JET ROI: JETAA Chapter Beat
JETAA Chapter Beat, Return on JET-vestment 
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
It occurred to me tonight that the “JETAA Chapter Beat“ posts that Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) has been pulling together since November 2008 provide a simple and nice overview of what various JETAA chapters are doing, especially in terms of Japan-oriented cultural outreach and community involvement. The process is simple: Jon subscribes to as many JETAA Chapter email lists, Facebook groups, etc. as he can find. Then each post he copies and pastes a few interesting ones, and…voila! JETAA Chapter Beat!
Here’s the category link:
http://jetwit.com/wordpress/category/jetaa-chapter-beat/
JET ROI: Seven JETs, Seven Stories
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Andrew R. McCarthy (Akita-ken, 2005-08) is a law student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law focusing on international trade, business, and tax. He currently runs the blog JETs with J.D.s, an information source for current JET alumni law students and prospective law students for career paths and approaches within the current legal market. For those considering law school and trying to comprehend the costs and the risks of such an endeavor, he also recommends The Law School Tuition Bubble.
Perhaps it’s the fact that the influence one JET participant has in one town is difficult to quantify. Perhaps it’s the lack of a clearly defined job description. Perhaps it’s simply that the “soft hands” approach a Board of Education must take to the internationalization and exchange portion of JET makes it impractical for that same employer to critique and provide feedback on the English education portion. Regardless of the reason, it is incredibly easy and natural to belittle the JET Programme for what appears to be, on paper, a lackluster development of English ability in Japanese schools since 1987.
It’s particularly easy for the CIRs, SEAs, and ALTs themselves to do the belittling. When I had a Japanese English teacher delegate me as human tape recorder, it was easy to lament that “I had no impact.” When I found myself singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in front of a bunch of over-enthused six-year olds, I certainly questioned whether my college education was worth it. At some of the more difficult moments of my JET tenure, I remember thinking that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be remembered. I’d be just another foreign dude who arrived in town, hung out for a few years, and abruptly left as summer once again turned to autumn. I figured I would just disappear into the fog of my townsfolks’ minds, nothing more than an occasional afterthought for locals between glasses of winter shochu.
Those doubts have not come to fruition. What’s more, there was plenty of evidence, even while I was still in Japan, that they would not.
I was the seventh ALT to live in my town. I didn’t know that when I arrived, but Read More
JET ROI: Englipedia and Why Japan Should Care by Kirsten Phillips
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
Englipedia and Why Japan Should Care
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) who is currently a teacher in the NYC Teaching Fellows Program.
So….
The JET Program is on the chopping block.
To quote my friend, Steven’s article on JetWit:
As far as they know, we just taught a little English and drank a lot of beer.
Which says unto me maybe the JET Program should take a finer toothed comb to their selection process. But that’s being snide.
Really, how is anyone to know in any quantifiable terms which candidate will contribute and which will just go through the motions? Who will eventually cope and who will leave embittered? Who will end up resenting Japan and who will fight Cyborgs to go back? Foreign countries are enigmatic places that do very enigmatic things to people. Just listen to TOTO. ^^ In the interview, they’re not looking for the transformation of souls. They’re trying to determine how gutsy you are. Will the first sight of ika pizza make you bolt for the nearest plane ride home?
When faced with the pressure ALTs and CIRs get on a daily basis, can’t say I completely blame the few who wake up one morning and realize their only hobby is nomihoudai. I’ve been insulted before. Whenever culture shock slapped me in the face and I reacted, Japan said: Read More
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
We want your “outreach” stories!
Have you given back to your town or prefecture in some way? Have you helped spread Japanese culture through activities in your own country? Have you inspired former students in interesting ways?
We know there are tons of stories and examples out there that have yet to be documented (or gathered in one place). We need these now to help demonstrate some of the ways that JET and JETAA have provided return on Japan’s investment.
Please share your story in the comments section below (or email it to jetwit@jetwit.com).
Yoroshiku!
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
JET alumni and current JETS:
Please click here to sign the petition
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/save_the_jet_program
(Make sure to list your prefecture and years on JET in the “Last Name” field.)
From the petition:
“As part of Japan’s efforts to grapple with its massive public debt, the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Program may be cut. Soon after coming into power, the new government launched a high profile effort to expose and cut wasteful spending. In May 2010, the JET Program and CLAIR came up for review, and during the course of an hourlong hearing, the 11-member panel criticized the JET scheme, ruling unanimously that a comprehensive examination should be undertaken to see if it should be pared back or eliminated altogether. The number of JET participants has already been cut back by almost 30 percent from the peak in 2002, but this is the most direct threat that the program has faced in its 23-year history.
“We are asking JET Program participants past and present, as well as other friends of the program to speak out and petition the Japanese government to reconsider the cuts and explain to them what the return on investment of the JET Program is in the form of individual experiences and stories. Please sign this petition in support of the grassroots cultural exchange the JET Program has fostered and write directly to the Japanese government explaining the positive impact the Program has made in your life and that of your adopted Japanese community.
“For more background on this issue, please refer to “JET Program on the Chopping Block” by Jim Gannon on jetwit.com.”
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
Because of JET….
- Many of us have a lifelong connection to Japan.
- Many Japanese citizens have learned English and been inspired to go to other cross-cultural accomplishments.
- Many of us have found jobs and careers working for Japanese companies and organizations in Japan and in our home countries.
- Over 50,000 of more people in the world can speak at least a little Japanese, and many of us are fluent.
If you’re a JET or a JET alum, you know these things because you’ve experienced them. Now it’s time to share some of those experiences as a way to demonstrate concretely some of the many benefits to Japan of the JET Program.
Please post your own personal “BECAUSE OF JET…..” example in the comments section below, or feel free to e-mail it to jetwit@jetwit.com. (Please make sure to include your prefecture and years on JET.) (Feel free to substitute “JETAA” for “JET” if appropriate.)
(Note: Special thanks to our JETAA International officers for coming up with this concept.)
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic and diplomatic benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. This first post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) lays out the context and background regarding the serious challenges now faced by the JET Program and JET Alumni Association in connection with current economic problems and political shifts in Japan. Email jetwit@jetwit.com with ideas or submissions for additional JET ROI posts.
“JET Program on the Chopping Block”
Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94), Executive Director for the Japan Center for International Exchange
Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) has served as the Executive Director of the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA) (www.jcie.or.jp) in New York since 2002, the US affiliate of one of the leading nongovernmental institutions in the field of international affairs in Japan. JCIE brings together key figures from around the world for programs of exchange, research, and dialogue designed to build international cooperation on pressing regional and global challenges. Before joining JCIE in 2001, Jim conducted research with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and taught English in rural Japanese middle schools as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme. He received a BA from the University of Notre Dame, conducted graduate research at Ehime University in Japan, and has a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Mr. Gannon is also a fellow with the US-Japan Network for the Future, operated by the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation, and his recent publications include “East Asia at a Crossroads” in East Asia at a Crossroads and “Promoting the Study of the United States in Japan” in Philanthropy and Reconciliation: Rebuilding Postwar US-Japan Relations.
As part of Japan’s efforts to grapple with its massive public debt, the JET Program may be cut. Soon after coming into power, the new DPJ government launched a high profile effort to expose and cut wasteful government spending. This has featured jigyo shiwake–budget review panels that were tasked with reviewing government programs and recommending whether they should be continued or cut. (See Stacy Smith’s (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) May 21 WITLife post that explains jigyou shiwake and touches on the threat to the JET Program.)
In May 2010, the JET Program and CLAIR came up for review, and during the course of an hourlong hearing, the 11-member panel criticized the JET scheme, ruling unanimously that a comprehensive examination should be undertaken to see if it should be pared back or eliminated altogether.When the jigyo shiwake panels were launched in November 2009, the intent was to weed out bloated spending and a wide range of government programs were put under review, from government-affiliated think tanks to host nation support for US military bases. Bureaucrats involved with each program were directed to submit a brief report on program activities and testify before panels consisting of a handful of Diet members and roughly a dozen private citizens from different walks of life. The defenders of each program were given five minutes to explain why the program is worthwhile, the finance ministry then laid out the rationale for cutting it, and then the panel held a 40 minute debate before issuing a recommendation whether the program should live or die.
Diet member Renho
This extraordinary spectacle made for great theater, becoming wildly popular with voters disenchanted with a lack of government transparency and critical of recurring bureaucratic scandals. In November 2009, the first round of jigyo shiwake panels dominated the newspapers’ front pages and the hearings were streamed live by various online news sites. The process even gave rise to a new set of stars, most notably Renho, a 42 year-old Taiwanese-Japanese announcer turned Diet member who relentlessly attacked the bureaucrats who appeared before the panels.
Despite this initial success, a backlash eventually began to brew against the jigyo shiwake panels, with detractors labeling them as mindless populism, arguing that panel members without any special expertise were unqualified to evaluate the programs and ridiculing the attempt to pass judgment on complex, long-standing projects with such a cursory review. In one noteworthy development, a group of Japanese Nobel laureates publicly rebuked the Hatoyama Goverment for jigyo shiwake recommendations to gut government funding for basic scientific research. Renho herself met with ridicule for arguing in one budget hearing, “What’s wrong with being the world’s number two?”
On May 21, a diverse set of programs including the JET Program were lumped together in one hourlong session and, during the course of the proceedings, the JET Program was criticized as being ineffective in raising the level of Japan’s English education. One of the more publicized comments called for the elimination of the Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) portion of JET. The general sense was that the JET Program was being evaluated as an educational program with the exchange component being given short shrift, since its impact is difficult to quantify and assess. (Click here for the ruling on the JET Program in Japanese in PDF format.)
A few Japanese intellectual and foreign policy leaders have begun to push back against the attacks on the JET Program, noting how important it is in terms of public diplomacy and in Japan’s engagement with a range of countries. In its June meeting in Washington, D.C., the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Exchange (CULCON), a joint US-Japan “wisemen’s commission” scathingly criticized the shortsightedness of any move to cut the JET Program, issuing a statement that
“CULCON strongly endorses the JET Program, especially against the background of negative assessment expressed by some panelists of the screening process.”
For its part, the US State Department also seems to be taking the position that the JET Program makes valuable contributions to the long-term underpinnings of US-Japan relations and cutting it will be harmful. Meanwhile, a handful of articles have also started to appear in the Japanese press defending the JET Program, although there have been only limited contributions to the debate so far by current and former JET participants.
The number of JET participants has already been cut back by almost 30 percent from the peak in 2002, but this is the most direct threat to its survival that the program has faced in its 23-year history. The pattern that has emerged with the previous round of jigyo shiwake has been that programs receiving this type of verdict will be scaled back significantly, absent any public outcry or political maneuvering by important figures.
It appears that the next few months will be decisive in whether and how the JET Program continues.
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Additional reading on this topic:
- “The JET Program is a Successful Example of US-Japan Exchange” – Sankei Shimbun, June 26, 2010 – http://sankei.jp.msn.com/world/america/100626/amr1006260751000-n1.htm (in Japanese)
- “Second round of state spending reviews begins” – Japan Times, April 24, 2010 – http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100424a3.html
- “Japanese scientists rally against government cuts: Packed meeting hears a chorus of lament from Nobelists” – Nature News, November 26, 2009 – http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091126/full/news.2009.1108.html
- Ruling on JET (PDF) (In Japanese) – http://www.cao.go.jp/sasshin/data/shiwake/result/B-36.pdf (Feel free to provide English translation of relevant parts in the comments section of this JetWit post.)
Have a good idea for a JET ROI post? Please contact Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) at jetwit@jetwit.com.
WIT Life #95: 事業仕分け
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
The Japanese government is currently undertaking 事業仕分け (jigyo shiwake), budget screening or review and prioritization of government projects. This has become a buzzword since the DPJ came into office promising to eliminate wasteful government spending. The party sees this reassessment method as a potentially powerful way to chop budgets. It is being carried out to the point where no one knows where the ax will fall next.
In fact, the group I am currently interpreting for is here in the U.S. for a year through a program carried out by Japan’s National Personnel Authority and supported by the State Department. They are representatives of a variety of Ministries and will spend their time researching and producing papers on topics relating to their respective fields, with the hopes of applying this knowledge when they return home. However, they are concerned that due to jigyo shiwake there might not be a group to succeed them next year.
I recently received news from a friend at the Japan Local Government Center, the New York branch of the Council for Local Authority on International Relations (CLAIR), one of the sponsors of the JET program. He told me that Read More
