Job Discussion Forums

[cafebleu]

Wolf - thanks for the infor re Nagoya. It`s good to know that what I heard is not necessarily the case. Maybe the foreigners who told me Nagoya people were unfriendly to foreigners had a bad experience or bad experiences, but were simply unlucky.

At times it`s easy to get discouraged by some things when you live and work in a foreign country and then to focus too much on those things. I have my moments of being discouraged here but then I wake up and smell the (Georgia) coffee, and think of how nice it is to live in a country that is so different and interesting, that has most of the comforts of my home country yet does not have the `in your face` behavior that can sometimes go on in my country.

When I weigh up the Japan pluses and minuses, for me the pluses definitely are in the majority.

[shmooj]

I've been in the Nagoya area since 1998 (10 km away) and have had no discrimination problems or heard of any. That's not to say it doesn't happen but I just haven't heard of them.

[Gordon]

Thank you. I never realized the cost of living was so low.

[Mosley]

There seem to be some ideas on this thread that seem to me to be misleading or downright false. First, for SBW: JET is a sweet deal, but you have to jump through THEIR hoops to get in. Period. You would have to go to an interview in Japan(rather unlikely) or in your home country(much more likely). Now someone else said JET is being replaced by the "ALT program." I've never heard of such a program and it seems damned strange to me that if JET is "shrinking", why has it gone from 4000 members(when I was in) to its current 7000?
Another poster claimed that Koreans & Japanese have similar table manners. You've got to be kidding! Koreans have atrocious chopsticks manners, and yes both nationalities pour drinks for each other but you can go thirsty in Korea while you never want for a filled glass in Japan. And Japanese certainly bow more frequently and deeply than any other nationality in Asia!

[Celeste]

Mosely:

I think that perhaps Gouki is referring to the private dispatching companies such as Interac, OWLS, and Altia that provide private ALTs to schools.


I agree with you that there is no easy way to get into the JET programme. The interviews for this programme are still done only in the country that you have chosen to represent (by the Japanese embassy or consulate in your home country). The application process takes nearly a year, and does require a lot of paperwork. I applied successfully in 2001/2002 for a position that started in August of 2002, and if I remember correctly, the application form was 37 pages long, required 2 photos, required official transcripts (not so hard to get- I got them by ordering them on line from my University), required a medical check, and required a 500-1000 word essay. Then there was an interview at a hotel near the Japanese consulate in my city. A couple of months after the interview I received notice in the mail that I'd been accepted and a month after that I was told what city I'd been placed in. After that I got to do all of the paperwork associated with getting my visa.

Was it worth it? You bet it was.

[homersimpson]

For better or worse, the JET Program is not being replaced. In fact, it's simply being supplemented. Many recruiters are indeed hiring ALTs to contracting BOEs across Japan. Often this is done not to replace a void left by a JET ALT, but to augment him or her. Some towns and cities have a number of elementary and junior high schools, but only one JET ALT. For example, they may be only one JET for 6 junior high and 12 elementary schools. Some City BOEs try to find the money in the budget to hire on an ALT through one of the recruiters.