Does anyone know what it takes to open an English school in Japan?

Question

I am a native english speaker. My fiance lived in the states for half his life so he is at a native level. We have talked about opening a small school. Not anytime soon.

Answer 1

It should be pretty easy. I ran my own successful school for about seven years. Paperwork etc isn't hard. What you need is a developed student base. Just think small and work it up from there.

Try to find a niche market and really target it - I really love teaching little kids, so that was my first focus. I operated out of classrooms I rented at a three suburban shopping centres. This had some great advantages. Being in shopping centres meant that Mums could have a coffee / do the shopping while the lesson was on, and there was always undercover parking right at the door. The shopping centres each had a subway station directly below them. And they also added 'respectability' to your Gaijin operation. Kuyakushos (or town halls) also have spaces to use for nominal rent... they sometimes have a not-for-profit mindset, but you can get around this pretty easily when you are just starting out.

Strangely enough, the classrooms at the shopping centres were very reasonable to rent. They were viewed by the management as a community service rather than an income generation space... and who was I to argue !

Some will disagree, but I think you should have the best Japanese language skills you can possibly develop (near native). This will really help. I can't stress this enough. If in negotiations you need to fall back on your partners better Japanese this will put you in a somewhat compromised situation. Parents, student, landlords, services, everyone you deal with needs to be aware that YOU are the boss... if you have to refer them to your fiance for negotiations .. well... you know what Japan is like !

Always be flexible, but super professional; and have your systems and business organized from day one. Have cool business cards and stationary printed up from the beginning. Look at the big operators in your area and how they do things because that is who you'll be batting against. In this day and age I would probably be producing DVD information packages for prospective students. And use the internet - you know how big it is in Japan.

Anyway, good luck. Like all other ventures in life it comes down to perserverance, hard work, and just being smart. I am sure you will succeed if you work at it. And feel free to email me if you want any more specific advice !