declan_murphy@hotmail.com wrote:
> jj_457@yahoo.com wrote:
> 
> 
> This is becoming more common. You would basically be in a similar
> position to a contractor, responsible for paying your own taxes,
> insurance etc, possibly even invoicing the company for your 'salary'
> (and being responsible for keeping track of sales taxes etc). You would
> be free to take on additional employment and so on, provided/assuming
> you had the time. I can't imagine saving much though, and if I was in
> the same situation would prefer to look for alternatives.

That seems to be about the situation.  Do you have any idea about what
percentage of your income would go to all the things like income
tax/insurance/city tax, etc for a 300,000/month salary?  I've heard a
number of different things, but it seems to be around 25-30%. Does this
sound about right?

Based on the way Japanese engineers seem to work, I don't know how I
would find the additional time to work a part time job.

> 
> Main problem (if you take on the job) might be with the visa renewal.
> It is fairly easy to obtain a visa extension (renewal or with change of
> status) through self sponsorship, but you need to have at a minimum a
> contract with a Japan based company or organization, that has at least
> 3 months left on it at the time of application at your local
> immigration bureau.
> 

My current visa has the status as "Professor", so currently I can only
work at academic institutions or related places.  So I have to get the
status changed before I can work at a company (which the company will
help me do).  My current contract has less than 3 months left on it, but
my visa won't expire for another year.  I'm not sure how the self
sponsorship thing works.  I may or may not try to look into it, but it's
good to be aware of it.

> 
>>Compared to jobs in the similar jobs in the U.S. (where I'm from),
> 
> the
> 
>>salary is extremely low, but as I would like to stay in Japan, I'm
>>thinking about taking it.
> 
> 
> Assuming you have enough savings to last at least a few months, I'd
> look elsewhere for a while. Your current visa would have at least
> another 12 months or so to run?
> 

I have some savings from my current job, but I would hate to have to dip
too much into it.  As I said above, my visa has almost a year left, but
because of the status, it would be hard to find a short-term job between
this one and a possible next one.

Thanks,
John