Tanglin Actress Jae Liew, 33, Is Now An English Teacher In Japan, Had To Take 10 – 15% Pay Cut To Live In Her Dream Country
For Jae, who relocated to a small city outside of Tokyo two weeks ago, having job satisfaction is a good trade-off. Though there’s also the “serious culture shock”.
No part of this story can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.
If you follow Jae Liew on Instagram, you’d know the actress, who starred in English dramas Tanglin and Derek 2, is a Japanophile.
She visits the Land of the Rising Sun several times a year and enjoys sharing travel tips with her followers.
After three years of planning, Jae, 33, finally “immigrated to her dream country” in early August where she will be living for a year… or maybe more.
“I’m teaching English here,” Jae told 8days.sg excitedly over Zoom. “I started seriously searching for jobs a year ago. I had to submit a CV and go through three rounds of interviews before I landed this one. It’s a full-time job for one year.”
Jae has always toyed with the idea of teaching English. She had a lot of good teachers when she was growing up and this was her way of giving back.
“But I didn’t want to teach in Singapore because I wanted to go to a place where I felt like I could contribute the most and Japan was a natural choice. And my Japanese friends always told me that they wish they had someone like me to drill their pronunciation when they were younger, so I decided to see if I can do this for other people. I took a shot, and got the job,” she said.
Jae teaches “pronunciation, conversation and presentation skills” in a private school in a “small city a few hours outside of Tokyo”. Her students are mostly kids in senior high, between the ages of 15 and 18.
“They call me sensei, which makes me blush every time. I’m still not used to it,” she laughed.
“Things are good. I’m able to bring the energy that I’ve always dreamt of bringing to a classroom. If you are bright and bubbly, the more students are willing to listen and learn. In Singapore, if I teach the way that I teach here, people will judge me and think I am insane,” she said.
While Jae declined to reveal how much an English teacher makes in Japan, recruitment sites put the monthly salary range between US$2.25K and US$2.6K (S$3.06K-S$3.6K).
“I had to take at least a 10 to 15 per cent pay cut,” she said, “but I’m getting job satisfaction from teaching so it’s a trade-off and I don’t mind.”
Things, however, haven’t been so rosy on the personal front.
Jae, who left for Japan after filming upcoming Jack Neo film I Not Stupid 3 wrapped on Aug 4, could not have picked a worse time for her move.
The first thing that greeted her was the typhoon, and she had to scramble to get food, water, and emergency supplies before hunkering down for three days in the hotel.
“My arrival here also coincided with some of the hottest days on record and the Obon holiday, which is like our Qingming Festival, where everybody goes back to their hometown to pay respects to their ancestors. Everything was closed for at least a few days, so if you don’t have a home, good luck to you. And that was me for a few days,” she said candidly.
In fact, she still hasn’t found an apartment and is living out of her two suitcases in a hotel.
“The thing about renting in Japan is landlords have every legal right to reject you ‘cos you’re a foreigner… I think they’re afraid that foreigners might skip town without paying rent,” she sighed.
And then there’s the “serious culture shock”.
As a teacher, Jae is expected to always “conduct and carry [herself] in a proper way” when she’s out of her home and that includes dressing modestly.
“I can’t wear my fun clothes,” she lamented. “In Singapore, I wear sleeveless stuff everywhere. I can’t wear crop tops and low necklines here, not even on weekends or outside of school ‘cos my students might see me. It’s a whole entire lifestyle change ‘cos nobody dresses the way I do back in Singapore. I have to fit in here.”
Photos: Jae Liew
Leave a Reply