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Shakey
Joined: 29 Aug 2014
Posts: 199
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 Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:23 pm Post subject: JET: Isolation Too Much To Handle |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPC5V8mSr3E
This cat has a US $3,000 salary and a free apartment included in his deal. But, he has finally said that enough is enough. He's calling it quits. Too much time alone in his room drinking and watching You Tube, not enough social interaction with friends, etc. For certain people, this is a very dangerous combination.
The negatives outweigh the positives.
Years ago there was an unreleased report on the high incidence of suicide among JET participants. Did anyone every read that? |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:31 pm Post subject: Re: JET: Isolation Too Much To Handle |
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| Shakey wrote: |
| Too much time alone in his room drinking and watching You Tube... |
Too much YouTube? I figured you were referring to yourself.  |
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TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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The negatives outweigh the positives. |
Because one guy with issues couldn't handle life abroad and posts a cry for help on YouTube?
The JET participants I met who had problems invariably brought their issues with them. Japan wasn't the problem. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 4:05 am Post subject: |
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I've heard of suicides among non-JET people, and more than a few stories of alcoholism.
TBH, the "casual" drinking thing isn't uncommon. Especially in ESL jobs where you finish late and get home late, and don't have to get up early the next morning, you can slip into a very comfortable routine of staying up and having a few cans of booze into the small hours, watching films or Youtube.
I know people though who developed problems it, but they tended to be older and more settled (or perhaps stuck) in English teaching in Japan long-term. Even if you're married, with kids, the isolation can still be a problem, perhaps more so if you don't speak the language, on top of the monotony of the work. Some guys just fill the void with alcohol, almost without realizing it. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:21 am Post subject: |
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| Lamarr wrote: |
| I've heard of suicides among non-JET people, and more than a few stories of alcoholism. |
Suicide is a major problem in Japan, not so much for foreigners (the vast majority of whom would just leave the country. A lot of foreigners leave after a single year. Many never had any intention on staying longer. Some just don't want to have to deal with it [and don't have to]). I wonder if any studies have shown if foreign people who are very long timers (whose identity changes to become closer to that of the majority or assimilated to Japanese culture) have a greater chance of suicide.
| Quote: |
TBH, the "casual" drinking thing isn't uncommon. Especially in ESL jobs where you finish late and get home late, and don't have to get up early the next morning, you can slip into a very comfortable routine of staying up and having a few cans of booze into the small hours, watching films or Youtube. |
That's one of the problems with eikaiwa work. It's the same if you ran your own bar or juku. People often try to get out of eikaiwa work. That's why the hours themselves are a selling point for dispatch companies (who still manage to attract ALTs despite paying less than eikaiwas).
| Quote: |
I know people though who developed problems it, but they tended to be older and more settled (or perhaps stuck) in English teaching in Japan long-term. Even if you're married, with kids, the isolation can still be a problem, perhaps more so if you don't speak the language, on top of the monotony of the work. Some guys just fill the void with alcohol, almost without realizing it. |
English teaching in Japan long-term isn't necessarily the problem. Most people try to learn the language (at least to be able to have daily conversation), and try to move out of eikaiwa teaching. And then they try to move out of ALT-ing. For those that move out of ALTing into solo-teaching, many will try to move out of the k-12 level altogether and get into university teaching. I doubt that someone running their own eikaiwa has the time to do the "go home, drink" routine. But maybe they do. Keep in mind, that the "go home, drink" routine is very often what Japanese people (especially males) do all the time.
JET can certainly be more isolating than a lot of other jobs in Japan, if you have a very rural placement, and don't speak the language at all. But that doesn't necessarily mean that people will take to drinking a lot, or that they will become depressed. I do think that people in very rural JET placements can (and sometimes / often do) develop problems because of the isolation. But I think once they have finished the position (be it in one year or five) and go live in a less isolating place (where there are more foreigners, where people are possibly more open, or even back to their home country or another country) that the vast majority of these people will be okay. Sometimes (very rarely, I think), someone in a rural JET position will actually stay in that rural area, and get a direct hire job. And they do that because they get married in that rural area often during or shortly after their time on JET. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:40 am Post subject: |
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Yes, I did hear about the report on JETs committing suicide. Every year, JETs commit suicide. But apparently the number isn't THAT far off of what the normal percentage would be in any given population.
The worrying thing is that JETs are required to get a medical examination prior to going on JET. There is some sort of question in the application about ever having had emotional or psychological problems. I guess people who have and still wanted to be on JET would just lie about that, though. If they had major problems that had required medicating or hospitalization, then I doubt their doctor would sign off on the medical form saying that they were fit for JET. The form may specifically say that the JET participant may be in a very rural placement. Many people wouldn't actually go to the doctor if they had a problem (because of the stigma, and maybe fears of employment practices that seem to exclude people who have had a problem).
But anyway, JETs who committed suicide would have to have been people who kept it together well enough to obtain the job over others, and that means they seemed fine to the doctors, interviewers, and people who wrote the letters of recommendation. Then they went to Japan and committed suicide. **OR** they developed the problem (maybe it was a very small almost unnoticed problem in the past) while isolated on JET.
Anybody who had been here long enough to remember bigdaikon, can see what happens to some people on JET (unless these were people who acted like that BEFORE getting into jet  ) |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 3:17 am Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| I doubt that someone running their own eikaiwa has the time to do the "go home, drink" routine. But maybe they do. Keep in mind, that the "go home, drink" routine is very often what Japanese people (especially males) do all the time. |
Actually, one of the guys I knew who had trouble with booze ran his own eikaiwa. Most of his work was in the late afternoon and evening, with maybe a few classes in the morning. He got into a routine of boozing at lunchtime (he told me he was getting through up to a bottle of wine, every day even) and sleeping it off in the afternoon before his evening classes, then he'd be down the local bar on a Friday and Saturday night getting on the beers. I guess he just had nothing to do in the afternoons, couldn't speak Japanese so he couldn't really do much else. His wife eventually threatened to leave him if he didn't stop, so he stopped completely.
I knew of another guy, also married, who worked for Nova for years, from way back when Nova took off around 1990 until it tanked. He was a notorious | | |
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