Was this a good idea?

Question:

Finally I am in Japan. My salary for a Native English teacher is less than the average salary of taxi drivers in Japan. They say that the average taxi driver in Japan is 300,000 yen per month. I make less than that.

When I worked in Korea for 3 years, I had a pension, they provided me a place to live for free but I paid my utilities that were very cheap. My taxes were at 4%. I was able to keep 85% of my salary. My pension money was used up to reduce my student loan debt. My airfare was free.

Then I moved to Taiwan, I spent 2 years there. One year for one school and the second year at another school. My airfare and rent were subsidized, I paid no taxes (because I worked for the pulbic school system), I had no pension, and I kept 80% of my gross salary.

Now I am in Japan. The yen is strong, but the consumer prices are high. The cost of living is high. I am only able to keep 60% of my gross salary excluding the cost of food. I have to pay 100% of the rent. I have to pay 10% of my gross salary for tax and yes I will get a tax refund and maybe even tax write offs. I have no pension. Everything in Japan is so expensive. Travelling accross Japan is also expensive. But hey, I am glad that I live near a train station so I can ride the train to go anywhere in Japan. (Better service than what I would get in North America). Otherwise it is so expensive to live in Japan, that I cannot even afford to own property, not even in my home country Canada. And I still got to pay down my student loan debts. (I got my debt repayments suspended now until January 2012 and I could extend it).

I just found out that the Japanese government wants to take action to devaluate the yen. If they do that, buying the US or Canadian dollar will be more expensive, and it will also effect the value of my salary. Devaluating the yen will also not reduce the cost of living in Japan.

Do you think that a gross salary of 220,000 yen a month is good living income for a single like me working as a certified teacher of EFL? Do you think that it was a good idea for me to come to Japan in the first place?

I don't want to complain. I want to be frugal. Tell me the poverty line in Japan for singles because 15% of Japanese are living below poverty line. Go to Minami-Senju and see for yourself.

Answer:

>Do you think that a gross salary of 220,000 yen a month is good living income for a single like me working as a certified teacher of EFL?

It depends on how much bonus you get. But it's not so bad. Many young people live below that amount. Many of them live with parents because they can't live on their own.

Japan is getting poor. Salary is going down. But the problem is, living cost is not going down.

>Do you think that it was a good idea for me to come to Japan in the first place?

It's all up to you. BTW, the amount is not enough to get married and raise kids in Japan.