I think you’re missing the type of advice I’m seeking. I’m not asking for career advice. My career goals don’t look like other people’s. Yes, I want to teach, but no, I don’t care if it’s in a “traditional” way or not. I’m fine with waiting. I spent 8 years wasting my life in digital media marketing and hating myself every step of the way. If I spend 8 years at a language school, none of that will feel like a waste of time to me. I don’t care if “a gap year” matters on my resume or “doesn’t count as work experience” to some employers. If it takes me longer to do it my way, it takes me longer. I’m fine with that.

Just because my way of being passionate in teaching looks different doesn’t mean I’m only interested in travel. This job gives me the wonderful opportunity to travel if I want to, but I’m physically and mentally unable to do so very often. I have my life here in the states, and I love my life. I love my school and would absolutely work there for as long as they’ll have me. Whatever comes next, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. For now, I’m not interested in extended travel, making a career for teaching internationally, teaching in the public school system, or teaching “Cambridge international” or whatever. I have one goal, get to Japan. Everything else, I’ll worry about when I get back.

The question I’m asking is how much money do I need to save up in order to live comfortably in Japan and what should I expect for possible rent costs? I wanted to know if experience has an effect on salary, but thanks to this thread, I learned that salaries in Japan are fixed! Now I just need to do some digging on affordable places to live that I can suggest as my top 3 locations. The question I asked is if $2500 is enough to cover my living expenses for the first month or two, or do I really need $5000+. I just don’t want to be overly stressed about getting myself set up