If you want to go to Japan, there’s a couple of different ways to do it, and every way has its own advantages and disadvantages. You can just fly out there and visit Japan as a tourist, taking a couple of weeks to see the sights. I wanted to live there, and to do that, I was going to need a job. Teaching English in Japan is a big business, and there are several different firms that bring native-English speakers to Japan. After a great deal of investigation, I found a program that seemed like it was the right one for me. The JET program is a solid, well-funded, government-sponsored program that has been around since the 80’s. After cruising the message boards, reading the literature, and talking to friends, it looked like the perfect fit. The only problem – it’s highly competitive. There are some people that have applied to the JET program several times, interviewed several times, and were rejected several times. Ouch. The big hurdle in getting to Japan was making this program. I had no backup. I had no contingency plans.
I downloaded the application from the JET website. It’s a large packet full of detailed instructions. I would need letters of recommendation, proof of graduation, a two page original essay, and DNA samples. Well, maybe not the DNA samples. I printed out the application and instructions and there was a serious stack of paper. My best advice here is to read it a couple of times – everything doesn’t sink in right away. The thing to do first is to get your letters of recommendation going, because they are going to be completed by someone else, and you’ll be depending on their schedule and good graces.
Once you gather all your information, you need to have it at the Japanese embassy in Washington DC by the beginning of December. You get about two and a half months to finish the application and send it off – make sure to do as much as you can as early as you can. While there is no advantage to getting it there early, there is a peace of mind issue – you’ll need the extra inner tranquility later on, as you shall see.
Next, the interview.
