is yours.

This is old news. When I lived in Japan and it WASN'T the pricey Bubble era, it was the 21st century, it was hugely expensive compared to my own country. International phone calls for example were about quadruple what they cost back home. You had to 'buy' a fixed landline - the going price was from around 1,000 bucks to around 700 bucks Aus - and the cheaper price was considered a 'discount'. Mobile phones had basic phone plans at around 4,500 won per month before the extras. When I left Japan I couldn't sell my phoneline because mobile phones had rendered them redundant for many householders.

My utilities bills still started at a base fee of around 2,500 - 3,000 yen each before switching on a light or tap. In Aus you don't pay for the govt tv station in an individual fee - it's taken out of tax revenues, in Japan the shitty NHK fee has been around for a long time.

I had to pay neighbourhood fees, had to join the group on my block, no choice over that. Food has actually gone down in price generally since I was living and working in Japan. Some accommodation has scrapped some of the ridiculous 'monies' that were compulsory when I was around - I paid over 10,000 bucks in Aus dollars to move house 3 times BEFORE any rent at those places was paid.

National Health Insurance was proportionately just as expensive back then for the single person on an eikaiwa salary. The big difference now seems to be the city tax but I can't work out if it's as bad now as I hear. I hear you have to pay a much bigger lump sum all at once which would make things difficult.

Regarding all the gaijin coming to Japan now and for at least 6 yrs flooding the eikaiwa market, the problem is they don't have any real skills in their background in their home country. Many are like those who flock to Korea - graduates with no real employment history.

Skills can mean working at a job that requires English abilities you need to be a genuinely successful English teacher. It can also mean that you have experience of the demands of working full time, having a background in something other than part time jobs making coffee. No wonder eikaiwa owners are pushing the wages down more and more.

[wangta]

Does anybody else think that in terms of accommodation fees (key money, 'gift' money etc), food, phones and internet Japan has actually got cheaper than was the case from the 1990s thru to around 2007 or so? I haven't worked in Japan for a while but this idea that your salary goes less far seems misguided judging from how bloody expensive essentials were back when I was there.

I'm interested in hearing about how the income tax-city tax changes walloped people's disposable income. I hear that taxes are far more expensive, others say they're paying about the same or more but not too much - it's just that the collection methods have changed. What about it? Pragmatic? Others?

[yanpa]

Does anybody else think that in terms of accommodation fees (key money, 'gift' money etc), food, phones and internet Japan has actually got cheaper than was the case from the 1990s thru to around 2007 or so? I haven't worked in Japan for a while but this idea that your salary goes less far seems misguided judging from how bloody expensive essentials were back when I was there.

Prices in general certainly don't seem to have gone up noticeably since I was first here in the mid 90's, for small items many prices are identical. There was a brief burst of price inflation in 2008 during the oil price shock, but I think that was pretty much stopped by the sudden rise of the yen, on the whole prices are stable. There may have been some hidden inflation in the form of packaging getting smaller, e.g. the 1 litre tetrapacks of juice in the 100yen Lawson store shrank to 900ml at some point. The main change has been a wave of "cheap" goods and services, far more than there were in the 90's, and putting emphasis on low price seems much more widespread in marketing than it was. Housing /rental costs have declined gently, for rentals in Tokyo 1/1 is the new 2/2. (This is all my subjective gut feeling, not backed by any actual sources or whatever).

The preceding does not apply to energy-related costs, which have gone way up.

So I'd say in general, a 1990s salary would probably go a bit further today. *HOWEVER* average salaries / household incomes are also in decline, and there is a huge underclass of freeters etc. which didn't exist 15 years ago. Which means the population in general is probably less well off, and the myth of Japan as a middle-class nation has pretty much dissolved.

The population is also gearing up to be fucked over by the consumption tax rise from 2014.

I'm interested in hearing about how the income tax-city tax changes walloped people's disposable income. I hear that taxes are far more expensive, others say they're paying about the same or more but not too much - it's just that the collection methods have changed. What about it? Pragmatic? Others?

Dunno about that, I guess it kicked in before I started working here. On the whole I get to keep way more of my gross salary than I did in Europe.

[Coligny]

Prices in general certainly don't seem to have gone up noticeably since I was first here in the mid 90's, for small items many prices are identical. There was a brief burst of price inflation in 2008 during the oil price shock, but I think that was pretty much stopped by the sudden rise of the yen, on the whole prices are stable. There may have been some hidden inflation in the form of packaging getting smaller, e.g. the 1 litre tetrapacks of juice in the 100yen Lawson store shrank to 900ml at some point.

The 10l bag of kitty litter that switched to 8l for the same price stayed that way ever since...

i might switch to compressed paper one... tired of breaking my back because of cat shitter supplies...

[DudeAbides]

Japan`s economy continues to sink as the national deficit pushes 250% of GDP. This not only devlaues the yen, but also increases everyone`s taxes. Japan is boasting that the decreasing value of the yen will make exports cheaper, which is true. However, the part they don`t tell you is that it makes imports more expensive, so expect to pay more for your gas, gasoline, groceries and your other favorite products. Gasonline is up 20% + since last year alone as the sinking yen continues to make domestic cost of living more expensive. My gas bill has jumped similiarly despite my efforts to be economical.

People are coming over here and looking for jobs. However, with the growing number of foreigners living in Japan, it puts A LOT OF DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON SALARIES since the growing number of foreigners gives companies NO INCENTIVE to raise salaries.

If you look at you leading Eikaiwa companies, salaries have not gone up since some of them have been open. After all, why should they? Young and dumb 20 somethings continue to chase after these jobs that have SALARIES YOU CAN BARELY SURVIVE ON. Falling salaries and rising living costs means the longer you live here the less money you are able save or make. I take that back. Forget about saving money, be thankful you can survive.

Let`s look at one example (this is from an acquaintance):

After tax salary 170000 yen
Rent: 60000 Yen
utilities 15000 Yen
Food 40000 Yen (unless you play on surviving on cup ramen noodles only)
NHI: 30000 Yen
Misc 20000 Yen

Not much left right?

Those people who are considering coming here to teach English, I seriously reccommend to reconsider. However, the choice is yours.

Eikaiwa has been bad for years, if not a decade, hasn't it? There are a couple of honest gaijins who tell it how it is (like the Vlogger Tokyo Joe Schmoe etc) and then there are practically all of others (Kevin, Victor, Hikosimon, Canadajin etc) who keep telling the world that it's all dandy. I kind of agree with Schmoe even if he is a crusty old rake.

I think Abe is actually doing something good with his policies. But if you are coming to Japan to teach English, I think you are going to be disappointed.

[FG Lurker]

Tremendous post!

[wangta]

I think Japan is a bad place for the kind of young would-be English teacher now who hasn't worked much if at all and isn't long out of their university. It's still manageable for those who have put in the time working in Asia and have developed their teaching skills and have savings.

I think the young teachers should go to Korea because the set-up costs are far less there although Koreans are becoming so arrogant due to the floods of desperate young North Americans (no offence intended to Canadians and Americans on here) who will put up with being fucked around by recruiters and employers as well as authorities.

Expensive document verification required before even the sniff of a job,recruiter fuckery, 6 months life on those docs until you have to get another one, compulsory medical before you're 3 months in the country, you pay for it, your employer wants to keep the test instead of letting you submit it to Immigration, and you get kicked out of the country if you don't pass it or have HIV, and cheeky employer demands that go well beyond what they should be asking for.

Speaking about employers - do the people here agree with me about how to handle Japanese employers? I've had a lot of experience dealing with difficult and plain arsehole employers in Korea, before that I mostly experienced a bit of slyness from J employers. My take on Japanese employers is the same as Korean employers - be reasonable but make sure you politely establish boundaries before they become issues.

Gaijin being employed as English teachers should not be ready to do free work before their contract starts and if they do the right thing and arrive with a couple of days to become familiar with their new workplace, then their J employer shouldn't be trying to run their life as if they've already started and are being paid. Especially when eikaiwa employers pay zilch of your costs.

[nikoneko]

WTF at ¥40000 for food for a single person? I can easily feed my family of 3 well and healthily for less than that. Maybe learn to cook? Anyway that is all I really took from this thread other than that yes.. tremendous post!

[legion]

I'm interested in hearing about how the income tax-city tax changes walloped people's disposable income. I hear that taxes are far more expensive, others say they're paying about the same or more but not too much - it's just that the collection methods have changed. What about it? Pragmatic? Others?

by walloped maybe you mean it got harder to dodge paying city tax

[Coligny]

WTF at ¥40000 for food for a single person? I can easily feed my family of 3 well and healthily for less than that. Maybe learn to cook? Anyway that is all I really took from this thread other than that yes.. tremendous post!

Yeah... you really have to push hard to reach these numbers... Maybe home delivery pizzaz everyday...

But i'f you are single, famiresu lunch menu are hard to bite for the price... it's only when you are 2 or 3 that cooking home make more sense...
Past the 'babyformula' stage, toddlers are cheaper to feed than cats...

[matsuki]

40,000 a month for food high? I can spend that in a week...if I eat out. I'm still not content with my freezer though, WTF is up with the size of Japanese freezers??

...making more COSTCO trips because of it!

[Yokohammer]

Are people reading that as 400,000 or something?
It's 40,000, right? That's not even 450 yen per meal for a month:

450 yen x 3 = 1,350 per day.
1,350 per day x 30 days = 40,500.

Good luck with that.

[GomiGirl]

40,000 a month for food high? I can spend that in a week...if I eat out. I'm still not content with my freezer though, WTF is up with the size of Japanese freezers??

...making more COSTCO trips because of it!

Buy yourself a freezer from Costco - they have some neat little upright ones that could store half a cow in them if you so desired. Pretty cheap if I recall.

What is a single guy like you buying up big from Costco anyway? Feeding your hockey team?

Next time you go, invite me to tag along.

[yanpa]

40,000 a month for food high? I can spend that in a week...if I eat out. I'm still not content with my freezer though, WTF is up with the size of Japanese freezers??

...making more COSTCO trips because of it!

Buy yourself a freezer from Costco - they have some neat little upright ones that could store half a cow in them if you so desired. Pretty cheap if I recall.

What is a single guy like you buying up big from Costco anyway? Feeding your hockey team?

I guess it's for the bulk packages of condiments

[Coligny]

So much get spilled on the floor... that he must buy bulk... (we're a bit assholish no ?)

[nikoneko]

Are people reading that as 400,000 or something?
It's 40,000, right? That's not even 450 yen per meal for a month:

450 yen x 3 = 1,350 per day.
1,350 per day x 30 days = 40,500.

Good luck with that.

I asked my wife if I was crazy for saying that food cost was high and she nearly flipped out in that Japanese frugal wife kind of way and started to blame things on me, like just mentioning the question and saying "this sounds really high to me" was somehow completely my fault even though I agreed it was a lot of money to spend from the beginning. Reined in though lol, she made a great point, the average Japanese salary is somewhere in the 20-30 man range per month. How is it possible then to feed a family of four if ¥40000 a month for one person is average? It's just way way too high.

And no I don't eat tofu and crap all day. I got to thinking how much a big plate of lasagna and a nice salad would cost here and I think if done right it comes less to ¥400 a meal for the entire family.

[Coligny]

there might be the whole city/countryside...

These days lettuce are 100y top, cabbage 150y... courgettes 100y, endive 98y at the end of the shopping spree it ends up much easier of zee wallet...

[GomiGirl]

Are people reading that as 400,000 or something?
It's 40,000, right? That's not even 450 yen per meal for a month:

450 yen x 3 = 1,350 per day.
1,350 per day x 30 days = 40,500.

Good luck with that.

I asked my wife if I was crazy for saying that food cost was high and she nearly flipped out in that Japanese frugal wife kind of way and started to blame things on me, like just mentioning the question and saying "this sounds really high to me" was somehow completely my fault even though I agreed it was a lot of money to spend from the beginning. Reined in though lol, she made a great point, the average Japanese salary is somewhere in the 20-30 man range per month. How is it possible then to feed a family of four if ¥40000 a month for one person is average? It's just way way too high.

And no I don't eat tofu and crap all day. I got to thinking how much a big plate of lasagna and a nice salad would cost here and I think if done right it comes less to ¥400 a meal for the entire family.

We spend about 2-3man a month for our family of 3 (well 2.5). We don't eat much processed food and tend to make most things from scratch at home - husband is a foodie so no packaged crap for him. We order our meat from the Meat Guy so much cheaper than the local super and we get proper Aussie steaks and lamb roasts. OMG how cheap is chicken in this country? Not sure if it is packed full of hormones and shit but at ¥300/kilo who cares? Am not one for organic or free range - bollocks. I do buy what is in season as this is always the yummiest and also the cheapest. Summer corn on the cob - yay!!

I do order weekly from Co-op home delivery so I don't need to lug home from the supermarket every day plus this forces us to menu plan. My toddler nearly drinks his own weight in milk every week and eats whole orchard of fruits and veg so the delivery makes it easy as I don't have a car. I take my lunch to work - usually leftovers from dinner the night before.

If you were buying a bunch of frozen food, pre-packaged food then maybe you will get to 4man a month but raw materials are pretty reasonable IMHO.

[yanpa]

We spend about 20-30man a month for our family of 3 (well 2.5).

That's impressive Are you sure there's not an extra zero in there, or do you really spend an average monthly salary on food?

[GomiGirl]

We spend about 20-30man a month for our family of 3 (well 2.5).

That's impressive Are you sure there's not an extra zero in there, or do you really spend an average monthly salary on food?

Oops - Fixed the zero effect... 2-3man...

[Yokohammer]

I assume you're not including meals eaten out in that.
If you cook and eat every single meal, three meals a day, at home, I can see it, but those lunches and dinners eaten out need to be included for a true picture of monthly food costs.

Also depends on whether you consider booze a "food."

[GomiGirl]

I assume you're not including meals eaten out in that.
If you cook and eat every single meal, three meals a day, at home, I can see it, but those lunches and dinners eaten out need to be included for a true picture of monthly food costs.

Sadly I rarely eat out much lately - maybe lunches from time to time. But I was only giving you the grocery bill and not the meals out.

Also depends on whether you consider booze a "food."

It is a food group isn't it?

Sadly, I am such a lightweight these days...

[IparryU]

Sadly, I am such a lightweight these days...

you should be happy... you get drunk for cheap!

[GomiGirl]

Sadly, I am such a lightweight these days...

you should be happy... you get drunk for cheap!

I should be but what puts me off getting drunk these days is knowing that I will still have to deal with a toddler very early in the morning and he will not understand if Mummy is hung over...

[wangta]

Even with all the gloomy warnings of the OP, what gave me a huge shock when I came back here recently is how much cheaper Japan is than my home country for a fair few things. Even conbinis are cheaper for some items including food and the quality of what you get such as a decent pasta carbonara or one with salmon etc for 400 yen or so is far better than the Oz version of takeaway food. The conbinis have def got better with more food items to buy including relatively healthy stuff and lower prices.

The observations I made in the past in Japan re the small sizes and rip off pieces in packaging instead of whole items aren`t so relevant anymore as in Oz as so many food items have got smaller. It`s actually cheaper now in Japan to buy some imported foods from places that aren`t Costco. I took off to a semi populous city a few weekends back and found an import store that has items I can buy in Oz but the J import store is CHEAPER.

[wagyl]

Does anybody know these days what is the minimum length of time you can spend at an eikaiwa and then give notice w/out Immigration thwarting you and listening to a nasty boss?

What makes you think that a status of residence can be revoked? I presume you have a work visa, which permits you to have employment but does not require you to have continual employment. I haven't looked at the official site http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/english/index.html , but my memory is that Immigration can only deport you if you have not been employed for three months, if they ever become aware of that. In the (I think unlikely) chance that your ex-employer tells Immigration that you are no longer in employment, I think it is very unlikely that Immigration will take any action because you have not done anything wrong in their eyes, yet.

The number of people on "trainee" visas from a neighbouring populous country that go missing, I don't think Immigration is very proactive.

[wangta]

Thanks very much. This is a small place and the boss is very friendly with Immi. I would go so far as to say it will be a case of you will never work in this town again - for two reasons.

1) Them. 2) There just are not enough eikaiwa here. Bad mouthing of gaijin gets around.

It seems my only option is to look for work elsewhere. I don`t say all this lightly, this situation is a first for me and like nearly every eikaiwa monkey I have worked at schools with some bad employers but not enough to give notice. It`s not my way of doing things but there is always an exception to the rule.

[wagyl]

It sounds like you are in a sad and bad place there. All the best. But it is not the case that Immigration can ignore your boss if you have worked there 60 days but must listen to him if you have worked 59, for example. Immigration do not care about that. I would agree that in a small community and an even smaller industry, anything slightly doubtful will mean a black mark against your name within the industry there, but the truth is that the officers within Immigration have more powerful people to listen to with more influence than your employer. There is no way that Immigration is his fief. It is not yours, either.

Google pulled this up. It is only anecdotal, but you don't expect anything more than that from here anyway.