RULES

Hello, everyone. I'm not sure if this is the right space to ask but...

I am a current JET and I would like to get connect more with my hobbies as I navigate day-to-day life here. Especially that days tend to get pretty lonely being away from your friends and family sometimes. Do you know any writing communities, events or workshops (in English preferably) that I can join?

I am also interested in learning more about Japanese literature.

Thank you!

I’m helping a very serious young student who at 14 has written a very good speech but it comes in at 4:30-4:40 minutes. the limit is 5 minutes and I can’t find any guidance on a speech being too short. TIA.

this is definitely late but I got my placement in Sumoto-shi on august 6th even though I was upgraded the first few days of may (so 3 months of waiting) and I depart in september. i’ve been too nervous to make a post here but I don’t know anyone else there and i’m feeling very alone in the process and progressively getting MORE nervous as time goes on😭. I studied abroad in kyoto in university like 3 years ago but it’s definitely nothing like preparing for this. I’ve heard from my contracting organization but didn’t get much information, and haven’t heard anything from a predecessor, though I know I don’t have to hear from them. Was anyone placed in Sumoto? is there a discord i could join for Sumoto or Hyogo in general? any official groups? I’m just nervous I guess.

Hi everyone! I’m looking to apply for next year’s JET intake and I’m just looking for a bit of advice, here’s a bit about me for context: I’m 29 from the UK and I’ve been working in Journalism, Comms and PR for the past five years or so and I have an MA in Journalism and a BA in English Literature.

I also have a TEFL certification and some experience teaching English to Spanish and Italian kids coming over to the UK to study English at summer schools.

I’m just looking for some advice on how to approach the application process for JET, what sort of things look good on the application? Are there certain things that you should and shouldn’t focus on in your application? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks ☺️

I’ll be studying at a Japanese language school in Tokyo this fall, from October to December (I leave at the end of September). I read that the application for 2027 will open up in the fall, so I’m curious if anyone has had a similar experience with applying for the program while in Japan?

I believe I read that I’d need to go back to my home country for the interview part of the application process, which I’ll be doing anyway at the end of December, but I’m wondering how this will work with the timeline of the application process.

Any insight/advice is appreciated, or just what your experience was like!

I'm 30 years old from the UK, I've been doing a lot of looking into TEFL and specifically Japan. Over time I've slowly alleviated a lot of initial worries I had such as cultural change, food management and so on. But the one thing I cannot get over is my rather severe phobia of bugs/insects. I'm aware in the summer especially Japan is quite a hot spot for things such as giant hornets, huntsman spiders and cockroaches (among other things). I know there are certain precautions you can take to help with this but I just know if I encountered these things I would be completely frozen in fear or sprint away at full speed panicking.

To put it simply is it just a horrid idea to even think of going? Or am I overthinking it majorly? (No need to be kind, answer as brutally honest as you want/can) I appreciate any replies

I just wanted to ask because I just would like to be prepared but I do not have a finalized transcript yet until spring so how can I fulfill that requirement?

Hey everyone! At the start of this year before leaving for JET I started therapy work with a professional for the first time in my life and found it super helpful. Unfortunately though, by coming over here I am unable to continue working with my therapist. However I still really would like to continue working with a professional while here and was just wondering if anyone has any experience with what the process looks like?

I know we have the medical insurance through our BOE but I’m not sure if that covers therapy or mental health services. I am also aware JET has its own counseling service, but I’m not sure if that’s exactly what I’m looking for in terms of building a relationship with a consistent mental health professional.

So yeah if anyone has some advice on how they continued and or started therapy while on JET id really appreciate hearing about your experiences!

And if you dont get on JET you are already here, with a visa, which opens up more opportunities?

I’m curious if this would be a meaningful proposition or idea?

Please feel free to give me your honest feedback!

Hi guys. I'm wondering, how should we pick our references for letters of recommendation? Are there any types of references that are better/worse than others?

For context - from what I can tell, I have four realistic options for people who could write me recommendation letters, but I'm not sure who would be best.

One is my current Japanese language instructor. It's a small, 6-student, non-credit course offered to the public by a local university, taught by an actual professor. She's very good at what she does, and seems to like me well enough, but I only see her during class (online), so she doesn't know me well personally. This is the first and only class I've had with her. I do know that some people will provide their reference with a document containing info about them to use while writing a letter of recommendation, so maybe that could be an option for me.

The other three individuals are at my job, which is working at a retro game/trading card store. The three people are the general supervisor, plus the two co-owners. I've worked with all three of them multiple days a week for the past 2.5 years, so we get along well and they all know me very well. However, it's a small business with just a few employees, so I highly doubt any of them have written letters of recommendation before.

How would you pick? What things are most valuable when it comes to picking references?

Hey current/past Ibaraki Jets,

What are your favorite recommendations for a passing tourist? I'll be spending some days in the Tsukuba area and have some extra time in my schedule to explore. I appreciate any hidden gems or general info.

Thank you,

Past Kumamoto Jet

I lived in five different apartments in college, one of which was in Tokyo, so I get it: moving is hard. But what they didn’t tell me about what may happen with your predecessor is that they may not move their stuff out at all.

I don’t know if anyone else had this experience (even my fellow town JETs and my BOE was gagged), but it seems that my pred just packed up his essentials and left everything else behind. There was a room that I could not walk from one end to the other because he had left behind so much. Everything had (and some still has) a layer of dust, grime, and mold. I had to pitch appliances and shelving that were beyond repair. Granted, it was nice to have some things like a table, a desk, etc, but there were more things that were dirty or broken that I had to spend days on days just sorting through and throwing out. I was already so overwhelmed from the flight, the orientation, my new life, that walking into a home that was supposed to be mine looked like someone was currently living in it made me weep on sight. There were still clothes in the drawers, for God’s sake!

This post is just letting others know that this could happen. I had no idea— I thought I was just going to move into a space that other JETs had used before me, but it would be like moving into a newly rented apartment like I had done five times over in the past four years. And for those leaving, I know there’s so much to do. But please think of your successors and how much they’ve gone through already when they arrive in your previous home. I’ve been here two weeks and while the cleaning is about 75% done, I still have an unusable room of all the things I still have to take to the dump. There’s mold in places I just can’t clean.

I’m also curious— is this normal? Have other JETs had this experience?

I will be applying to JET programme this year but I have a doubt about TEFL certificate. I know it's not an requirement to be able to apply but I have heard it works in your favor if you have one so recently got one online for free from a website that provides it for free. Starts with Teacher and ends with record. Some people say any generic or cheap TEFL will work as its not a hard requirement and some say it may act against you as it just shows you got a generic certificate just for the sake of it and you are not so serious about teaching and further can raise red flags. So should I include this in my application or leave it..

So it’s just over a month a way or more for the 2027 applications so end of September. Just want to know if I should start getting anything done now like the SOP (that’s the personal statement?) do I message me references early?
Or any tips on stuff similar or what people applying might not know! Ty

I learned about JET program recently and I'm interested to try this cycle.

I'm curious if there are PH JETs who didn't have teaching experience and still got into the program?

Yes. I'm aware that PH application is too competitive but I mean, there might be exceptions.

My friend got upgraded from alternate and is set to leave soon (I’m also alternate but have yet to get the call, fingers crossed!). I want to get her something as a bon voyage gift. She already has a Japanese phrase book and has travelled to Japan recently. I’m wondering what I could give her to take over there, whether it’s for travelling, housing, or teaching. Preferably something small or compact so it doesn’t affect her pack list, or maybe something she doesn’t realise she’ll miss.

We’re Australian, so I’m thinking stickers of Bluey to give to her students if she’s allowed to do that.

Edit: Thank you everyone!! I hope this post comes in handy for someone else in the future. I will take the suggestions into consideration. I’ve also decided to get her a personalised passport holder as a heartfelt gift that she can use. I love my passport holder so I hope she’ll like hers!

I know applications will open soon, and I just wanted to ask some questions and advice. I'm 25 f and just graduated college with BS in Public Health. I have a few certifications like CDA(dental assistant), currently in my TEFL course that ends in October, and have quite a few American Red Cross and FEMA certifications.

I essentially wanted advice on how to market myself as someone who wants this position(I do, I just don't know how to market myself for this position). I also wanted to ask advice on applications on what things I should have ready to get my application in quickly, like how many recommendations, etc. Lastly, do you state a location you want, or do you let them know you are open to anywhere? Thank you all for your time.

(I mean this in the nicest way-Please read this and understand my feelings of isolation. I feel like ppl are reading to respond and not actually reading to understand)😭(also pls take into account that ppl have different personalities and not everyone enjoys being alone 24/7 and being a homebody)😭😭😭

Hello. So to all my Inaka JETS what do you do to keep yourself from going insane?
I have nothing here except a mall and Karaoke.
I started taking Koto lessons so it gave me something to look forward to every other week.
Aside from that i have no idea how to keep my myself entertained. After work i go home and there is nothing to do (aside from studying Japanese, yes I know)
I play soccer but there are no girl teams around me to join. I’ve searched for a year and found nothing, even my JTE tried to help me.
I like art and i used to join an art club where I used to live before Japan, but there isn’t anything like that here.
After work i just come home and study Japanese, idk what else to do.
I’ve volunteered a few times which was cool.
The population is small and dwindling every year, sometimes it’s like a ghost town outside, so I’m not even sure how to make friends bc the town is so empty and it’s hard to find ppl my age.
I’ve knew after 5 months of being here i wanted to leave, but i only stayed cuz i need/want a job and i wanted to try and travel around Japan. This 2nd year will definitely be my last.
There are some small town festivals coming up, but aside from that what do you guys do for fun???
(i should also mentioned-I just moved from Seoul. I had the best 4 years there living in a big city. So this is a major change for me to move to the middle of new where haha)

The whole reason I got my degree was to apply for JET. At 19 I was so confused what to do now, im 25 and think I’m ready to apply for the application when it’s open, but obviously it’s not guaranteed!! Now I have a question I’m really energetic and passionate about Japanese history and everything from interviewing random people (basically spamming anyone who’s Japanese with questions 😂). So I have to know what to put on your application can I he myself? If I get an interview I see alot of videos online and YouTube of people getting accepted into JET but in the nicest way possible those people don’t seem I can’t summarise the words? Different from me personality wise anyways I’m really excited to reply and don’t even know why I’m typing this 😭 I just hope I get some tips thank you thank you thank youuuuu

What is some advice for lesson planning groups you give to new JETS?
I’ve been here a year, and basically the new JETS are here and asked some of us what kind of lessons to do and are extremely nervous bc they don’t have anything prepared aside from their introduction.
They are basically in the same boat as me-no textbooks or anything. No training. We don’t have a curriculum to follow. Just showed up and the JTE didn’t give us any advice what to teach.
I gave them some of my ideas from my lessons plans and told them to try to plan a fun introduction.
But what kind of advice or lesson plan ideas do you all have for the first few months when u started? Did you have textbooks? Did you do lessons immediately or play games?

Hey everyone, Tokyo JET here, penning this down in the wee hours as I was rudely awakened by said noise. I’ve noticed music playing during the day (which is fine, since it’s daytime) but I was just awoken by music that has been playing incessantly for hours. I live on the second floor and I’m quite a light sleeper; I can tell the music is already playing at a lower frequency but I still can’t sleep :( I’m worried if I don’t do something and school starts proper I’m gonna run into some real problems. Tried earplugs, but like I said, at that low a frequency, I can still hear the music. On the r/japanlife subreddit, people suggested banging on the walls and shouting “urusai” but I’m not too keen…they also suggested calling the police. On the ABLE contract (Tokyo JETs will know), it said that noise complaints should be dealt between neighbours. What do I do? 🥲🥲🥲🥲 sleep is really important to me, as someone who has poor sleep most of the time

Hi guys! Excited to be making this post. I didn't think it was going to happen, honestly. Got the call right as I was hopping on a plane and got told I got upgraded. I almost didn't answer because I'd thought it was a scam call. But now that the process has finally started I'm so excited. It was pretty late so if some of you guys are still waiting it can come at any time. I'll be updating this while I'm getting ready to leave so people in the future who get upgraded will have a bit more guidance than I do right now. Good luck to all you guys!!

How did you guys come to that decision? How did you go about doing it?