The JET Programme: Prologue or The Source of the Flow

These series of posts related to the JET Programme were written as a series of opinions for a friend who was applying to join the JET Programme and subsequently has been accepted. They are drawn from personal experiences and anecdotes from other current JETs. They are in no way the absolute word in what to do and expect.

For more reading, see:
"The Prologue"
"The Interview"
"Sitting, Waiting, Wishing"

With applications for the forthcoming year's JET Programme about to end, I'd thought that I get the ball rolling and start writing about my thoughts and experiences (no witty anecdotes, I'm afraid) about getting into the JET Programme. Why I wanted to write about this is because there were so many differing stories about applying and getting into JET when I did it myself last year. I think it would be helpful if there was a memoir of sorts from someone who has been there and done that and got into the programme. Plus my classes have been cancelled for the day so I might as well do something slightly productive with my time.

I'm not sure what I did right or what was meant to be done but I got into the programme so I hope that what I did was right. Although there is still enough time for the right people to come and take me back to where I came from having realised that they accepted the wrong person. I'm looking behind me as I type this just in case.

So here we go.

Once you get to Japan, one of the things that you'll have to get used to is being asked a lot of questions by random Japanese people (the other is using the Japanese squat-style toilets which I have yet to master). 99% of the time you will probably be asked one of many questions that you can find below:

* Can you use chopsticks?
* Do you like Japanese food?
* Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend/kids?
* Are you married?
* What do you think of Japan?
* Why did you come to Japan?

The latter question is more valid than the others because it is important to consider why you set the ball rolling and initiated all the change and whatnot in your life by coming to Japan. JETs are made up of people from differing backgrounds: some may have lived in Japan for a while, others like myself may have been to Japan for a holiday or two whilst some may have never left their town, let alone been on an airplane. As such, everyone has their reason to be here in Japan as part of the JET programme though a rather romantic and flimsy reason is that most JETs are hiding from something: be it a tax debt, outstanding criminal charges or general life back home. Whatever the reason, use that as a starting point to build on your future experiences in Japan (escaping from a jilted-ex by going to Japan may bring you fame and fortune in Japan. Or so says the fortune cookie). Your reason/motivation will definitely change from a bit to 360°. Expect and embrace that.

Once you are clear on why you want to be a JET or be in Japan then you can get a clearer picture on how much you want to get out of the programme, the people and the work you will be doing. Different people will have different levels of involvement with all three. There's no right or wrong level of immersion into the three, it's just a matter of horses for courses. All the "real life stories/testimonies" that the JET programme offer in its promotion/FAQ are from people who appear (to me, anyway) to be totally immersed in the JET programme and their respective community. Which is cool. But I found that initially I knew that I won't that type of person. And the fact that EVERYONE that shared their stories or testimonies about the JET programme during the various information days or FAQs made it a tad fake to me. Surely everyone can't be that "genki" (enthusiastic/intense) about JET. And this is my truth: not everyone is like that. The bar is set high but we can all comfortably walk under it.

So, consider why you want to go to Japan for a year or more. Starting is a good place to piece the other pieces together. And it wouldn't hurt to figure out why there is the JET programme in the first place. Wander over to Az's place and you'll get an insight on how JET kinda came about and what it means to you, me and the entire human race.

Music In My Head: Travis - U16 Girls

I Loved Yesterday

Someone I know who works in the same prefecture as me has recently got a bit homesick. A post of photos on Facebook entitled "what i miss abt home" (you're suppose to be an English teacher, Annie!) reveals her yearning for things back home. Also the fact that she was rattled by an earthquake last night doesn't help (I slept through the small one that hit my neck of the woods).

Her pining for things half the world away got me thinking of the people and places that I have left behind. At the moment I haven't been homesick so consider this a post in lieu of being homesick or in preparation for when it strikes. Plus I like the title of the post, which was stolen from the album of the same name by Yui.




















I loved yesterday.

CD of the Week

CD #40: The Thrills - Teenager



CD #41: Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy

Dropping in

I think the longest time between drinks posts on this blog is 8 days. Whilst it certainly isn't intentional, various factors prove to be a hinderance: not being able to upload anything at school (whilst I have ample free time at school), a backlog of TV shows to watch at home and discovering the joys of the vacuum cleaner (I actually tried 3 different brooms before I discovered they ALL suck, or maybe don't) and cooking. But they're all controllable things and I should be posting more frequently, less time passes me by and I find that I'm not where I am at anymore. But at least I'm calling home and eating my fruits and vegetables so that's a plus.

I've been in Japan for just over 3 months now and depending on the day it still hasn't dawned upon me that I am here or it has been way past the point of realisation. The other day whilst walking back home after taking some friends to the bus stop, it kinda dawned upon me that I was in Japan as I looked out to a local vegetable patch. But then again, at that same moment, I really, really had to take a shit so I wasn't in the best of minds.

For the record the shit was a good shit and I had a nap afterwards. Life is good.

"Happiness is when you really need to go to the toilet and you get to go to the toilet". Some guy from Def Leppard.

CD of the week

CD #37: The Verve - Forth



CD #38: Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul



CD #39: The Chemical Brothers - Brotherhood



Clearly someone is still living in the Britpop days.

A possible preview of John 先生 as a teacher 35 years in the future

I have 6 different JTEs (Japanese teacher of English) and all of them are pretty cool people. I've heard some other JETs having JTEs who CAN'T speak English even though they teach English, (no I have no idea how that works either) so I'm even luckier to have all 6 of my JTEs having an above average grasp of English.

One of the more interesting JTEs (along with the object of my man-crush desire, Nonaka 先生) is Saito 先生.



Saito 先生 is a short, 50ish year old man who's sense of humour and Tigger-esque energy (except for when he has the cold/fever which seems to be the case for the last 3 weeks) reminds me of Eric Tsang (曾志偉):



Saito 先生's classes are interesting and relaxed. It seems that he and I trained at the same school of educational training, that is, go in to class severely under prepared and planned. He pulls it off though because he knows his stuff and he is pretty funny in class which allows to wing his way through it. The students love him because of his "Dad" sense of humour. He cried to the students the other day about wanting to take the rest of the day off so to rest at home. Later he told me he actually wanted to go shopping for an autumn jacket. As we walked down the hallway and passed the principal, he reminded/threatened me not to mention his plans "to the boss".

He also has a frequent habit of breaking out into a random old song (sounds like me, actually).The other day he did just that when the Backstreet Boys somehow managed to find its way into the lesson. From that, Saito 先生 proudly revealed that before baseball games (he's the school's baseball coach), he used to listen to "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by the Backstreet Boys to get himself pumped for the game. The games must had been very tough and manly.

Somehow I kinda recognise a bit of myself as a teacher in Saito 先生. To me, he teaches from the point of view that teaching is ultimately about connecting and communicating with people effectively. To the casual observer, it seems that he is under prepared but the execution of his lessons contradicts that casual conclusion. In my case, you can probably call it lazy but since Saito 先生 has taught for a long time, I think you can't call him that. Although he is the one who is responsible for organising my 宴会 (welcome dinner/banquet) and that still has yet to happen. Maybe he is like me after all, a lazy bugger.

CD of the week

CD #36: Travis - Ode to J Smith

The man behind the mask

It seems like I got a lot more out of my soccer weekend in Nagano than I expected. Of course there was the compulsory sore muscles (bulging, bulging muscles) but also it seems like I picked up a cold (which seems to be doing the rounds across most of Japan) as well. I've been here for over 2 months and have had 2 bouts of fever; nice average.

I tried to be decent this time and bought some masks to wear to school instead of coughing over everyone like I usually do. Some of the other ALTs still don't get the mask-wearing thing but coming from Hong Kong where they had SARS and where I had my nurse friend steal some masks from her hospital to send back to relatives in Hong Kong, I was cool with it.

The whole point of wearing a mask is to stop you from spreading your germs and all that to others. Or, to prevent you from picking up other people's germs. Or for some of my female students, to cover up your fresh blemish. That's all nice and dandy but I have noticed there's another benefit to wearing a slightly suffocating mask: it attracts attention to you. By which I mean people know you are sick and start asking about you. And being concerned about you that you are still wearing a mask five days later when you actually feel slightly better. Or when you stay back a bit and they are concerned that you are working yourself to death in your current ill state which makes you look good.

Or it can backfire on you: I had a teacher asking if he needed to prepare 香典 (or 白金 for those playing in Hong Kong) which is basically money you give to the departed's grieving family. Wise guy.



Though wearing a mask has its pros and cons, ultimately it is most useful for when your student farts right next to you.

Music In My Head: The Whitlams - I Make Hamburgers

Your sex is on fire or; The 2008 All Japan ALT Soccer Tournament

So the weekend was spent in Nagano playing football in a competition opened to all ALTs in Japan. 16 teams showed up and it seems that we, the Fukushima Akabekos, were the only ones who were there more for the Saturday party than the games itself.



Four games played and the results were:

8-0 vs Chiba
7-1 vs Gifu
2-1 vs Gunma
6-0 vs Gunma

We had a 4 game streak; you can guess if it was a winning streak or not.

It's been years since I've played football and my body hasn't stopped reminding me of it via various aches and pains. But it was all worth it with me coming back with a cool jersey and lots of shared jokes. I guess one way to evaluate how much fun you've had on a trip is the amount of jokes and stories you come back with. And it seems like we came back with a bus load of stories and jokes that no one else would understand except for those who were there. I guess we did win in the end.



"Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon was our 12th player on the tour. The song was played nonstop courtesy of this one guy who had it on all the time (he was DJ on the tour bus). He would go out for a ciggie and come back announcing that he had heard it twice in the meantime. Whether I like the song or not, I don't know but I do know that it has sunk in deep down into my consciousness.


Personifying "sex on fire".

Music In My Head: Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire

The students have spoken

Well at least Kenくん, who's a 3rd year senior high student, has.



Q) What is it that is special?
Your answer: I think it is Mr John that is very special!!

Note the use of 2 exclamation marks to bring the "very special" point home. Also note how he has been rewarded with 3 koala stamps.

The rest will come around to Kenくん's thinking soon enough.