The JET Programme

The JET Programme is considered by many to be the best way to experience teaching in Japan.The benefits of getting hired on The JET Programme are that you'll be paid substantially more than other ALTs, have your airfares paid for, and receive housing assistance. The drawbacks to JET are that you often have no choice as to where you are placed and roles are only filled once per year.

The Job of the JET Teacher is to assist the Japanese teacher in his/her classroom. What does that involve? Well, the definition of the job is intentionally vague and your tasks and responsibilities will vary from school to school and teacher to teacher.

If you want to find out more about working in Japan as an ALT/JET, check out this article: The Definitive Guide to Becoming an Assistant Language Teacher in Japan

Jobs in Japan: 4 Tips for Acing the JET Programme Interview

ALT Teaching

 A 2023 MEXT survey found dispatched ALTs earned around ¥2.47 million annually while JET teachers made ¥3.75 million — a 34% gap before the 2025 JET salary raise that widened it further. While JET Programme ALTs now earn ¥335,000 per month, some ALT dispatch companies pay two-thirds of that  and that's before accounting for JET's flight allowance and housing support.

Jobs in Japan: How to Become an ALT in Japan Without Teaching Experience

Interac is a relative standout in a weak field. Interac employs nearly 3,500 staff with around 3,200 non-Japanese from 74 countries, with an average ALT age of 32.9 and average service length of 2.96 years. Interac Network - The 12-month salary structure and shakai hoken enrollment are genuinely better than the sector norm.

Direct hire ALTs can earn roughly double what dispatch companies pay — but those roles require experience, references, and often Japanese ability that you can only build while you're already here.

Jobs in Japan: The Unspoken Role of an ALT in the ClassroomThe Unspoken Role of an ALT in the Classroom

Eikaiwa Teaching

Jobs in Japan: What It’s Really Like Working at an Eikaiwa in Japan

In 2002, the eikaiwa industry generated ¥670 billion in revenue. Nova, the biggest, filed for bankruptcy in October 2007  — and its collapse meant the sudden unemployment of approximately 4,500 foreign teaching staff and 2,000 Japanese workers.

The sector never fully recovered to its pre-2007 scale, and online lessons has had a significant impact on the number of adult eikaiwa positions, with falling demand and rising supply of workers helping reduce wages for foreign English teachers.

Jobs in Japan: My Eikaiwa Experience

University Teaching

University ELT is the most attractive English teaching path in Japan by almost every metric — salary, autonomy, schedule, prestige, long holidays. It is also the most competitive and credential-heavy. Understanding the full-time vs part-time two-tier structure is essential before pursuing it.

Why it's getting harder

More useful articles on Teaching English in Japan from Jobs In Japan

Visas for Teaching English in Japan

The visa landscape for English teachers in Japan is fairly well-defined, with one dominant category and a few alternatives worth knowing.

The Instructor Visa (instructors / 教育)

This is the standard visa for teaching English in Japan and covers work at recognized educational institutions: public and private schools, junior/senior high schools, and universities. JET Programme participants and ALTs working through dispatch agencies (Interac, Heart, etc.) typically hold this visa.

Key requirements:

• A bachelor's degree (in any field)
• A job offer from a qualifying educational institution
• The employer sponsors the visa and handles most of the paperwork

Jobs in Japan: What You Need to Know about Getting a Working Visa in Japan

The Humanities/International Services Visa (人文知識・国際業務)

This is the visa most eikaiwa teachers hold — at Nova, ECC, AEON, Berlitz, and similar conversation schools. It's technically broader (covers translators, marketing, etc.) but is widely used for private language instruction because eikaiwa aren't classified as "educational institutions" in the same legal sense.

Key requirements:

• A bachelor's degree or 10 years of relevant work experience
• A job offer from a Japanese company
• Again, the employer sponsors it

The Specified Skilled Worker / Engineer Visa

Generally not applicable to English teaching, but worth knowing it exists as a category for other paths.

Working Holiday Visa

Available to citizens of about 30 countries (Australia, UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and others — but not the US). Allows working, including English teaching, for up to one year (sometimes extendable). Often used as a foot-in-the-door — arrive, find work, then convert to a work visa.

Spouse / Dependent Visa

If married to a Japanese national or a visa holder with work permission, a spouse visa may allow unrestricted work, including teaching. No degree requirement applies in this case.

Cultural Activities / Student Visa

Language school students sometimes pick up part-time work permission (resource permission / 資格外活動許可), allowing up to 28 hours/week. Some use this while job-hunting, though it's technically not a teaching visa.

Jobs in Japan: Japanese Visa Types: A Guide for Foreigners

Visa Duration & Renewal in Japan

Initial Grant Lengths

The length of your first visa depends on the visa category and, to some extent, immigration's discretion based on your employer's track record:

First-time applicants, especially with new or smaller employers, often receive 1 year initially. Larger, well-established employers (major eikaiwa chains, public boards of education via JET) are more likely to secure 3 years from the outset.

Renewal Lengths

On renewal, the same tiers apply — 1, 3, or 5 years — with 5 years being the maximum for a single period. Immigration considers:

• Employment stability — continuous employment with the same employer, or a solid track record across employers, helps
• Employer reputation — companies registered as "trusted" with immigration (a formal status) can sponsor longer periods more easily
• Compliance history — paying taxes, no overstays, no violations
• Salary level — higher income signals stability and can push toward longer grants

In practice, many teachers cycle through 1- and 3-year renewals indefinitely. The 5-year grant is more common in corporate or university contexts than in eikaiwa.

Jobs in Japan: What is changing in Japan’s foreign hiring and visa rules in 2026, and why it matters

Changing Employers

If you change jobs, you need to:

1. Notify immigration within 14 days via the online system or at your local immigration bureau (this is a legal obligation many people ignore, but it matters at renewal)
2. Confirm your new role falls under the same visa category — moving from a public school (Instructor) to an eikaiwa (Humanities) technically requires a status change, not just a notification

Your existing visa period doesn't reset when you change jobs — you ride it out and apply for renewal under the new employer when it expires.

Jobs in Japan: How to Change Your Visa Status When You Find a New Job in Japan

Podcasts on Starting a School in Japan