Is there length with careers in Japan?

[Michigander87]

I'd like to focus this question more so on teaching, is it common or possible to have a long term career with a school, if you have good Japanese skills? Or are they likely to replace you with a fresh out of school teacher arriving in Japan? I know schools defer in preference, I'm just talking in a relative sense.

[nice gaijin]

For the public school approach, I believe the JET program maxes out at 5 years, so you would be on your own to find a school to employ you beyond that point. For private schools, there's no limit to how long they can employ you, although your contract may be up for review every year or few years (depending on the contract). At that point, I guess the question is do you want your career to consist of teaching at an eikaiwa? As long as you're a good teacher (with the bar set pretty low), there's not much reason they'd try to replace you.

and for future reference teaching English, "defer" is to yield or postpone. I believe "differ" is the word you're looking for.

[Mike Cash]

First off, you need to get clear on terms. What do you mean by "school"?

If you're talking about the chain Eikaiwa (English conversation) "schools" then a better term would be "clip joint" and, no, that's not the sort of place one is likely to make a career. They're not set up that way, they don't want you that way, their students typically don't want you that way, and once you get a belly full of it, you won't want it that way either.

[Michigander87]

Im more so talking about junior high/high schools and universities. Conversation schools seem like a pain in the arse!

[Glenski]

Private high schools have their limits, nice gaijin, unless one works there part-time. Full-time positions are usually 3-year contracted jobs (even for Japanese!). Permanent positions (tenured, or sennin) are rare but possible, and one has to have pretty good Japanese language ability.

Universities usually offer 3-year contracts that may or may not be renewable 1-2 times. Tenured slots are also rare. Just to get your foot in the door, though, you usually need a minimum of a master's degree (specific major, unlike most other jobs), some publications, some experience in Japan, and some Japanese language ability. There are usually 20-100 applicants for each position.

Michigander,
Once a person has been here a year, it is possible to avoid visa sponsorship by an employer. It would take hustle, but if one can string together part-time work, one can "self-sponsor" one's own visa.

Careers are what you make of them. I know guys who have been here 10-15 years; some are doing the part-time string thing (on a spouse visa or permanent resident status), and 2 are tenured at one private HS. Dispatch agencies like Interac put people in public schools as ALTs, but do you really want to be an ALT all of your career, plus deal with the hassles of a dispatch agency? Setting yourself up in your own business is another way to make a career out of things here, but that has its hassles, too. If one works for some of the bigger eikaiwa, it is possible to move up the (short) ladder and stay there many years, but I think you already know what awaits you there.