Au Pair Agency - "sourcing" from Japan

[DettaWalker1]

Hi there,

we're looking for a Japanese Au Pair and have browsed a few of the agencies website. We're struggling to find one and were wondering if anybody had any experience with an au pair agency that would help us find a Japanese Au Pair.

Reason for this: Our son is growing up trilingual (His dad is half Japanese) but let's face it, dad is too much at work to take the time and properly teach my DS Japanese. Alex is 4 now and while he understands quite a lot and is able to say basic things, he's nowhere near the language skill he has in English or German (which I teach him). We'll need an Au Pair anyway, but I'd want her/him to be able to speak Japanese with my son.

Any recommendations by chance?
Thank you!

It's a long way to come and an expensive flight for someone who will be working for pocket money, might that be the issue?

I've seen some ppl advertise as Au Pairs from Japan without an agency. So some definitely do it, I'd just prefer to sort it via an agency. The flight is between 400-600 pounds, depending on the airline. Not unreasonable I would have thought.

Maybe the requirement for a visa and the money in savings is an issue? Wouldn't have thought its the flights as you do get OZ and NZ au pairs.

Japan has the same visa agreement as Australia / Canada etc have, so I'd be surprised if it was more expensive. I guess I'll just have to go without an agency

maybe it is not in their culture to take time off from proper studying or working to go and do a badly paid childcare job at the other end of the world.

I have seen Japanese au pairs on au pair world. Not many but they are out there. There is a mechanism for them to come on an au pair visa, the last time I Googled it. I think you'd need to consider the homesickness question very carefully given the distance and culturally differences and what you'd do if the ap role isn't right for her.

On au pairworld you can specify languages spoken, maybe search for a european au pair who speaks japanese?
Im sure they are few and far between but you can try?
Also is there a "Japanese in London" for example forum or facebook group you can join and advertize through?

if Japanese aupairs are so rare, is it realistic to depend on them to teach your son the language? maybe you need a more permanent solution in the long run.

You've put your sons name in the first post.

I would also suggest looking on one (or more) of these online sites for au pairs. I found that you have more of a say in who you get that way - and obviously you can choose to look specifically for a Japanese au pair, so maybe you'll have more luck that way than with an agency. We used aupair village and were quite happy with the site. Also I think using Facebook is a good idea, a lot of young people these days look there for host families, so you might be able to find somebody there!
Good luck