Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki
Apartments - Small and expensive. JET will cover apartments, but it is also temporary. Sometimes the BoE or company will provide apartments and subsidise costs. I live in a BoE apartment, I pay 60,000円 a month. Considering I have a rather large two bedroom apartment, this is only because the BoE pays the rest. One of my favorite students, Kaori, lives in the same floor plan with her mother, father, and little sister.
Payrates - I earn close to $30,000 USD a year. I won't give you exact numbers, because where I come from, it's rude to ask for exact numbers. This is fairly typical for a young single person in developed nations. It is typical for what starting teachers make in the US.
Since I live out in the middle of nowhere, and costs are low, I might be able to provide for a significant other. It would be stretching it seriously if I had a child as well. Even having a child period would be more difficult than a spouse, who would probably have a job.
You can make more. A lot more. However it requires planning on your part. it either requires dealing with a lower quality of life in a large city while you develop private lessons, or working contacts, attaining a masters, TEFL/TESOL certification, or a Japanese teaching license to get more lucrative positions. If you come here, fresh off the boat, from college, with nothing but a BA, do not expect to make more than I do. In fact, I got a salary bump this year, so don't expect to make what I do. That's just the nature of merit and seniority. No different than in the west.
For dinner? Depends. Unless you want delivery pizza or taco bell, everything under the sun can be found here, even in the rural areas. It is simply a matter of cost. Tighter budget means you will mostly be eating Japanese food staples: fish, vegetables, tofu, miso, and lots of rice.
Our commentary was meant to be taken as a warning against thinking of Japan as some sort of paradise where the laws of household economics suddenly cease to be binding. Or that it is somewhere you will immediately find your place in. Nyororin and I have, MMM did not. Much like Nyororin, I really have no desire to move back to the US. There's no need. I like my BoE, I adore my students, I have a plan (mentioned elsewhere), have job security (there's always a scramble for native teachers, we've lost three just since I've been here, people that didn't like it) that I will never have to worry about being let go (at least in the immediate future). It does not make financial/economic sense for me to leave. And at the end of the day, that's what makes me stay more than just "I love Japan." Rather it's that I love my job, and my job is safe.
Especially since my friends and family, surprising with the economy as it is, have the means to visit. I had friends stay over the July 4th holiday from Texas, and my parents came in April. I myself am spending two weeks in Texas starting on the 16th.
If I had found this in Atlanta or Austin, or even Dallas, I probably never would have moved to Korea at all. Unfortunately, even school districts in Texas were hemorrhaging money. Austin cut teaching hires by more than half, 22 in 2007 to 7 in 2008, and Dallas froze hiring entirely (while I was in negotiations with them!). Atlanta has openings, but they're in some of the worst neighborhoods in the entire country...
Economics trumps fanboyism any day.
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