Nov 22

New JET Alum China-Chinese Connection group on LinkedIn

With the economic rise of China, there are an increasing number of JET alums who live in China, do work related to China, have an interest in China or speak or want to learn Chinese.  On top of this, there are already a number of JET alums who have a connection to Chinese culture.

As a way to connect JET alums and friends of JET who share this connection, there’s now a new LinkedIn group you can join called:

JET Alum China/Chinese Connection.”

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3691966

This admittedly awkwardly-named group is an attempt to encompass all of the above and create a way to help each other out in various ways.  For example…

  • You’re planning a trip to China or want to work in China and want to find other JET alums there to talk to in advance.
  • You live in China and want to link up with other JET alums, or better yet, start a JETAA chapter there
  • You want to learn Chinese and learn about creative study approaches for people who aren’t intimidated by the whole “kanji” thing
  • You’re just curious about the intersection of JET alums and China

Nov 18

No Bubble, Just ROCK!!! Vol. 2

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

Take a break, and listen to some Rock & Roll, primate!


Nov 9

JET Alumni Translators and Interpreters Group on LinkedIn

I just set up a long overdue JET Alumni Translators & Interpreters Group on LinkedIn:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3676490

A great way to connect with other JET alum translators and interpreters and share and collaborate on work opportunities as well.

(FYI, I’ve maxed out the number of groups I can create on LinkedIn.  So if you have another idea for a JET alum affinity group, go ahead and set it up and I’ll publicize it.  Because I can’t create any more of these.)


Nov 8

Looking for a job in Tokyo (or Japan)? JETAA Tokyo can help

If you’re looking for work in Tokyo (or even in Japan in general), a good place to start is the JETAA Tokyo website where you can sign up for their monthly digest, including job listings and career support activities.

Here’s the link:  www.jetaa-tokyo.org

Have a job listing you want to get out to the JETAA Tokyo community, or a career-related inquiry?  Email career@jetaa-tokyo.org.


Nov 8

JET Alumni Travel and Tourism group on LinkedIn

Do you work in the travel industry?  Run a tour business?  Write about travel?  Own a business that caters to tourists in Japan or your home country?

Now you can join the JET Alumni Travel & Tourism group on LinkedIn to connect with other JET alumni in the field.  Additionally, this group will be a place where opportunities for business can be shared and disseminated.

Here’s the link to join:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3675074


Oct 29

JETAA DC Career & Graduate School Forum – Monday Nov 8 & Wed Nov 10

The Career & Graduate School Forum sponsored by JETAADC, the Embassy of Japan and CLAIR New York, will take place on Monday, November 8 and Wednesday, November 10 at the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, DC (Chinatown). Whether you are a JET Alumni, Friend of a JET, or work at an organization that has hired JETs in the past – all are welcome to attend and participate in the Career Forum.

Please visit the Event Homepage for more information and to RSVP! ( http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=mpyot6dab&oeidk=a07e31ooteo0117d03a)

  • Monday, November 8th, 2010

Resume-Writing Workshop with Beth Colley
This two-hour workshop will cover how to build out your resume, with specific focus on the JET Program for both Careers and Graduate School.

  • Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Panel Discussion: “Careers and Graduate School after JET”
Networking Reception
to follow from 7PM to 9PM.
Food, wine, beer, and other refreshments will be served. We are actively seeking out companies or organizations that hire JET Alumni to participate. If you or someone at your company is interested in attending, please contact Leigh Ann at outreach.dc@jetalumni.org. If you are not a JET Alumni but receiving this message, please sign up as a Non-Member (FOJ) and receive a $5.00 discount off the standard registration fee!

  • Registration

JETAADC* Member: $10 (for both events), $5 for one event
JETAADC Non-Member (FOJs): $15 (for both events), $10 for one event
*All JETAA Members may register at JETAADC Member price listed above.


Oct 28

Career: Top 5 Reasons Ex-JETs Make Great Entrepreneurs

The below article is taken from the JETAA UK‘s excellent website.  The author is Vanessa Villalobos who serves as JETAA UK’s Communications Officer and who is also the founder and publisher of JapaneseLondon.com, a lively and helpful website dedicated to all things Japanese within London.

When I returned to the UK after 3 years on the JET Programme I was, at first, concerned that JET had effectively ruined my career prospects. In Japan, it seemed, I had developed a rather different kind of approach to work than my non-travelling peers. Years later, I now see how brilliantly my experience in Japan prepared me to start out on my own…

In fact, I now firmly believe that the unique characteristics of the JET programme provide entrepreneurial types with a solid, practical advantage by honing their unique skills. Just to clarify, by ‘entrepreneurs’ I mean any freelancers, sole-traders, business owners, designers, artists, journalists, writers, bloggers, online workers, general creative types, consultants, and career 2.0 designers. JET sets you up to blast off! And here are my top 5 reasons why:

1) JETs are Risk-Takers

The JET Programme attracts people who don’t mind jetting off (do excuse the puns) on a year’s non-negotiable contract with very little idea what they are getting into, having had very little choice in where they were placed. It’s a plunge into the unknown; developing our innate trust that everything will somehow just be OK. Whether we are suddenly starring in a festival that starts in 5 minutes, or singing our unrehearsed rendition of the national anthem on stage in front of 500 people, JETs learn to rise to any occasion with a certain outlandish confidence. Crucial for business success is this same appetite for adventure: the ability to launch into something new and remain flexible as to how it develops.

2) The JET Programme Imparts a Sense of Responsibility

JETs are people who make things happen. From the word go, most JETs understand that their experience in Japan will be created by their own efforts. JETs have a special opportunity to  [CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article on the JETAA UK site.]


Oct 22

Income Based Repayment Helps Law Students, Not the Tuition Bubble

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

Newer law students (and graduate and other professional students) can take hope: between fully financing their legal education with Direct Loans & Grad PLUS loans and electing the Income Based Repayment option, legal education isn’t a crippling investment.  Find out why it’s not a great solution, and why it certainly won’t reduce law school costs.


Oct 13

New: JETAA Education Professionals Group on LinkedIn

Update 10/15/10:  It turns out a JETAA Education Professionals group had already been created by JET alum Joshua Flannery (who also serves as Secretary for JETAA Western Japan).  Despite some minor initial confusion, this is a really good thing since he’s been doing a great job with  an existing group and now we’ll have even more people.

I’ve just set up a JET Alum Education Professionals Group on LinkedIn.

Here’s the updated link to join:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2973279

The goal is to bring together as many JET alum teachers plus education policy/government/academic folks as possible, as well as any JET alums who are interested in getting into the field or just have an interest in the topic period.

A bigger purpose is that it would be nice if JETAA can start being a source of good ideas for improving the JET Programme.  JET alum teachers and other education professionals are a good resource for helping to make that happen.  And the first step is figuring out who is out there (since there are no official lists or databases of JET alumni and what they’re doing now).

Of course, another purpose of the group is networking and also a way for established JET alumni to help those getting started or figuring out their path.

So don’t be shy.  Step right up and start getting to know your fellow JET alum education professionals around the world.

Note:  “I” = Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94)


Oct 13

Dear ABA Committee Chair, No, It’s Not That Complicated. Signed, The Legal Profession

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

Just how powerless is the ABA in the face of a tuition bubble and legal labor oversupply?  Not as much as it believes it is.  Check out how it suffers from Stockholm Syndrome here.


Oct 11

Guest Post: A Few Humble Suggestions to Burst Your Bubble

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

Everitt Henry relieves my workload and gives us three suggestions for dealing with lawyer oversupply and the tuition bubble.


Sep 29

Career: JETAA Northern California Career and Networking Forum (CNF) – October 3

Posted by JETAA Northern California’s Mark Frey:

Join us for a great opportunity to meet professionals from both Japanese and U.S. organizations that play active roles in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, as well as recent JET returnees and fellow alumni. The JET Alumni Association of Northern California (JETAANC) Career & Networking Forum will take place on Sunday, October 3, 2010, at the Kabuki Hotel, 1625 Post Street, San Francisco, from 1:30-5:00pm. Registration begins at 12:30pm. A networking happy hour will follow starting at 5pm in the hotel’s O! Izakaya lounge. The event is free for JET alumni and non-alumni may attend for $5.

The event will feature keynote speaker Andrew Hattori (Miyazaki, 2002-04), JETAANC Board Member and member of the Public Policy Institute of California; a panel discussion featuring JET alumni; and a networking session where attendees can meet representatives from various organizations, companies and members of the Bay Area professional community. During the networking session, participants will also have the opportunity to discuss resumes and job hunting techniques with alumni and recruiting professionals.

Recently returned JETs cannot afford to miss this event. For veteran alumni, this is a great opportunity for you to make career contacts, catch up with old friends, and help recently-returned JETs—your second chance to be a sempai all over again! If you are interested in attending, RSVP here: http://tinyurl.com/3xsg2lr.

For more information on this and other JETAANC events, contact president@jetaanc.org or visit www.jetaanc.org


Sep 27

Department of Education to the Rescue? Proposed CFR Changes to account for “Program Integrity” and “Gainful Employment”

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

Unlike Japan, the United States has no trouble filling graduate degree programs, as this NYT article on Japanese higher education points out.  The student debt situation in the U.S. is so dire that the Department of Education is adopting a new regulation to require some schools to demonstrate their graduates are employed and paying down their debts after graduation.  Can this rule apply to the ever more expensive law schools??  Find out here.


Sep 22

No Bubble, Just ROCK!! Vol. 1

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

Take a break, and listen to some Rock & Roll!


Sep 13

Reformers, Futile Gesturers, Blamers, and Loss-Cutters: Adventures in Anger, Personal Responsibility, and Positive Thinking

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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules.  He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States.  He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.  For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.

As the tuition bubble expands, so too does a cast of characters who discuss it–all with their own audiences and agendas.  Read this to find out who’s who as the tuition bubble debate becomes more complicated.


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