Taking a job with an English conversation school in Japan sounds like a big opportunity, but many teacher have gone deeply into debt to come to Japan only to find out that they won't make as much as they had initially been told.
Take Nova, which is probably the largest English language school in Japan, many teachers report that they end up paying top price for a plane ticket through Nova, instead of the discount rates available from many airlines.
It has also been said that even after coming to Japan, many of those same teachers placed in company housing provided by Nova then get charged as much as double in rent when compared to what other Japanese tenants living in the same building pay who secured their housing through a normal real estate agency.
Figure in several months on probation with a lower salary and also mandatory health insurance also required by Nova, and teachers find themselves in debt, unable to return home, and feel trapped in one of the most expensive countries in the world.
I have seen many new teachers surviving on nothing but onigiri (Japanese rice balls) and water their first six weeks in the country as they wait for their first pay check. Some of them even look more shocked when they realize that any "cash advance" they received from Nova, was deducted in whole from their first check, leaving them very little to survive on until their next pay check a month later.
It has been said that "Nova eats its young," literally meaning that the company regularly takes advantage of its own employees for financial gain. That is certainly what appears to be happening.
Lets put the above practices in perspective. Employees hired overseas by legitimate Japanese companies are regularly flown by company expense to Japan, not made to pay their own travel expenses like new employees are required to pay at Nova. Payment for travel expenses to and from the work location is just a normal cost of doing business that is shouldered by companies everywhere else.
Also many other Japanese companies do provide subsidized company housing to their employees, especially for those coming from overseas, and regularly at rates as low as 10,000 yen ($120 US) a month. In comparison, many Nova teachers mention that their rent is around 70,000 yen ($840 US) per person, in a three room apartment for a total price of 210,000 yen (2,520 US) per month, and their apartments are usually far from the city center where they work. Other similar sized Japanese apartments in the area can be found for as little as 100,000 yen ($1,200 US) per month in total. Even figuring in the cost of utilities, which are included in the rent for Nova housing but with restricted usage, Nova is most likely making a handsome profit on providing housing to their own employees.
After arriving in Japan, many Nova teachers find themselves in debt for at least the first six months. Disillusioned and bitter, many teachers just try to just finish their contract and leave the country. Perhaps Nova likes it that way. New teachers who are not in debt to the company have been known to just quit to find work elsewhere. A few, perhaps the smartest of all, never even make it to three day training - instead they just take the visa and run to better paying jobs soon after arriving in the country.
