Hi Jon, Feel free to post this. I really thank you for the work you have done on your site. Len PetersI posted an article last summer and things have changed quite a bit since then. As you probably know, Japan is over run with people leaving Korea. It is having the effect the effect of driving wages down and hours up. I did go back in November, but the only job I could get was at a school called English Plus in Kofu, Yamanashi, 90 min from Tokyo. I would have stayed another year in Fukuoka, but my father was on his deathbed and they wouldn't give me a month off. Anyway, EP had to hit the scumbag peak, worse than Korea! I was teaching 35+ hours per week and they would do anything that they could to try to screw you out of overtime pay. A typical day: Drive one hour to company, teach two three hour classes back to back, no break, drive to the main school, another hour and teach another hour. Notice there was no meal break and I was not paid for the driving time. They had real problems with staff, they had lost six of their nine teachers in the three months before I got there. They had a Canadian Joe Boy manager relaying the diktats from the Japanese managers verbatum, taking a big Y20,000 for the honour. They advertise a lot in the Japan Times and should be avoided. Luckily, I only signed for six months. I did notice a lot about AEON on your page. AEON is by no means a paradise to work at, but they obey Japanese labour and visa law and honour your contract. No schools in Japan pay more than Y250,000 these days and almost none pay health insurance or airfare, both required by law. The first year of health insurance is cheap, but the second is based on 11% of your previous years' income or Y330,000. Added to this is the city tax in the second year, Y15,000 per month in Kofu. This killed any possible savings. As you know, truck drivers in Japan make more than Y3,000,000 per year and get full benefits. A bad as AEON is, I haven't seen a better operation to work for. I got offrered a job in Toyko for Y250,000 with no apartment [easy Y70,000 for 4 tatami] or benefits. At AEON you never pay more than Y39,000. In Kofu I was paying Y45,000 for a rat hole that was freezing in winter. The upshot is with present exchange rates and the market, nobody is going to Japan to save money anymore, because at the pathetic minimum wage you are at poverty levels. If one looks carefully, I feel Korea is a better bet at the moment. I have been offered a job with Pagoda, the biggest and best school in Korea. They pay W2.2m for 35 hours, health insurance, airfare, apartment, a one month vacation and severance based on the average of you best three months. Even at present exchange rates, I will be better off and the Won has nowhere to go but up. I have been in this game for five years and I am a qualified teacher so I have certain advantages. After eighteen months in Japan and two years in Korea before that [and a year in Japan before that!] I have come to the following conclusions. 1) Discrimination. There is very little open racisim in Japan and a fair bit in Korea. In Japan, they are better at hiding it, because you are paid less than half a Japanese national is paid to do the same job. In Korea, you are paid quite a bit more than a Korean doing the same job but have to put up with the occasional snide remark. This is less pronounced for me as I am a Canadian, not an American. 2) Management Relations. I always found Korean managers quite flexible once you learn how to deal with them. My teaching ideas were put into better use in Korea than in Japan. In Japan, I always got the "We are Japanese, we know how to teach English to Japanese," even though they were hardly out of the Dick and Jane phase. 3) Students. Korean students win hands down. Most are genuinely interested in improving their English. They are respectful and easy to teach. In Japan, most of my "students" wanted to be entertained by a gaijin which is what I did in Fukuoka. I spent a year playing silly games and acting like a clown. 4) Living Conditions There is no doubt that Japan is superior in this respect. People are almost always extremely kind, even if they hate you. Japan is a first class country in most respects [not banks, of course!]. I was always surrounded by a gaggle of cute groupies wanting to do things. On the other hand, they all made more money than I did and I couldn't afford to go out much. In Korea, I could go out on Friday night, have a good dinner and fill my belly with beer for under W30,000 and take a taxi home for W3,000 or so. Try that in Japan and see how fast Y20,000 flies out of your pocket. Japanese cities are usually very clean, unlike Korean cities, with the notable exception of Seoul. The water is drinkable and eveything works perfectly. On the other hand, Japan can be extremely dull and boring as every town looks exactly the same as the next and the people are usually reserved, shy and quiet. 5) Conclusions At present, Japan is saturated and Korea is screaming for teachers. I honestly think that if you look carefully and avoid head hunters you can land a good deal in Korea. Most of the really shady hagwans are gone now. They will even pay your ticket there and give a relocation bonus. Try to be in Seoul, you are closer to the immigration ministry. There is still a chance of getting ripped off, but a friend of mine recently got shafted twice in Japan. You can get W2.0m in Korea and you can save half of it. Try to save Y100,000 per month in Japan. Good luck!