Teaching English in Japan with a Beard
A concern for a lot of guys wanting to teach English in Japan is whether they will be seen in a negative light if they arrive at their job, or job interview, with a beard. Japan is a conservative country and can have a peculiarly tough stance on some things that are perfectly acceptable in western countries. Facial hair perhaps a little less so than piercings or tattoos. They are also very strict about what is deemed as acceptable and unacceptable in customer service industries.
What’s Wrong with my Beard?
Japan is a conservative country that puts a lot of emphasis on neatness, tidiness, and cleanliness. The perception of a beard by a lot of people in Japan is that it’s untidy, if not sloppy or dirty. Many industries do not allow their employees to have a beard at all. Some of the main ones are teaching, banking, insurance and sales. What this comes to mean by extension is that if you do have a beard, you obviously don’t have a very respectable job.
Is it Possible to Teach English in Japan with a beard?
In my experience the answer is yes, with a few exceptions. Thinking back over the jobs I’ve had at different English conversation schools over the years, my guess is about 30-40% of the guys I’ve worked with had beards. These jobs ranged from small privately owned conversation schools with 60 – 70 students, to national companies like Nova and Coco-Juku. (I have never worked at Coco Juku, but had a friend who did).
My Experience at Nova
Nova’s official policy was: “you’re allowed to have a short, neatly-trimmed beard, but you’re not allowed to grow a beard. No unsightly one-day stubble.”
What I took from this, is that they reserve the right to call your beard untidy and demand that you get rid of it. But I believe that this would only happen in extreme cases. I should also mention here that one of the area managers that I dealt with a lot had a beard. He was the type of guy who was a stickler for the rules, and it was always very well groomed.
My co-worker at Nova had a beard, it was stylish, but it would have been a stretch to call it “neatly-trimmed”. At his training he asked his area manager (who was American and beardless) if his beard was ok. The area manager looked at him and replied “it’s not really ok”, and after four years of working there he’s never heard anything else about it.
And I’d say that’s generally the way it stands. In the big English conversation schools the policies have been written by the Japanese people at the top of the company. These rules try to create the idealised work environment that they imagine. A clean-cut image with nothing that could possibly offend a potential student. But those rules need to be enforced by the foreign area managers of middle management. The comment from the area manager is a great example of him covering his butt. In all honesty he doesn’t care. But, he’s in a position of authority so he can’t approve of it “on the record”. And his comment that “it’s not really ok”, was enough to cover him if it ever becomes an issue in the future. “The staff member asked me if it was ok, and I said that it wasn’t”.
So, your answer to the question is…?
I feel pretty safe in saying, that in anything other than extreme circumstances, the stance of the company is going to be a reflection of the clients / students. With a short and neatly trimmed beard, you should be fine. If you look like you’ve just stepped out of living in the jungle for a year, they’re going to say something. If you’re on the borderline, perhaps cultivating that easygoing unkempt look. Your direct managers are probably just going to hope that it doesn’t become a headache for them in the future. And that will probably only stem from a complaint or comment from a student.
Of course, whether you should go to a job interview or send in a profile photo on a resume with a full beard (albeit well-kept) is up to you. If you’re by far the best candidate for the job, will a well-groomed beard count against you? Probably not. If you’re up against someone with similar credentials, will they go with the clean shaven option? They may well.
A Word on Small Private Conversation Schools
Working at a smaller privately owned English conversation school might be a different story. They don’t have to worry about providing their staff with a rigid national standard, but it my experience this could work for or against you. It is down to the individual thoughts and feelings of the owner of the school.
I currently work at a small to medium-sized English conversation school in Imabari, Ehime. I’ve worked with several guys at this school with beards. One of my friends and co-workers has a beard which is mostly short, maybe a bit out of control and scruffy at times. The owner of the company has never worried about it because nobody has complained about it. We work mostly with kids and they are fascinated by it more than anything else. But I must say here that this employer is more relaxed than most when it comes to personal appearance.
A Negative Experience
I had the opposite experience in one of my first English teaching jobs at a small conversation school in Matsuyama. It wasn’t about a beard but about my hair cut. I’d been living in Japan for a few months, I’d landed a full time job, but hadn’t been paid from it yet. So, I’d decided, instead of getting a hair cut, a friend offered to shave my hair with his clippers. Now, it was nowhere near a skinhead shave. They were set on the longest you could set the clippers on, it wasn’t like you could see my head through my hair. It was just, not very long. My boss wasn’t angry. Or, at least she didn’t show me that she was. It just seemed totally incomprehensible to her.
“Are you alright? Are you sick?” She asked me.
“I’m fine,” I replied. “It’s just a short haircut”.
She told me that children would be scared and she made me wear a hat in my lessons.
I didn’t last very long in that job. I quit a few months later because of other incomprehensible things she said and did.
My main point here is that if you’ve got one person in charge, their personal feelings (likes / dislikes / biases) are more likely to dictate what they see as professional.
