1. Hello! My name is Jessica, and I am a 2017 graduate with a BA in Japanese (my minor was Asian Studies) who is currently working as an ALT through the JET Programme in Kagoshima, Japan. I had the wonderful opportunity to study abroad at Aoyama Gakuin in Tokyo for about half a year.
2. I applied for the JET Programme the fall of 2018, after building a background in child-care and earning my TESOL certification at the School for International Training (SIT) in Northampton MA.
3. The interview process was fairly straightforward, they asked about my interests in Japan and whether I was comfortable with teaching small children. I was not asked to do a mock lesson, but I prepared myself just in case. The portion of the interview that was in Japanese went from simple requests, such as introducing yourself, to topics of complex government questions. For example: they asked a question on whether Japan should tax to fund festivals and other cultural events. I struggled to respond but I think even just attempting to helped me.
4. JET promises to cover the flight to Japan, along with baggage transit and flight to the closest domestic airport to your placement destination. However, in my experience, the rest of the moving process was usually paid out of pocket, so it is extremely vital to get in contact as soon as possible with your predecessor to coordinate inheriting phone contacts/purchasing a car and getting a general estimate on how much you should carry with you in cash (card is accepted at many country-wide stores, but the more inaka you get, the more likely you will of run into a cash-only transaction). In my opinion, you should bring much more than their estimate since apartment down-payments are usually much more expensive (gas and electric plus internet and visa fees were some things I personally had to pay for within the first week of arrival) and sometimes you are not paid until quite late into the month of your arrival, which makes living-expenses quite stressful to manage. Definitely budget for unexpected expenses, because they will appear! Almost guaranteed.
5. I currently work with 5 elementary schools, with my contractor being the city board of education. JET has been a great resource for the technical side of things such as sending reminder emails to JETs to obtain driver’s license, as well as online mental health resources. My prefecture (Kagoshima JET) also hosts a yearly skills development conference which can be useful for sharing teaching plans and ideas. As for my contractor side of things, I was fortunate to have people who were specifically there to help support ALTs with living adjustments and help aide my communication with the Japanese teachers I would work with. Unfortunately, I currently have a less-communicative superior who does the bare-minimum to help support the ALTs in my area, so I have had to be on top of responsibilities such as renewing my visa and communicating with my schools about COVID cases. I passed the JLPT N3 years before arriving in Japan, so I was comfortable with general conversations, but do not be surprised when most elementary teachers will only communicate with you in Japanese. Attire was formal suit for the first 3 weeks to month there, while I now currently wear business casual. I go to almost all of my schools within the week, and have classes ranging from a full day (6 periods) to 1-2 periods and the rest being ‘preparation time’. The size of the classes range too! Lastly, I am expected to make English fun and engaging as well as prepare an informative English board mostly about cultural topics.
6. Almost everyone I have interacted with have been very kind and accommodating about my language abilities, and are very appreciative when I follow the cultural norms and routines in school and the office. I have never felt the pressure to work during my time after work, since I usually have enough preparation time to finish my required duties such as lesson plans and English board poster ideas. But, as the infamous JET Programme saying goes: every situation is different.
7. If you feel interested in the idea of living (and teaching) in Japan, then I recommend going for it immediately! JET only has a yearly application period, so if you miss the opportunity when applications are open, you are stuck with waiting another year for the opportunity to appear again. Of course, you can apply through other programs such as Interac and Nova but I stress that the JET Programme offers overall the most support in moving to Japan. Also, if you are studying Japanese and apply right after graduation, your language skills will be much better to deal with living abroad in Japan. It can be a challenge to keep your level of Japanese up when you don’t use it in daily life!
8. I would definitely encourage any students who are interested in living abroad in Japan, it really is a wonderful opportunity to develop oneself and travel around Japan!
9. Many JETs apply for the program with the simple intention to try living and traveling while Japan, you don’t have to be set on becoming an ALT/CIR in order to apply for JET. Japan is a lovely country to live in, and I definitely recommend it for the experience too!
10. Please check out my ALT blog here: The English Board Life of an ALT @ https://j-sensei313.wixsite.com/alt-english-board .
Here are some photos too, I’ve done a lot of hiking since moving here to Japan!
Jessica
June 1, 2022 by Kazuko Suzuki Carlson