Despite the idyllic dreams of hundreds if not thousands of foreigners planning on living in Japan one day, It seems it’s not all that rosy of late, for those who come to Japan to teach English.
Benesse corp,. the parent company of Berlitz reported “Net sales totaled ¥384 billion in fiscal 2007 (which ended March 31), an 8.4 percent increase over a year earlier; operating profits hit ¥34.9 billion, up 11.4 percent on fiscal 2006″ and they also boast ”the fifth consecutive year of record-breaking performance for the company.”
For the owner of Benesse Corp., Soichiro Fukutake it means he’s one fat cat, sitting at No. 843 on the Forbes rich list, with a personal net worth of $1.4 billion. At the other end of the scale there’s the English teachers earning ~250,000 Yen per month according to Japan Times.
Some chose strike action, i wonder what the outcome of that was? Did it work? Have the conditions improved? What was the expected outcome / demands of the strike?
Others have their own English Conversation schools, was this something more people could have done at the collapse of Nova? Are they better or worse off than working for the multi-national?
Still, whatever the best solution is for you, there are kids right across Japan, sat in classrooms today, ready and willing to learn English. It’s time to roll the sleeves up, and get to work and if you still really want that job teaching English in Japan then check the latest listings out here.
In a week where many people get away from Japan i’ve unfortunately stayed put and worked most days … the last 2 from home so not all bad. I’m off to Ireland at the end of the month so i needed to conserve the few holidays i have in preparation for that.
It’s been a pretty casual week though and i’ve managed to get out pretty well every night this week and also catch up on a few things i’ve needed to during the day.
Perusing the internet this morning i came across an interesting article re “The Foreign Ministry plans to give favorable treatment in visa applications and extensions to foreign nationals with a good command of the Japanese language.” You can read more about it over at Japan Probe.
Essentially though there’ll be no unfavourable treatment to those with no Japanese language skills but for others who have endeavoured to learn they will include extending the resident status of foreigners with a certain level of Japanese language proficiency to a maximum of five years from the current three.
On a less serious note, i found this lunch special quite amusing, childish i know.
Image Source: Neta
I’m expecting the next few days to be pretty quiet for me, try and do the right thing and keep it pretty tidy and all things go according to plan, i aim to get out to Harajuku on Sunday for the next installment on the 29 stops of the JR Yamanote Line.
When i first came to Japan in 2002 i experienced being ‘waved away’ from several restaurants due to language issues no doubt. It hasn’t happened in a long time and i think those times are well behind us, not everywhere from what it seems.
This restaurant in Tsukiji Fish Market had gone one step further until after a flood of complaints last week they now welcome foreigners to their restaurant. Now it’s just time to get accepted into the rest of these here.
Image courtesy of Arudou Debito
