LifeAfterJET: Transitioning Your Teaching Experience
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This feature comes courtesy of Tammy Wik (Ishikawa-ken, 2007-2010). JET Alums fall into two different camps. Some leave their teaching days behind in Japan without ever turning back. Others are just dying to find ways to keep on with the classroom. In this article, Tammy shows how far you can take the English teaching route.
Posted by blogger, podcaster, and prefectural neighbor Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12).
Posted by Gemma Villanueva (Fukushima 2008-11). She is the editor for the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter.
Message from the JET Desk:
The Embassy of Japan requires Paper Selection Committee Members to help select the 2013-2014 JET Programme candidates.
Paper Selection Committee members review and evaluate submitted applications according to criteria determined by the JET Desk and assist with other administrative duties required. The period of employment will begin on November 14, 2013 and end on January 14, 2014 (excluding weekends and Embassy holidays). Hours of work will be from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday at the Embassy of Japan in Ottawa. Remuneration will be disclosed to successful candidates.
The ability to work full-time during this period is preferred. Please submit your resume with a cover letter in English to Sadaf Taqvi before 5:00 p.m. on October 28th, 2013 by email to sadaf.taqvi@ot.mofa.go.jp.
• Strong command of English
• Experience in administrative duties
• The ability to work on a team
• Understanding of the working culture in Japan
• Canadian citizen or permanent resident
We thank all candidates for their interest. However, only those candidates whose skills and experiences best match the requirements of the position will be contacted.
Job posting also on the Embassy of Japan’s website: http://www.ca.emb-japan.go.jp/
CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” series: Suzanne McMillan (Ehime)
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Each month, current and former JET participants are featured in the “JET Plaza” section of the CLAIR Forum magazine. The October 2013 edition includes an article by JET alumn Suzanne McMillan. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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“Working in the media and recruitment space requires a high level of networking ability and the confidence to quickly reach out and engage with new people. My time spent in Japan provided me with this skill set along with resilience and the ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.”
Originally from Northern Ireland, Suzanne McMillan (Ehime-ken, 1998-2001) holds an MA in History from Aberdeen University in Scotland. Her media career began in the UK when she joined the BBC initially as Researcher and later as an Assistant Producer. She has held the positions of Chairperson within the JETAA NI Chapter and NI Country Representative within JETAA International. Suzanne is currently a Project Manager and BDM Executive at Webpublication in Sydney, Australia where she coordinates digital publishing projects.
The Time of my Life
Nervously twiddling my thumbs, I sat before the interview panel and hoped that my answers would bring me a step closer to my long awaited place on the JET Programme. What had brought me to this point in my life? Well, as a child a favorite uncle had told me many tales of his exotic life in Japan and passed onto me the gift of a hand towel imprinted with a map of Shikoku. This tattered piece of history proudly hung on the wall of my university dorm room and later traveled with me on my flight to Tokyo Orientation; beginning my new life in Japan.
For the next three years, life as an ALT provided so many memorable experiences. I shared stories with teachers, students and fellow JET participants; discussing UK sports, changing political events in Northern Ireland and the different approaches to education and family life. Local neighbors became my friends and my knowledge of Japanese history grew with any tale they would tell of their past. The world seemed a smaller place and I realized the impact of JET; cultural exchange that reaches a deeper level and enables lifelong friendships that are priceless.
Even now memories of JET spring to mind during everyday tasks; the particularly cold winter when the supervisor at my BOE bought all JET participants a puffer jacket to keep warm, ensuring that we could all be spotted at a distance of 100 meters waddling with the extra bulk. Warmth feels my heart when I recall the kindly teacher who delivered boxes of mandarin oranges to your front door if you happened to be sick. I have never been able to hold a mandarin since without seeing his caring face. And yes, I hold myself fully responsible for many Japanese adults who I taught when they were kindergarten age and who now having an Irish lilt to their accent after repeating key English words after me several times over. Read More
Life After JET: It’s Hip to be Square
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Recently posted on JETAA NSW site by Eden Law (Fukushima-ken, 2010-11):
The JET Programme has lead to many opportunities and careers, sometimes rather unexpectedly. Our Life After JET articles by former JETs gives an insight about their lives after the programme, and how it has shaped their careers and paths. We hope that it will prove useful as an insight for potential applicants into what we as ex-JETs got from our experience, and maybe provide some nostalgic memories for others. Please feel free to contact us if you want to write about your own experience!
Kenneth Pinyopusarerk, who hails from Canberra, Australia, was a 2003-2006 CIR who worked in Saigawa (now Miyako), Fukuoka-ken. A man with a lifelong passion for two things: Japanese culture and computer games, he managed to combine the both and land a dream job at Square Enix in Tokyo where he currently works today. The only downside to his job is having to turn down countless requests from friends for “A Realm Reborn”, the latest in the Final Fantasy franchise.
Twenty years ago, on a crisp Sunday morning in Canberra, I had a life-changing encounter. I was strolling through the local Trash & Treasure when I stumbled upon a pre-loved cartridge of Final Fantasy II*, lying upon a splintery foldout table. Drawn by some unknown force, I paid the $40 asking price—a small fortune for a 14-year-old in 1994—without so much as an attempt to haggle. Thus began my enduring love affair with the video game developer Squaresoft, now known as Square Enix. Had my pimply teenage self been told that he would one day work for this company, he would have scoffed and promptly resumed playing whatever game it was he was obsessed with at the time.
Since childhood, I’ve had an affinity with Japanese culture. I attribute this to Read More
Help a JET alumna fight for her life
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Thanks to JETAA Northern California’s Mark Frey (Kumamoto-ken, 2002-06) for sharing this:
One of my close friends on JET, Tonisha Bell-Alston (Kikuyo-machi, Kumamoto-ken, 2003-05) was diagnosed with a very rare cancer earlier this year and is now fighting for her life.
If you’d like to join me in helping her, her friends have started a donation site to help with her medical costs: http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/-teamtbellalston/96899
Tonisha is a strong, cheerful, wonderful person (and loving mother of two), as those of you who know her know. She is exhibiting those same qualities as she fights this disease. Please pass this on to others who may be interested in helping.
Tonisha’s powerful blog of her experience: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tonishaalston Here’s an excerpt from the “My Story” section in the beginning:
“Welcome to my site. Join me in the fight of my life! Please send your prayers, thoughts, kind words, well-wishes, and jokes my way. On February 27th I was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a very rare soft tissue cancer. Now, I can honestly say I’m one in a million :) Since discovering the cancer in my left thigh, it has metastasized to areas of my lungs. At one point I was hoping to avoid chemotherapy with a lifestyle change, but now chemo is the best option. I’m ready to beat this thing and put this chapter of my life behind me….”
Thank you,
Mark Frey (Kumamoto, 2002-06)
Kyodo News “Rural JET alumni” series: Daneeta Loretta Jackson (Fukuoka)
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“My JET programme experience and my seven years in Japan have had a profound influence on me. It changed me into a more peaceful, communal person.”
News agency Kyodo News has recently been publishing monthly articles written by JET alumni who were appointed in rural areas of Japan, as part of promotion for the JET Programme. Below is the English version of the column from September 2013. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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Daneeta Loretta Jackson (Fukuoka-ken, Buzen-shi, 1993-95) was born and raised in the backwaters of Southeast Louisiana. She was educated at public school where she discovered her love for storytelling. She holds a B.A. in English from Loyola University of the South, an M.A. in English from George Mason University, and an M.A. in the Art and Technique of Filmmaking from the London Film School. Her hobbies are international travel, watching movies, anything having to do with dogs, and sleeping. She works as a writer and filmmaker and is a Creative Producer at the ElekTrik Zoo, an arts partnership she co-founded with her husband, Patrick Jackson. She joined the JET programme in 1993 because she wanted adventure. It had a profound affect on her and changed the course of her life.
I was a JET Programme participant from 1993 to 1995 in Buzen-shi, Fukuoka-ken. I never expected to go to Japan. I never dreamed about it when I was a child like so many of my counterparts did. I don’t mean to sound flippant, but the JET Programme for me was a kind of accident. It is too long of a story to recount here. In short, my husband applied for the both of us. He requested a rural post in Fukuoka-ken because a boy from his Japanese baseball team in California was from Fukuoka. When he got word we had been accepted, he told me we were going to Japan. I had about two months to prepare.
Before I knew it, I was on a plane to Tokyo in July of 1993. The first few days were a whirlwind. The orientation in Tokyo and the jet lag made it seem like I was in some sort of dream. I had no idea what awaited me in the countryside, I couldn’t speak much Japanese, and everything seems so strange… so different from my native Louisiana. Read More
Get the latest issue of the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter
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Via JETAA Ottawa. Posted by Gemma Villanueva (Fukushima 2008-11), the editor for the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter.
Download your digital copy of the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter now!
What’s inside this issue?
Happy reading!
Book: “This Japanese Life” published by JET alum blogger Eryk Salvaggio
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Thanks to AJET Chair Kay Makishi for the heads up on Fukuoka JET alum Eryk Salvaggio who writes the blog “This Japanese Life” and recently published a book by the same name. You can read more about Eryk in this Japan Times interview with him from 2012.
About the book: http://thisjapaneselife.org/this-japanese-life-the-book/
Most books about Japan can tell you how to use chopsticks or say “konnichiwa.” Few tackle the real stress of life in a radically different culture.
The author, a three-year resident and the writer and researcher behind one of the best Japan blogs, tackles the thousand tiny uncertainties of life abroad with honesty and wit.
Perfect for anyone about to leave home for Japan or elsewhere, This Japanese Life will deepen any reader’s understanding of Japanese culture as it’s fused into a method of dealing with the hardships of working and living there.
About Eryk:
Eryk Salvaggio was an American newspaper editor in Bangor, Maine before teaching English in Japan with the JET Program. He lived in Fukuoka City from 2010-2013, writing a blog, This Japanese Life, about Japanese culture and the tiny anxieties of being an expatriate.
The site was named one of the best Japan Blogs by Tofugu and was spotlighted by The Japan Times. Salvaggio has written for McSweeney’s, The Japan Times, Tofugu and Kulturaustausch.
His work as a visual artist has been covered in The New York Times and elsewhere.
He currently lives in London.
JET alum publishes new book on corporal punishment and discipline in Japan’s schools
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Thanks to AJET Chair Kay Makishi for passing along info about this interesting new book by Aaron Miller (Ehime-ken, 2002-04).
About the Author (via Amazon.com):
Aaron L. Miller, PhD is Assistant Professor and Hakubi Scholar at Kyoto University, affiliated with the Graduate School of Education, and Visiting Scholar, Stanford University Center on Adolescence. His academic research explores the relationships between education, sports, discipline and culture. His website is www.aaronlmiller.com.
About the Book:
This book is about the many “discourses of discipline” that encircle the issue of “corporal punishment” (taibatsu). These discourses encompass the ways that people discuss discipline and the patterns of rhetoric of what discipline should be, as well as what discipline signifies. By scrutinizing these discourses of discipline, this work disentangles the allegedly intimate ties between culture, discipline, and pedagogy in Japanese schools and sports.
For more information on this monograph, including how to order it,please visit http://ieas.berkeley.edu/publications/jrm17.html
Full IEAS catalogue: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/publications/catalogue.html
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Discipline-Anthropology-Punishment-Monograph/dp/1557291055
Reviews (via Amazon)
Corporal punishment of children by teachers and coaches is a widespread practice in many countries, but especially in Japan, where it has become a front-page issue involving Olympic athletes. Miller explores this issue both historically and in contemporary practices and analyzes how various discourses regrading disciplinary actions have shaped Japanese understandings of their ‘educational reality.’ To understand this phenomenon, Miller rejects Ruth Benedict’s culturalist theory and, instead, places physical discipline (taibatsu) in the contect of Michel Foucault’s theory of violence and power, offering an incisive analysis of a complex issue. —Harumi Befu, professor emeritus, Stanford University
An intriguing and well-written analysis on molding character in Japanese schools and sports through the widespread use of corporal punishment. Miller frames his discussion in the contexts of Japanese cultural ideals about discipline, toughness, and self-improvement, as well as in Japanese perceptions of such forms of discipline as something uniquely Japanese. This book is an important contribution to understanding the social and cultural dynamics of core institutions in contemporary Japan. —Theodore C. Bestor, Harvard University
Corporal punishment as a discipline of pain and an abuse of adult authority is a troubling presence in Japanese classrooms and sports fields. This is an insightful and wide-ranging analysis that overturns simple judgments with a nuanced exploration of the historical development, sociocultural locations, and heated national discourse on corporal punishment in modern Japan. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of Japanese education and sports, and it is an original anthropological perspective on how we might theorize power in Japanese society. – —William W. Kelly, Yale University
Life After JET: Food for Thought by James Foley
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Recently posted to the JETAA Oceania Facebook group by Eden Law:
The JET Programme has lead to many opportunities and careers, sometimes rather unexpectedly. This is part of a series of articles by former JETs about their lives after participating on the programme, and how it has shaped their careers and paths. We hope that it will prove useful as an insight for potential applicants into what we as ex-JETs got from our experience, and maybe provide some nostalgic memories for others. Please feel free to contact us if you want to write about your own experience!
Our next article in our Life After JET series comes from James A. Foley. A former Iwaki-shi, Fukushima-ken JET (2007-2010), James met his wife (who was also a JET) on the JET Programme and has successfully carved out a career as a reviewer and critic of New York’s Japanese food scene for the famous Village Voice publication. James is also quite handy with the camera, and his blog contains his writing, articles and photography. A little known fact is that he’s totally metal on the shamisen.
This August marks the third year since I finished my time on JET; I have officially been gone from Japan for as long as I was there. Looking back now over my time on JET, the connections between the Japan experience and my work as a professional journalist are abundantly clear.
Prior to packing up life and moving from the middle of America to Iwaki City on the coast of Fukushima, I worked as a news reporter for a daily newspaper in suburban Kansas City, Mo. While I was in Japan I continued to write and hone my journalism skills, but mainly just for a blog I kept for my own records.
Towards the end of my JET tenure I had no life plan or job prospects. Read More
Life After JET: Take Pride in Your Choices
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Check this excerpt from blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12)!
Decision-Making
Two years ago I made a choice. Having to choose can suck.
I was working a comfy teaching gig overseas. The good was good. I didn’t have any problems with my co-workers. In my third year, the kids were probably the best I’d ever seen. I remember there was a point in time I even thought I loved my job. But as time went on something felt “off.”
Some people talk about a “calling.” Well, I felt something along the lines of moving on to “bigger and better.”
Read the rest at BostonUrbanNews.com
CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” series: Ari Kaplan (Hyōgo)
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Each month, current and former JET participants are featured in the “JET Plaza” section of the CLAIR Forum magazine. The September 2013 edition includes an article by JET alumn Ari Kaplan. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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“I still remember the ceremony […] held for departing JET participants when I left my position as an ALT. […] I distinctly recall advising the audience members that I was leaving so that I could return someday.”
Originally from the US, Ari Kaplan (Hyogo-ken, Suzurandai, 1993-94) came to Japan upon graduating from Boston University. He is now a business consultant in New York City and the author of Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Market Place (Wiley, 2011), which Akishobo recently released in Japan as ハスラー――プロフェッショナルたちの革新. Learn more at AriKaplanAdvisors.com.
JET Perspective
I still remember the ceremony that the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education held for departing JET participants when I left my position as an ALT at Kobe Kohoku High School in 1994. The host asked each of us to line up facing the audience, pass a microphone to one another, and share our reason for leaving. I distinctly recall advising the audience members that I was leaving so that I could return someday.
When Akishobo translated my second book, Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Workplace (Wiley 2011), into Japanese and released it in Japan last fall, I felt like I had somehow kept my promise. I was also excited to have the opportunity to publicly dedicate it to the JET Programme and the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education.
I was only 20 years old when in July 1993, following my graduation from Boston University, I took that Japan Airlines flight from New York to Tokyo. Jetlagged the day after I arrived, I went on an early-morning walk into the Tokyo Metro to explore and noticed that there were a few homeless individuals living in refrigerator boxes down below.
As a resident of a major metropolitan city, this sight in Shinjuku station did not surprise me. What struck me, however, was that outside of each box sat a pair of shoes, presumably worn by the occupant inside, highlighting the individual’s personal respect and the extraordinary nature of the place to which I had traveled. Read More
Kitcher’s Café #002: Staying Connected
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Kitcher’s Café, a new series by Lana Kitcher (Yamanashi-ken, 2010-12) is an assortment of articles, topics and commentary written for the JET Alumni community. Lana currently serves as the Business Development Associate at Bridges to Japan, a New York-based cross-cultural consulting firm founded by JET alum Jennifer Jakubowski (Hokkaido, 1995-97).
Although it has been a full year since my return, I continue to enjoy sharing stories and experiences with my friends from and in Japan. Recently, one of my old colleagues from Yamanashi visited New York for the first time and contacted me through facebook to meet up. I took her and her travel partner to “Penelope,” a small restaurant on E 30th and Lexington Ave in New York. I was pleasantly surprised to see facebook photos of them going there for breakfast every day thereafter for the duration of their trip. It was a great and satisfying feeling to make these arrangements with her and be able to see the results.
As you are settling into a familiar state, maybe even feeling like your time in Japan was actually all a dream – you may wonder how it might be possible to keep up with your friends and colleagues that you met while in Japan. Thanks to social media, staying in touch has never been easier.
Life After JET: Moving On
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Posted by blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12).
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Back in the USA! Two former Toyama ALTs discuss the ins and outs of Post JET life:
Sketchy English Teaching Jobs (4:12)
“Some of them are shady. Some of them won’t give you pension or health insurance. ” – Val
“Well, the warning sign were 1) ‘Come over on a tourist visa and we’ll take care of it when you’re here’ and 2) ‘We’re not going to be able to process your first paycheck until after two months’.” – Jon
The Decision to Leave (8:55)
“I had wanted to stay for another year or two, and I started looking for other work outside of English teaching. I actually submitted applications and had gotten interviews. And once I got those interviews, I realized I didn’t want to take them. I think in the back of my head, I was thinking ‘If I take this job, will I ever be able to get out of my comfort zone and leave’? I think a lot of ALTs are just so comfortable in Japan for whatever reason.” – Val
Breaking Away from Students/Schools (10:08)
“Breaking up with the students and the teachers– even that whole town– was difficult. It was tough. I was really involved with that school and the sports teams there.” – Randy
“I had a friend tell me ‘Just go home, I guarantee the only thing you’ll miss about Japan is the shopping and the students’. All your friends, the ALTs, they’re all going to leave eventually.” – Val
What You Miss (13:36)
“You don’t ever hear people say they miss the work.” – Jon
English Education in Asia (15:22)
“Is my teaching doing any good? I know it helps a handful of students, but for the rest I don’t know if it makes a huge impact.” – Val
“I found that probably my best students had a strong interest in movies and music. They’d write these quotes that they’re hearing or seeing and actually bringing them to me, asking me ‘What does this mean’? They would come day after day with new content. Those are the kids that ended up going to the best high schools just because of their self-motivation and drive.” – Randy
Decision Tips on Whether to Stay (18:36)
“Don’t do this just for the money. And if you decide to do so, even though you hate everyone around you, shut up.” – Jon
“It got stale for me. I didn’t have any personal motivation to improve. I really didn’t have any personal drive the latter part of my JET year. That connection I had with my kids was what really kept me going.” – Randy
“I was so stressed out. I called my close friends for advice. I wanted to stay, but I don’t know if I should because it’s making me sick. My Dad refers to Japan as Lala Land. ‘I think you’re having fun. You were having a lot of fun, but you can’t keep doing that if you’re not growing as a person.” – Val
Attraction to Japan (24:36)
“There are ALT people in Taiwan too. Most of them don’t stay. I don’t know if they have the same hangup about leaving like people do about Japan.” – Val
Doing Things Differently (27:15)
“Just be more myself when I first arrived. When I first came, I look a lot like the people around me in Japan. It’s really easy for me to go with the flow and blend in with all the other teachers. But after awhile, I said I can’t really do this anymore, I’m not a Japanese teacher. Once I let that go, I was really able to enjoy my classes more.” – Randy
“The best thing to enjoy your time is to be active with the club activities.” – Val
Omiyage Talk (32:40)
“The biggest tip I have is– you don’t have to bring a lot of gifts for your school, BOE, mayor, etc. I did meet those people, but I ended up holding onto my omiyage and giving things to people who really took care of me. You should just bring enough for about 10 people. You’re not trying to buy out other people’s friendship.” – Randy
Getting a Car (38:13)
“If you get put in a big city, then it doesn’t really matter. But I would really recommend getting a car. I made excuses about using the train, biking, walking around. You don’t want to pay for insurance and gas and that type of thing. But I was just really intimidated by the pedestrian traffic and smaller roads. Man, [having a car] would’ve made things so much easier.” – Jon”
Pension Refund (42:00)
Life After JET: Asian-American Identity Crisis
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Blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12) opens up about his special case of culture shock.
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For awhile it just felt like I was on vacation.
But then being around started to become the norm. Everybody had their routines while I was stuck sorting things out. Suddenly, Japan felt really far away. The last 3 years of my life felt like a daydream.
My best friend assured me the next “big move” would take time.
“You went out there and did great, just like I knew you would. You went and touched people’s lives, just like I knew you would. But I think you’re going to find your real big payoff here. Because in your heart, the way you think, you’re American.”
Maybe this was true. I couldn’t say…
Read the rest here
