One of the most surprising things I encountered in Japan is the percentage of students having a part-time job. Among my 46 classmates, I can confidently say that at least 30 of them are working after school, mostly at a restaurant or a convenience store. The number might even be higher because I don’t really know every one of them.
Some of the seniors from Malaysia in my area work as a tutor at a tuition centre, teaching middle school students science and maths. Working as a cashier or a waiter in Japan usually earn 900 yen per hour, while a tutor can earn much more.
Back in my high school life (in Malaysia), there was pretty much no one in my class that worked part-time after school. There were just too many tuition classes to attend and too many expectations to not disappoint. The low pay might also be one of the reasons I think.
I’m always curious about the reasons for working while studying. In fact, some of my classmates couldn’t balance earning and studying, forcing them to retake several papers, or in a worse case, putting themselves on the verge of repeating the same class for another year. In my opinion, student studies, and education should always be the priority.
Of course, there are people who have to pay for their own bills, or have to work to support their family, even if they are still an 18-year-old student. Everyone has their own circumstances. Not everyone is lucky like me.
However, from what I see, most of them just wanted to save money to buy things they like, most of the time really expensive things. High-end game consoles, phones, clothes, shoes, fishing reels (yes, the guy on my right spent ¥20,000 on one), you name it. Buying things you like with your hard-earned money is not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t see the necessity.
One of my friends spent ¥52465 for a pair of Eytys Halo Suede Off White, size 41. Woah, how did I know all the details? He couldn’t read the English website so I translated every word for him (except for the T&C). He worked almost 60 hours for the shoes, which is really beyond my imagination. An 18-year-old me wouldn’t even spend more than RM40 for a t-shirt and it still hurts if I do it now.
What can I get from working part-time?
As a scholar who is being paid to study and has allowance enough to travel multiple times a year, do I really need to work? That’s the question I asked myself a lot last year.
Like any other job, it comes down to just two things: Money and experience.
Do I need the money?
Who doesn’t like having more money, right? If you think about it, working part-time in Japan can even make more money than a newly graduated engineer in Malaysia. A foreign student in Japan can work up to 28 hours a week, which can earn around ¥100,000 (~RM4,000) every month, more than the salary of a fresh graduate in Malaysia (RM3,000-RM4,000).
I’m really privileged to not have any problems financially, all thanks to the sponsor of this post, JPA. That means every cent I ever made from a part-time job will go straight into my saving.
If I could save more in Japan, my life would be so much easier when I’m back in Malaysia. I could’ve started saving money to buy a house or start a business now, earlier than all of my peers.
Do I need the experience?
Through doing a part-time job, I can get more chances to communicate with Japanese in a polite and (overly) formal way. It must be worth my time and energy if I get to work in Japan after getting my degree.
But that’s not the case for me. I have to work for the Malaysian government in order to not be in debt right after graduating.
If I were to work part-time, I would surely choose a job that could be useful for my endeavour to become an engineer. At least I don’t see how working as a cashier help.
Of course working as a tutor is a great experience, no matter what my job will be in the future. I am teaching English in my school once or twice in a month too! Even though I suck at teaching!
So, should I get a part-time job?
Maybe I should, but I won’t, at least for now. It’s no doubt that I have the free time to work and I don’t mind having extra cash in my pocket. But I feel like I have better things to do.
I’m still searching for what I really like, and what kind of profession suits me best. Since last year, I’ve been taking courses online, learning about machine learning, web development, CAD modelling and more to come. There I discovered and developed a great interest and passion in coding, and I would love to dive deeper in the world of colourful texts. And yes, I started writing too!
I wouldn’t be able to do all these if I started working part-time.
Is learning new stuff on the internet worth more than ¥1000 per hour? I don’t know, but I guess I will continue doing what I like for now, when I still have the time to do so.
That’s my two cents on getting a part-time job as a student. My view might change later and I will update this post when it does.
Peace.