Thank you for the compliment.
I think I may be able to help you out more with the childcare bit than a lot of the others here. (As I have a child!)
If you have a degree and experience teaching English, you would likely be able to get a *good* job teaching English - ie in a high school, or university - and not be stuck with one of the crappy ones.
As for your son - if he is your dependent and you receive a working visa, it is no problem to get him a dependent visa. If he`s only 4, I have no doubt he`d pick up Japanese in no time at all. As for childcare, it really isn`t *THAT* expensive depending upon the school. At his age, the easiest thing would be to put him into kindergarten and register for a nursery school to pick him up after they are finished. If you`re teaching in a regular school, hours are pretty definite and you would be getting home in time to pick him up from there. Kindergarten is really a flat price depending upon the school, and the nursery schools are based upon your income. There are also daycares that have (at least in our area) competitive pricing who will watch a child until late into the evening. In Tokyo, everything is much higher so I would suggest looking elsewhere if you seriously plan to make a life here.
If all else fails, you could live close to me and I`ll watch him for you!
