I spent two years working for AEON at two different schools. I would never
recommend anyone without a TESOL degree (preferrably a masters) go to Japan
without a job lined up.  Yes, AEON pays the minimum, which isn't bad, but
universities pay much more but only hire people with Masters. If you don't want to
work for the minimum wage, the best chance is with those degrees. 

There are tons of schools that aren't big chains that hire over the
internet, but other than the universities, I don't think the pay difference
is that much AND you've got no safety net of a corporation if things go
south. Believe me, I've seen AEON go to extremes to help people who aren't
adjusting to life in Japan (I know of them arranging English-speaking
therapists, time off to go home, time off WITH pay, etc.).

Then there's the argument of going over there without anything lined up. I
would only do that with a Masters and a few thousand dollars to get started.
Or with a BA in TESOL and even more money to get started because it takes a
while to find a school willing to go through the visa hassle and that has a
higher salary than the minimum.


AEON is a great place to work if you plan to only stay one year to see the country
or if you plan to stay longer and need to get your feet wet.
 
My work schedule and that of many of my AEON foreign teacher friends was not too
heavy and sometimes light. The most I taught was seven classes a day and that only
happened a handful of times when another teacher was sick or had a family
emergency. The average is five classes a day, based on my experience. 
 
Sure, AEON is a business but other than public schools, show me one private
language school that isn't in the business of getting more students. How much you
must sell the school depends on your manager. I had one manager who never asked me
to "sell" and another who pushed it hard. 
 
The apartments are fine--sometimes very nice--and convenient to school. I have
heard of teachers getting out of their housing contracts after making enough noise
but they had to get their own leases and pay their own key money for a non-AEON
apartment. I have never heard of anyone paying less than AEON teachers do for
private apartments.
 
I have known several people who quit their contracts early but it was usually due
to personality differences with their manager (which can happen in any work
situation) or they wanted to go back to the U.S. I have only known one teacher who
felt they were treated unfairly and he quit to work at NOVA, which he also quit
early. 


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Yeah, go ahead. 

Spread the word brother!

Matt.

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I am almost finished my contract with Aeon in Japan and I would like to tell
others out there about the company. 

Well, it's not a bad place to start out in. You get a lot of vacation time (
nearly a month over the year) and it is a really professional and organized
place to work at.

But, something that really threw me off when I came to work for them was how
much of a business it is. You are a business man first, and a teacher
second. You are constantly forced to "produce good numbers" for the
business.

I arrived in Japan for my one week training, expecting it to be about
teaching, when I was almost immediately told "OK., first thing is, Aeon is a
business and like any other business we want to make sure we cover
costs...." 

There are worse places to work at out there. So if you have a
smarmy-salesman-like character them maybe you'll enjoy Aeon. If you care
more about teaching then you would have a better experience elsewhere.