TEFL Jobs in Japan

SES Japan offers teachers full support on both a pastoral as well as academic level to help teachers adjust and come to terms with everyday life in Japan.
Japanese Welfare Staff, Directors of Studies, School Managers and fellow teaching colleagues are all very approachable and have plenty of experience in assisting teachers.
In the initial first weeks, teachers are helped with visa processes, hospital visits, apartments, and opening bank accounts.
The company also organises social events for staff, with welcome parties paid for within region for all new arrivals. Other regular social events that the Company orgainises include; sumo wrestling (watching, not doing!), Japanese theatre, ski/snowboard trips, Tokyo boat cruise, Sapporo snow festival excursion, Shane football team. This compliments the strong teacher social network that exists in all the school locations.
There are plenty of opportunities to learn the language by taking a variety of classes both formal and informal that are advertised in magazines, local community cenrtes and on Head Office notice boards. These are often free of charge, and never prohibitively expensive.

Though much of the joy of experiencing a new country and culture comes through learning about it as you go, we strongly recommend that anyone applying to work for SESJ who does not currently live in Japan (or who has never lived here) carries out as much research as possible before arriving. The Japanese Embassy can supply information and there are an increasing number of websites that can provide foreigners with useful guidance on how to live, work and play in Japan.
Remember, this is not a working holiday, but a demanding and fun job in a completely different country.
You will face a lot of challenges and you will have a great time if you are positive, open-minded, flexible and culturally-aware.
Make an effort to communicate and integrate with Japanese people as this will make your experience in Japan all the more rewarding.

On arrival, teachers may initially stay in temporary accommodation or, in some cases, move straight into long term accommodation in one of the apartments that SESJ organizes for teachers who request them. These apartments are not owned by the Company, but are rented and sub let to teachers. Of course, teachers who take advantage of this set up (which we very much encourage for applicants from outside Japan, due to the difficulty in organizing accommodation if you have no private contacts or Japanese language skills) are free to subsequently find their own accommodation (with the appropriate period of notice), should they wish to do so.

Most apartments are single occupancy. Teachers applying as a couple will be supplied with a slightly larger (and more expensive) couple's apartment.
Standard apartments are sparsely furnished, but good quality second hand furniture can be bought easily and cheaply.
Since SESJ sponsors the teacher whilst in Japan it has a legal responsibility to ensure the teacher abides by the rental agreement.
Unless the teacher requests to be placed in a particular location, the location of the apartment will be determined in advance of your arrival in accordance with your working schedule and location of your schools. It should be noted here that, although every effort is made to meet location requests, it is not always possible to grant them.
Teachers generally find accommodation suitable to their needs for both living and working.

A deposit and rent in advance payment is required for all apartments.
We can assist with these initial costs by organising interest free loans.
Monthly rent (up to JPY78,000 for a single occupancy apartment and up to JPY110,000 for a couple's apartment) is equivalent to about a third of the monthly salary.
Monthly utilities are paid by the teacher.
Further details on these costs are described in our Japan Orientation pack.