Lucrative Music Deal or Japan?

It may seem selfish to even have a decision like this, but such is life. Apologies for the long post in advance. For those who don’t know, I currently live in Budapest, Hungary and am working closely with PDAmill Game Studios, leading the (now small) games team through these economic times of darkness.

Recently, I made contact with a large music recording and distribution company (so huge I can’t publicly disclose their name without fear of retribution) and they are very interested in hiring me as a music writer for rock stars and pop acts and such. I love music and I love writing music. To have a job writing music for a large audience on published on a recognized label while getting paid good money for it would be a dream come true.

The problem is, I would of course have to remain living in Budapest to collaborate with the artists and recordings and such. And I’m honestly a little burnt out on Budapest after being here a little over 3 years. Which adds a bit to the rest of the dilemma, read on.

Meanwhile, my other half is living and working in Tokyo (she’s Japanese). I met her while she was working in the Embassy of Japan in Hungary and we were attending the same Hungarian language school. Once her contract was up, she decided to pursue her dreams and get her dream job back home in Japan.

I love Japan, Japanese culture (including music and videogames, of course), and my girlfriend. I’ve visited Japan at least 4 times and have a decent grasp on the language (1300 Kanji as of a few days ago). Living in Japan would be a dream come true (and being with my other half is an obvious plus).

Unfortunately, to live in Japan, I would need to have a job there for a Visa. My Japanese is not quite up to snuff, nor do I have any contacts in the games or music biz in Japan, so that’s out. Which basically leaves the option of being an English teacher.

With amazing foresight, I actually applied for one of the best English teaching schools in Japan a few months ago while I was back in the states (with a brief stop in Toronto to do so) and landed the job for a teaching position to mostly small kids (like 2-6 years old) in Tokyo… which is supposed to start in the beginning of May or June.

I’ll be honest and say I’ve never taught before, but apparently I was good enough to pass the interview and teaching tests they gave me. But should I really be doing that? Is it a bit of a waste of my skills (as others tell me)?

Taking the girl out of the equation, I am faced with the really odd decision of staying in Budapest to write music for pop stars or move to Tokyo and teach little kids English. I guess the old saying of, “You can choose your job or choose your place to live, but rarely both,” still holds true (I don’t know if that’s an actual saying, but it should be one).

What would you do in my position?

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