My rationale for wanting to continue in tech is that my CV will not have weird gaps like "took a year off to teach English" and the money is presumably still better, even despite the low salaries there.
Wow, I knew that Japan compensated engineers poorly but didn't realize that China pays well in comparison.
Unfortunately, money isn't as much the issue. I can afford and would be willing to live in Tokyo for a couple years and work on side projects, but this is not possible visa-wise.