For various reasons, I decided to move all my JET Program post to a separate blog, so here we are. This blog is solely devoted to my experience teaching with the JET program and living in Japan. I welcome any questions, so please don’t hesitate to submit a comment, I usually reply pretty quickly.
Note, I imported all my posts from ladama.wordpress.com, and there’s still a few links to change, I’ll try to comb through my posts soon and make sure everything points to this URL.
or “Tips for the 2nd time JET Program applicant”
*note* This post is for people who are applying to JET again after an unsuccessful attempt. If you have done JET and wish to do it again, check out the comment section.
It’s about that time again; the JET application is out soon and people are getting ready to subject themselves to the tortuously long process of applying to the JET Program on the promise of being to whisked away to the exotic land that is Japan. Many JET applicants will be bright-eyed first-time applicants, likely in the final year of their bachelor’s degree, having no reason to believe they won’t get the good news in April that a few short months after their graduation, they will be heading to Japan!
Then there are the 2nd time applicants, you know who you are. You sent in your carefully reviewed application last fall, were reasonably confident you would be selected over the multitude of ya-hoos that apply to the program, and then failed to get an interview. Maybe you still lurk around the message boards, filled with rage and/or sadness as you wondered how on earth all these people got in ahead of you. Maybe you flirted with going to Japan with Interac, or one of the eikaiwas. Never the less, here you are, planning to apply again.
The good news is you’ve already been through the whole application process, which does give you a leg up in some regards. But there’s probably plenty of room for improvement, here are a few tips. Continue reading
Once you’re accepted onto JET, you will get endless amounts of literature both before you leave and during the orientation in Tokyo. You will also hear from your predecessor and your contracting organization. No doubt the awkwardly large CLAIR handbook you have to lug with you to Tokyo, as well as the correspondence with your pred and CO will teach you plenty of things, but there are a few aspects of JET that are, shall we say, omitted from this and other fliers.
Ahead: what is ESID, how well will your JTE speak English, can you ever move within JET, and other miscellaneous things. Continue reading
Here you are, you started your JET Program journey half a year ago, you sent off your application last fall, waited six weeks, made it through the first round of cuts, another month went by, had your interview, and have now waited patiently 2+ months for results.
You finally get the email, it starts off “You have successfully passed the 2nd stage of the screening process”. You want to run around the room and shout “I’m going to Japan!” until you read the next sentence. “You have been selected as an alternate.”
I got this email, and I knew I was suppose to be grateful that I was an alternate. It meant I wasn’t rejected outright, and there was still a real chance of going to Japan. But in some ways it was worse than just being rejected. Being rejected would have meant that it’s over and done with, and it’s time to move on. As an alternate, all that laid ahead was weeks – possibly months - of uncertainty. When will I get the call? How much time will I have to prepare for Japan? What I can’t go? What if I’m never upgraded at all?!
Being an alternate kinda blows. It’s the ultimate limbo, you’re not in JET, but you’re not out. You’re sort of treated like a short-lister (you get some of the same paperwork, get invited to a few events), but at the same time you’re very much not a short-lister. You get asked if you’re going to Japan, and all you can say is “I don’t really know yet.” While short-listers get all sorts of checklists and guides to pre-departure, there is no “Official JET Alternate Guide”.
So here is the Unofficial JET Program Alternate Guide from someone who went through it. Continue reading
So here you are, you’ve spent somewhere between 1 to nearly 5 years in Japan, you’ve laughed, you’ve cried, you’ve been complimented on your chopstick skills hundreds of times, but all good things must come to an end and it’s time to leave JET. Maybe you’re heading to another gig in Japan, maybe you’re off to backpack South East Asia (probably not a good idea in August), or maybe you know in four months time you’ll be on your mom’s couch. Either way it’s time to pack it in and leave the apartment, schools and town you’ve come to know over the last few years.
Leaving JET is as much of an adjustment as coming on JET, and something that can easily sneak up on you. The key is to prepare well and to prepare early. A fellow JET said to me, “Never underestimate the amount of time you need.” Good advice, and I tried to follow it, but that didn’t stop me from rushing around the morning I left. Continue reading
All of us with a tie to Japan have been watching the coverage of the March 11th Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunamis with a heavy heart, and of course we are thinking of those who lost their homes and loved ones.
I’m sure many of you aspiring JETs can’t help but wonder how this will affect the 2011 JET Program. I saw a thread pop up asking about it on a JET forum, and the general response was “How can you be asking that at a time like this?!” However, all shaming aside, I do think it’s a legitimate question, and this disaster will have an impact on the JET Program.
First off, you should probably just avoid asking this question on forums because you’ll just get a lot of heat. Also, no one on those forums is likely to have that information, and if they do, they probably aren’t in a position to make an unofficial announcement on a forum. Any announcement will probably come from the official JET Website or from your local consulate, and it’s best to just wait for this announcement rather than call up your JET coordinator (trust me, they’re busy right now).
At this point in the JET “cycle”, the interviews of prospective JETs are done, and contracting organizations have already sent in their requests for new JETs, so now it’s about tallying how many positions are open and compiling interview results. The notification of acceptance (“short-listed”) is normally sent to interviewees early to mid April, and then placements are decided mid to late May.
Someone on the thread I saw said that since the funding of JET has been called into question in the last year, they wouldn’t be surprise if the JET program is significantly scaled down or even canceled so funds are spent on disaster relief and rebuilding. Now I would say in the most affected prefectures (Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaraki) JET will be scaled down, to what degree is unknown. As for saying the program will be cut nationwide to use the funds, that’s a bit extreme. I feel like that’s saying if there’s a hurricane in Florida, the state of Illinois is expected to lay-off x-number of teachers and send the money directly to rebuilding efforts, I don’t think it works quite like that. The Japan government does subsidize each JET participant to a degree, but most of their salary, as well as their flights to Japan and hotel stay at the Tokyo Orientation, is paid by the local contracting organization.
Also, just to compare, the Kobe Earthquake of 1995 caused about $100 billion US in damage. That year, JET had about 4,600 participants, 500 more than the previous year, plus that was a time when new JETs were still being flown over in business class.
It’s my best guess that the short-list announcement might be delayed, the affected prefectures may take on few, if any, new JETs, but elsewhere I don’t see any reason JET placements won’t go forward as planned.
*Edit*: 3/21 From the JET Program Website Earthquake Page
5. Specifics regarding the future employment and related conditions for JET participants in areas directly affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis will be dealt with on a case by case basis depending on circumstances in respective contracting organisations and the wishes of respective JET participants. JET participants in areas other than those seriously affected will be treated as usual.
So last post, I said I would do a post a week here. But I’ve decided I want to keep this blog kind of focused on JET/Japan/Teaching English (also I’m far too much of a procrastinator to write a post a week).
Anyways, a friend just introduced me to an awesome JET-related comic called “Life After the BOE“. It covers some of the more, well, irritating aspects of being an JET in Japan, as well as the things they don’t manage to tell you during the 3-day Tokyo Orientations. For example:
It’s a fun, well drawn comic that definitely speaks the truth. I encourage all current, future, and former ALTs to check it out.
