24-year-old American moved to Japan, pays $238 a month in rent

The Chiba Prefecture is positioned on Japan’s jap Pacific coast to the east of Tokyo. It is about a four-hour drive from the nation’s capital metropolis.

“Living in the countryside of the Chiba Prefecture is quite different than Tokyo. Things are a lot cheaper out here. The culture is more respectful, and what you see when you look around is rice fields,” Smith says.

Smith admits she was nervous about shifting to the countryside, having grown up in a metropolis like Atlanta, however it was a a lot simpler transition than she anticipated.

“I really did move here by myself without knowing the language or anyone here. My family knows that I’m a bit of a wild child, and I want to see the world. I’m a free spirit, so they accepted it,” Smith says. “They were a little bit nervous for me, but after virtually meeting my boss and seeing how well prepared I was, they weren’t that concerned anymore.”

Before Smith made the official transfer to Japan, she was ready to join with a few of her coworkers through Zoom, so by the point she arrived, she had already established a sense of group with them.

“I was immediately friends with my coworkers even before I landed there, then they introduced me to other teachers in the area,” she says. “We started going to cherry blossom viewings together and having movie nights, and it became a really cool thing. I also got to become familiar with the train system of Japan.”

One of the perks of Smith’s job was that her employer was ready to safe her an residence earlier than she even obtained to Japan. It’s a one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence with a balcony that rents for 35,000 yen or $238 a month. The residence can be inside strolling distance of the college the place Smith teaches.

Smith’s employment contract consists of her employer protecting the prices of some bills, like key cash —a one-time, non-refundable cost given to the owner when renting an residence or home. Smith additionally did not have to put down a safety deposit, which is normally the case in the U.S.

Her employer additionally pays for her fireplace insurance coverage and was ready to assist her get a automobile, which she pays $100 a month for.

The residence additionally got here with a moveable washer in her rest room, and he or she makes use of the balcony to dry her garments. One of the distinctive features of the residence is that it got here with an emergency bag containing gadgets, like a security helmet, wanted in case of occasions like a tsunami, fireplace or earthquake.

As an English instructor, Smith’s typical workday consists of instructing from round 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Smith teaches 5 to seven courses a day to college students starting from three to 73 years outdated. Classes are one-on-one or two-on-one and 30 to 40 minutes lengthy. She earns about 250,000 yen or $1,700 a month from her instructing job, in accordance to paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.

“The mornings, I really have them to myself. Since I don’t have to go into work until three, it feels like I have almost two days in one because of that,” Smith says. “I love my work-life balance here in Japan. I have full flexibility to do what I want in my classrooms, so it doesn’t feel like such a high-pressure environment.”

Smith’s work-life steadiness in Japan is a stark distinction from the one she had in the U.S. In America, the 24-year-old instructor had to have a number of jobs to make ends meet. She was even working as a instructor at two totally different colleges on the identical time.

“In America, when I was working at the schools there, I would be there for 10 or 12 hours a day, working very hard and sometimes skipping my breaks because the kids needed me and there was no one to fill in. I remember countless times asking other teachers to watch my kids so I could run to the bathroom. It was rough. Plus, I would work extra jobs just to kind of get by in the States. Whereas here I get by just on my full-time job teaching English.”

In Japan, a few of Smith’s different month-to-month bills embrace water, fuel, electrical energy, medical insurance, and groceries, which whole roughly $376 a month.

Smith has been residing in Japan for about six months and says her greatest problem is that she’s not but fluent in Japanese. Because of her job, Smith largely speaks English, and he or she’s surrounded by individuals who converse English as nicely.

When she wants assist with issues like going to the put up workplace or getting an appointment at City Hall, Smith enlists the assistance of her boss to do all the interpretation.

Though Smith is having fun with her time in Japan, she already is aware of she is going to transfer again to Atlanta on the finish of her one-year contract.

“There is a big part of me that does want to stay longer than a year in Japan, but there’s so much of the world to see. As much as I love Japan, I can’t wait to also expand myself to see the rest of the world as well,” Smith says. “I miss my family. We’re really close-knit, so it’s hard being 7,000 miles away from them, but also being a Southern girl, I miss my soul food so much. Japan’s food is great, but there’s nothing like a good collard green at the end of the day.”

Smith nonetheless is not positive what she’ll do when she strikes again to the U.S., however is contemplating pursuing a graduate diploma or a return to instructing.

“I’m not quite sure what the future holds for me, but I’m excited to take whatever path it has,” she says.

One manner that Smith is ensuring she will get probably the most out of her expertise residing in Japan is by documenting her journey on social media, which is she began doing three months after relocating.

“I decided to start sharing my experience because people don’t know what regular life is like. I feel that Tokyo gets a lot of viewership, but all of Japan isn’t Tokyo. A lot of us live in the countryside and live regular lives, and I wanted to share that with the world. A lot of people are thinking about leaving the States and I wanted to share my perspective on it too,” Smith says.

“As a black woman and as a young person who might not have their whole life figured out quite yet, I wanted to inspire people that they can do whatever they want to do. I love building more of a community of expats.”