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After three years in Japan and two years on the JET Programme,
(I'll explain the discrepancy in years later) the time has finally
come that I can sit down and write out an honest evaluation of
my time here. I do this mainly for myself, but also for those
who might be interested in what an ex-JET has to say about her
overall experiences here. I do want to preface this by saying
it neither bashes nor glorifies the country, it is simply my honest
opinion regarding my personal experiences here and on the program.
Applying and Rejected by JET
I applied for the JET Program in 1996 just prior to graduating
from my University in the US. I did this at the recommendation
of my best friend, who at the time, was in her first year on the
program. She encouraged my husband and I to both apply. We were
a little apprehensive at first, as we worried about my husband's
qualifications for the job. The program seemed to suggest that
prior exposure or interest in Japan and/or the Japanese culture
would be very beneficial to your acceptance (as one might expect),
and my husband had none. I, on the other hand, have had a lifelong
fascination with Japan. I am ethnically Japanese, majored in Japanese
History and Culture, and studied the language for 2 years. I even
wrote my university thesis regarding post World War II Education
Reform in Japan. I was quite eager to experience life in Japan
and was happy to learn that the JET Programme would very likely
give me that opportunity.
As I said, we were somewhat worried about my husband's chance
of getting accepted, as he was unable to list any previous exposure/interest
in the Japanese culture. You can imagine our surprise when a few
months after applying, my husband received his letter for an interview
and I was sent a rejection letter. My rejection letter urged me
to do something along the lines of "try to improve your knowledge
of Japanese language, history and culture." ?!?!?! What the heck
had I been doing for the past 8 years? I knew of many other applicants
who admitted they had absolutely no prior interest in Japan to
speak of and were given interviews/positions. I didn't even make
it that far.
At this point, I began hearing from previous other applicants
that their friends of color were also not granted interviews when
they appeared to be equally qualified. I was dumbfounded. I shouldn't
have been. Anyone who has spent any considerable amount of time
in Japan knows the general glorification of western males and
females there, be it through the entertainment industry or language
schools. I did entertain the notion that perhaps I had been passed
over in lieu of more "physically desirable" candidates, but decided
to give Japan the benefit of the doubt and try to find a different
job there. I honestly believed it was fate that I didn't get the
position, and that I was destined for a different job for some
reason. With that optimism I boarded the plane, unknowingly bound
for the most tumultuous year of my life.
You may assume that I am just a whiner who perhaps wasn't qualified
to be a JET. But after I met many of the JETs later that year,
I assure you, I at least met the minimum standards. I made my
state university's Honor Roll more than 70% of time and graduated
with a degree in Japanese Studies with a 3.5 GPA. I also played
4 years on the school's tennis team and served on various school
committees. During the last 3 years of school I also worked part
time on weekends and summers for a Japanese owned and operated
corporation and was directly exposed to the Japanese way of business.
My letters of recommendation came from my supervisors there. To
this day, I still don't know why I was passed over.
Looking for Work in Japan
Unfortunately for my husband and I, my worst fears of racial
discrimination were realized during the next 6-8 months after
I arrived in Japan. I applied for dozens for jobs each month and
was told over the phone how qualified I was, but the minute I
arrived for an interview, it went downhill from there. Many school
owners expressed their shock at my lack of what they termed should
have been a "natural Japanese speaking ability," many others told
me that their student's parents would expect that an ethnic Japanese
might speak slightly flawed English, and that my elementary level
Japanese might put off others. I was devastated. Believe it or
not, 2 callous school owners told me they had to pass on me, but
that if I had a few western friends who were looking for jobs,
to refer them on over!
At one point, out of desperation, I even volunteered to work
for free, just to show a school my level of competence and determination.
I also did everything to try to improve my level of Japanese and
create creative lesson plans, all to no avail. In 6 months, not
one person offered me a regular job. Door after door was slammed
in my face immediately upon seeing I was not a "real foreigner."
As my self esteem started to plummet, I did manage to meet a
few other foreigners in Japan of Asian descent who assured me
that their experiences were all quite negative at first as well,
and that it took a long time to gain acceptance. Many also said
that it was extremely difficult to find jobs and felt they were
something of "second class citizens" behind western foreigners.
While this helped to validate my anger and disbelief at the reverse
racism, it still didn't bring me a job.
The first year passed by very slowly with me taking on meager
low paying part time jobs in the English teaching business, mostly
as an emergency substitute teacher. Yet, miraculously, my husband
and I were determined not to let a few ignorant school owners
ruin our stay in Japan. I tried to rationalize their reverse discrimination
by saying that if I started to study French, I might subconciously
desire a "French looking" teacher over say, a ethnic Asian speaker
of French. Though I'd hate to think I would, I tried to rationalize
Japanese bias nonetheless.
Accepted by the JET Program
I did reapply to JET the following year. We did not want to let
our resentment and anger deprive us out of what could possibly
be the opportunity of a lifetime for us. Fortunately, we made
the right decision. After one hellish year in Japan and an expensive
plane ticket to go back home for the interview, I was accepted
the next year. I think the committee that interviewed me expressed
some surprise that I had been passed over to begin with.
Though many people will scream in defense of the JET Programme's
racial diversity, from what I have seen and heard, the Programme
does appear to have a disproportionately large amount of Caucasian
participants. Though I am well aware that the participant percentages
are often reflective of the countries that field the most applicants
(north American/Britain), the JET Program still seems to disfavor
those of color.
I strongly believe the Programme caters to the demands of the
general population to be educated by JETs who are white. This
is perhaps one of the greatest flaws of the program and only helps
to perpetuate the myth that socially acceptable foreigners can
only be white.
Relations with Japanese Teachers
I started off my JET career sitting at my desk at both schools
virtually ignored for about a solid month. Most Japanese teachers
were off on vacation, but the my smiles directed at any and all
teachers who passed by rarely brought an English teacher to my
desk. Weeks later I was shocked and upset to realize that I had
been sitting only chairs away from other English teachers who
never bothered to introduce themselves to me. Again, I tried to
rationalize and excuse their behavior as, oh, they're shy, they're
busy, and why SHOULD they be so enamoured by me that they need
to come running over and introduce themselves? Heck, they may
be sick of teaching with a new foreigner every year! I tried to
suck up the hurt and dutifully passed out my omiyage anyway.
I soon found though, that much like I'd heard from other JETs,
the whole "team teaching" concept was NOT AT ALL practiced at
either of my two schools. At both schools, 19 out of 20 teachers
expected me to plan, prepare and teach ALL of the lesson. To their
credit (?), most blandly stood off to the side of me and monotonously
translated anything I said, but there were many others that never
bothered to do even that. I was so confused, scared and intimidated
at the thought of immediately being expected to do so much with
no help that I became quite depressed and resentful.
I felt teachers were not pulling their fair share. I got to know
many JETs in my area, and they assured me that this was not unusual.
Out of 10 of my JET friends, 9 had the same experience I did.
I have discussed this problem with teachers and found that they
generally defer to the AET out of a fear of displaying their weak
English skills and to avoid any possible conflict with the AET.
While this is a valid excuse, I believe there is one other flaw
that is inexcusable- laziness. Much as you hear about the phenomenon
that is the Japanese work ethnic, you do have to keep in mind
that there are exceptions, and many of them seemed to be the people
I team taught with. I cannot tell you how many never bothered
to meet with me until 5 minutes before a lesson despite my putting
notes on their desks asking for a meeting. I realize that many
are indeed busy, teachers have a large workload, but it is still
inexcusable to expect novice teachers to do 100% of the supposed
shared workload.
Fortunately for myself, I was able to salvage my attitude in
the work environment by making a few very casual friendships with
other teachers who didn't even speak English. I befriended 2-3
other Physical Education teachers and gave 2 of them gratis English
lessons during lunch. I also met a few students in the ESS/English
Clubs at both schools that I was told to teach entirely by myself
(again, with no supervisor present!). I started an English newsletter
at each school, decorated the Language Labs with English posters
and pictures, and volunteered to teach others lessons for free
during and after school. I honestly thought people would warm
up to me, but after 6 months I still hadn't met one teacher of
English who had expressed any interest in me, or team teaching
together. I decided that I would give it a few more months before
I would quit my attempts, which eventually I did.
Again, I could rationalize their apathy with a hundred reasons,
but it still doesn't change the fact that no one offered me a
single item for my apartment, told me how to get to my schools
on the first day (I got lost finding them on my own), or to show
me local banks or businesses in the area, etc. Because I had spent
the previous year in Japan and had gained some language skills
it didn't really affect me, but I was deeply concerned about the
future of my successor. My schools treated me with nothing but
apathy and quite frankly, do not deserve an AET. I have heard
that other schools are totally the opposite, giving their AETs
the red carpet treatment! I am sincerely happy for them, but in
the fairness of the programme, efforts should be made to monitor
that all AETs are attended to during the first weeks on the job.
I swore that during those first few weeks on the job if I hadn't
lived in Japan previously and known what to expect (others had
filled me in), I would have bolted the country, to hell with the
contract!
As far as student's attitudes, its definitely a mixed bag. Though
at both schools the level of English was far lower than what I
was accustomed to at private schools, about half appeared to be
genuinely interested in English. At one of my schools, the atmosphere
is very academic and students are very willing to listen and participate
in class. It does have the deathly quiet and lack of participation
common in most schools, but considering the alternative (total
indifference and noise), I am very content.
The other school, however, is pretty bad at times. I don't hold
this against the Program or anyone in general, deviant students
are present in every society, but I am not so sure they also have
no disciplinary actions as well. In Japan it is against the law
to remove disruptive students from class, so even if it means
that 5 students are having their own party in the back of the
room, or carrying on a conversation with someone on their cellular
phones, you can't do a damn thing about it. Oh sure, you can walk
over, ask them stop, joke around with them, beg, shout (which
I've never done), etc., but the fact remains, you're powerless,
and they know it. I have had various classes where I've had to
shout above the volume and could visibly see 80 percent of the
other students straining to hear me. Yet, nothing happened to
get them to quiet down. It was frustrating and made me want to
quit on more than one occasion! Again, I hold no one in particular
responsible for this problem, but there is some serious need of
Education Reform for teachers (Japanese and AETs) to be able to
have more control in the classroom for the Programme to be optimally
effective.
Conclusions on Team Teaching
The team teaching experience was not at all what I anticipated
it to be, and though adapted to the unexpected independence, I
felt students would have benefited more from both teacher's enthusiasm
into the planning of the lessons. As many other JETs can probably
agree, working in a Japanese school can be a very lonely experience
unless you fully take the initiative and basically force Japanese
to talk to you. There are the rare talkative types, no doubt,
but they are low in number...
Students are generally so extremely quiet to the point of being
nerve wracking. The social environment is not always conducive
to teaching oral communication. If you plan to get around this
(and you can by being gregarious), don't be the type who is afraid
to make an ass out of yourself! Any reactions I get are usually
from clowning around and acting like an idiot. Students get a
kick out of it. Just be aware that you are more like a circus
clown than a teacher is many classes. I, along with many others,
consider myself an entertainer first, and an educator second.
In my observation, I am here to motivate, not educate. Seeing
students only once a month is no way to teach English, know that
you are going to be more of a motivator than an educator and you
won't be disappointed.
Also, the JET Program needs to address the lack of "team" in
team teaching. It advertises itself as a model of teamwork and
it is far, far from that in most schools. Of JETs I know well,
about 8 out of 10 have had the same experience as me. JETs should
know in advance that they are going to be doing a lot different
work than they bargained for.
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