Money?

[Hito]

I've just been wondering, and I know Az said he hates to hear more and more JET questions, but this MUST be answered or I will never sleep again and possibly kill a few first-borns.

Anyway, does a JET living alone generally make enough money to save some?

[stsparky]

As far as I can tell - not really. One tends to spend money on one's passions. Be it steak or anime. - Sparky

PS It is better than the Peace Corps though. :rolleyes:

[Jess]

I made some, but spent it just as quickly. When I joined JET (2000) they say you're not supposed to work outside the school...but almost everyone in my prefecture except me did. I know some JETS that lived off their private tutoring salaries and saved every penny of their actual salary. In 2000 - 2002, you could earn 5,000 yen / hour teaching English. The biggest problem is, your salary in dollars fluctuates with the exchange rate. When I got to Japan I was earning about 29,000 USD / year. And for a while I was earning closer to $25k.

It also depends on how much your host city sponsors things like your rent. My rent was heavily subsidized - I only paid 15,000 / mo. That's NOTHING. It was the same size as a one bedroom apartment. Not bad at all.

[Hito]

It also depends on how much your host city sponsors things like your rent. My rent was heavily subsidized - I only paid 15,000 / mo. That's NOTHING. It was the same size as a one bedroom apartment. Not bad at all.

When you say 15 000, do you mean Yen? Because if you do, that's...well, it might as well almost be free! :eek:

[Azrael]

Well, since you asked on the message board...

You make about 300,000 yen a month. After taxes and what not you should probably be getting about 270,000 yen a month. This is roughly $2,500 (? I don't have a calculator nearby) a month.

But you can't think about it in dollars, cause this isn't America, and Japan is way more expensive. In America, I could go to Jack in the Box for dinner and catch an evening movie within $15. Here in Japan, $15 hasn't even covered the movie yet.

Is it a lot? Can you save up? Depends. Some things will be factors you can't control, like where you are sent and how much rent you pay. I have to pay about $500 a month for rent, but I happen to live in a commuters paradise. Some of my friends pay $2-300 for rent. Some don't pay rent at all. But they live out in the sticks. They also have much bigger places than my small little dorm-esque room.

The more active your lifestyle, the less money you'll have. I know people who were able to save a few thousand dollars after their first year here...but they also didn't go out all that much, and generally weren't too happy. If you are in a country town, you may not have much of a choice. If you are in or near a city, the call of actually having a life may be too much to resist, and your bank acount will hurt in the process.

It all just depends.

[hapamama]

Is it a lot? Can you save up? Depends. Some things will be factors you can't control, like where you are sent and how much rent you pay. I have to pay about $500 a month for rent, but I happen to live in a commuters paradise.

Doesn't sound any worse than the Bay Area these days, where studio apartment rents are freaking insane.

Cheryl

[hapacheese]

Rent prices are actually very similar between SF and Japan... it's just that Japanese houses/apartments are about half the size o_O

Was walking through Shinagawa and saw an ad for condos for sale. "$350K-$500K!" it said. I thought that was pretty reasonable... until I saw that the largest place was a little less than 600 sq ft.

[Hito]

oOo! I feel privilaged to have Az answer a JET question! Really, I do, absolutely no sarcasm. I'm still trying to figure out what possessed him to do it. At any rate, thanks muchly!

Luckily, all the things I want to see probably still won't cost much by the time I'm there, so I should be just fine. w00t!

[hapamama]

Was walking through Shinagawa and saw an ad for condos for sale. "$350K-$500K!" it said. I thought that was pretty reasonable... until I saw that the largest place was a little less than 600 sq ft.

I live in a condo... in a 30+ year old complex that is kind of run down. There's an 800 sq ft unit here going for $450k. Insanity considering the same condos sold for less than $200k 6 years ago.

[hapacheese]

I live in a condo... in a 30+ year old complex that is kind of run down. There's an 800 sq ft unit here going for $450k. Insanity considering the same condos sold for less than $200k 6 years ago.


...which is the exact reason why I live in the East Bay :D

[Marblehead]

I live in a condo... in a 30+ year old complex that is kind of run down. There's an 800 sq ft unit here going for $450k. Insanity considering the same condos sold for less than $200k 6 years ago.

Give it a couple of years and the market will correct itself. This happened back around 1990. Prices dropped to half of what they were after about two years. Interest rates are so low right now that it can't be helped.

I don't know about where you live but in L.A. there's been a lot of new construction lately. That should offset a lot of the rents here when those places finally open up.

[Azrael]

I'm still trying to figure out what possessed him to do it.
Well, you at least read the FAQ, sooooooooo many people don't do even that.

And then it's on the message board. Answering the same question over and over in email gets tiring, and for all I type really only one person benefits from it. Here, potentially everybody can see the question and answer.

And then I'm also mindlessly killing time at work today. =P

[Hito]

Bwahaha! I wish I could mindlessly kill time at work...I get yelled at and told (no joke, actual quote), "QUIT STANDING AROUND WITH YOUR DICK IN YOUR HAND! Find something to do or you could at least hold mine!"
Meanwhile, I haven't got my hands anywhere near my dick...

But anyway, do expect quite the e-mail from me one of these days, Az. I'm just trying to go about writing it without forgetting something.

[Jess]

When you say 15 000, do you mean Yen? Because if you do, that's...well, it might as well almost be free! :eek:

Yeah, that's in yen. $150 / mo rent is nearly free. As Az mentioned, I was out in the sticks. The stiiiiiiiiiiiiicks. As in, a train came through that actually stopped at our station about every 2 hours. Kagawa-ken (on Shikoku island) is small and inaka - and I was in a small town in the middle of nowhere in Kagawa. Surrounded by rice paddies.

I was lucky, Mino-cho has a rather large population interested in internationalization for such a small town - I was the sixth JET there, and we also had a CIR - in a mura of under 10,000! So I had the same ol' crummy apt. all the former JETS also had, but the town subsidized my rent. And I kept two cats. Every single Mino-cho JET has kept cats in that apt. It's pretty funny - Aya-san, the guy who "handled" the gaijin for the town office, would get pretty annoyed about that. But I sent my kitties back here - one of my favorite souvenirs!

[Hito]

I had better be allowed to keep a cat there! AH! That'd REALLY rock!

But really, I'm hoping I end up in the sticks, or in or around Kyoto. So maybe I will be able to keep some money, who knows. Either way, I need 4 years to pass by really, really fast. :D

[Frankey-eh]

...which is the exact reason why I live in the East Bay :D

O.O I used to live in East Bay...

I miss my East Bay house... it doesn't even COMPARE to south bay. I used to live in a 2300sq ft house, two story, with a giant backyard. It was brand new, and we were the first occupant. We sold that for 700,000.

Then we moved to South Bay. Houses that are 1300sqft and looks like a place suit for pigs to live in, cost 800,000. Once remodelled, it's value is past a million.

[ArkhanTerra]

I have a question too, if you don't mind. More of an opinion question, actually.

I was thinking of entering JET after college (hopefuly Rensselaer Polytech, average indebtedness post-graduation is about $15,000), do you think one could make enough in the JET program in two years to save up $15,000 USD (roughly 1.8 million yen, assuming 120Yen/1USD exhange) while still living a comfortable, social life?

Hah, I made that too complicated...

[hapamama]

...which is the exact reason why I live in the East Bay :D

I am in the East Bay... in Central Contra Costa County.

[mediocre]

do you think one could make enough in the JET program in two years to save up $15,000 USD while still living a comfortable, social life?




Yes.

Of course, that completely depends on one's definition of comfortable and social. Oh, and how many of your expenses are subsidized by your BOE.

[Frankey-eh]

I am in the East Bay... in Central Contra Costa County.

I think I used to live in south CCC.