Your Future in Teaching



When I first went to Japan, I had no plans to make teaching my career. As a Japanese Language major, my first motivation was simply to get the chance to live in Japan, study the language and experience the culture. After a few years, however, that changed. I realized that the job was interesting and challenging, not repetitive and stressful like so many other jobs. I found that there was a career to be had, although not as solid a promise as some other careers might offer. Still, after I had done it for some time, I came to feel it was right for me.

This is not a usual reaction, of course. Many people who go to teach in Japan do so as a kind of life experience, and others just to make money; many like it there, many don't. Only a few decide to stay. Perhaps a few more than that decide to teach, but elsewhere. The only thing I can say for certain is that it's possible to be converted.

Teaching in Japan as a career has quite a few bright spots. It's a nice country; friendly people, safe streets, very modern and has many things going for it. There are some negatives to be considered, though; you're living in a foreign land, a foreign culture, and will likely always feel somewhat out of place. In addition, teaching in Japan rarely presents the kind of "lifetime employment" that Japan is famed to have; only a small handful of non-Japanese professors ever acquire tenure (I believe the figure is under a dozen nationwide). Many schools just want you for a few years, and then let you go. Others have had the experience of working several decades for universities without tenure, only to be let go just before they qualify for pensions. You certainly cannot depend on getting a pension or even social security, so you'll have to save for your retirement yourself (of course, with social security in both Japan and America going the way they are, you might not be able to depend on it anyway).

Still, there is work, and some of it still pays fairly well. And there are some opportunities, for those willing to take the plunge, to commit yourself to a private school in exchange for them making the same commitment to you. The potential for a great career is there.

So why am I writing this? I'm not really trying to sell you on this, as you can probably tell. What I'm doing is trying to make you aware of the possibilities so that when you do go to Japan and start working, you will have your eyes open, and possibly recognize future possibilities you might otherwise have missed. In other words, I'm simply trying to open one more potential avenue for you, one that you may or may not travel down.

Whatever your choices, whatever your fortune, I wish you good luck and an enjoyable experience.



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