[Hypiereon]

I agree with the suggestion above - but an alternative would be to try and work hourly farming yourself out and not worry about a contract (assuming of course the piggyback visa is obtainable - I know it is in China). Anoher scenario is to do private tutoring in the home. Again, you'd charge an hourly rate for your services and this way you don't have to worry about a degree at all.

For example, I have a contract with a school but will be doing tutoring on the side. My cheapest hourly rate in China is 60 RMB per hour per student. I'll have 10 students come to my home, all during the same time (provided they are of the same level), and have lessons for 2 hours. That comes out to 120 RMB per student x 10 students and that's 1,200 RMB for two hours of work on a Sunday. If there are 4 Sunday's in a month, then that's 4,800 RMB for 8 hours of work. Months with 5 Sundays comes out to 6,000 RMB for 10 hours work in a month. My contract pays at 5,500 RMB for 12 hours of work PER WEEK. So, you can see how lucratvie the alternative can be.

Even on the low end, let's say I have only 2 students. That's still 120 RMB per hour of teaching - if I get one more then I'm automatically at 180 RMB per hour of teaching. No school will ever pay you this much in China. I'm not sure about rates in Japan, but I'm sure you could work out something similar there substituting RMB for Yen.

Your wife would be the anchor that gets you the visa, and your hourly work would probably get your income WAY higher than you ever could even if both of you had degrees and were working at the same school.