So I have decided to return to Canada. Finding good work in Japan is too difficult, especially where we live. We are in a small town in Tochigi about 2 hours by train North of Tokyo. It’s a very beautiful area, with very large trees and some of the best cycling in the world. I’m quite happy here really.
However, work is hard to come by and it doesn’t pay very well. I interviewed for a teaching job at a school that is run by a foreigner. The pay was 270,000 yen per month which is a very reasonable salary for teaching English in Japan. It’s just that it works out to $30,000 CAD per year for what I would consider more than full time. Teaching English doesn’t pay very well. Mostly because the teachers are younger people coming out of University and who want to try living abroad. The average salary in Japan, in comparison is twice that. In fact, you need to make over $60K/year if you want to gain points for the permanent resident point system.
We tried setting up my own school but that isn’t really working either. While it has the potential to pay well, there just aren’t enough people interested in our area.
Zuimei and I talked about it and I pointed out that our current situation isn’t really that good. He is working very hard, six days a week, and commuting to Tokyo. As a result we spend about the same amount of time together as we did when I lived in Canada and he lived here. The whole point of moving out here was to be together and it seems that fate has forced us apart again.
So I suggested we go back to Canada. I am trying to get on with Accenture again and we buy a new condo. Zuimei can go back to work at his own restaurants. The pay will be considerably better and we can actually live together. While I hate the restaurant industry at least we can sleep in the same bed.
That only leaves the pets and the house. I don’t really care about the house or the stuff in it. That’s just stuff. Some of it is very nice stuff, but it can be boxed up and shipped if needed.