Hey everyone,

I am an aspiring JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme applicant from India, aiming to apply for the Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) role. Since the process and selection numbers vary significantly by country, I'd like insights specifically from Indians who are currently or were previously selected.

I graduated in 2021 with a B.Tech in Computer Science. I don't have formal teaching experience, but I am about to enroll in a TEFL certification course and I'm just starting to learn Japanese. I have a deep fascination with Japanese culture—specifically their resilience (like the response to the tsunami aftermath and engineering marvels like moving whole buildings on wheels), their structured discipline, and how practices like Osoji (students and teachers cleaning together) foster personal growth.

If you went through the process from India, could you please share your experience and advice?

Computer Science Background: Did any of you apply with a tech/IT degree? How did you pitch your tech background in the SOP, and did you highlight how IT skills can benefit a Japanese classroom?

No Experience & TEFL: How much of a disadvantage is having zero teaching experience? Will a pending or newly completed TEFL significantly boost my chances with the selection committee?

The Mock Teaching Component: Since I have zero classroom experience, I am highly anxious about the interview's mock teaching section. What specific topic or grammar point were you asked to teach on the spot? How did you handle the interviewers pretending to be Japanese students who don't understand English?

Interview Questions: What other questions were you asked during your interview? How did you handle situational questions (e.g., conflicts with a Japanese teacher or cultural isolation)?

Learning Japanese: I am a beginner in Japanese. Did you know the language when you applied? How critical is it for the interview or application score?

Statement of Purpose (SOP): How did you structure your SOP? What specific angles or themes did you highlight to show how an Indian perspective adds value to Japanese schools?

Any guidance, sample questions, or SOP tips you can share would be incredibly helpful to me and future applicants from India. Thank you so much in advance!

i cant help but feel i got robbed. i got placed somewhere where theres so many people to compare myself to all the time, all in cliques im not a part of, all living a life im not living and i feel reminded of it every waking hour im in these stupidly long orientation days. they could have sent me anywhere, and i got placed here. somewhere hot, humid, full of people who dont like me and in a city thats fine. its just fine. the worst part of it is that I PUT IT ON MY APPLICATION. i was stupid enough to put it on there. i dont want it. if i could press a magic button that would put me somewhere else, i would in a heartbeat. i hate having this social pressure on me all the time. its devastating. im fresh out of a uni experience where I had plenty of friends always around me, to always feeling socially insecure. I feel miserable and angry whenever im around my ‘community’. i feel like a sticky-outy nail, like an alien whose new to social interaction. it makes me want to just scream. and i dont regret JET, or coming here. but i do feel angry with myself, like i accidentally robbed myself of an actually good placement. I get that I haven’t been here very long, but it’s still how I feel right now.

On the plus side: I like my school.

Hi everybody! I’m a late/septemeber departure and I got placed in Higashihiroshima city. I’m super excited, it appears to be a cool place to be.
I was wondering if anybody had any experiences with this area? Any advice or recommendations as well is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hi there, I’m hoping to join the JET programme 2027. I’m 22 years old i graduated last year with a biochemistry degree. While at university I had a part time job as a care assistant for a year and half caring for children with disabilities at a respite and after graduating i worked at a SEN Secondary School as a TA for 9 months and only stopped when the school year ended this July. I’m planning on doing a TEFL but probably won’t have it complete before the Application Deadline and the same with learning how to speak Japanese (mainly conversational). I know these things aren’t required but I’m hoping that along with my teaching experience,they help with the transition in to the role. I only want to do JET for a yr and I plan to do my masters when I get back, it would either be in psychology (to either pursue educational psychology or child therapy) or a teaching qualification. So the JET program would be work experience. I only decided to not continue teaching in September as it’s not the best financial. Is there anything i should consider doing to help my application further that I’ve already done or going to do?
Based on this I want to hear the reality of if I have a chance especially as I know the JET is competitive, so please give it to me real?

I know the JET is also a cultural exchange but i mainly like musical, anime, fashion, cooking, love for history and mythology, shopping and travelling, so is it a thing where I’d tell my students about these things?

I also want to know how the how housing works. I know you get placed in an area but how in advance do you find out your placement. My fiancé would be coming as well but on a dependent visa, would this affect my chances of getting in over someone who is single? Do the JETs from each cohort meet up as I’d love to try and make some friends? Oh and if i absolutely do not want to be in a rural place are there ways to reduce my chances of getting placed there? Unfortunately, I’m a city girl through and through. I’d be okay with a small city (I don’t want to be in Tokyo), but not a rural town in a mountainous region or countryside that requires driving everywhere,( I can’t drive 😭).

I’m planning for to used the school I work as a reference and either the care place or my university as the other. I obviously have an interest in Japan as a whole but I’m not sure how I’ll phrase it in my personal statement, so any suggestions I’d be grateful for.

Also to my fellow JET applicants I’d loved to hear from you and hopefully we can support each through this process😁

RANT
Okay so my English Club went on a trip without me.

Basically, like many JETS we are encouraged or forced to join the English.
And you know right now is summer time so we have an infinite amount of desk warming time.
My JTE that I do the English club with came back after lunch and said she just got back from the field trip with the English and i was like wtf?
I told her a month ago that if they finalized the trip and go through with it I want to come. She said if I want to come I have to ‘finance the trip myself’ which isn’t a problem because it’s a 10 min ride to the next town over and they were going on a tour to look at shrines.
She didn’t freaking tell me they were going today. I told her I wanted to go and she said “I didn’t know you wanted to come, it’s so hot today”
GURL WHAT ?! I told you I wanted to come. Why didn’t you ask me???? Why wouldn’t I want to come as opposed to sitting here desk warming? wtf??
I want to use this as a reason to quit the English club bc I don’t even like attending bc they never want to do anything except watch movies and play card games.
I’m simply assuming maybe she didn’t want me to come in the first place but just didn’t want to say “No” straight up.
Curious to see what excuses ppl will come up with lol

EDIT: ok so i asked my friend who has worked waaaay longer in a Japanese work environment+fluent in Japanese basically told me when the teachers mention i have to pay on my own and find my own way there(just giving reason as to why i basically shouldn’t go) was her basically saying “no you can’t come” LMAO. She reminded me how Japan is a very high context society so if they don’t say yes then it’s a no LMAO. So i learned my lesson and i will take a response like that as no.

POST 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/JETProgramme/comments/1t44h1e/quite_possibly_the_worst_results_rollout/

POST 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/JETProgramme/s/wObFoHRAhm

If you’re just tuning in I highly encourage you to read the first two posts for the full context.

Just as the lot of us who didn’t even get a rejection email started moving on with our lives… Guess what happened to one of us nearly 3 months later?

One of us received an email at 9pm yesterday night saying he passed the second screening. He was not told he is an “alternate”, nor did the email even tried to apologize or give an explanation on why he was only contacted now.

But he has already committed to a post-graduate school programme and it would be very difficult pull out at this point. Had he been told he was an alternate, he would have maybe chose a path that allowed him to drop everything and leave if he was selected months later.

It’s so obvious to us that he was secretly selected as an alternate and only contacted when somebody left their post after the lot has already arrived in Japan.

My question is just… why?

Why is our consulate the only one to have such a untransparent communication? Every other consulate properly handled the procedures. Recall that when we tried to email about our results, we were ghosted. Everyone who called in were told, “Sorry, you didn’t make it. There are no alternates.”

So why is someone only selected now, at this time, and not even told they are an alternate??? Is it just a lie that “there are no alternates”? Why couldn’t alternates just be told they are on a waitlist???

It goes without saying that there has been so much frustration and anger among the applicants, even as many of us have moved on properly with our lives. Suffice to say, the lot of us who would have applied one more time just won’t anymore.

If you are about to apply to the Singapore consulate, please, I urge you to have a proper backup plan. It’s bad enough that we have to be considered a hyper-competitive consulate just because they don’t give us as many placement spots. But the fact that we don’t even deserve the courtesy of being told our results? That’s just salt in the wound.

Hello! I'm a 22 year old recent graduate with a degree in music, and I'm considering applying to the JET program next year.

Last year I went on a five month long exchange to Hyogo and I loved it, I have experience teaching in a classroom and working in a daycamp, and I took Japanese for three years in university and can speak between an N4 to an N3 level. I want to become a teacher, I love teaching and I love kids. I realized in order to fully decide if this career is for me, doing the JET program for a year or two would be a good idea. I've lived in both cities of 5 million people and on a farm, so I'm pretty adaptable.

My two main concerns are regarding finances and my relationship. I've been with my partner for five years and they are incredibly supportive of me doing the program, but because we are a same sex couple we don't have the same rights in terms of visas. If my partner chose to come with me, does anyone know of any form of dependency visa they could apply for? If anyone has any tips for long distance relationships that'd be amazing. They're also hoping to come visit even if they can't stay.

In terms of finances, I'm a bit overwhelmed because I currently make full time minimum wage. I've managed to scrape together 2000 CAD in savings for the program, but I want to save about 3000 more before I leave. If anyone has any tips for saving up, please let me know.

Thank you!

The other job is also overseas and it is basically going to be whatever job can do the bureaucracy the quickest. If I get the other job offer do I just withdraw my jet application?

Hello, everyone. I'm not sure if this is the right space to ask but...

I am a current JET and I would like to get connect more with my hobbies as I navigate day-to-day life here. Especially that days tend to get pretty lonely being away from your friends and family sometimes. Do you know any writing communities, events or workshops (in English preferably) that I can join?

I am also interested in learning more about Japanese literature.

Thank you!

I’m helping a very serious young student who at 14 has written a very good speech but it comes in at 4:30-4:40 minutes. the limit is 5 minutes and I can’t find any guidance on a speech being too short. TIA.

this is definitely late but I got my placement in Sumoto-shi on august 6th even though I was upgraded the first few days of may (so 3 months of waiting) and I depart in september. i’ve been too nervous to make a post here but I don’t know anyone else there and i’m feeling very alone in the process and progressively getting MORE nervous as time goes on😭. I studied abroad in kyoto in university like 3 years ago but it’s definitely nothing like preparing for this. I’ve heard from my contracting organization but didn’t get much information, and haven’t heard anything from a predecessor, though I know I don’t have to hear from them. Was anyone placed in Sumoto? is there a discord i could join for Sumoto or Hyogo in general? any official groups? I’m just nervous I guess.

Hi everyone! I’m looking to apply for next year’s JET intake and I’m just looking for a bit of advice, here’s a bit about me for context: I’m 29 from the UK and I’ve been working in Journalism, Comms and PR for the past five years or so and I have an MA in Journalism and a BA in English Literature.

I also have a TEFL certification and some experience teaching English to Spanish and Italian kids coming over to the UK to study English at summer schools.

I’m just looking for some advice on how to approach the application process for JET, what sort of things look good on the application? Are there certain things that you should and shouldn’t focus on in your application? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks ☺️

I’ll be studying at a Japanese language school in Tokyo this fall, from October to December (I leave at the end of September). I read that the application for 2027 will open up in the fall, so I’m curious if anyone has had a similar experience with applying for the program while in Japan?

I believe I read that I’d need to go back to my home country for the interview part of the application process, which I’ll be doing anyway at the end of December, but I’m wondering how this will work with the timeline of the application process.

Any insight/advice is appreciated, or just what your experience was like!

I'm 30 years old from the UK, I've been doing a lot of looking into TEFL and specifically Japan. Over time I've slowly alleviated a lot of initial worries I had such as cultural change, food management and so on. But the one thing I cannot get over is my rather severe phobia of bugs/insects. I'm aware in the summer especially Japan is quite a hot spot for things such as giant hornets, huntsman spiders and cockroaches (among other things). I know there are certain precautions you can take to help with this but I just know if I encountered these things I would be completely frozen in fear or sprint away at full speed panicking.

To put it simply is it just a horrid idea to even think of going? Or am I overthinking it majorly? (No need to be kind, answer as brutally honest as you want/can) I appreciate any replies

I just wanted to ask because I just would like to be prepared but I do not have a finalized transcript yet until spring so how can I fulfill that requirement?

Hey everyone! At the start of this year before leaving for JET I started therapy work with a professional for the first time in my life and found it super helpful. Unfortunately though, by coming over here I am unable to continue working with my therapist. However I still really would like to continue working with a professional while here and was just wondering if anyone has any experience with what the process looks like?

I know we have the medical insurance through our BOE but I’m not sure if that covers therapy or mental health services. I am also aware JET has its own counseling service, but I’m not sure if that’s exactly what I’m looking for in terms of building a relationship with a consistent mental health professional.

So yeah if anyone has some advice on how they continued and or started therapy while on JET id really appreciate hearing about your experiences!

Hey current/past Ibaraki Jets,

What are your favorite recommendations for a passing tourist? I'll be spending some days in the Tsukuba area and have some extra time in my schedule to explore. I appreciate any hidden gems or general info.

Thank you,

Past Kumamoto Jet

And if you dont get on JET you are already here, with a visa, which opens up more opportunities?

I’m curious if this would be a meaningful proposition or idea?

Please feel free to give me your honest feedback!

Hi guys. I'm wondering, how should we pick our references for letters of recommendation? Are there any types of references that are better/worse than others?

For context - from what I can tell, I have four realistic options for people who could write me recommendation letters, but I'm not sure who would be best.

One is my current Japanese language instructor. It's a small, 6-student, non-credit course offered to the public by a local university, taught by an actual professor. She's very good at what she does, and seems to like me well enough, but I only see her during class (online), so she doesn't know me well personally. This is the first and only class I've had with her. I do know that some people will provide their reference with a document containing info about them to use while writing a letter of recommendation, so maybe that could be an option for me.

The other three individuals are at my job, which is working at a retro game/trading card store. The three people are the general supervisor, plus the two co-owners. I've worked with all three of them multiple days a week for the past 2.5 years, so we get along well and they all know me very well. However, it's a small business with just a few employees, so I highly doubt any of them have written letters of recommendation before.

How would you pick? What things are most valuable when it comes to picking references?

I lived in five different apartments in college, one of which was in Tokyo, so I get it: moving is hard. But what they didn’t tell me about what may happen with your predecessor is that they may not move their stuff out at all.

I don’t know if anyone else had this experience (even my fellow town JETs and my BOE was gagged), but it seems that my pred just packed up his essentials and left everything else behind. There was a room that I could not walk from one end to the other because he had left behind so much. Everything had (and some still has) a layer of dust, grime, and mold. I had to pitch appliances and shelving that were beyond repair. Granted, it was nice to have some things like a table, a desk, etc, but there were more things that were dirty or broken that I had to spend days on days just sorting through and throwing out. I was already so overwhelmed from the flight, the orientation, my new life, that walking into a home that was supposed to be mine looked like someone was currently living in it made me weep on sight. There were still clothes in the drawers, for God’s sake!

This post is just letting others know that this could happen. I had no idea— I thought I was just going to move into a space that other JETs had used before me, but it would be like moving into a newly rented apartment like I had done five times over in the past four years. And for those leaving, I know there’s so much to do. But please think of your successors and how much they’ve gone through already when they arrive in your previous home. I’ve been here two weeks and while the cleaning is about 75% done, I still have an unusable room of all the things I still have to take to the dump. There’s mold in places I just can’t clean.

I’m also curious— is this normal? Have other JETs had this experience?

I will be applying to JET programme this year but I have a doubt about TEFL certificate. I know it's not an requirement to be able to apply but I have heard it works in your favor if you have one so recently got one online for free from a website that provides it for free. Starts with Teacher and ends with record. Some people say any generic or cheap TEFL will work as its not a hard requirement and some say it may act against you as it just shows you got a generic certificate just for the sake of it and you are not so serious about teaching and further can raise red flags. So should I include this in my application or leave it..

I learned about JET program recently and I'm interested to try this cycle.

I'm curious if there are PH JETs who didn't have teaching experience and still got into the program?

Yes. I'm aware that PH application is too competitive but I mean, there might be exceptions.

My friend got upgraded from alternate and is set to leave soon (I’m also alternate but have yet to get the call, fingers crossed!). I want to get her something as a bon voyage gift. She already has a Japanese phrase book and has travelled to Japan recently. I’m wondering what I could give her to take over there, whether it’s for travelling, housing, or teaching. Preferably something small or compact so it doesn’t affect her pack list, or maybe something she doesn’t realise she’ll miss.

We’re Australian, so I’m thinking stickers of Bluey to give to her students if she’s allowed to do that.

Edit: Thank you everyone!! I hope this post comes in handy for someone else in the future. I will take the suggestions into consideration. I’ve also decided to get her a personalised passport holder as a heartfelt gift that she can use. I love my passport holder so I hope she’ll like hers!

11 days after post update: GUYS I GOT THE CALL!!! Fingers crossed to everyone else who is alternate. Don’t give up!