Jeanneabeck’s Weblog

After a memorable trip to Kansas City and Branson, Missouri, of all places, I find myself back home with only a little more than a week left until Japan.  The same things I’ve been putting off are still waiting for me to finish up, and though this summer has gone by too quickly and many personal goals were not accomplished, I’m feeling as though even my blunders were for a reason, and my desires for improving myself in Japan are even stronger.  

I did accomplish one goal, however, and that was to see my family and boyfriend plenty before departure, though some of our get-together’s were strange.  For example, after finally going to a medical spa and getting a chemical peel yesterday, I went over to my boyfriend Ryan’s apartment where we had a 10+ movie marathon while my face healed.    Fun times.

The living room and dining room of my house lay in ruins as I attempt to pack a years worth of clothing and other necessities into two suitcases and a carryon or two.  There’s much one can buy in Japan, but at the same time, there’s much one should prepare before leaving to work in Japan.  Gifts for the people who will be working with you is important, but so is looking presentable while teaching, much less at the Tokyo orientation.  I’ll be bringing a small library worth of Japanese language study books along as well.  Of course, there are only the necessary ones. More daunting is the process of organizing and storing my belongings I’m not bringing, especially when I’d rather just let them lay in piles in my family’s basement. There’s still much to do.

Obviously being a first timer to the job scene in Japan, I’m no expert on the matter.  I will however, give you a few links and advice on how you can find a teaching job in Japan.  Since I don’t know much about non-teaching jobs I’m not of much help in this sense, nor will I pretend to be.

I’ve been asked by several people about how one applies for a visa for Japan, but to the best of my knowledge this is “putting the cart in front of the horse” as one needs to secure a job from an employer, who will assist you with obtaining a visa.  Japan’s a smart country in the sense that it seems as though only those holding a bachelor’s degree can get a Visa for a teaching job (possibly for all jobs?), unless you’re the dependent of a spouse/parent whose working in Japan or you’re married to a Japanese person.  There’s seven different types of visas, as an assistant language teacher via the JET Program I was told to apply for the Specialist in Humanities/International Services.  Your employer should tell you what type of visa to apply for and it should be fairly obvious which one to apply for.  For visa information, I recommend going straight to the source at  http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/english/html/travel_and_visa/visa/index.htm, and/or contacting your local embassy.

After talking with people interested in working in Japan, it seems as though the consensus is that obtaining a visa is really difficult, that there’s lots of paperwork, etc., but from my experience it was the complete opposite.  Applying for the JET program, I had to fill out a 20+ page document, letter’s of recommendation, transcripts, proof of graduation, proof of study abroad, etc., be screened, interviewed, submit health forms, an FBI fingerprint check, IRS forms, etc. all of which were probably more tedious than the one page, one passport photo visa documentation. (And remember, you must have your passport first) The visa application was a walk in the park after everything else I’ve had to gather for JET, the only hard part was mailing off my actual passport to the embassy, which I was reluctant up to the point I was close to missing the deadline when I finally sent it via next day delivery.

Anyway, here’s a few places you can find Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) and English teaching jobs in Japan that have been recommended to me and that I’ve found useful. There’s many other sites of course, just Google it. For most jobs, you need to be a native English speaker with a bachelor’s degree.  Some require a teacher license but not all.  Any ALT job should not require a teacher license because you are not the main teacher in the classroom.

JET Programme [link] or JET Program USA [link] The ALT program for Japan. They also hire Coordinators of International Relations (CIRs) and Sports experts (SEAs). You can reapply for your job as many as five years.

Dave’s ESL cafe. [link] This place has tons of TEACHING jobs (not ALT unless specified) all over the world. For Japan, look under the “International job forum” where you’ll unfortunately have to weed through all the other job posts. There’s a separate Korea and China forum because of their high demand for teachers.  Most jobs will be for English cram schools that students go to after their regular school is over, but actual schools, colleges, and universities will post jobs too.  There’s usually a lot less paperwork involved than JET, but be cautious and ask lots of questions when job hunting at cram schools because your hours might be weird (late nights/weekends), you probably won’t have the same perks as JET (won’t pay for plane ticket), and in some situations, you might not be treated as well. Try to get the phone numbers/email address of other English teachers and get their feedback and make sure your contract spells everything out.

Japan Iterac [link] For ALT jobs in Japan
Altia Central [link] For ALT jobs in Japan
(These two groups claim to provide better ALTs than JET. In some cases they might be right, but I personally, through my non-gaijin-esque actions in Japan hope to prove them wrong.)

EPIK Program. [link] ALT jobs in South Korea. It’s not Japan, but Korea is an awesome place too and I was going to apply here if JET fell through.

The Japan Times and other Japanese newspapers in English have classified ads for all types of jobs in Japan. There are also other job boards online, just Google it. As long as you’ve got an employer, you’ll be able to get a visa and begin work. Whether you’re studying or living abroad, it is a life changing experience and I recommend everyone with an open mind and heart to experience going abroad. (And of course, if you’re just visiting the country, you don’t need a visa nor any of the info I just posted)

On June 29th, Japan seemed forever away, as though I had all the time in the world to be lazy and put off the 3 p’s: paperwork, packing, and planning.  It was around 1 or 2am of July 1st that I was hit with the realization that I was leaving for Japan in less than a month, on July 26th no less.  I probably won’t start sleeping well again until considerable progress is made in packing what’s going to Japan and orgainzing and storing what’s staying behind in Missouri, not to mention studying Japanese.  It’s now crunch time, but first I have a vacation in the Ozarks to attend to. Gotta spend time with the family too.

Good things have happened since I last wrote.  I found out I have been placed in Iida City of Nagano Prefecture, which is remarkably the exact same city I studied abroad in last summer. This wasn’t a coincidence, no, I did request to be placed in this city, but since when did JET (or any program) give applicants what they wanted? I always envisioned JET as a “beggars can’t be choosers” type program, but since Iida’s not at the top of many people’s list (most Japanese people don’t know this city) there probably wasn’t an abundance of requests the Board of Education had to wade through.

Since I studied abroad in this city for two months last summer, I’m feeling relieved.  First off, I visited both Fuetsu High School and Osahime High School, the two schools in which I will be working, last summer so there will be no shock in finding out that Fuetsu’s on the top of it’s own small mountain that I’ll have to scale every day, for example.  I’ve already eaten the food, explored the neighborhoods, shopped in the stores, spoke my broken Japanese to the locals, took part in community events, volunteered, taught English, etc. so there’s really no element of surprise as to where I’ve been placed at least, which has made this last month pretty stress-free.  Instead of feeling like I’m going to some where far away, exotic, and mysterious, I’m heading back to my home away from home.

The greatest blessing about being placed in Iida is knowing that I already have a few friends and contacts already who will help me out if I need it, and have a few ideas for how to occupy my time off.  In addition to wanting to improve as an English teacher, which will undoubtably happen being in an English classroom 8 hours a day, I want to improve my Japanese language skills, and thus want to get involved in a few community activities.  I hope to join the Imada ningo troupe, who taught my study abroad group about traditional Japanese puppetry last summer, and practice with them during the school year. I want to attend the Japanese church I visited last year, even if it was a little boring. I’m also looking into the Iida Symphony Orchestra.     

Sitting around outside the Japanese embassy in Houston waiting for my interview, I thought to myself, “The first thing I’ll do if I get accepted to JET, other than calling everyone I know is buy tons of omiyage or souvineers for everyone in Japan~!” Yeah right! I received the acceptance email at 5:03pm on April 3rd, 2008, and was thrilled, but then slightly overwhelmed. The first thing that happens is you get swamped with about 5 different documents you need to submit, several of which need to be completed within the next 2 weeks. There’s the…

-reply form (due 4/18 )
-physical (due 4/18 )
-IRS form 8802 to get form 6616 (to avoid double taxation by the US and Japanese gov’t - mail off asap)
-FBI fingerprints (mail off asap)
-proof of graduation (mail off as soon as you receive it)

There were victory dances, yes, but it wasn’t the glorious image I had in my head.  There was lots of running around, scheduling doctor’s appointments, when to get inked up for fingerprints, etc, as well as the disappointment that two good friends and excellent JET candidates were only given ‘alternate’ positions. I’m confident they’ll find other work in Japan if a JET position doesn’t open up for them though. There’s plenty to go around. 

Anyways, I’ve turned everything except the last document in early and am now anxiously awaiting graduation.

My name is Jeanne Beck and I’m creating this blog because starting this July I will be living in Japan via Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, or JET Program. I’m very excited about living and teaching and Japan and want to keep everyone at home informed with how things are going.  Thanks for viewing! Expect more posts around summer time.