I am considering moving to Japan in the near future

[Mr_Alex]

Just this month I was travelling around Japan and I have got to admit,I love Japan and would love to relocate to it,currently I live in New Zealand and have found Japan offers more in terms of entertainment and food and also I could get a flight easily to Hong Kong where my family lives,I am also doing a course in a Polytechnic which is IT (Information Technology) related,anyhow when I move to Japan,my Marklin collection will be following me

[Ochanomizu]

Hello Mr_Alex

 

Please be mindful that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  There are many Japanese who would gladly swap with you for the chance to live in New Zealand.  Many.  I agree, Japan is a wonderful country, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts after your first day working for a Japanese employer.  ;)

[Densha]

I've never even been to Japan, but please bear in mind all other aspects of the country. It's more than just trains and food. ;)

[Kabutoni]

Having lived here now for almost a year now. It's pretty much trains and food. And people. Lots of people. And many other things. Mainly food. And babies.

 

The key to survival is an open mind and acceptance. Ah, and a basic understanding of the language and culture if you want to make some friends.

 

Sazae san may help a bit :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjFIar-YM80

[westfalen]

I've never even been to Japan, but please bear in mind all other aspects of the country. It's more than just trains and food. ;)

But the trains and food are better than anywhere else.

[Mr_Alex]

But the trains and food are better than anywhere else.

Agree I love the food in Japan

[cteno4]

Culture and language aspect is very important. some can blend right in like Toni says by keeping an open mind and learning, others find that very difficult to do. business culture is also different, like usually not saying no to anything even when its not a possibility -- the context says no and that context can be hard to pick up on as a newbie.

 

but it can be a grand adventure if taken with an open mind and eyes wide open!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps i agree the access to great trains and food just cant be beat by anywhere else ive visited in the world!

[Martijn Meerts]

Don't forget Goji, obviously Japan has him as well :)

Edited October 31, 2013 by Martijn Meerts

[miyakoji]

I would be interested to hear your thoughts after your first day working for a Japanese employer.  ;)

I would like to see a comparison of work environments, benefits, pay, hours, etc. It would be difficult to do this objectively, I think.

[Mr_Alex]

I would like to see a comparison of work environments, benefits, pay, hours, etc. It would be difficult to do this objectively, I think.

In New Zealand when I worked in a Supermarket at the checkout,I earned $13.50NZD an hour and thats before tax

[keitaro]

i can give you an example salary of a super market worker.

 

roughly 850 - 1000 yen an hour before tax. though i think smaller ones would be a bit less.

 

This has no super included and they will want you to pay that i.e.the council will send you a bill monthly to pay it. $15000 yen i believe or higher. regardless of how much you earn.

 

btw once you earn over 1 million yen $10,000 the tax hits you, so you either want to earn just less than 1 million yen in a year and some how live.

 

or earn well over because the tax brackets do not go up as gradual as they do in NZ and Australia.

 

then there's city tax, 10% of your income(some citys are different), no butts about it and the only discounts most give you is if you have children maybe takes off 15,000 - 30,000 depending on amount of kids (and a little back if you have quake insurance).

 

Depending on your life style japan can be cheap or very expensive.

 

Then the banks will charge you 105 yen soon to be 108 yen with tax increase if you want to with draw money between 3pm - 9am or on Saturday/Sunday.

 

 

 

not trying to scare you but many foreigners get a shock when they come over for there english teaching stints for a few years and get hit with the un-mentioned/unexpected taxes etc.

 

while a teacher will generally earn about 2 - 3 million yen on a full time contract, the tax can take people by surprise.

 

 

 

my suggestion is to look at where you want to find a job the pay you`d expect, what the utilities are over there and calculate it.to see if you could live comfortably like that.

 

Example

rent, water, gas, electricity, mobile, internet, groceries (about the same as aus not sure on costs in NZ). it all adds up quick.

 

this is an example tax of a 2.5 million income no tax deducted and no deductions. AS you can see if you don`t pay social premiums or have children a fair bit of your pay is gone already

Income Tax is 59,500 Yen

Resident Tax is 125,500 Yen

[Mr_Alex]

I am planning on moving to the IT field as early as next year,it could take 3 or even 5 years before I can leave NZ and that includes doing courses as well

[Mr_Alex]

i can give you an example salary of a super market worker.

 

roughly 850 - 1000 yen an hour before tax. though i think smaller ones would be a bit less.

 

This has no super included and they will want you to pay that i.e.the council will send you a bill monthly to pay it. $15000 yen i believe or higher. regardless of how much you earn.

 

btw once you earn over 1 million yen $10,000 the tax hits you, so you either want to earn just less than 1 million yen in a year and some how live.

 

or earn well over because the tax brackets do not go up as gradual as they do in NZ and Australia.

 

then there's city tax, 10% of your income(some citys are different), no butts about it and the only discounts most give you is if you have children maybe takes off 15,000 - 30,000 depending on amount of kids (and a little back if you have quake insurance).

 

Depending on your life style japan can be cheap or very expensive.

 

Then the banks will charge you 105 yen soon to be 108 yen with tax increase if you want to with draw money between 3pm - 9am or on Saturday/Sunday.

 

 

 

not trying to scare you but many foreigners get a shock when they come over for there english teaching stints for a few years and get hit with the un-mentioned/unexpected taxes etc.

 

while a teacher will generally earn about 2 - 3 million yen on a full time contract, the tax can take people by surprise.

 

 

 

my suggestion is to look at where you want to find a job the pay you`d expect, what the utilities are over there and calculate it.to see if you could live comfortably like that.

 

Example

rent, water, gas, electricity, mobile, internet, groceries (about the same as aus not sure on costs in NZ). it all adds up quick.

 

this is an example tax of a 2.5 million income no tax deducted and no deductions. AS you can see if you don`t pay social premiums or have children a fair bit of your pay is gone already

Income Tax is 59,500 Yen

Resident Tax is 125,500 Yen

Thank you

[bikkuri bahn]

Make sure the job (whatever it is) is something you enjoy and get professional satisfaction out of- a bad job will take all the joy out of living in a foreign country and will amplify any other stresses you may have, which you will experience. Also, learn the language, and get out of the expat bubble as soon as you can- it boggles the mind the number of foreigners who can't carry on a basic conversation in Japanese in a workplace environment (not the local gaijin bar) even after living for 5 or 10 years here- mind you, the Japanese are quite tolerant of monolinguals (a big reason, likely)- imagine the treatment a foreigner who can barely introduce themselves would get from Americans or the French after having lived the same amount of time in those places. Did I say learn the language.

Edited November 3, 2013 by bikkuri bahn

[Mr_Alex]

Yes you did Bikkuri,I already enrolled to learn Japanese around April,2014 is going to be a busy year for me as I have set in my goals on leaving NZ in 5-7 years

[nartak]

If you are looking for a job in IT field, programming or application developing kind of job may have more chance.  I can't guarantee the business trend in the future but things now going from hardware centric to cloud or software...  Just a small advice from a guy in IT field here...

Good luck.

[Mr_Alex]

If you are looking for a job in IT field, programming or application developing kind of job may have more chance.  I can't guarantee the business trend in the future but things now going from hardware centric to cloud or software...  Just a small advice from a guy in IT field here...

 

Good luck.

thanks,I do plan on doing a degree in programming too

[tantousha]

I'm not sure if you have a bachelor's degree, for if your IT classes will give you one, but I highly recommend looking into the JET Programme. It's available in most English speaking countries and it's run by the Japanese government. The pay is awesome and they take care of a lot if details that are headaches associated with living there. You have a huge support network of other JETs and the job itself (working as an English language instructor in elementary and high schools) is actually quite fun!

[Mr_Alex]

I'm not sure if you have a bachelor's degree, for if your IT classes will give you one, but I highly recommend looking into the JET Programme. It's available in most English speaking countries and it's run by the Japanese government. The pay is awesome and they take care of a lot if details that are headaches associated with living there. You have a huge support network of other JETs and the job itself (working as an English language instructor in elementary and high schools) is actually quite fun!

One of my cousin's in Hong Kong teaches english,she always goes home stressed and in NZ we do have Bachelor Degree in IT but it takes at least 3 years