being yellow in japan

this not good especially if you’re trying to teach english or land a job as an english teacher.

the teachers in regular schools are okay enough, i dont ever feel like i’ve been discriminated against in my schools just because i dont fit the stereotype of an english speaker. in fact, i’m often complimented on my supposedly clear pronunciation and easily understood accent (of course, i dont speak in class the way i do with my singaporean friends).

however, things are different once you start talking about being a private language teacher. firstly, it helps to be male. in that way, the older men can relieve their youth by interacting with you, and the older women are happy to be speaking english with a young (and possibly not-bad-looking) male person.

if you’re female, you’re already disadvantaged, but that can be redeemed if you’re blonde and blue-eyed. apparently, someone knew someone else who could charge a steep hourly price for english conversation lessons because of her genes.

of course, no matter what, if you’re white things are going to be easier. there’s so much to be said about being a white person – especially if you’re male – in japan that i dont want to talk about it here again. but anyhow, even if you’re not white, it’s ok if you have a “white person’s accent” – that is, you sound either american, canadian, australian or british* (and maybe new zealander). that’s because it’s the accent the japanese want to learn too.

so basically a person like me is three-times disadvantaged in this business because i’m female, asian (seriously, i get mistaken for being japanese all the time) and have the wrong accent. awesome, isnt it?

 

*: the japanese are fairly pro-american when learning english – they use american spelling and terms, and in some rare cases teachers might even request ALTs to speak using an american accent rather than their native one. however, there are people around who prefer the Queen’s English, and those who do feel rather strongly about it. To the extent that i know of someone who, by virtue of being British, is getting paid 10000yen/hour for english conversation lessons. that, by the way, is a bit more than USD100 or SGD160.