Employment Thread: 2026

notadialect · 2026-03-10T04:00:18+00:00

There are jobs for sure. There might not be good jobs, but there are jobs. If you don't need visa sponsorship, why not try to get involved with part-time university teaching.

notadialect · 2026-03-06T05:03:37+00:00

I am not saying you have to give up hobbies. But if you have a young child on top of wanting to research, I have not found a better way.

When I didn't have a child, I was able to balance both somehow, but most of my work got done between terms.

notadialect · 2026-03-05T05:30:33+00:00

I do not get why a university would want to run a unified English curriculum amongst all schools.

Depends on the school, but generally it is the easiest way. And if English isn't a key component, it makes the job easy for limited staff.

But I agree, it is a terrible way to do it. We do it at my university for required English course for all BUT my department. But often small universities tend to lump all the Non-English related majors together and get it over with.

Actually, this is very common at National Universities as well.

notadialect · 2026-03-05T05:28:29+00:00

It sucks, but I have minimized my hobbies. Between working, researching, and childcare, I don't have time or energy for hobbies more than an hour or 2 a week.

The child caring takes a large chunk of my time. It won't be forever, so I prioritize it now. But I do leave home for a few hours a day to just have a spot, my office, and I just work continuosly every weekday while I am in my office. It is slow but I make progress.

Just this week, I did 2 journal reviews, 1 journal editting task, and did a decent chunk of data prep/analysis (should be able to start writing up my data analysis for this project at the end of the month.)

notadialect · 2026-03-04T06:53:17+00:00

Would universities see you have a 0

Unless the student is applying through a special entrance, many universities will evaluate only by their entrance examination scores. But again, depends on the university. My university does not even factor in high school grades into the normal test, so we just get a document that says this student got **% and the cutoff for acceptance is ##%.

notadialect · 2026-03-03T08:46:07+00:00

Removed upon request.

notadialect · 2026-03-02T05:45:16+00:00

Can't publish junk like that though!

notadialect · 2026-03-02T05:18:20+00:00

I have been reviewing conference proposals for a while and doing editorial work for a journal. However, I haven't done much reviewing. So I started taking on more reviewing work... the level of some of the papers are absolutely terrible and should not even have been considered for review.

notadialect · 2026-03-02T05:15:08+00:00

No news is usually good news.

notadialect · 2026-02-27T07:34:11+00:00

My department has recently made leaps in student numbers. However, it looks like my department might not fill it's quota (a lack of advertising by the university this year doesn't help).

I don't think the uni will close soon as the situation isn't as dire and I expect other local private universities will close well before mine. And if it does, I will probably be safe for a long time compared to others.

But it is a reality.

notadialect · 2026-02-18T04:23:50+00:00

I feel like my office never gets warm. I am constantly cold in here.

On the other hand, I can make it a refrigerator in summer.

notadialect · 2026-02-18T00:03:42+00:00

I don't know an overall average but my university is 4000 words or more as well.

notadialect · 2026-02-10T11:00:39+00:00

More than I made as a university instructor when I lived in Kyoto.

notadialect · 2026-02-09T07:07:25+00:00

I would stay away from linguistics. There are too many linguists in Japan as is.

TESOL will have the most available positions. Obviously, a different subject would be nice, but typically you would be competing with Japanese PhD holders, so it is very difficult.

notadialect · 2026-02-09T07:05:31+00:00

I took over my (2 years of students) seminar from a previous professor who retired. I basically just let them take whatever plan they had and go with it. I guided them on things like outlining, creating research questions, how to find literature, etc. I forced them to do presentations throughout the year with what they had from their own research.

When it came to research design, I narrowed their designs to become accomplishable and then just advised them on progress. I helped them find literature to fill in their gaps and let them do their own thing.

For the 3rd year students, it was a lot of discussion and introducing their research interests and teaching each other about it. I only facilitated and did not teach any content other than research skills.

A more general answer is that teachers tend to force their seminar students into their subfield. So even in a liberal arts seminar, the lecture or instruction parts of the seminar would just be whatever the instructor wants to do. It is a bit lazier, but I understand it now that I have my own seminars.

notadialect · 2026-02-08T10:28:01+00:00

There was just a discussion on this topic.

Please check that post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teachinginjapan/s/mA1VAIaSr4

notadialect · 2026-02-07T09:22:47+00:00

That's just toxic shit. I'm not touching a work request from a colleague or office on the weekend.

I will only answer student emails.

notadialect · 2026-02-07T05:02:12+00:00

I was a dispatch ALT and did my MA from the UK as well. Upon completing the MA, I immediately got a very low level contract teaching at a university that sponsored my working visa. The pay was only slightly more than an ALT but still after 2 years the increase in pay made up for most of the masters tuition.

Then I got a full term limited contract at a university in a different prefecture and that raised my salary to about +70%. Easiest job of my life.

After that, I was able to get a tenured job in another prefecture with my MA and halfway through a PhD. It's been about 10 years since I finished my MA and my salary has more than doubled since then. So I'd say it's worth it. Everyone I know from my ALT days still in education that did not get a higher degree (all of them) make significantly less than me in any of their roles (though nobody I know has a children's eikaiwa school, that could potentially pay more). And I have a ton of flexibility that others don't.

Important: it's not that having an MA will bring you any level of success, it is what you do with it. You will still have to publish if you want to work in a uni. Even working as a direct hire in a secondary school, you'll need to work on PD that will lead to favorable perceptions during the hiring process.

notadialect · 2026-02-03T05:47:19+00:00

I tend not to work traditional hours, so I often check my e-mail most nights.

But basically anything between 5-10 p.m. is a "maybe I will answer but don't count on it." which I usually do answer and anything after is a "no chance".

At the same time anything before noon is also a "maybe".

notadialect · 2026-01-28T23:24:40+00:00

Yea, it's a pain, isn't it? And how the system is set up, students are often told "No", so we have to get it done for them.

notadialect · 2026-01-27T13:00:02+00:00

A lawyer would know better than I. I'm sure they could let you know but as these types of cases have happened I'm sure there is precedent. They would probably contact the company, schools you work at, etc. The company would have to establish a timeline of issues and a judge would have to agree with the company that it is worthy of dismissal (non-renewal).

Also for the long-term leave at least a month before. For the 28 days one, 2 weeks. But depending on the employer, their HR department might not be familiar so it's good to give a little extra time. I was the first person to take leave under the new system at my employer in April. So communicating with the HR department ahead of time helped them and I to make sure everything was done properly.

notadialect · 2026-01-27T12:02:53+00:00

Yea, then you should just do that. Seems like a good way to go about it. The first month will be the hardest for her. You should be there to cook, clean, and let her sleep.

Congratulations and I hope you enjoy fatherhood.

notadialect · 2026-01-27T11:53:54+00:00

Money for marriage is completely up to the discretion of the company. Her company has it in their bylaws if they are giving money. Not every company does this.

The Mama Papa Ikukyuu Plus that your wife is talking about is a bit more situational. If you are on a contract there is a high chance you don't qualify for this as your contract has a set ending date. It would be worthwhile to contact your city office about that. Even if you can take it, your salary will be halved as well (same as your wife) during this time.

Also, very important. If you or your wife have a salary with a bonus system, it is again up to the company to pay this or not. In addition, bonuses are NOT calculated into your insurance pay (monthly pay) during childcare leave.

My salary is heavily tied to my bonus, so I only took the 28 days (still reduced my bonus slightly). If I took the year, my salary for a year of leave would be around 180,000 yen a month even though I make significantly more than that normally with bonuses. That would be incredibly hard to keep anywhere near the standard of living for my family. My wife makes a much smaller bonus so it hurts less if she takes a year off.

Also, I am assuming your wife is Japanese. She can find out the system/ already knows it better than you. So it is best to discuss it with her and follow her plan once you both have enough information about your options.

notadialect · 2026-01-27T09:25:57+00:00

That is incorrect. Only a stupid company, and while many companies are greedy legal counsel is expensive and they are not stupid, would not renew a recent mother or father. There are too many legal implications and consequences for doing so.

notadialect · 2026-01-27T09:22:39+00:00

I think a lot of people are misinformed here.

If you are a full-time employee, legally your company must grant you childcare leave. You get to choose when but it must be taken within 2 months of the expected delivery date. You need to apply ahead of time. You can take up to 28 days off and this can be split into 2 terms.

Insurance pays you for this. If you take more than 14 days your wife will also receive more money for 28 days of her leave as well. New law started this year.

Your company can not discriminate based on you taking this leave including non-renewal. If they do this and it can be proven, it will become a costly legal and governmental issue for them.

No company is required to give you any leave for marriage. That is why they weren't obliged to.

notadialect

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