Good plan to move Family of 3 back to Japan?

I just want to make sure Ifm researching in the right direction and not delusional. I lived in Japan for 7 years as a dependent of my husband who is US Military. I can understand some japanese and speak even less. Itfs been almost 10 years since we left Japan and what little I can understand is probably gone, but Ifve got Pimsleur to try and refresh. (which doesnft seem like it will help much as it is complete tourist questions) My husband is interviewing for a job at Yokuska Navy base (he is now Non-military) but it isnft a guaranteed yet. (If he gets it Visa issue solved). So Herefs my questions, or rather asking if this would work:

Living in the Kanagawa Prefecture I am estimating that we would need $10,000 US to secure a 3LDK (covering all feefs and guarantor company). Researching rent/size cost it would probably be around 150,000/month. I figured sticking closer to Yokuska would make it easier to rent a place as theyfre used to renting to US military.

IF he doesnft get the job I would still like to get back to Japan essentially as soon as REALISTICALLY possible. We both have Bachelorfs degrees. (Mine in English his in Business) If he got a full time job teaching English (Visa sponsored that he would find from the states first) making an assumed 250,000 yen (Which would be taxed down to 200,000 Ifve read), would that work for say 6 months until something better can be found. I would also try and get something teaching but initially it would be within the dependent visa work hour limits.

We also have an 8 year old that would need to go to an international school which I have read is a few thousand US each year.

Is Kanagawa rural enough or should we branch out further? We both plan to drive and I know I can get a used car for a few thousand US with at least a year of JCI.

If he is only making 250,000 but we can prove we have savings (by bank statement) to cover 6 months to a year of rent would we be able to get past the 30% of your salary issue?

We have savings to supplement the income for a some time, but it wouldnft work forever and it would basically just be filler to cover rent . My main concern is acquiring somewhere to live for a family of 3 off of just the 250,000. Ifve read that most places will not acknowledge income that doesnft come from Japan? Would we both need to work teaching full time (with 2 work visas) before we can find that size housing?

I am not trying to move back to Japan tomorrow and plan to take all the time needed so we can do this properly.Would love to hear opinions and advice on how to make this work smoothly.

"30% of your monthly income for your monthly rent" is just a guideline for people to budget their living expenses, and is not a rule that real estate company or landlord imposes on the tenants :)

So what this is that if as a new graduate out of college someone starts out with 210,000 yen a month salary, don't rent anything above 70,000 or at most 80,000 yen a month, so that they have enough to cover the rest of their living expenses.

If you have sufficient savings that you can afford higher rent, no problem. And in that sense your question of If he got a full time job teaching English (Visa sponsored that he would find from the states first) making an assumed 250,000 yen (Which would be taxed down to 200,000 Ifve read), would that work for say 6 months until something better can be found. doesn't really make sense, because for whatever else you need you will need to rely on savings or your income from part-time job.

Kanagawa prefecture is definitely not "rural" as a whole - keep in mind it includes both Yokohama and Hakone - but you will be able to find not-too-expensive apartments if you avoid central Tokyo or Yokohama. Another thing to keep in mind is the distance from train stations or bus stops, which affect the rent. Also owning a car (though purchase price doesn't have to be expensive) comes at a price, please remember.

About international schools, I've heard of far higher figures.

So all in all, eventually it would be desirable that both of you find full-time jobs, if you want to rent a 3LDK and send your kid to an international school.

Does your husband speak/read Japanese?

Don't go too rural or there might be a lack of jobs for English teachers, and a lack of international schools.

International school would be biggest hurdle, it would be atleast 2-2.5M JPY/year
Another option is Indian international school which would be about 50000 yen/month

I agree with the above poster- international school is expensive, and the cheapest I see for a "western" international school in Kanagawa is still roughly $16,000 US/year, plus several thousand in sign-up fees and building funds (the Indian schools are far less so that could be an option).

If your husband doesn't speak fluent Japanese, the odds he'll be able to quickly change to a better paying job or get out of English teaching are slim. With your family situation it might be good if at least one of you can get an ALT job to roughly match working with your daughter's school schedule, because eikaiwa would mean working nights and weekends. I will say that a family is a hard sell for employers here though- they worry if the child or partner is unhappy the employee will break contract to return to their home country and often won't hire people with non-Japanese families (the legal protections in Japan aren't the same as the US).

Hopefully your husband gets a base job and your daughter can go to DOD school, that would definitely be the easiest thing for your family. :)

Thank you everyone! I'd never heard of the Indian schools so that will be my next research project. I've read that DOD schools cost about $20,000 a year if you're not active military so I also need to research that too.

My husband doesn't speak or read Japanese. The thought behind the better job would be that he eventually gets a job as a civilian with the military. Half of those you have to be in-country for already to stand a better chance. I'm crossing my fingers that since we've lived in Japan before it might be a little easier to find an ALT that is okay with the family plan.

Great to hear about the 30%!!

Thank you everyone! It seems the main hurdle is going to be finding my daughter an affordable school. Other than the visa of course.

Check out below link on school, this one comes with a good word of mouth

http://www.tathva.co/tathvainternationalschool/

Another option is Kawasaki international school. I would suggest you also look at finding apartment near JR Kawasaki stn, it close to both Yokohama & Tokyo and not brutally expensive.
I have lived in Kawasaki for close to 10 yrs and now I am in the US. I have a similar plan (my fallback plan B) when i want to return to Japan.

Thanks for the link and info about Kawasaki. When we lived in Japan before it was near Tachikawa/Hachioji, but I've always preferred Yokohama although I know we could never afford to live there. Kawasaki would be a good middle point between what we are somewhat familiar with location wise and what we are not.

I've been researching Indian schools all day and their philosophy and academic plans look a lot better than what my daughter is currently experiencing here in Florida. The cost is a lot easier to swallow than some of the other numbers I have seen. Again thank you to everyone for that information, I had no idea!