Life After JET: Matthew Kohut, Psychotherapist
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Matt Kohut (CIR Aichi-ken, Shitara-cho, 1998-2000) is a psychotherapist is New York City. He is not a writer but wrote this piece. For more about Matt please visit: www.mattkohut.com.
*Have your own “Life After JET” story that you think would be of interest to the JET/JET alum community? Email jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
PRACTICE
Matthew M. Kohut, LMSW
JET was always part of the plan. Since studying abroad in Japan in my teens and twenties I felt the need to keep my love for Japan alive. I had each step planned. First do JET, learn Japanese, then work at a high-profile company pushing billions of Yen around the world, bow, firmly shake hands, exchange business cards without pocketing them until outside the room, guzzle Kirin black-label with colleagues until shuden, show up for calisthenics the next morning, pretend like none if it happened, live long, prosper and die. It was a nice plan, cinematic and to the point. But, exciting? Debatable.
I did ok at making the plan work until I got to the point of pushing billions of yen around the world. Upon returning from JET in 2000, I landed a job at the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco as Assistant to the Cultural Attaché. I was hobnobbing with National Living Treasures, speaking Japanese in huddles of diplomats by day, and lazing around home with my Japanese boyfriend by night, ne-ing and yo-ing about it until bedtime. It wasn’t the plan, but it was close enough.
And it was good enough too– for a while. But about my third year of working at the Consulate I Read More
DISCO International Career Forums
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Via JETAA PNW. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Career opportunities for Japanese-English bilinguals
Posted by: DISCO International, Inc
Type: Career Forum 2012
Location: Tokyo 2012 & New York 2013
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
—Tokyo Winter Career Forum 2012—
Date: December 19 & 20, 2012 (Wed. & Thurs.)
http://www.careerforum.net/event/tkw/index.asp?lang=E
Some of the companies participating are:
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH / BLOOMBERG L.P. / COSTCO WHOLESALE JAPAN / ELI LILLY JAPAN / MITSUI CHEMICALS, INC / OTSUKA CORPORATION GROUP /
TAKEDA PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY LIMITED and many more! Read More
Life After JET: Return to Japan? You can, and I did, as a Rotary International Peace Fellow
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Mark graduating with his MA in Peace Studies from ICU, Tokyo
As a JET alum, have you ever thought about returning to Japan in a different capacity? Are you interested in earning a fully-funded MA in Peace Studies in Tokyo? You can, and I did, as a Rotary International Peace Fellow. (In fact, there have been at least five JET alums who have gone on to be Rotary Peace Fellows) For me, it was a perfect chance to return to Japan and advance my career at the same time.
Like many JET alums, I’d always thought it would be nice to live in Japan once again, but was not as interested in taking the Eikaiwa route. I had a wonderful experience as an ALT in Nagasaki (2000-04) and truly treasured my time there. After my time on JET, I had returned to the States and was living and working for the US Govt in Washington, DC through the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program. Still, I missed the experience of daily life in another culture and was looking for a way to make it happen. Through a friend of mine named William Daniel Sturgeon, who is also a JET alum and a former Peace Fellow, I learned about this great opportunity. Thanks to his great advice and mentoring, I was able to complete the application and selection process successfully and become a Rotary International Peace Fellow in Japan in 2010.
Through the Rotary Fellowship, Read More
JETAA Chicago Career Forum Videos
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Here are a couple videos from the recent JETAA Chicago Career Forum. (Thanks to JETAA Chicago Treasurer Thomas Osugi and Jobs/Social Activities Coordinator Dan Martin for making this available.):
JETAA Sydney Careers Night
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Via JETAA Sydney. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Have you recently returned from Japan? Or are you just looking for a new direction?
Come along to the JETAA Careers Night to hear from expert speakers about how you can take the next step in your career. You will receive individually-tailored advice from recruitment professionals about how to make your experience on JET work for you here in Australia. And it will be a great opportunity to network with other former JETs and members of the Japanese community in Sydney.
When: Friday 26 October, 6 – 9 pm
Where: The Japan Foundation, Chifley Plaza, Sydney
Cost: Free! (drinks and snacks will be provided)
RSVP: sydney@jetalumni.org
Don’t forget to bring along your resume!
UPDATE: JETAA NY Career Panel: The State of ESL and Language Education in Japan and the US
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Update #1: We’re pleased to announce the addition to the panel of Matthew Cook (Osaka-fu, 2007-12), former AJET Chair and now advisor to the Osaka Board of Education’s Native English Teacher (NET) Program.
Update #2: We are planning on webcasting the event through my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/stevenwaseda?feature=mhee). Go to that link at 6:30 pm (NY time) to watch live (and post comments and questions). Or, go there any other time to watch the recording. (Apologies in advance for any technical difficulties. This will be my first time trying a webcast using Google+ and YouTube.)
JETAA NY Career Panel: The State of ESL and Language Education in Japan and the US
- WHEN: Tuesday, Aug 28, 6:30pm-8:30pm
- WHERE: Japan Local Government Center office, 3 Park Ave., 20th Floor
- RSVP on JETAANY Facebook Event page, or by email to professional [at] jetaany.org
This JETAANY Career panel will consist of a presentation by JET alum James Rogers, Assistant Professor at Kansai Gaidai, followed by Q&A with James and a panel of JET alum language teachers, including former AJET Chair and now .
Presentation: The State of Language Education in Japan: Job Opportunities and Living in 21st Century Japan
This presentation will discuss various issues regarding working in the language industry in Japan. University work and the conditions and benefits of various levels of such positions, agent out-sourced jobs, union membership, the value of higher degrees and certificates, Japanese language skills, the nuclear crisis and the safety of living in certain areas, and the value of scholarly research will be discussed. The information presented at this event should be beneficial to JET alumni who are considering moving back to Japan and up in their career to the university level, and also those who have some university experience but are interested in learning more about what is needed to be successful at that level. Read More
Career: JET alum makes her mark in international exchange role with Hostelling International
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Thanks to Megan Johnson (Mie-ken, 2001-03) who works for Hostelling International, for sharing a bit about her career path in the field of international exchange programs, a very popular field for JET alumni. (Join the JET Alum International Education and Exchange group on LinkedIn to connect with other JET alums in the field.) Megan recently also shared a very JET-relevant job opening at her organization which we posted to JETwit.
During the two years I spent teaching in rural Japan, exploring the country, and traveling throughout Southeast Asia, I gained an immense appreciation for responsible, culturally sensitive travel and the power of travel to build positive relations among those of different cultures. Before I left Mie-ken, I knew I wanted to find an organization in the U.S. that I could get involved with that would allow me to interact with travelers and exercise my passion for utilizing effective intercultural communication skills to learn more about the world and its people. Hostelling International USA turned out to be that organization.
HI-USA is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to “help all, especially the young, gain a greater understanding of the world and its people, through hostelling”. There are 60 HI-USA hostels throughout the country, and luckily one of their locations is in Chicago, where I moved after JET. Because of a stroke of luck–the replacement ALT in my tiny town in Mie-ken happened to be from Chicago and happened to be a volunteer at the hostel in Chicago–I found myself accepting a job as the hostel’s Education Coordinator. Read More
JETAANC Pacific Bridge: Connecting with Japanese Exchange Students through Ayusa
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By Rachel Peters (Fukuoka, 2004-07) for the JETAANC Pacific Bridge magazine. Rachel works at Ayusa International and is helping out with the upcoming Tomodachi Initiative to bring Japanese high school students to the Bay Area during the summer.
After returning from the JET program in 2007, I was eager to enter a field where I could continue to promote cross-cultural understanding, tolerance, and awareness. I was extremely fortunate to find my way into Ayusa International, a division of Intrax Cultural Exchange that brings foreign exchange students to the United States for both year-long and short-term programs.
At Ayusa, I work in our Partner and Participant Services Department, which is where I cultivate and maintain relationships with our international partners and resolve issues that arise with our students while they are in the United States. I’ve also had the opportunity to visit our branch office in Japan, travel domestically to visit our students, host families and staff, and work on a variety of projects that foster international exchange.
Working at Ayusa has been a rewarding experience for me both professionally and personally. It’s inspiring to see the impact of the work we do in the lives of our students and the families who graciously host them. This coming summer, I am thrilled about a new program that we will be facilitating here in the Bay Area—the Tomodachi Softbank Leadership Program—and feel that it would be a great opportunity available for JET alumni in the Bay Area.
JETAA Ottawa Newsletter: Q&A with JET Alumnus Colin Rivers on producing a play in Japan
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By Gemma Villanueva (Fukushima-ken, 2008-11), editor for the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter. Visit the Canadian chapter’s website here for more stories. Written and photo submissions are always welcome. Please contact the editors at newsletter[at]jetaaottawa[dot]ca.
The Canadian play “2 Pianos 4 Hands” is giving its farewell performances as creators-performers Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt retire from the show. “2P4H” follows the youngsters “Ted” and “Richard” as they tackle their love-hate relationship with piano lessons, exams and recitals. In January, “2P4H” played at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The show, which made a three-week stop in Tokyo in 2004, finds itself again in Japan this May.
Colin Rivers (Nara-ken JET, 1997-2000) is now the Theatre Producer/Agent for Marquis Entertainment, which produces “2 Pianos 4 Hands.” I had the chance to ask him about his time on JET, life as a producer and bringing 2 Pianos 4 Hands back to Japan.
What is it like to be a producer?
“A Producer manages the business behind the show. A General Manager does the same thing, but without the risk and the pressure to find the money. A New York theatre blogger sums it up perfectly… “Producers do everything! We are the bank, the therapist, the negotiator, the scapegoat, the creative, and we rarely get credit! I should add it’s awesome. Because I think it is.”
How was your JET experience been relevant to producing?
“The JET experience strengthened my Read More
JET to EPIK: One JET’s ESL journey from Japan to Korea
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By JET alum Kyle Timmermeyer (Ibaraki-ken), currently teaching English in Korea on the EPIK program. Note: For the past three years I’ve been trying to find a JET alum who also taught English on the EPIK program in Korea to write about some of the similarities and differences of the two programs. So thanks to Kyle for his contribution.
After teaching mostly elementary school English in Japan for 4 years, I decided I needed a slight change of pace. I got JLPT N2 certification, but my idealized vision of translation and transitioning into business or “international relations” had hit a wall in terms of motivation. I was desperately bored, and extremely restless. So, I decided that doing the same (rather easy) job in a different country was the sweet spot. Korea seemed like the obvious choice from the first, and after plenty of additional research and reflection, it won out.
After getting into JET, I figured that acceptance into the Korean equivalent, EPIK would be just as easy. As a bonus, unlike JET which doesn’t cover Tokyo at all, EPIK has a specific subdivision responsible for recruiting teachers into Seoul called SMOE. The names–EPIK/SMOE–tend to turn into consonant salad in my brain, in part because of politics and some corruption in a former iteration of the Seoul division. Naturally, the vague, seedy story made me wary, but piqued my interest at the same time. After total immersion in a rather stagnant Japanese position, I could see the silver lining on a Korean cloud that seemed to be ready to purge itself of the acid rain of corruption. And, regardless of the politics of the situation, I was craving some of that big city excitement. And so, after living in Nagasaki and Ibaraki for 2 years each, this native Kansan set his sights on the big city. Read More
Job: Economic Advisor, Embassy of Japan (London) 03.30.12
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Via JETAA UK. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97).
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The latest from JETAA UK – Job Vacancy
Economic Advisor, Embassy of Japan – Embassy of Japan in the UK – Embassy of Japan, London, W1J 7JT
To view details about this job vacancy visit: http://www.jetaa.org.uk/jobs/economic-advisor-embassy-of-japan/
JET alum recommends Meiji University “Law in Japan Program”
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Seattle-based JET alum Regina Durr (Shimane-ken, 2008-10) got in touch to let JETs and JET alums know about the Meiji University “Law in Japan Program.” Here’s what she has to say:
I participated in the 2010 Law in Japan program at Meiji University between my JET tenure and returning to the States… and LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! There was a mix of JETs current and exiting, U.S.A. MBA students, French Master in Law students, interpreters, and ad hoc foreigners who enjoy getting out of their box and into an academic setting.
The Meiji Law in Japan Program was the perfect dive back into academia and the professional career lifestyle immediately after JET. The days are filled with lectures and trips to places such as the Supreme Court, the former Ministry of Justice, a local prison, and even enables you networking opportunities with top, international law firms in Tokyo. I took the course as a cheaper alternative of finding out whether or not I would want to specialize in Japanese Law back in the States. With a brief overview from top experts (even flown in from Washington, D.C.!), I am now finding myself applying to Law School to formalize the training began through this program.
A little background info about me: I am currently a Project Coordinator at the global headquarters of a high-tech consulting company located just outside Seattle, WA. I am active in the Pacific Northwest JET Alumni Association chapter and continue to mentor high school exchange students in the community, while also playing volleyball and completing triathlons.
About the Meiji University “Law in Japan Program”
“Law in Japan Program” is an introductory course for studying Japanese laws, at Meiji University, a private university in Tokyo.
2012 ONLINE APPLICATION FORM is NOW OPEN.
- The 2012 Summer intensive program is from July 23 to August 3, 2012. http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/programs/law/applications.html (*Application deadline to be extended; to late April*)
- For the 2011 results, please check the Past programs page. http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/programs/law/past.html
- URL: http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/programs/law/index.html
- Law in Japan PR Video: http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/programs/law/index.html
Meiji University Law in Japan Program 2012
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Law in Japan Program
Meiji University School of Law
1-1 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, Japan 101-8301
E-mail: law_jp@kisc.meiji.ac.jp
Note: Do you have a post-JET program that you’d like to recommend to other JETs and alums? E-mail jetwit [at] jetwit.com and tell us about it.
JET Alumni Freelancers Career Panel (NYC)
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Originally posted to the JETAANY website:
http://jetaany.org/2012/02/22/35-jet-alumni-freelancers-career-panel/
Are you freelancing? Thinking about freelancing? Want to meet and hear from other JET alum freelancers? Then join us for the first ever JET Alum Freelancers Career Panel! We know it’s a tough economy out there, and many of us are now freelancing, whether by design or involuntarily. It’s high time to get together, talk about it, learn from each other and help each other out.
When: Monday, March 5, 6:30pm – 8:00 pm
Where: Japan Local Government Center (aka CLAIR NY) – 3 Park Avenue, 20th Floor (34th & Park, entrance on southeast corner)
RSVP to: Steven Horowitz – stevenwaseda [at] jetwit.com (Please feel free to tell me a little more about yourself, your situation, and what you might be looking for.)
Note: Drinks and light snacks will be provided. (But feel free to bring your own food and to eat during the panel)
The Panel:
Moderator: Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) – Steven is the founder of the Writers Interpreters Translators (WIT) Group that evolved in JETwit. In addition to being a full-time grant writer, he is also does freelance writing for law firms, has done work for the Ford Foundation, and is the creator of the Bankruptcy Bill cartoon series. (http://stevenwaseda.
Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Japan Fix London: Hyper Japan is back!
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Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika lives in London but is interested in hearing about any Japan-related opportunities across the globe.
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Last year I spoke to former JET Mary Moreton about her experiences in Japan and her current role working for one of the largest Japan-related events in the UK, HYPER JAPAN! After a hugely successful run last summer, HYPER JAPAN is back this week for more culture, cuisine and cool!
Starting tomorrow (Friday 24th February) and running till Sunday 26th, HYPER JAPAN promises to chase away all those winter blues!
Highlights this year include:
Sushi Awards 2012: UK Sushi Roll Championship
Eat-Japan SAKE AWARDS: Top Brewery Taste-Off
Natsuko Aso Live
Olympic Judo Champion Maki Tsukada
Cosplay, Street fashion, UK Kawaii star of the year and much much more!
For more details please check out the official website at http://hyperjapan.co.uk/
JETAA Southeast to hold JLPT language course in March
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Via JETAA Southeast:
The JETAASE chapter will have a JLPT language course in March. If you are near JLPT N2 level or aspiring to be, this course is for you!
Dates:
March 5th
March 12th
March 26th
Time: 7:45pm – 9:15pm (90 minutes)
Class location: Healey Building downstairs conference room (the corner of Forsyth and Walton)
Address: 57th Forsyth St. NW, Atlanta, GA
The in-person class will be open to the first 10 participants. For those residing outside of the Atlanta area, a long distance learning option may be available. The class will be taught by Japanese language instructor Sakiko Suzuki
Please sign up at the form below if you are interested in participating.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGJxUHFWQWRJSDIxczNiYVltVHR0aWc6MQ#gid=0
