Jun 23

Free one-week stay for Tohoku JET alums interested in helping out former communities

Earthquake Tsunami, Japan Local, Jobs, Local Government, Return on JET-vestment, Travel/Tourism, Volunteer Add Comment (2)

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I saw the below on the Pacific Northwest JETAA yahoo group, and apparently the Chicago Consulate has sent this out as well.  MoFA and JNTO are willing to fly Tohoku JET alums back to Japan for a week for any JET alums willing to play a role in helping out their former communities and then help spread word of what they saw and experienced after their trip.

This sounds like a great opportunity for any Tohoku JET alums who can make time to do this.  And a great opportunity for the JET alumni community to really help out Japan in a very concrete way.

Details are below.  And you may get (or have already received) an email from your JETAA chapter or local consulate.  There were also two attachments–guidelines and an application form–that I wasn’t able to access for some reason.  If interested, hopefully you can get the documents from your consulate.

Minasan ganbatte kudasai.

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This message is being posted on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan Tourism Agency

DEADLINE for applications to be received by the Consulate-General of Japan:  July 11, 2011

INVITATION PROGRAM OF JET ALUMNI TO DISASTER STRICKEN AREAS IN TOHOKU:

• One week stay to take place within the period of July – September 2011
• Transportation to Japan & per diem provided.

Conditions for application:

2.   CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION

(1)    No limit of ages and sexes.

(2)   To have a work experience for two years or more either as a Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) or as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in local governments in Iwate Prefecture, Miyagi Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture or Sendai City.

(3)   To be able to contact directly by themselves with a school and a local government where they were assigned.

(4)   To be accepted by the organization for which the participants worked as a JET, and to be able to arrange with the organization some exchange activities.

(5)   To be able to travel without an escort from their arrival to their departure from Japan.

(6)   To send out the information such as their experiences of the stay in Japan this time and their impressions from foreign visitors’ viewpoints by various measures including contributions of articles to the mass media, blogs, homepages, facebooks.

(7)   To consent interviews by Japanese and foreign medias, in case they are  arranged during their stay

For full details & required form, see attached documents.

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Additional eligibility stipulation for Fukushima-ken applicants:

For any former Fukushima JETs, who are considering applying for the previously posted “Special Invitation Program” for JETAA to re-visit their CO’s to report on the post-disaster situation, special consideration is being taken regarding personal safety.

In respect for the official US guidelines of an 80 km radius from the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, applications for former Fukushima JETs will only be accepted for areas beyond the US recommended safety zone.