My name is Bobby Coutu. I’m half American and half Japanese. I grew up speaking Japanese with friends and family, but never really studied the language (so my reading and writing skills are minimal). Regardless, I do have a passion for foreign language and have studied Italian, Spanish, and French. I studied abroad in Perugia, Italy during my undergraduate years and became fluent during my time there. I graduated from UVM in 2011 with a degree in Nutrition and Food Science, but wanted to go teach English in Japan. I moved to Japan with my then girlfriend and worked together for a company called iTTTi Japan. She had found an advertisement for the company on Gaijinpot.com and figured “Why not?”.
iTTTi Japan is part of a larger publishing corporation called KTC, which is based in Nagoya, Japan. iTTTi Japan’s main enterprise is Peppy Kids Club (PKC), an English-teaching company that focuses on providing fun, safe learning environments for children. We started working for PKC in August, 2011, but applied for jobs sometime in March. The online application was quick and easy and we received a phone call from a company recruiter within a week. The two of us then drove to Toronto to have an in-person meeting (not really an interview) and signed on. I believe you might be able to ask for a Skype meeting now, if you prefer not to travel to Toronto.
iTTTi Japan does not pay for the plane tickets to Japan (unlike JET). They do offer housing for about $4-600 a month, which they deduct from your paycheck. The advantage of this is that you don’t have to actively find a place to live, and the apartments come furnished. Getting your own apartment in Japan can be a hassle, but definitely doable. Just read up on how to do it ahead of time so that after spending a few months in a iTTTi Japan apartment, you can move out and live on your own.
The two of us were placed in a small town called Hachinohe, in Aomori prefecture. It was a rural, spread out area that was difficult to get around without your own car. Though buses and trains were available, they came around about once every hour and were simply not that convenient. Because of the job hours (typically from 2pm-11pm), having a night life was difficult. Some PKC employees still enjoy their nights out if they live close enough to a city or downtown area. However, for us, the area was dead asleep by 10pm and the weather was similar to Vermont’s (very cold and not kind to long distance walking).
The job itself was pretty straight-forward and easy to pick up on. You were typically by yourself and were in charge of taking care of a single group of same-aged children at a time. So your first class may be a group of 1st graders, whom you’ll teach for 50 minutes; they leave, then 10 minutes later, a different group of 4th graders may arrive for another 50 minute block. There may be 1-6 groups per work day, but it all depends on the area.
At the moment I believe PKC starting pay is about $24,000/year. It’s a modest salary but the job will grant you a visa and some start-up cash for finding other employment. My ex and I transferred within the company, to teach ESL in public junior high schools within Nagoya. The company, iTTTi AET, only recruits PKC employees. You apply to the job sometime in February and if you get the job, you start in May. The pay when I left was around $28,000/year with benefits. But, during the summer and winter breaks, you work as a PKC teacher (wherever they may be needed). The downside to being a PKC teacher while you’re an AET is that your schedule can suddenly become turbulent. The AET schedule is basically an 8am-4pm job, so going back to working evenings can be tiring.
In terms of working environment, I enjoyed working with most of my Japanese teachers (as an AET). At times your views on education may conflict, but as an assistant, you do not address these concerns. Your job is to do as you are told and try to make English as fun as possible for your students (while understanding the rules). The dress attire at junior high schools was rather casual. I typically wore polo shirts with slacks and I was never scolded. Jeans are questionable… For PKC, you can dress as casually as you wish, so long as you don’t expose too much skin or tattoos. Also, for PKC, you rarely work with other people, so there are not many societal rules or workplace obligations to speak of. You do have monthly meetings with other PKC teachers, which can be fun and helpful.
I would say that for anyone wanting to work in Japan, the best advice I can give you for having an enriching experience is to just get there. Once you have a work visa, it’s not too difficult to find other jobs that will suit your interests and skills. And that said, facing some challenges and working on skills that you don’t necessarily have may benefit you in the long-run. Try to make connections with teachers and make friendships so that you can learn a lot more of the language, history, and traditions of Japan. The connections will also help you find better living situations and jobs.
Good luck and have fun!
Bobby Coutu