Job Discussion Forums

[Tres Belle]

Hi, JET teachers
I am applying for a JET position for 2008. Hoping I will be able to land a job in urban area. I am keen on knowing something about your housing conditions (average size, furnished or not, heating and cooling etc...).
Thanks for help!

[kita]

Get used to this saying: ESID or every situation is different. It's sort of the unofficial motto of the JET program. The housing situations for JETs varies. I myself live in a very small apartment. There is a hallway with a washing machine, small fridge, sink, and a burner. Then a small room with my bed, desk, TV, and bookshelf. Very college dormish. Another JET, employed by the same BOE as myself had a rather large apartment with 2 bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. However, though she has more space, her apartment and appliances are old whereas mine are new and she has to manually turn on her gas to get hot water whereas I just have to press a button. She also pays more for it. So yeah, it's really luck of the draw with what you get apartment wise.

Some will have AC and heat, some won't. Some will be furnished, some won't. Sizes vary from huge (just last weekend was at a JET's house in my prefecture that seemed more like a hotel than a house) to really small. You won't really know until you get in contact with your predecessor and/or get here.

Also, know that it is incredibly unlikely that you will get an urban placement. Most all positions on JET are rural or semi-urban. Not all are in the middle of nowhere, but you're not gonna get put in a big city like Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto. Think smaller cities like Saitama, Nara, Sapporo, and the like. But even then, suburban and rural placements are much more common.

[maya.the.bee]

well...ESID

i'm pretty sure that start every JET post that way, but...eh.

urban placement? good luck. housing conditions? 1k to whole houses. average size? 2dk, maybe??? generally at least one aircon. generally furnished, not tastefully. it all depends on the assigned BOE and your pred, so you can't really know for sure until you get here.


not very helpful...but not really anything that you can anticipate.

[Mothy]

Well I think I"m pretty much gonna reiterate what everyone else has said but, yeah it really depends. But most of the JETs I know got at least decent sized apartments... Of course bearing in mind that size is relative. I was in such a tiny crappy apartment in America before I came to Japan that just about anything will seem like a paradise. I think my apartment is quite a comfortable size and my wife and I feel quite nice here. But enough JETs get placed in bad apartments that you shouldn't go in expecting a nice place, or you may well end up disappointed.
As far as an urban placement goes, it's certainly a bit of luck but it can definately happen. Of course once again, what is urban might depend on where you come from. To a small town boy like me anything over 100,000 people seems like a regular metropolis. But my placement is in a city of 500,000+ people within a 30 minute train ride to Tokyo (though really there's enough stuff to do here I rarely go to Tokyo), so I'd say if it's not urban, it's close enough to make you happy. And I got this placement without asking for anything special in terms of rural vs urban. So although you can't be guaranteed an urban placement, I wouldn't give up on that hope.

[Lyrajean]

Anything goes as far as JET housing. I haven't seen or heard of anything truly unliveable near me though.

One gent up north was advised to mow his lawn immediately though as the neglected grass might be hiding Habu snakes!

I have what I think is a 1LDK, rather small but its easy to clean and cheap to air condition -important in Okinawa. There are some people on the islands who have whole houses to themselves with yards. One girl on one of the outer islands lives in an apartment above one her JTE/landlord. I've seen bigger apartments and cruddier apartments than mine.

Sometimes the apartments have been passed down from JET to JET. and many 23year olds aren't the best tenants. At first, I was annoyed because they made my pred. move everything out before they cleaned and I had to spend a week in a hotel while they did this, and rescue the second hand furniture etc off of the military base where she had stored it for me (I bought my preds stuff). But, they cleaned the place top to bottom and after seeing some of the places where the new JET just moved right in after the old, I was glad they gave a @#$% about the condition of the apartment I'm in.

One generalization I can make though, is that the more urban your setting is, the smaller and more expensive your housing is likely to be. you'll have more $$$ to save if you are in a rural or suburban placement.

And placements are really random. Don't get stuck into thinking you're going where you filled out those 3 boxes on the application, cause chances are you won't get it.

[Dr. Gibbons]

I would say that as far as JET goes, the vast majority of positions are in rural areas. Most urban areas are dominated by private companies such as Interac etc. These are appealing to schools because they pay a little less and don't have to send their teachers to expensive conferences in Tokyo. As far as I know, there aren't any JET positions in Tokyo and those in designated cities are being replaced. At the same time, new positions are opening up in the countryside.

Having said all that, living in the country isn't so bad. Apartments are big and cheap, air is clean, crime is practically non-existant and it's not crowded. Unfortunately, people DO tend to be a little nosier in the country and you may find crazy neighbours go through your garbage.