[Sangetsu]

If you are simply coming to Japan for a year or two to experience the culture, one school will be as good as another. There are many different schools in Japan, but they all offer pretty much the same thing as far as working hours and pay are concerned. If you are coming to Japan to teach English as a profession, you need to get your head examined.

I have never cared much for the ALT system used in Japan. "Dispatch" agencies supply temporary teachers to the various boards of education, and collect a good fee for doing so. Each board of education allots a certain amount of money to hire each teacher. This money is divided between the dispatch agency and the teacher. This is necessarily a corrupt way of doing things, the only people who benefit are the dispatch company and the members of the school boards who receive kickbacks from them. The teachers and students are the ones who are hurt, firstly because the system discourages professional teachers from applying (who wants to get part-time pay for a full-time workload while receiving no benefits?), and it harms the students because they end up being taught by inexperienced pseudo-teachers with no prossional experience who will return to their home countries before they gain any teaching experience.

A few boards of education have offered programs which encourage professional teachers to apply. After a period of part-time employment has been completed, a teacher becomes eligible for paid training and certification as a real, full-time teacher in the school system.

Private and international schools are the best options for those who wish to teach as a career. These schools generally offer full-time pay and benefits, but positions with these schools are hard to come by, who would want to quit?

The eikaiwa schools are the largest employers of teachers, and they are the easiest places to get hired. But as with other jobs, they somehow manage to reduce your 40 hour workweek into under 29.5 hours, and in doing so they manage to avoid providing you with the national healthcare and pension plans.

Your best bet is to get a teaching gig to get your visa, and then find something better once you are here. You are better off going it on your own and running your own school, or looking for other opportunities.