Recent news about the fate of the JET Program
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Some interesting recent news about the fate of the JET Program. As you know, there was a bit of a dust up last year as the Japanese government reviewed all of its spending programs and that included JET. Anyone interested in helping to prove the worth of the program should check out the JET Return on Investment (ROI) page on this jetwit site: http://jetwit.com/wordpress/category/jet-roi/ There is also a continuing online petition to support the continuance of the program: http://www.change.org/petitions/save_the_jet_program Apologies if any of this has been posted on jetwit before!
High-profile JET alumni defend the program:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110210f3.html
The same article was also published by the Mainichi:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20110205p2g00m0fe017000c.html
The program may not be in imminent danger after all. Here’s a page from a Japanese government web site that indicates that as of November of last year Prime Minister Kan was telling the U.S. that the program would continue (Regardless of his words, there is a continued need to track and publicize the worth of the program!): http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/usa/visit/president_1011/exchange.html
The page is in Japanese but there’s a link to a pdf of an English document (the original?) on the right-hand side of the page. Here’s the text of that document (Item number 3 contains Japan’s continued commitment to the JET Program):
> FACT SHEET:
> Strengthening the exchange between Japan and U.S.
> for further deepening the Japan-U.S. Alliance
> November, 2010
> Prime Minister Naoto Kan and President Barack Obama met on
> November 13, 2010 in Yokohama. Prime Minister Kan, with the view that
> further enhancement of mutual understanding among wide range of people
> between Japan and the U.S. is necessary for mid and long term deepening
> and development of the Japan-U.S. Alliance,
> 1. announced his new initiatives as follows to further strengthen the
> exchange between Japan and the U.S. aiming at several thousand
> exchanges in 5 years and stated that he would continue his efforts to
> explore other possible effective measures;
> (1) Sending Japanese young teachers and interns to the U.S.
> -Sending young English teachers to the U.S.
> -Sending young Japanese language teachers to the U.S.
> -Sending Japanese students to the U.S. as interns at Japanese language
> courses in the U.S.
> (2) Other programs
>
> -Promoting collaborative education and two-way exchanges among
> universities in Japan and the U.S.
>
> -Supporting immersion Japanese language courses in the U.S.
> -Opening and expanding Japanese language courses and promoting
> Japan Studies in U.S. higher education institutions
>
> -Strategic promotion of international cooperation in the field of
> advanced science & technology and sending young Japanese
> researchers to U.S.
> -Strengthening relationships with U.S. think-tanks
> -Inviting Asian study experts from U.S. to Japan
>
> -Promoting short-visit program for U.S. students
> -Celebrating 2012 Japan-U.S. Cherry Blossom Centennial Anniversary
>
> -Delivering Japanese values such as peace and environment through
> Japanese art
> -Holding modern art exhibits at major art museums in the
> U.S.
> 2. expressed his concern over the decline of Japanese students who study
> in the U.S. and stated his intention to further concentrate and work on
> this issue; and
> 3. reaffirmed the importance of the several efforts addressed so far
> between Japan and the U.S, especially JET(The Japan Exchange and
> Teaching) Programme, CULCON (US-Japan Conference on Cultural
> and Educational Exchange) and Fulbright Program, expressed his
> intention that he would positively continue to utilize these efforts,
> concluded that he would continue to explore measures which contribute
> to the strengthening the Japan-U.S. exchange.
Cheers,
Mark Frey
Communications Director
JETAANC
www.jetaanc.org
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