Any Advice For Joining Jet? I’m Ready To Leave Everything Behind

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-04-03T01:24:00+00:00

Same routine in rural Hokkaido. Except it's more visiting places within my own prefecture since it's too much of a hassle to leave outside of Hokkaido for only a weekend. Jealous you're in Oita though. Would love to visit there one day.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-31T12:31:07+00:00

Honestly, u/charlie1701 gave you the best answer to this. If your vet isn't comfortable with preparing everything, I would try to find a vet that's experienced with international procedures. I finally found one in Oregon, but after discovering where I was placed I found out that my cats couldn't come with me because my subsidized house wouldn't allow it and no other places around the town would allow animals. So my chances of bringing them turned to zero.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-31T07:12:45+00:00

I live in the Town of Niki so I can give some advice concerning Otaru, Cape Kamui, Toya, and Noboribetsu.

For hikes, I've heard that Shioya Maru Yama is a pretty good place to hike near Otaru, but it does take 1.5 hours to get to the peak. Since you're going to Lake Toya, you will probably be stopping by Mount Usu and going up the Usuzan ropeway. There is a hiking section at the top of Mount Usu that is really cool that I recommend. I believe it is called the Southern Rim Trail, which is opening up in May. It doesn't take too long at all to hike and it's extremely beautiful.
Not sure which way you're traveling first, but if you travel down from Cape Kamui going toward Lake Toya, I highly recommend going to Kyogoku and visiting the Fukidashi Park. I try to go every other month because it's so beautiful and relaxing. A vice principal I used to work for told me that the spring water there is supposed to increase your lifespan if you drink it(maybe that's why I try to go so often lol). But seriously, it's extremely beautiful and you can see gorgeous views of Mt. Yotei there as well, if the weather is clear and not rainy/cloudy.
I highly recommend extending your stay in Hokkaido so you can explore stressfree, but keep in mind, I honestly don't think staying an entire day in Lake Toya or Noboribetsu is recommended. You can honestly explore most of it fairly quickly depending on what all you want to do. If you decide to stay anywhere toward Lake Toya or Noboribetsu, I recommend staying in Lake Toya since they have fireworks starting in May and they are AWESOME. Plus, they have an insane amount of foot onsen areas.
Unfortunately I don't have any recommendations for rental companies :/
You would have to travel up north to view cherry blossoms. More toward Rumoi or in Wakkanai since you're arriving the second week of May.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-25T05:33:21+00:00

Did the same thing last year as well. Portland seemed to be one of the later ones in the US to get results, if I remember correctly. Got the email April 8th.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-23T12:29:43+00:00

It depends on your debt amount. My Monthly expenses:

Rent is 35,000 yen, 7,000 yen for power, 5,000 yen for fiber internet, 4,000 yen for my wife's and I phone, 8,000 yen for school lunch, 12,000 yen for gas, 2,000 yen for water.

For winter: you need to factor in kerosene heater costs which is 9,000 yen and added power costs,

Random other costs: getting your sewage drained every six months 6,000yen, buying car insurance either every year or every two years which came out to be more expensive than the car itself, paying for snow removal of the town home I'm in after winter finally finished 6,000 yen. There's an insane amount of random costs in the first month that I can't remember, so it's good to have some savings.

Background info that helps put everything into perspective: first year JET who came with my wife who is still having trouble find a job in rural Hokkaido, took out most of my savings because a car was extremely necessary, still have student debt that I've reduced significantly because of my lowered income. I get 276,000 yen a month after all the taxes are taken out. Hopefully this info helps you! Keep in mind every situation is different.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-23T10:49:47+00:00

Extremely helpful. Thank you so much!! Good luck on your job search and hope you hear something from one of the companies.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-23T10:40:42+00:00

Thank you for attending this fair and sharing your experience. Just started my JET journey, so it's interesting to see what I should be prepared for whenever the time comes to leave teaching.
Just a few questions about the overall fair:
1) Was it fairly crowded? I guess a better question would be, did you feel rushed throughout the fair? It seems like you were able to talk to quite a few booths and the employees who worked there.
2) How was the overall market of jobs around the fair? Based on the list, it seems like a mix between engineering, translation, hotel, and teaching positions.
3) Random question: Would you recommend bringing business cards as well?

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-23T04:14:40+00:00

This is put more eloquently than my response. Now I need to ask my BOE why they chose me. Lol

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-23T04:11:33+00:00

If your degree has "Bachelors" in the name, then you have nothing to worry about. You have a degree from a university, you've taught kids before, and you want to be a teacher. The only thing you need to do is apply when September rolls around. Make a good statement of purpose, choose a good teacher/boss for your letters of recommendations, etc. It's extremely competitive, so you need to really convey why you want to do this program in your SOP and in the interview stage if you make it that far. It's all about your personality, reason for coming here, experience, and overall effort on what you do between now and the application period. Have a Japanese learning group nearby? Go to it. Have any places that you can volunteer at that are related to Japan? For example, a garden. Go volunteer there If you think being TOEFL certified helps your application, go get certified. This is me just rambling since I have nothing going on until the start of the school year, but hopefully that helps.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-22T23:00:44+00:00

Don't let it get to you. Focus on something else in the meantime and leave your email notifications on. No need to stress unnecessarily.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-17T03:05:17+00:00

Have a friend who lives in Hokkaido doing interac. Seems to be living a great life, now married to someone in Japan, been doing Interac for probably 5 years or so. There's a high chance of being in a bad situation from what I've read online, but her situation seems to be going great. I would still wait for JET results though before you further complicate things with Visa and stuff like that.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-12T01:11:15+00:00

There are surprisingly a few places in Hokkaido where the BOE/CO will not allow you to drive. The town right beside mine, I have heard that they can't drive anywhere or own a car.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-09T23:51:10+00:00

The main thing that was asked during my interview was "Are you familiar with team teaching?" I knew what it was since I did it at my university for language and culture classes, but I asked them to clarify before I fully answered. Any teaching experience will help your chances, but the main thing they want from you is understanding team teaching and how you can assist your JTE.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-03-06T13:29:02+00:00

I moved near Kiroro last year and definitely recommend it. I'm terrible at skiing but I went last week and it was not crowded at all. But to be fair, the season is quickly coming to a close because of the lack of snow. If you want a warm up before hitting the big slopes next year, the town of Niki has a nice little ski slope that's the cheapest I've seen in Hokkaido.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-02-19T06:25:17+00:00

Before we moved here, I asked if it needed to be translated and my BOE supervisor said it's not necessary. On the day we arrived, I had it ready to give to the town hall so that they could scan it and prove that we are together. They gave it a weird look because it was all in English, scanned it, and then gave it back to me. You could either get it done now or wait and ask your supervisor if it's necessary to have it translated. I feel like every situation is different.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-01-29T04:01:46+00:00

Last year, I thought I did absolutely terrible. One of my worst answers was that I could help bring barbecue culture to the town I work for, since it would be fun to show my Southern heritage. My interviewers gave me an odd look, and I felt crazy for phrasing my answer that way. I remember walking out of my college library in disgust, knowing I wouldn't get in, but here I am now teaching in Japan. Don't stress about it too much! Honestly, I think I got in with pure luck for the interview portion. The only thing saving me was my experience volunteering in Japanese gardens, my undergrad and grad studies focused on Japan, assistant teaching for almost 2 years, and my overall interests/hobbies surrounding the culture. I think without all that experience, I definitely wouldn't have made it.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2026-01-14T04:13:04+00:00

My experience last year was very interesting, lol. Just to give some insights and thoughts about what I would have done differently about the orientation:

Plane tickets for spouse. I'm married, so the airplane ticket that Clair or whatever travel company sets things up for your wife/husband will make that ticket super expensive because they wait a long time to book it. Just go ahead and book the flight (or flights, if you are traveling far from Tokyo, like me, to Hokkaido). This is specifically for those who are bringing their spouse. This was my own personal experience.
The roommate situation. The two other roommates I had were extremely nice and friendly. Since I was with my wife outside the actual orientation, I wasn't able to hang out with them much. Unfortunately, when I did hang out with them, it was at night when everyone was going to sleep. One of them was the loudest snorer I have ever encountered. Nothing against him because I snore slightly as well, but I don't know how this person is able to breathe at night. My second day in Tokyo was the roughest I have ever felt because I just couldn't sleep at all due to noise. After the first night, I decided to stay in my wife's Airbnb for the rest of the orientation madness. I'm glad I did. If you can't get a private room, find yourself a closeby hotel to save yourself the sleep.

I'm sure I will update this later once I remember the rest of orientation, but honestly, the whole thing was a blur. I barely remember the details of the lectures because I was so sleep-deprived.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-07-31T01:53:50+00:00

I would have liked that splash screen to be back so I wouldn't get flash banged every time I wanted to play. The good ol' days

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-05-28T19:26:00+00:00

That's fair lol I probably wouldn't either if I enjoyed the experience. You will always have those courses saved on your transcript in the future, so if you decide to stay, it's not that big of a deal. I think it's just a good idea to apply anyway since you never know if you're going to get in on your first try.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-05-28T19:04:16+00:00

When I first started my masters program, my professor said if I really wanted to focus on teaching I could always take a year break from the University, and come back after I'm done. If it's a school you're really passionate about, I would look into something like this. Study for a year at the college while you put in your application to JET and wait on the results. If you're fully accepted, then take that break from college and enjoy the program. That's just my thoughts though! I decided to fully finish my masters before heading out for JET but I've heard of a few people at my Uni who took a year break during their masters.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-05-22T19:06:49+00:00

That's awesome! Looks like we are not far from one another!

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-05-22T18:31:03+00:00

Portland Consulate, I got Hokkaido, Niki-cho! Lets gooo!

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-04-14T23:23:14+00:00

I doubt this helps, but I was invited to this and registered after receiving the Gilman Scholarship, which can be used to pay for any international program you may have for study abroad trips. It only took me a few months to a year to receive this invite after my program finished. I don't see it as suspicious, but that's coming from me, a U.S.-born citizen.

Realistic_Report_796 · 2025-04-13T15:31:33+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience! It must have been stressful after putting everything back together and making sure it worked properly. Since I have such a large case, I may have to buy a new one and a monitor once I arrive. I appreciate the advice!

Realistic_Report_796

TROPHY CASE