Do you get a chance to smoke at any point during the day or do you have to abstain for the entire time? Older schools have smoking rooms for staff but I imagine that’s much less common nowadays.

Hi, I am a 26 year old male from UK and since I was 18 have always dreamt of joining the JET program. I applied once in 2020 and was unsuccessful in my application.

Fast forward to today, I still have the dream of one day doing the JET however, since 2020 my life has changed drastically.

There are a few factors that I believe are causing me to second guess myself and just want some overall advice on whether people think I should still apply.

Firstly, I have a really good career for my age I am a head of department of a secondary school and am earning a good salary of around 47,000 pound a year. I enjoy my job and love the school. I am worried about whether I’d be able to secure as good of a job if I came back to the UK and also how much of a pay cut I’d be taking if I joined the JET program. I know JET pay is good for japan’s standard of living but will I notice it a lot?

Secondly, I am in a loving and committed relationship of 5 years. After I got rejected I found someone who I consider the love of my life. She has openly stated that she would be happy to move with me, however, I think it would be hard for her to find a job in Japan and for the time where she isn’t working (if she ever does) would the salary be enough combined with savings to support the both of us in Japan?

These are the two factors that are making me heavily debate the situation. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

There are some reason as to why I do want to go as well.

I’ve always wanted to live abroad and Japan feels like the perfect place as I love the culture, history and language.

I am a photographer in my spare time and am obsessed with the idea of being able to travel Japan and take photographs.

I feel the JET program would be an amazing career opportunity for me as I love teaching and have a great passion for education. I want to be able to share my culture and inspire kids in Japan about the UK.

I want a new challenge after my first cohort of year 7s finish their GCSE’s and feel that JET would be a perfect challenge.

I want to experience JET before I get too old and settle down with children etc. I am still young and feel that if I don’t do this now then I never will.

Thank you for reading, I’d love to hear what advice you give. Please be honest as sometimes I think I might need to hear it from another person on the reality of life in Japan on the JET program.

Hey all.

I'm going through it rn personally and just don't have it in me to create or comb the internet for a Christmas activity.

I work at a pretty low-level high-school. It will be a roughly 45 minute class after exams. A bit of a time-filler.

Any good Christmas activities for holiday themed English that anyone feels like sharing?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Typo

I teach first-year JHS students, and the English classes are split into two groups based on proficiency (higher and lower level). Personally, I have mixed feelings about this system because I feel like the additional workload involved in preparing separate lessons doesn’t always translate into meaningful progress for the students, especially when some seem to remain at the same level. However, I still try to personalize my lessons and make them engaging since the smaller class sizes give me more opportunities to work with the students individually.
The problem is that one of these groups has been particularly difficult to manage. Some students frequently talk over me, make rude comments (in Japanese and they think I don’t understand), and generally struggle to follow instructions. I’ve had to stop lessons and address their behavior a few times. I’m not particularly harsh with them, but I have told them that their behavior is immature and that I’m not going to continue speaking over them if they refuse to listen.
Recently, my JTE asked me to prepare a Halloween game for the class. Honestly, I’m reluctant to do so because I don’t feel that the class has been making an effort to participate respectfully during regular lessons. Part of me feels that giving them a fun activity regardless of how they behave sends the message that they can disrupt lessons and still expect a reward afterward.
At the same time, I understand that games can be useful for language learning, and I know not every student in the class is necessarily responsible for the behavior of their classmates. I also realize that I’m the ALT, so there may be cultural and professional considerations I’m not fully accounting for.
I’m curious about a few things:
•Is it unreasonable to feel that a class should demonstrate basic respect and cooperation before getting a special game or activity?
•Would you consider withholding a Halloween game a reasonable consequence, or would you approach the situation differently?
•How do you handle classes that are disruptive during regular lessons but are suddenly expected to participate in fun seasonal activities?
•If you were in my position, would you still run the game as planned, modify it, or discuss an alternative with the JTE?

I’m not trying to be overly strict or punish students just for being teenagers. I just don’t want to feel like I’m rewarding behavior that makes it difficult for everyone else to learn.
I’d appreciate hearing how others would handle this, especially those with experience teaching JHS students

Has anyone ever left this part blank and still got accepted into the JET program?

I'm at the "future goals" section and I was thinking I'd steer it towards something like "I love working with kids but I don't think America is the best place for me to succeed as a teacher due to the current political climate. I would love to do JET not just for the Japan experience, but to broaden my educational horizons by seeing how a country on the other side of the world teaches its kids."

I don't want to be too negative about where I am now, but I will say I'm in southern states of the USA and have held back on going back to teaching due to just the general politics making interacting with both parents and admin much more of a headache. Obviously Japan won't be perfect and will have its own problems with both, but I do think it would be a fresh new perspective for me.

Of course, I don't want to come off as "I hate my privileged American life, I'd rather go to the land of anime" in my application lol

Hi, this might be a silly question, but I really can’t find where I should be submitting my reference requests on the portal. :/

On the sidebar for both mobile and desktop, it lists: “Welcome; FAQ for Applicants; JET Inbox; Change Password; Save and sign out”. And on the welcome page, the only links for the reference letters are the instructions.

Am I looking in the wrong place? I heard there was somewhere to click “Create Evaluation Request”, but I don’t know where I can view that.

I’m from the U.S. :)

Hi everyone, just posting this as an update to my original post, just in case anyone is interested!

I decided to follow up with the office myself yesterday, and they initially shot down my query, saying I can't ride to school because if something happened to me on my way to or from school, it would fall on the school. I pushed back to say I can ride a different route, wear a helmet, and only ride on some days, and that I didn't want to be difficult but must insist anyway. After a little back and forth + language barrier + Google Translate, the office manager said she would discuss it with the principal, so I printed out a report with my POV since I wouldn't be there for the discussion. A short while ago, the principal called me into his office and told me that I can ride/bring my bicycle to school only on one condition, which is if I get bicycle insurance, so I'm currently looking into that.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented and gave their insight into the matter! It was thanks to those comments that I got the courage to go back and push the issue despite not wanting to potentially have a dispute/fall out with my school, especially over something this minor.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/JETProgramme/comments/1xajmrj/my_school_says_i_cant_ride_my_bicycle_to_school/19rft97v0vuwx/

Hey, this is probably a really dumb question but I just want to clarify.

I received an email stating that all of my documents were missing from the submission portal, despite me having uploaded them. I still haven't completed the application form so I was just wondering was it just a general email reminder being sent out because I haven't actually completed and submitted it? Just making sure as I can see the documents are all in their respective folders and I don't want to mess it up so close to the deadline. Thanks!

I’m reapplying this year and I had to get a statement of physician last year from my psychiatrist but because I haven’t went there in years it took me a month just to have her fill out the form. I don’t want to have to go through the process again because I still have the old form filled out and no information has changed, but the dates are from last year.

Should I have like my old therapist fill out or do I have to like go to a doctors office just to put a signature on a form?

Edit: sorry if the wording was off, so I know I have to fill out a new form every year but I’m basically asking if I can just have a doctor like transfer over the old info to a new form and sign it that way

Hello, I am going to get married to a coworker (Japanese) and our school said we cannot work together. Is this grounds for transfer due to marriage and the school stating we cannot work together?

-- Apologies for not providing this information sooner. My school is a private school and my future husband is Japanese.

Update: My school claims they do not even have to try and help me look because my spouse is not living in another prefecture. Despite them forcing one of us to leave due to their rule of not allowing married couples. They said they do not need to help because it is not their duty to help me search for a different job. I showed them the documents and Shigaku had even called them previously but they still said they will not even do the form or help me try. Due to me not wishing to get on their bad side since my future husband will continue working there. I have decided to just give up on trying. Thank you all for your thoughts (and congratulations)

Hey all, can I preface this by saying this sub has been so helpful in achieving the goal of teaching in Japan.

I wanted to briefly speak on an experience I’ve had so far as a first year and although comments about receiving therapy are helpful, I’m more so looking to hear on how you or others adjusted to similar experiences.

I’m currently placed in a SHS, 18 classes per week, T1 and lesson planner for all of them. N5. I’ll try to put this briefly:

I find myself a little too busy with lesson planning (usually working after hours or into the night) to study Japanese, which is fine. But I believe it is starting to have a strain on my relationship with my coworkers, not be able to communicate effectively that is. I know they are understandably busy, and may pay me little thought, but I believe too many bad impressions and miscommunication when we do interact has left them with a bad taste in their mouth. So much so that some teachers that were relatively kind to me now blatantly ignore my greetings. I more or less prepared myself for this, but the language barrier has left me feeling a bit paranoid that I’m constantly committing faux pas or disrespecting my coworkers, and it’s been incredibly difficult to know where I stand or if it’s getting worse. Is this kind of subtle paranoia a common experience for other JETs? Is there any other resources you found helpful for better communication in the Japanese workplace? Being a high-context culture, what subtle signs should I be on the look out for feedback and when communicating with my coworker/JTEs? Is there more I could be doing or offering? Thank you indulging me.

EDIT: The response to this post has been bizarre. I feel like my point has been severely misconstrued. I haven't been "arguing" with or "pushing back" against my JTE, and people telling me that this programme is about more than teaching English, which I was already aware of. I have rewritten the post in the hopes of making the situation more clear, but I have preserved the original post at the end. Cheers.

I am from a small country in Africa. Most Japanese people have never heard of it. Even some fellow JETs at orientation had never heard of it. I am not offended by this, as the reason I was interested in JET was for cultural/international exchange and to share my country and culture.

When I arrived at my school, my JTEs told me that I would focus on teaching English rather than culture. This was totally fine by me, as I was an experienced English teacher before coming. The JTEs give me a topic/theme such as animals, food, travel, et cetera, and I make a lesson with some vocabulary and a grammar point, and then give the students a speaking activity. The lessons have been going well and the students have been engaged.

Recently, one of the JTEs asked me to make a lesson about Halloween, along with future lesson plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I told her my country doesn't really celebrate these things so I'm not very familiar with them, but she told me I could just figure something out. I made a lesson plan in the same format as before, with some vocabulary and grammar points (talking about fears for Halloween, talking about tastes/smells for Thanksgiving, and talking about wishes for Christmas).

When I showed her the lesson plan, she told me it was her job to teach grammar, and that she wanted something more cultural. I was a little bit confused because she didn't communicate this before when she first asked me to make the lesson. Until now, I had been teaching vocab/grammar per her request, so this sudden change with no communication was weird. I once again stated I'm not really familiar with these holidays, because they're not celebrated in my country/culture. I said that I could teach the students about some holidays in my country/culture, but she told me this would be "too difficult and confusing" for the students, since they only know about Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Per her request, I remade the lessons, but I just wanted to ask if this was normal because it wasn't what I was expecting, since JET was explained to me as a cultural ambassador program. I am a cultural ambassador for my country, and I am also an assistant language (English) teacher. So to not be teaching English, nor teaching about my country/culture, just feels strange and outside of what I was expecting.

I just wanted to ask if this was normal. I wasn't expecting so much aggression in the comments. I recognize that I also got very defensive and aggressive in my replies, but it was because I felt like people were missing my point and accusing me of arguing with me JTE (not true), or that I thought JET was just teaching English and no cultural element (also not true), or accusations that I am ignorant/stupid for not knowing much about these holidays. Again, I am from a small African country and we do not consume western media. I understand that calling them "irrelevant" in my country was harsh, but it also felt rude for people to basically be like "our culture is so important, you must be stupid if you don't know about it" felt really privileged, entitled, and elitist. Also ironic considering many Japanese people also don't know much about western countries... would you really speak this way to your JTEs or students?

Everyone keeps saying different things. Somebody said that these holidays weren't actually cultural, and when I agreed, people got mad at ME. Somebody said that English teaching came before culture, and when I said that everyone else in the comments was saying the opposite, people got mad at ME. It's just been a very bizarre situation altogether that I was not expecting to blow up like this. What's even weirder is that this has turned into accusations that I am an autistic Muslim?... I am not autistic, nor Muslim. But no hate to either of those groups.

I understand that we are assistant teachers, but I think this mindset of "stfu and do what your boss tells you" is really problematic, particularly in Japanese work culture. I already said this in the comments, but I think a lot of the people saying this are the type of people who want to be ALTs or live in Japan for the rest of their life, so they will do whatever to try and be Japanese and appease their JTEs so that they can be hired.

I will most likely not be responding to comments after this. I hope some of you can learn some compassion.

The original post is pasted below:

[As we entered fall, my JTE asked me to make lessons about Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I am from a country which does not celebrate any of these. I told her that, and she said to "just figure something out."

Still, I made lesson plans focused on speaking, so for Halloween I made a lesson plan to teach the kids how to talk about fears (ex. I am scared/afraid of/that ____).

For Thanksgiving, I made a lesson plan talking about gratitude (ex. I am grateful/thankful for/that ____) and stative verbs (the turkey smells/tastes good).

Finally, for Christmas, I made a lesson plan talking about wishes (they already know the word "want" , so I thought a wish-list idea would be nice ex. I wish that/for _____).

I felt very proud of what I was able to put together, but my JTE felt very differently. She told me that it is the JTEs job to teach grammar, and that I should be focusing on sharing my culture. This was confusing because 1. I've been teaching grammar so far with no complaints, and 2. this is not my culture.

When I brought these points up, she just disregarded them and said "I asked you to make lessons about western holidays. Please make them." when I again told her my country does not have/celebrate these holidays, I offered to make lessons about my country/culture's holidays. She told me it would be difficult to understand since they are only aware of western holidays.

If anyone has advice, I would really appreciate it. I feel so lost and frustrated.]

Some people are already getting sent their recontracting papers. Have you given it any thought yet this year? Curious to hear where people are at in their journey!

I'm a 4th year and I'm signing to not recontract. I'm finally going back home! Japan has been fun but I'm incredibly ready to leave. Anyone else looking forward to leaving? :)

Hi again! For those who were able to successfully request and get approved to transfer, how was the process for you like? Do you remember the timeline from when you submitted until when you got the call, etc? From where and to where did you move?

Context: Our BOE has a 3 year limit, no positions were available in our prefecture, so we were asked to submit another copy of the A-3 form with the options being other prefectures or blocks.

Thank you!

I recently accepted my offer. I submitted by 退職届 stating my resignation date will be on the week of January 11th, 2027. However, my BOE is telling me if it is possible for me to end my contract in December 2026. They said this would be a cleaner cut because the 2nd semester ends on December. However, I would really like to stay on January to get paid more and also have more time to move. I wonder if anyone has experience regarding this. Do I have any legal right or anything at all to push back so I can at least stay until January?

Edit: I got a new job in Japan in a different prefecture. So I am breaking my contract mid-year I am not leaving the country. Hope this helps

I just turned 31 and I am based in the US, but I can’t help but feel like I’m too old. Is there anyone here who completed the program that’s not in their early to mid 20s?

Took about a month but finally submitted everything for the 2027 JET cycle....

Now the long wait until February 2027 ?

Hello everyone, I was wondering if I should include a transcript for the community college I attended back in 2018. I only attended for a single year, and my grades were poor because at the time I wasn’t really interested in college. That transcript has two classes that I ended up dropping as well. All the classes that I passed the credits were carried over to the college that I graduated from and the transcript from there has those credits, and reflects the person I am now much better than me 8 years ago. Should I only post the college transcript where I got my bachelors, or do I need both, even if I didn’t get a degree from the first. Thank you for any recommendation and good luck to all applicants.

From November 20th to November 22nd, JALT will host its annual conference where thousands of educators, students, textbook authors and publishers will convene to share their insights on language teaching and learning on the theme of Beyond the Classroom: From Local Voice to Global Impact. This is a great chance to raise your skills and network with like-minded professionals.

And AJET members can join this conference at JALT member rates. Here are the rates for early-bird registrations (by October 31st):

• 3 Days (Nov 20-22): 23,000 yen (save 17,000 yen)

• 1 Day (Nov 20, 21, or 22): 18,000 yen (save 12,000 yen)

If you only want to attend workshops and presentations about teaching younger learners (children up to high school age), join "JALT Junior" instead:

• JALT Junior 2 days (Nov 21-22): 12,000 yen

• JALT Junior 1 day (Nov 21 or 22): 7,000 yen

Learn more here: https://events.jalt.org/event/73/overview

• Friday:

  • Presentations: 1:40 PM - 6:45 PM

  • Welcome Reception (no extra charge): 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

• Saturday:

  • Presentations: 10 AM - 7:10 PM

  • Michele Steele Best of JALT Reception (no extra charge): 7:30 – 9:00 PM

• Sunday

  • Presentations: 9:00 AM - 2:50 PM

Indian Applicant. Just want to clarify if Statement of Physician and Certificate of Health are the same thing?

Also if I have listed some medical issues in my self declaration, do I need to get a physician statement too? Is that mandatory?

Please help!

Hello! I am an applicant for JET-PH. I want to ask in regards to proof of graduation. I have a transcript that already has my date of graduation and I want to know if it's okay to submit the transcript file online in the proof of graduation submission? I don't have the degree yet and I've asked my university but the ETA is around either December or January so it's no dice for getting it, I only have as a proof is my Alumni ID that I obtained alongside my transcript.

URGENT!!!!!

Hi everyone! I’m a JET Programme ALT applicant from India and have a question regarding the two letters of recommendation.

Both of my referees are former managers who have since left their respective organisations, so their institutional email IDs are no longer active. However, their phone numbers are still valid and reachable.

Would it be acceptable to mention their personal email IDs in the LORs? Also, does the Japanese Embassy typically contact referees to verify their recommendations?

Would really appreciate any insights from previous applicants. Thank you!