Recontracting and Life in Japan

ESID.

It's the one phrase you will hear ad nauseum on the JET Program and the frustrating thing is that it's unavoidably true. While your friends envy your placement at one academic high school you will feel burning jealousy once you learn their rent is less than half what you pay. For a nicer apartment.

How you cope with the inevitable challenges that will arise from your placement will determine how enjoyable your Japan experience is. There will be teachers you don't get along with, teachers who don't use you at all and others who leave everything up to you. There will be students who blow you away with how smart they are and others who couldn't give a crap about learning English (and make sure you know it). Your school will be roasting hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter with no happy medium in-between. Your apartment will be the same - no insulation or central heating makes winters without a kotatsu long and bitter.

Everyone experiences at least one or all of the above at some point during their stay. At the end of the day, you have two ways you can cope.

1.) Take it all in stride and try to see the positives.

Sometimes this is harder to do than others. Just like with any job, sometimes at the end of the week you are so frustrated all you want to do is up and quit. For these times it's important to have an outlet. Make some drinking buddies, start a blog, Skype your family back home - something that will take your mind off work. For every week or day that leaves you wondering what exactly you're doing here, there are a dozen others that are rewarding and fun so as long as you can focus on those you won't have any problems.

When it comes to your school or apartment being cold, well you find ways to cope. Heat packets, sweaters, heaters and a kotatsu will make winter a whole lot more bearable. Most apartments come with a heater and an A/C as well (or you'll be able to buy one off your pred).

2.) The other option is to let these minor things eat away at you until you either say "f*ck this place" and break contract or decide to leave after a year and spend the rest of your stay miserable and hating Japan because it wasn't everything you thought it would be.

On that note, a bit about Re-contracting...

One of the nice things about JET is that in most prefectures you have the option to re-contract if you like for up to 5 years (though some prefectures cap it at 3). If you really love Japan and your job (and enjoy making decent money) this is a great option. You'll usually get your re-contracting papers sometime in November or December and they're due in early February.

Re-contracting is probably one of the hardest decisions for most JETs to make. When they give you these papers your "OMG Japan is so awesome!" stage is starting to wane. Things are starting to bother you and you're getting home sick. You miss your family, you miss your friends and the thought of spending Christmas in Japan depresses you like nothing else. This is how I felt when they handed me my papers in the end of November. Welcome to Stage 2 of culture shock.

I knew I needed to see my family for Christmas so I took some time off and went home for the holidays. It was the best decision I could have made. Seeing my family made me feel about a million times better and I came back to Japan rejuvenated and ready to start a new semester. Suddenly all the things that had been bothering me before I left seemed really insignificant.

But I still wasn't sure I wanted to stay another year.

A year is a long time, after all. They have you sign these papers in February when you're only half way through your year. The second half could completely suck. Things could change. You could be miserable and then realize you're stuck here for another year.

Or, you could love it and it'll be the best decision you've ever made.

It's not an easy choice. In September and October I was 100% I was re-contracting for another year. By November I wasn't sure. By December I had serious doubts. It wasn't looking good. But then I had the opportunity to talk to a few second and third year JETs. Guess what? They all had the same doubts that I did. Some of them still do now as they debate whether to re-contract for a third or fourth year. What they told me was basically the same message - say "Yes". I had more than a few recall stories from last year of JETs who said "No" on their forms and come Spring were so upset that they were leaving.

It really comes down to what is best for you, but I would caution everyone to think about it carefully. Can you handle living here another year? Is it going to benefit you or hinder you in the long run?

I have pros and cons on both sides of my fence, but for now I'm going to say "Yes" and hope they ask me to stay.

My experience in Japan so far has been amazing. My job is great, my students are awesome, and I've met some of the most incredible people here. Right now, at this point in my life, I couldn't be happier. So why mess with a good thing?

I'll have another post soon about Culture Shock in Japan and what you can expect going abroad.

Tokyo Orientation

Congrats - you've made it to Tokyo! Take a deep breath, look around and give yourself a solid pat on the back for a job well done. You deserve it, after all, for surviving the grueling nine-month ordeal of waiting and more waiting that is the JET application process. Now that you're here, don't screw it up.

You're probably thinking, how hard can it be? Well, harder than you might think. Picture this - a hotel filled with 1,000 foreigners, most of them fresh out of college. For many, it's their first time in Tokyo and all they want to do is get out and explore the city. As tempting as is to get drunk with your new friends outside the combini and terrorize Tokyo, be smart about it. Show up to the meetings you are required to go to (there are at least a couple where they take attendance).

You are being paid to be there. You are officially 'on the clock' from the minute you wake up after your first night in Tokyo. Absences will be noticed and noted. People have been sent home before. Honestly - how much would it absolutely suck to spend all that time and effort getting to Japan only to have them send you home because you proved within the first 24 hours that you are completely unable to handle the responsibility of working in a foreign country. Pretty damn sucky.

But as long as you are smart about it, there are lots of ways to have a fabulous time in Tokyo. Your nights are free to do as you please, and for those of you who are placed in certain areas or don't plan on driving in Japan, many of the talks and presentations won't apply to you in any way. That's valuable free time for you to catch up on your sleep (because yes, jet lag is a bitch), or go explore Tokyo. Personally I took some time to go to some bars/karaoke at night and to see Tokyo Tower during the day and had a great time. So just be smart about it.

But what exactly does Tokyo Orientation entail? I can't speak for those who get upgraded and arrive in Group C, but those Group A and Group B here's a bit of a run down. The first day that you arrive in Tokyo you will be shuttled from the airport to the hotel by (literally) an army of helpers. They will all be wearing the same coloured t-shirts and carrying signs pointing you in the right direction. The bus from the airport to the hotel takes about 2 hours so if you're feeling sleeping, catch some "Z"s. Once you arrive you check in and then your night is free and clear. You can go out on the town, explore, sleep, eat, whatever you like.

Day One of the orientation starts pretty early - around 9 am if I remember correctly. You must attend this meeting. I can't emphasize that enough. They arrange your seats by prefecture and take attendance. It's a great way to meet all the people you are going to be working with over the next year, as well as your Prefectural Advisors (PAs). The meeting itself was decently entertaining. They had a few speakers from MEXT, a few from CLAIR, the guy from the JET Life DVD got up to do a talk, and they had some helpful tutorials about how to bow correctly and how not to get deported for using drugs in Japan.

(You will be told this over and over again at Tokyo O - Drugs are bad. If you like doing drugs at home that's fine, but do not do them in Japan. Being caught with drugs or associating with people who are using drugs = criminal charges and deportation.)

Day One they also serve up a nice lunch. Ours was a chickpea curry and it tasted delicious! The afternoon was filled with various talks you could go to, most of them based around different aspects of living in Japan.

Day Two is a lot of the same.There is no attendance taken at the info sessions, but you are expected to attend them. There was also a helpful information fair in the afternoon where people could find out about volunteer works in their area and how to get internet in Japan. In the afternoon there are assigned meeting times for each prefecture where you find out information about how you are getting to your placement, shipping your luggage and what time you are leaving.

Do NOT miss this meeting. Attendance IS taken and the meetings are usually in small groups. If you are not there everyone will know, so keep that in mind. Some people are required to fly to their placement, others take the train. It's important to know how you are getting there since depending on how you are travelling there are luggage weight restrictions and super early departure times (I know a few people who had to leave the hotel day on Day Three at 5 am).

Day Three is the day you depart for your prefecture and finally see where you are going to be living for the next year. My advice is to get a good nights sleep the night before and don't show up hung over. My first day I met two of my JTEs and a few other important people so you don't exactly want to make a bad impression fresh off the bat. Be on time, dress appropriately (usually business casual) and put on a happy face. Even if you are hung over and jet lagged and feel like rubbish stick it out for the day. You only get once chance to make a first impression so make it a good one!

Next up is what to expect at your placement. I've been at mine for about a month now so I can offer a few minor insights but like the JET manual says ad nauseum, Every Situation Is Different.

Until next time...

JET Program - Placement

JET placements are sort of like the stock market - random, unpredictable and the selections don't always make sense. That's how it can feel to an applicant anyway.

When filling in your JET application, the form asks you to list up to three placements you'd ideally like to have. Being both lazy and unsure about most of Japan's prefectures, I chose Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture and Kanagawa as my top three choices (though Hokkaido was a close 3rd). I got none of the above, and looking back I'm really not surprised, but what I did get was a compromise.

At least from my experience, it seems like JET makes some attempt to accomodate your placement requests, even if they don't give you exactly what you asked for. I wound up being placed in Mie prefecture, a long, narrow prefecture on the east coast of Japan that borders Kyoto Prefecture and is only 30 minutes from Nagoya (Japan's 3rd largest city) and a couple hours from Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo by train. All in all, I think I got pretty lucky.

Placements can be one of the hardest waits throughout the entire application process, particularly if you're chosen (like me!) as a Prefectural ALT. When you're a prefectural ALT it's up to the prefecture to decide where exactly they need you, so placements can take a couple weeks longer than other ALTs.

I found out which prefecture I was going to be placed in when I received my notification of short list letter in the mail. My response was "Mie? Where the hell is that?!", followed quickly by a Google search. Finding out exactly where in Mie I was going to be living was another thing entirely. It was literally weeks of waiting with no word - nothing from the school board, nothing from my predecessor, just silence. It was very unsettling. I watched the weeks count down, and as each one went by without any word I started to get antsy. Were they going to wait until I arrived in Japan before letting me know where I was going to be staying? It seemed unlikely, but that's how it felt at the time.

I finally heard from my predecessor in the first week of July. They let me know the city I was going to be living in once I arrived in Mie, as well as anything I could possibly want to know about my apartment and the school. I would recommend asking your predecessor whatever you can, while you can. Some are more helpful than others, of course, but I was lucky enough to have a very helpful pred. Some general questions you might want to ask are:

Apartment:
- How close is it to the school, grocery store and train station (walking, biking, driving distance?)
- Does any furniture come with the apartment?
- Is your pred selling any of their old stuff?
- What are the monthly expenses like? (Your pred can give you a much better idea of how much it costs for rent, utilities, etc.)
- Is there anything you should know before you get there? (bug problem? mice? etc.)
- What kind of internet access is available? (dial up, fibre optic,etc.) And how long will it take to get it installed? (My wait will be a month, some are longer or shorter)

Work:
- How many schools do you work at?
- How many classes do you teach a week?
- The names of the different teachers will you be working with (and an idea of what they're like is nice too!)?
- What grades are you responsible for teaching?
- How academic is the school?
- Are you required to work Saturdays (if the school has Saturday classes), or join specific clubs (English club, etc.)
- What is their day like at the school (just so you can have an idea of what you're in for)

Placement:
- Good contacts to know (Prefectural Advisor, helfpul neighbours, etc.)
- Location of good restaurants/bars in the area they can recommend
- Any particuarly interesting touristy things in the area they would recommend

The next big step after you find out where you're headed? Packing and Tokyo Orientation! More details will follow about Tokyo Orientation and what to expect once I get there myself - less than a week left to go!

Getting to Japan

Japan - the home of sumo, sushi and Assistant Language Teachers from the world over.

If you're interested in exploring Japan, there are about a thousand and one ways you can get there. One of the easiest and most cost effective is to work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). There is no shortage of ALT positions available in Japan, or companies willing to hire genki foreigners to teach them.

If this sounds good to you, there are several of links posted below to various companies and helpful sites that will help you get on your way.

I chose to apply through the JET program - also known as the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program (http://www.jetprogramme.org/). The JET Program takes applicants primarily from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom (but I've also seen participants from various parts of Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa).

The only main requirements to get into the program are that you're from an English speaking country (English is your native language) and you have a post-secondary degree from an accepted College or University (or will have acquired one by the time you depart). The program itself is highly competitive. At any one time there are approx 4500 JETs employed in Japan (this includes new applicants and previous applicants who have decided to re-contract for another year). Just to give you some perspective - this past year there were 4500 applicants within the United States alone and less than half of those were offered an interview.

Right. (That was this genki canuck's reaction too...)

If you make it through the interview and are accepted into the program, you're offered a 1 year contract to work as an ALT, usually in a rural area, for 3.6 million yen a year. This is more than enough money for you to live comfortably and have savings (depending on how good you are with your money). The added bonus of the free flight to Japan and home, courtesty of JET, means that JET is one of the better options, financially speaking, for prospective ALTs.

I thought I'd give you guys a chance to follow my own journey through the JET application process. If I'm not successful I've got several other options I'm willing to try, and I hope you will too!

Some Helpful Links:
I Think I'm Lost (http://www.ithinkimlost.com)
Big Daikon (www.bigdaikon.com)
Dave's ESL Cafe (http://www.eslcafe.com/)
Gaijin Pot (http://www.gaijinpot.com/)

Non-Jet Options:
Westgate Corporation (http://www.westgate.co.jp/)
Winbe English School (http://www.tact-net.jp/winbe/english/)
Amity (http://www.amityteachers.com/)
ECC Foreign Language Institute (http://recruiting.ecc.co.jp/)
AEON (http://www.aeonet.com/)