Hey there, my name is Chris Mahmood. I graduated from UVM in 2017, with a major in Japanese and a minor in Computer Science. I’m a first generation college graduate from rural Vermont, currently working in Akkeshi, Hokkaido on the JET Program.
I began studying Japanese at St. Johnsbury Academy while I was a highschool student, and continued my studies throughout my time at UVM. I also had the amazing opportunity to study abroad at Toyo University in Tokyo during my junior year of college. I’d definitely encourage anyone interested in potentially working and living in Japan to study abroad if you can! Overall, I’ve studied Japanese for around 12 years, 7 in America, and 5 in Japan.
I first discovered the JET Program when I was in highschool. Initially, I was supposed to join a school trip to Japan in Spring 2011, but due to the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th, our trip was canceled. My teacher at the time, Joseph Mesics, encouraged me to apply for the JET Memorial Invitation Program, a 2 week trip to Osaka set up by the Japan Foundation in honor of Mr. Montgomery Dickson and Ms. Taylor Anderson, the two JET participants who lost their lives in the quake. I was accepted, and got my first taste of life in Japan. Even though I could barely speak Japanese at the time, I had a wonderful time learning more about the JET Program, exploring Osaka, and spending a weekend with a wonderful host family who took me to a local summer festival where the entire family played shamisen. While I didn’t actively pursue the JET Program until several years later, that first trip to Japan has always stuck with me. After returning from studying abroad at Toyo University, I decided to apply to the JET Program as an ALT as soon as I could.
The JET Program interview was pretty nerve wracking. I got up early, put on my best suit, and headed down to the Consulate General of Japan, right across the road from South Station in the heart of Boston. I’d been there before to get my student visa for studying abroad, but going in for an interview was much more intimidating. Thankfully, the other applicants were all pretty nervous as well, so we all got along just fine. The interview itself was handled by 3 people; a former JET who had moved back to the Boston area, a native Japanese professor at a local university, and a staff member from the consulate general. They were very kind, and asked me about my previous experiences in Japan, as well as why I applied to the JET Program. There were also several situational questions, such as: “What would you do if your team teacher only used you to read from the textbook?” or “What would you do if you arrived at class and the Japanese teacher wasn’t there?”
The last 50% of the interview was mostly just having a casual chat about myself in Japanese, but they made sure to start that portion with very easy questions to gauge my speaking ability. We slowly worked up from a self-introduction and things like “how’s the weather” and “what day of the week is it?” to topics like the classes I was taking at UVM, where I talked for a while about Professor Esselstrom’s Samurai and Film class. I stumbled a bit in Japanese, but the interviewers were very kind and reassured me that I was doing great. About 2 months later (Interviewed February 2nd, got the results on March 29th) I got my acceptance email! A few days before graduation, I also received my placement information; I would be heading to Akkeshi, Hokkaido, a charming seaside town famous for oysters and whiskey in Eastern Hokkaido.
The last few months before shipping out to Japan were a rush of paperwork, packing, and working to save up money to cover my initial expenses. One of the main perks of JET is that your contracting organization pays for your flight, as well as the Tokyo Orientation, and, more recently, any required quarantine when you enter Japan.That being said, you do want to bring over enough money to last you for a month or so, as most work in Japan is paid on a monthly basis. I arrived on July 22nd, and my first paycheck was August 21st. Also, depending on your placement, you might need to make some big purchases, such as furniture or a car. I ended up needing a car for my placement, and was fortunate enough to find a dealer willing to finance a used car for me. Some JETs in my region also make do with rental cars. After a 3 day orientation in Tokyo with around 1500 other incoming JETs, I was off on a domestic flight to Sapporo where I was picked up by my new bosses from the Akkeshi Board of Education.
When my supervisor came to pick me up in Sapporo, the first thing he asked was, “Do you speak Japanese?” While a few members of the Board of Education spoke a little English, the vast majority of our conversations were in Japanese. As staff has rotated around over the years, we’re now at the point where none of them are particularly confident in English. That being said, contracting organizations can specifically request Japanese ability, and the JET Program will do their best to match them with an ALT who can speak enough to get by. I would say outside of class time around 90% of my day-to-day business/conversations with other teachers and co-workers is in Japanese. As an elementary school ALT, I generally just wear jogging pants and a hoodie or t-shirt to work and class. On days I don’t have class, I usually wear something more business-casual.
My general work day is as follows:
8:15: Arrive at the Town Hall, fill out my schedule for the day, and participate in the Board of Education morning meeting. If I don’t have class right away, I’ll work on translating documents or studying at my desk in the Board of Education.
~10:00: Head to school. I use a work car I borrow from the town hall to go to one of the 3 elementary schools I cover.
10:30-14:45: English Class, more on this later.
14:45-15:30: Back to the Town Hall, and more studying/occasional translation work or meetings.
15:30: Head home.
For English class, I team-teach with my co-teacher, Nakajima Sensei. Currently, we teach 3rd and 4th grade once a week, 5th and 6th grade twice a week, and 1st and 2nd grade 3-4 times per academic year. This is a somewhat recent development, as I was the sole English teacher my first 3 years, and how much support I had depended entirely on the homeroom teacher. Some of them were very enthusiastic about getting involved with English class, and some of them just sat in the back grading papers. The kids are usually pretty well behaved, and the younger grades are almost always extremely enthusiastic to learn English. Occasionally, there have been a few waves of 5th or 6th graders that were… hard to work with. Generally in those cases it was more of an issue with the class’ chemistry as a whole, or issues with their homeroom teacher, and not an isolated issue with English. We teach using one of several government approved textbooks, but we also add in fun activities and creative projects as well. Every student in town now has an iPad, so we also use English time to help improve their tech literacy, such as how to make presentations, edit basic videos, or how to -properly- use online dictionaries to look up new English words.
Outside of my classroom duties, I occasionally translate documents for the town’s tourism department, or proofread English emails for town officials setting up exchanges with our sister city in Australia. I also run an eight-week adult English class series every year in the fall, through the Lifelong Learning Department of the Board of Education. I get paid for this, alongside occasional weekend classes for parent visit days, with extra paid time off I can use during the holidays or on days where I have no classes scheduled. This is on top of 20 days of paid time off from my contract (note this can vary depending on your contracting organization.)
Working in Japan has been pretty eye-opening on a lot of fronts. While my own job is very comfortable, it can be pretty depressing seeing how bad work culture is in Japan, even out in the countryside. It’s pretty common for me to drive past one of my schools at 8 PM or later, only to see the lights on and 4-5 cars still in the parking lot. The Town Hall is pretty similar. While I get along quite well with the Japanese teachers, we generally don’t do much outside of work because… they’re always working. Japanese people in general are really friendly though, and once they realize I can speak Japanese they’re almost always happy to chat with me and ask me all about America, or how I’m liking Hokkaido, if I can use chopsticks, etc. Sometimes the repetitive or seemingly obvious questions can get a little frustrating, such as multiple people asking if you’re heading home for the holiday in the middle of a pandemic, but they genuinely mean well. Be patient with people, and realize a lot of the time they’re just trying to get to know you and make conservation.
My advice for anyone who wants to live and work in Japan after graduating from UVM: Study abroad if you can, and make sure to branch out from the foreigner bubble when you are here! It’s intimidating at first, but interacting with Japanese people in Japan using Japanese is an incredibly vital part of improving your Japanese skill. While formal grammar, Kanji, and keigo are all very important in their own way, being able to hold a casual conversation in Japanese will get you a long way, and the best way to practice is to talk to people! Join interest groups, go to work events, eat or drink out, etc. Try to get out and see the country as well, domestic travel is relatively affordable and it’s pretty easy to see new cities for cheap thanks to hostels, AirBNB, capsule hotels, and even business hotels.
In terms of more practical advice: make sure you’re on top of everything for taxes, pension, and insurance. There are many somewhat shady or downright ‘black’ companies in the teaching industry in Japan, and you can find all kinds of horror stories online of people realizing they’ve never been enrolled in Shakai Hoken, or had any kind of tax or pension payments properly withheld. Also, please educate yourself on how dealings with the police work in Japan. Japan is incredibly safe, but crime does exist, so be careful. On the other side of the coin, if you’re arrested in Japan, many of the rights you might be used to in the US do not apply here, so be aware of that and stay out of trouble. Also, make sure to carry your residence card at all times, as even for something like a minor fender-bender the police will ask for it.
On the employment side of things, keep an open mind! Many people out here start off teaching English either through JET, private eikaiwas, or one of the many ALT contracting companies out there. Not all of these are wonderful, but just being in the country will make your next steps a lot easier, as the majority of companies prefer to hire from inside the country. There are tons of resources online about the various jobs available for native English speakers in Japan, and not all of them involve teaching or translating! I have friends and acquaintances working in recruiting, music, PR, business, and even game development out here. There are plenty of opportunities in both domestic Japanese companies and foreign companies with offices in Japan.
It’s not always easy, but working and living in Japan is probably the best decision I’ve ever made. The people are wonderful, the country is beautiful, and the food is amazing. If you have any questions about the JET Program, or living in Japan in general, feel free to reach out to me at chrisjmwolf@gmail.com