The term “au pair” is French for “on equal terms with”, and working as an au pair will usually be an enriching experience since your relationship with your host family will be based on mutual respect and love of children and family life. Au pairs are generally females between 18 and 30, but there is nothing to prevent young men from being au pairs and in fact this is becoming more and more common.
As an au pair you do not require any special qualifications (as a nanny would) or any special psychological training. As an au pair your duties will include taking care of the children, perhaps a pet, doing light housework such as vacuuming and dusting, as well as helping with preparation of meals. You will usually have to pay for travel costs to get to your host family and any necessary language classes yourself. Typically you will work 30 to 35 hours a week, probably with some additional babysitting a couple of nights a week too.
Regarding visas, if you are a citizen of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France, Korea, Germany or the UK and are currently living in your country of citizenship you may apply for a Working holiday visa. In order to be eligible your plan must be to visit Japan primarily for pleasure, and for a specific length of time. You must be between 18 and 30 and shouldn’t have a criminal record or any serious illness. Check with the Japanese Embassy or consulate where you are for more details.
In exchange for your time your host family should:
There are several very comprehensive websites that can help you if you're interested in doing au pair work in Tokyo:
Update 20/03/2008
Babbel is an international success with millions of active subscribers and ranked as the world's #1 innovative company in education.
Learn and review on your own schedule: Mobile, tablet or desktop compatible, with lessons about 10-15 min.
Expert-made courses: Learn the basics or focus on topics like travel, culture, or business.
Start speaking right away: Learn to speak a new language naturally and conversationally.
Every learner is different: Each course is based on your native language and personal interests.
Remember everything: Babbel employs proven cognitive techniques that move new vocab to your long-term memory.
Refine your pronunciation: Practise speaking and improve your pronunciation with speech recognition technology.
Registration with Babbel is completely free of charge and the first lesson in every course is FREE to try (Depending on the language you choose, that's 30-80 free lessons!).
If you want full access to Babbel's courses, simply choose a subscription that works best for you. Buy with confidence: 20-day money back guarantee!