pepto

Yeah, I watched it fall all day. I am cringing because the savings that I sent home recently are decreasing in value in yen (which is 'real' terms to me), oh well, no point crying over spilt milk I suppose. My European customers are giving me hell today as well because our prices are fixed in yen and the exchange rate is killing them.

I'm 28 and I've got 14500 pounds in student loans to pay back, but have got about 12000 pounds in savings. I'm living abroad and have been earning under the minimum wage required to pay back to the SLC for the majority of my time here. I'm going to have to start making payments soon though, but they won't even cover the interest! I studied engineering at uni but after a gap year working in a lab knew that I wasn't cut out to be a scientist. Now I'm working in Sales and Marketing, which is completely unrelated to my degree, but I don't regret my times as a student. I had been thinking of moving home but to be honest, with all the crap that's going on I'm in half a mind to never come back!

While it may be true that Japan is ahead in some aspects (high speed internet, mobile phone technology etc.), there are others where they seem almost 50 years behind. I had a stint in the hospital last year and the place was falling apart. There were no doctors 'rooms', the only thing separating you from the waiting room during a check up was a curtain. The toilet on my ward had tiles missing from some sections of the walls, and the ceilings and general decor was in a terrible state and looked like it hadn't been renovated in literally decades. To top it off, the doctors were unable to perform the operation in the way that I asked, a simple technique that has been standard in the west for nearly a decade. Needless to say I wasn't impressed. Also, although the transport system is world famous for the high speed Shinkansen train that is always on time, the road system is a joke and seems to have been designed by children. Signals everywhere, new multi million dollar roads and bridges being built with only 1 lane in each direction, new roads being built through mountainous areas where nobody lives...the list goes on and on. Japan is a very strange place, and the general view from the outside is that it is a very organized country where everyone follows the rules. In reality, in places it is one of the most disorganized countries I've ever been to, and a place where it is ok to bend the rules if a) no one sees you do it and/or you are an ojisan (a middle aged man of around 50 or older). Ok, rant over There are a lot of good things about Japan too, its just that a lot of people in the west are confused about how things work over here.

For the original poster- It looks like Spain might actually be a bad choice- http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/cont...ws+%2B+analysis Sure, the sun will be shining every day but that won't make up for the fact that the economy will be in an even worse state than back home in Blighty.

Of course everywhere will be in trouble, but I'm really hoping that Japan doesn't have to eat as much of a sh!t sandwich as the UK and US. The area I live in already has the highest unemployment and lowest salaries in the whole country

Bump for Tokyoexpat

Ah only just noticed your reply, sorry for the delay getting back to you. I am down in Okinawa, and I've been here the whole of my time in Japan. I came out here on the JET programand after that started working at a (Canadian) friends company. Been living with my girlfriend down here for the last 2 years but no kids yet There are a lot of advantages to being out here, and when the economy was booming back home I actually felt like I was missing out (having a Masters in Engineering I could have been earning double my Japanese salary). Of course, being away so long I had absolutely no idea that what was fueling the economy (and the high wages etc) was basically all a lie, and I being in Japan while the sh!t hits the fan back home really makes the good things seem even better over here. You've managed to save up a fair bit there, in another few years it might be enough to buy yourself a place outright back home. Can you really see yourself moving back though? Lately, I've been asking myself that question more and more everyday. It is still 30 degrees here every day, and life seems to be so much cheaper. My plan was to spend my savings and do an MBA back in Europe or possibly in Singapore, allowing me to leverage my international experience with a strong business education. This was mainly brought on by the shock I had last year when I went home and saw how expensive everything was. If I went back with the other half, her non-native English level would limit her employment prospects considerably and I really feel that going back into a job of 30,000 pounds a year (as good as that is) just wouldn't support us. Of course, with the current situation coming to a head, the loan I would need for the MBA is seeming like it would be less likely, and the rising world unemployment that is already coming would mean that a good job after graduating is far from a sure thing. Not nice after investing 500-800 man on education! So...I'll probably sit here for another year and see how it all plays out. The g/f can continue working and save more money too, and hopefully my job will be secure enough to see me through. If not, I've got my unemployment insurance that will pay me 80% of my salary for 6 months after being out of work for 3 and that seems infinitely better than going back home and being on the dole! With your degree, I'm assuming that you are into translation? That must still be doing pretty well, I hope that your job isn't affected too much. My conversational Japanese is passable, but my reading and writing is terrible! That reminds me, I'm taking 3-kyu this December, got to learn those 400 or so kanji soon! I really should be better but all of my suppliers and customers are outside Japan so I use English all day at work. Sorry for posting all this in this thread, any idea when I can start using private messages?

The Nikkei actually had a 300 point jump in the last hour and ended up 1%.

Forgot to chip in on student loans. Due to the stupidly over valued pound over the last few years my pretty decent salary has been below the 15,000 pound payback threshold. Due to the pound crashing and a recent payrise I am now earning over the limit, but only enough to make my yearly payments about 400 quid. That won't even cover my interest at this point! The student loans are only valid for 25 years, after which they are canceled. I have a link somewhere at home, I'll edit this post later to include it. That only leaves 19 years left for me then Of course, by then the interest will have amounted to more than the original loan and hopefully I will be earning more.

I've been living in Japan for close to 5 1/2 years now and as with everything there are +ves and -ves. The main thing that I like about where I live is the safety and lack of crime. I don't live in a big city, but I am very close to a metropolitan area with about 400,000 people, and I have at no point ever felt unsafe or threatened. I leave my windows open all day (ok, I'm on the third floor), and I have left the house for half a day with the door unlocked and 3000 pounds in cash stashed away in a drawer, it really is that safe here. After going to University in a big Northern city in the UK, getting mugged and constantly having to worry about scallies (or chavs or whatever you call them in your area) everyday you would not believe how nice it is to be able to walk down the street at any time of day or night without having to worry about your personal safety. The weather where I live is also good all year round (summer high 34 degrees, winter low 10 degrees) and even though we have a rainy season, it is concentrated into about a 1 month period, a bit like sunny weather in the UK. Cost of living where I live is also pretty low, but then again so are wages. Still, I manage to save every month so my bank account is always growing. My 1000 sq ft apartment costs 400 pounds a month and I've got a view of the sun setting over the Ocean every evening. I enjoy sitting on the balcony reading a book if I get home from work early enough. The community centre next door blasts music at 6 and 7.30 in the morning though (even on weekends) and in between the local OAPs do their morning exercises with the radio on at crazy volume. There seem to be no noise pollution laws here, only regulations that the local government can't actually enforce something that drives me absolutely nuts sometimes, but its still better than having your car window smashed outside your house I suppose. The worst thing for me is how difficult it is to cross the culture gap and make friends with Japanese. Despite speaking the language pretty well now, it seems nigh on impossible to meet anyone that could actually be a real friend. A lot of people want to meet up now and again to introduce you to their friends, but this seems to be just so that they can show off that they've got a 'foreign friend', and usually that is as far as the relationships go. Also, most of the expats out here are only around for 1-3 years so I can actually count my "mates" out here on 1 hand. This situation has been a driving force for me to get up and leave, but with the current sh!tstorm going on I am growing more and more concerned that moving back to Europe would be a mistake and staying out here a few more years might be a good idea. For the OP- I moved out here after university and I had very few responsibilities, making it an easy decision for me. As it turns out, I am glad that I made the choice I did because I missed out on half a decade of stupidity and over spending which has now ended up with what is likely the biggest economic crisis the world has ever seen. You have a lot more responsibility, and with that comes a lot more risk. Please think carefully about where you are moving to because the changes in your life style can really take some getting used too, for you and your family.

Well, I am a 'JPY worker', although not average because we sell our products mainly outside Japan. Although from a personal point of view I am happy that the yen I earn is now worth more in pounds, it means that like many Japanese companies our margins are lower (f not non existent) compared to a few years ago. If I can keep my job for the next few months then I think that I will be ok (and will hopefully do well with the strong yen), but we will have to see how things go. The way it is now, things seem to be slowing down a bit here, and people seem to be taking note of what is actually going on. Fingers crossed we can avoid the worst of what is happening, fingers crossed...

So how much of a fall is expected? I'm in Japan and stupidly sent home about 1 million yen @180 on the pound and got 5500 pounds out of it earlier in the week. The reason I sent it home has now become a lot less urgent and I'm wondering if I should get it sent back first thing on Monday. I'd lose a couple of hundred quid, but things have changed and there is no need for it to be there any more and if the pound falls further it will probably take a long time to gain back the lost ground. I know that the main focus is on the pound/dollar, but how far can we expect it to go against the yen?

I actually sent some money home from Japan 2 days ago because the rate had dropped from the stupidly high 250 yen/ pound of last summer. I got 180 yen, and its already down to 166. With the Nikkei crashing just as much as the FTSE I thought that the yen would have to give some too, but it is holding strong. Looking back, it was probably not the wisest thing I've ever done, but if I bring it back to Japan now I'll be about 10% down. I was expecting it to fall a little more but now it looks like it won't be worth anything in a few months. Its not needed for the reason that I sent it back now, so what do you reckon? I sent it to Barclays, which is looking in pretty bloody bad shape today.

It all depends on the school that you are attending, a LOT of it is based on the schools reputation, whether the school is ranked etc. There are lots of rankings, and all tell a slightly different story. The Financial Times ranking apparently 'adjusts' the reported graduate salaries by Purchasing Power Parity to make it an even playing field between say Harvard and IBS in India. http://rankings.ft.com/global-mba-rankings As you can see, the reported average salary for the top 10 schools is WAY up there. The Business Week rankings show the actual reported salaries of the graduates from that year. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/ You can select Full Time or Part time programs, click on the School name and find the reported salaries under the 'Alumni Affairs and Careers' section. For example, the mean salary of the students who graduated in 2006 from Insead was $106,000 and the top recruiter was Mcinsey & Co. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ranki...les/insead.html For Warwick Business school, the average salary reported was $94,000 and the top recruiter was Johnson & Johnson. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/ranki...es/warwick.html You can also download career reports from a lot of business schools. Insead's one is the most detailed one I've seen and it breaks down the data by job sector, country, continent etc. This is the school that I am aiming to apply for, or at least was. All this economic mess has made me completely second guess myself. My main reason for doing an MBA is that I want to solidify the business knowledge that I've learned in my last 3 years of work and also because I want to make a change in career without starting out at the bottom of the ladder again. I looked up Heriot-Watt and even though its not a top ranked MBA program, the University is ranked in the top 5 in Scotland and will probably be recognized by local businesses. While it may not give you a 40% jump in salary, it will give you a good business foundation and will help you make a move to upper management if or when you want to. It would also be a good addition to your CV if the worst happens and you find yourself looking for another job. On the other hand, if you are already doing well for yourself and are advancing up through the ranks or have your own company that is doing well then you may feel that a part time MBA will be a waste of time.

Hi and thanks for the comments. Under 'normal circumstances' (by which I mean the last 10 years or so...which have actually been far from normal ), the average MBA graduate gets around 50,000 pounds salary if they go to a reputable school. If they go to a 'brand name' school then there is a good chance that the salary will be even higher. If I was doing an MBA that cost 10k, then to be honest I wouldn't really expect much from it except learning the basics. Of course, the higher level schools cost even more (35k for Oxford/Cambridge, 45k for London Business School just in tuition alone ) but traditionally these extra costs have paid off because just like okonu said earlier, it will not necessarily be what you learn but who you meet and what doors will be opened by graduating from there. Anyway, that has been the situation over the last 10 years or so, and even then I would have been a little nervous about incurring that much more debt. This is why I have posted in this thread, to ask people's opinions on my situation. Now, with the current economic situation, of course I am very nervous about my decisions and will likely wait at least another year to see if things improve. One advantage (for me at least) that I am seeing at the moment is that the western currencies are crashing and the yen is becoming stronger, which means that my savings will actually go further if I do decide to move back. Your idea of doing a part time MBA is a good one, but I am not too optimistic about moving back to the UK and finding a job with a company that will sponsor me. My only option in Japan is to apply for a transfer to Tokyo where the cost of living is 30-40% more than where I live, and fund a 2 year part time MBA myself. Even this will cost 20.000 pounds, although if things keep getting progressively worse it may be the way that I go. Your point about University Professors being 'washed up' might be true for an MBA course that costs 10k and is from XYZ ex polytechnic university, but for the top schools the teaching staff are for the most part experts in their field with industry experience- http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/ http://www.express.be/management/nl/other/...-brown/4675.htm http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/facu...iles/jlarreche/ I would think that the Chief Economist at Google, former Director at ReckittBenckiser and former high flyer at PricewaterhouseCoopers would be more qualified to teach about business than the workers at the local market. They have already earned a bucket load of money, and I'm sure that the Business Schools have to pay them a pretty penny for their services...and that is why it costs so bloody much to go to these schools.

okonu, thanks for the advice. Staying in Asia is definitely the way I think I'm going to go, and to be honest it will probably be a lot better for me if I can stick it out in my current job for another year. From the research that I've been doing, INSEAD does seem to be an excellent business school and I am eyeing the January 2010 intake which will end up with me graduating in December of the same year. Hopefully by then things will have bottomed out and will be on the rise again. I agree that a big part of doing an MBA is who you meet, not what you learn, but I will definitely benefit from the solid business foundation that they will teach. As I said earlier, my main worry with this situation is how robust the Asian economies are (especially Singapore) and how the job markets will be looking in 2 years time. May I ask where in Asia you are?

Hello All, This is my first post although I've been one of the many anonymous guests viewing this site for a while now. This thread is very interesting to me because it is directly related to my current situation. Back in 2003 I graduated with a 2.1 M.Eng degree from a very good Uni. and decided to come over to Japan to teach English for a year to have some fun after my tough final year of studies and to get a bit more international experience. Well, that was 5 and bit years ago and after 2 years of teaching and 3 years working at a local company (international sales, dealing with manufacturers in China and general management) I've been getting itchy feet and have been thinking about packing up shop and leaving. Last summer I went back to Blighty for the first time in 3 years and I had one hell of a shock. A lot of my Uni friends who I graduated with were earning 50-60k, living in posh flats in London/Bristol and even the ones who hadn't done so well were driving a trophy Audi/BMW (bought on credit of course). I couldn't believe how opulent the whole country had become and after looking at house prices I actually became a bit depressed. I worked out that even if I came back and got a job earning 35k a year, I wouldn't even be able to buy a new build in my small, rural hometown, where the average wage must be about 16k. Due to the strength of the pound (245 yen last summer) I've been earning below the 15,000 pounds a year that is required for me to have to start paying back my student loans (about 14000 pounds). With the recent crash of the pound, and a slight increase in my salary I'm now earning slightly more in pounds so I'll have to start paying it soon, but only 400 pounds a year which is very doable but with the recent hike in the interest rate will barely keep my balance at the same level. Despite not paying back my loans, I live a very simple life here in Japan and after saving my pennies for the last few years, have nearly got enough to pay off all my student debt in one go. I've seriously been considering investing that money in more education and have been looking to leave Japan and enroll in an MBA program. Until recently, the thought of spending all my savings and taking on more debt didn't seem too crazy as the average salaries of the MBA graduates from the schools that I've been aiming for are between 45 and 65k. This would allow me to easily pay off both my original student loans and any other loans within 5 -6 years by my calculations, and then be in a stronger position to earn more in the future. However, with the current economic situation and articles like the one at the top of this thread I am now getting cold feet and becoming really nervous about a decision I thought that I had already made. One option is to stay in my current job, ride out the storm (although we may be affected heavily as the majority of our customers are in Europe and the States). I really am not happy with my work any more though, and the job prospects for me aren't good because I already earn more than most people my age in this area. On the other hand, I could come home anyway, do the MBA and hope that things will work out. Probably not a good idea... Another choice would be to go back to school somewhere in Asia, there is a school in Singapore that will offer me permanent residency if I graduate from there. The low tax rates there would also allow me to pay off the 35,000 pounds (OUCH ) tuition a lot quicker upon graduation. I could then ride out the storm in Asia and then think about heading home to the UK once things get back on track. My main worry here is that the knock on affect of the problems in the west will also cause havoc out here in the east. Sorry for the long first post, I've been reading here for a long time and I respect the opinions of a lot of people on here. Most of my foreign (i.e. English speaking) friends out here have no ideas about leaving Japan in the near future and so aren't really very interested in my situation. My Japanese friends seem completely oblivious to what is happening overseas. Any insight/advice would be much appreciated