A good fit for me

I was placed in a very rural part of Japan. While it's not the most "exciting" place, I have very much enjoyed the slow pace of life and great nature during my soon-to-be three years here.

As for the company (Interac West), my experience has been overall good. They generally respect my time, and provide a lot of freedom both in and out of work, but also provide a lot of optional support. First settling in was a breeze, with thorough help with housing, car rental, setting up bills, taxes, and insurance, etc. Interac also provides a rather large amount of teaching resources and materials, though I personally almost always make my own. The only trouble I've really had is with mistakes made by the (in my opinion understaffed) scheduling team, but even then I'd consider them moderate inconveniences.

Regarding pay, I'm single but I don't imagine it'd be easy to raise a family, especially in a city. There's also virtually no pay progression if you want to stay a teacher (like me) rather than moving up into more managerial roles, assuming you can. That said, my rural town is rather cheap living, and I'm single, so I have no issues living within my paycheck and can save some.

Overall I'd say being an ALT with Interac isn't the best for long-term, "career" teaching, but can be a great way to have an adventure or a stepping stone into office positions or other work in Japan.