[anrakushi]

you won't need any qualifications other than a degree to get a teaching job in Japan. however for some of the better (in terms of enjoyment and or money) jobs they will be looking for BAs or experience. but hell half the time those places still hire inexperienced people. i would concentrate your studies on your future profession, publishing. don't worry about ESL/EFL courses etc. if you are not wanting to make a career out of teaching.

As for me, i'm returning to japan in a couple months to continue working there as an english teacher. i see english teaching as a good opportunity to get into the country, earn money and have a the opportunity to put my language skills to use outside the job. I plan to only do english teaching for as long as it takes me to get to a decent level of fluency to go into other work in Japan.

I personally would love to work at university level teaching cultural studies etc but this is a very difficult dream as times have changed in japan and you are now needing a PhD to really have a good chance at a position, so said the professors i studied under in Japan. I haven't given up just yet but i'm flexible in what i will do as i graduated with a Bachelor of Business (accountancy) i might look into business but I won't be doing accounting. I'm easy, see what happens. Although i do love teaching younger students and would be happy doing that as a profession, but not in an 英会話 (english conversation school).

At the end of the day, I will remain in Japan.. or possibly Korea as their economy is set to surpass that of Japan in the coming years and there could be a lot of opportunities there. Thus i have started to learn Korean as well for 10 years or so down the track.. haha.