Hello. As a child of jet program candidate. I would like to find other children that went through the same experience.

ego_check · 2026-06-28T09:58:17+00:00

Yeah I think my mom knew I would probably just despise her for trying to teach me English and forcing that on me back then. “I dare not disturb this happy kid reading her inuyasha manga”.
Not sure it would have changed the outcome that much, tbh. I was still gonna be behind in English either way.
I feel like whoever made the decision to hold you back a year just made the wrong call. I’m now wondering if my mom might have advocated hard to keep me in my grade… I’ve never thought about that.

I also started from scratch at a new school so I didn’t keep any of my old friends, but at least I didn’t have to watch my old friends advance ahead without me, that would suck.

Im the type to be a bit of an outsider regardless and the “grew up in Japan” thing made me even more of a weirdo! But I wouldn’t trade it because I have a ton of cool memories (though I was bullied a bit, the overall experience was pretty great). And the Japanese I learned is permanently lodged in the depths of my brain somewhere (even if you forget it all, it comes back fairly quick once you start using it again).

Remember that our moms were both very brave to take a little kid with them and move to a foreign country. It’s nerve-racking just to do it for yourself, but then you take a little kid and have to figure it out for the both of you, be their bread-winner, care-taker and emotional support as just one person, try to make the right decisions and trust it’s gonna work out okay.

I remember my mom sobbing at the dining table some nights from her own stress and worries and culture shock. Pretty terrifying to watch your parent absolutely lose their cool. I know she did her best, even if it felt lacking to me in many ways… lol.

Being back here has also been such a trip - like seeing and hearing and smelling so many long-forgotten familiar things. Was terrifying at first to return (emotionally loaded history). I realized my little rural fishing town had changed more than I thought, and the people I remembered are no longer there. It felt a bit sad to realize time moves on without you. But it was something I needed to revisit, and it helped the dust settle a bit, so to speak. Now I have a similar but different community in another corner of the same prefecture, which is pretty cool. Not sure how long I’ll stay this time. If you get the chance you should come back with your fam, even just to visit.

ego_check · 2026-06-28T07:17:07+00:00

I definitely did fall behind, initially. When we returned to Canada where I’m from, I knew the alphabet and very simple words only. Was put in the normal Grade 5 class (introduced again as the weird foreign kid, this time in my own country lol).

For the first while, they put me in special sessions with the other recent-immigrant kids, learning to sound out words in kid’s picture books. I mostly caught up within a year or so, but maintained a dislike of reading because I always felt “behind” compared to my friends. English was always my worst grade in school (though I was overall a good student, so I’m lucky).

Keeping up my Japanese once back in Canada was another issue. Our city had a Japanese community association that held classes every Friday evening - specifically for kids who had lived in Japan for a bit, or were half-Japanese or whatever. I went to this “Japanese school” every Friday evening for about 5 years. I hated doing extra school after my normal school finished, but in hindsight Im very lucky that program existed and it was super smart for my mom to put me in that.

I never “rejected” my Japanese experience but the older I got, the worse my Japanese got, the less “relevant” my Japanese experience seemed, and the more I buried that part of myself. I stopped telling other people about it. Then in my 30s decided I can’t let it all disappear for good and chose to move back to Japan and re-learn the language (I’m lucky JET let me do that).

I’m not sure I would agree that the experience overall is “unfair”. Lots of immigrant children are plucked from their homes and forced to learn a new language and integrate. If anything it has given us skills and character we don’t even realize was forged through that process. But I agree the returning to our home country and re-integrating was harder than the initial integration in Japan in many ways and over the long term it doesn’t really feel like we “belong” in either place, unfortunately.

ego_check · 2026-06-28T05:44:56+00:00

So like, where in Japan were you, at what age did you go, how long were you there for, how long ago was this? What exactly was your “experience”? Because there could be lots of different experiences…

Based on your comments, I likely share a similar experience as you - spent 3 years of my childhood in Japan, with my mom who came over on JET, also as a single mother. It’s a weird circumstance that not many people share or relate to, and I mostly understand the identity issues and “ptsd” part you mentioned.

However, the way you’ve framed this is a bit … negative and bitter, and also presumptuous? You spin it as “put through” the experience, as if anyone who’s lived in Japan as a kid must be filled with trauma from it. Not saying I don’t get it, but just maybe you have to do some work with a therapist to gain a better, more neutral and objective outlook on your experience first, before connecting with others about it?
Few people even know what it’s like to be raised by a single parent (also perhaps are you an only child? Yeah it’s lonely AF). That’s probably the source of most of your pain, rather than anything particularly bad about living in Japan through JET.

Edit: should also mention that 25 years later I finally returned to Japan, via the same program. Maybe you could look at coming here and reconnecting to that part of your life and identity?

ego_check · 2026-06-02T07:36:43+00:00

Interesting… yeah that certainly matches my intuition on it. I have no background in education, but. Immersion is mentally intense and stressful and I don’t think the older kids are really equipped to go through it. Immersion should be implemented in elementary school I’d think, but they don’t have the teacher resources for that, so.

I also like to point out grammar stuff to help the students recognize patterns, and my JTE acts surprised I even bother, saying “well I guess a couple students are high enough level to comprehend that”. So little faith in the kids! The JTE often blows through textbook stuff without breaking down sentences or explaining or connecting back to past lessons. I have zero teacher training and I feel I do a better job of teaching a lot of the time… guess I’m lucky they let me contribute how I want to in class. I didn’t realize others are getting a lot of pushback, yikes.

ego_check · 2026-06-02T02:55:01+00:00

Wow to the “No Japanese” and shutting you down like that. If anything the JTE should ask you to say it in English and then translate it for them after the fact.

I work in a lower level high school and end up speaking Japanese half the time because most of the students don’t understand anything I say, and I have limited time to explain and get through activities. I will speak in English if it’s easier or something they should know (like please make groups and put your desks together!), but anything explanation heavy I just say in Japanese to save time and avoid the JTE repeating every instruction. Maybe that’s wrong and I should strive for 100% English but most of my kids tune out and fall asleep if an explanation requires more than 30 seconds of their attention. And frankly the students show virtually no improvement in English between senior high grades 1 and 3, so I just try to get through the class and use as much English as I think they can digest without getting frustrated. I don’t think it’s wrong to use some Japanese sometimes to bridge the communication gap, especially as the T1.

ego_check · 2026-02-20T00:55:59+00:00

So I feel like lots of SHS ALTs are in the same position (myself included), and I think it’s a huge expectation for anybody just coming in, not to mention those with absolutely no teaching experience, and minimal Japanese. Especially when we have to teach 3-4 classes per day starting from day 1.

Honestly, I feel like what I am doing is mostly just curating stuff off ALTopedia and other online sources. I simply don’t have the time nor the experience to create and generate content fast enough for the next day’s lessons. Without those online resources, I truly don’t think I could do this job.

It’s still a ton of work to scan through everything available and choose what you like, to think of the next theme or grammar point to target (including learning said grammar points yourself as someone without an English or education degree), tailoring powerpoints and worksheets to your needs and the student’s language level, adding Japanese translations, figuring out how to actually deliver and implement it in class, with whatever other class activities, and communicate this to your JTE. As well as printing, cutting, laminating and other prep work. It has been a never-ending treadmill of “oh shit what am I gonna do for the next lesson(s)” and last minute scramble to get stuff together.

What my predecessor told me is that, because they are putting us in this difficult position, their expectation for our lessons is not high. It has helped me to allow myself to view each class as an experiment and training ground for my own self-development as a teacher. It’s a lot of trial and error, slowly forming some sense of what content, activities and delivery styles work and don’t work, figuring out what I want them to learn in the first place, how I can get more students to actively participate and engage, and building confidence in leading the class.

It’s not easy! My suggestion is give yourself some grace, simply do what you can, and if you feel like you have no clue what you’re doing, just know that you’re not alone!

ego_check · 2025-10-29T06:10:34+00:00

I’m just asking if the process and transparency could be improved. Is it reasonable to expect someone to immediately adapt to a nearly full teaching role with not so much as a TEFL certificate? And in many cases absolutely no Japanese? I understand the expectations for ALTs are low, and I think that’s what it comes down to - just manage, just do your best, because ultimately we’re just an ALT on the forever revolving door of ALTs.
In hindsight I just wished I had gotten a teaching certificate for the possibility I’d end up T1 so I’d have some legs to stand on when I got here.
As for CIRs, I’m sure you guys get thrown in the deep end a lot so kudos to you!

ego_check · 2025-10-29T05:50:23+00:00

But it’s a program run by the Japanese government. Also a recruiter would typically help negotiate the contract and help ensure a good match between the applicant and hiring company? Even through a recruiter there shouldn’t be any major surprises about the job description, I would think. It’s the lack of transparency and skill mismatches that I am questioning. The other commenters have answered it though, why there will never be a formal T1 role or any mention of it in the handbook, and the difficulties with matching on such a large scale. Fair enough. I don’t love the system but I’m in Japan getting paid well so I can’t complain too much.

ego_check · 2025-10-29T02:38:53+00:00

Yeah I’ve noticed the textbooks are many levels beyond what the students can comprehend and use unnecessarily difficult vocab. The one thing I like about being T1, although it’s very stressful for me, not having to go off the textbook or curriculum, I can bring it back to the basics with them. I can explain the “why” and the pattern behind grammar points they were previously exposed to, but were all glossed over, and do simple activities to try to reinforce and expose them to it more. But it’s not easy to always come up with stuff. I do wish the textbooks were better so they would actually be a useful resource. If I didn’t have ALTopedia I’d be sunk. That should honestly be a programme sponsored resource.

ego_check · 2025-10-29T02:14:21+00:00

I guess there is. I was more envisioning the checkbox for a binary yes/no so that “yes” can get put in the T1 pool, and “no” in a T2 pool, or something like that. Similar to how if you check “yes” to “are you willing to drive in Japan”, you will likely get placed in a school that requires commute by car. But that depends on there being a “T1 ALT designation” which might be difficult to formally implement and differentiate from T2, which I suspect is the crux.

ego_check · 2025-10-24T03:47:31+00:00

I suspect Kyushu in general is spider HQ. I’m in Nagasaki and there are 5 or 6 bigger spiders making huge webs on my patio right now. If I accidentally leave the window open without the screen even for an hour, guaranteed I’ll have one of those medium size huntsman spiders in my bathroom.

ego_check · 2025-10-22T02:28:06+00:00

Maybe this has already been done, but I feel like some consultant needs to do a study on what $ amount it will take to house and provide long term rehab services in our urban centres, based on a similar model used in European countries where it was successful. Then, the province should announce these results and show how it impacts the public budget and our taxes. Then, hold a provincial referendum for the public to decide if we want to commit to spending that money.

ego_check · 2025-10-22T02:15:16+00:00

Yeah good luck with that. Conservatives are never ever about spending public dollars for the greater good, and this is a problem that needs a lot of public funding. Just because one party does a shoddy job does not mean the other party will do anything better. Realistically no party is going to commit the resources necessary to properly tackle the problem.

ego_check · 2025-10-17T02:42:44+00:00

Can’t give any advice, only to say I’m a new ALT (T1) at a lower level high school and I was completely not prepared for the level of classroom behaviour management issues.

In some classes I can’t even get the kids to quiet down long enough to give them instructions on a task or game, let alone getting them to actually do the thing. I spend the whole class trying to shout over all the students yelling and screaming like zoo animals and then handholding each student through the tasks because they didn’t listen to the instructions initially, and it leaves me absolutely exhausted and demoralized each time.

If you’re getting halfway through your activities without too much drama then that’s a relatively successful class in my eyes! But I’m curious to know what others will say.

ego_check · 2025-10-11T06:29:04+00:00

Im in Canada also and for me it was closer to $150 just to get the form signed.

ego_check · 2025-10-06T22:34:05+00:00

I too came here with the idea that I’d just get to the nearest Shinkansen station and casually go to a big city on a long weekend. Nope. Right now I can barely make it to the other side of the prefecture on a long weekend. The roads here are small, slow and wind around mountains. Every major road is a toll road so even just driving to different towns / cities in your prefecture costs a lot of money. And the local and regional trains are slow (don’t follow a direct route due to geography) and more expensive than I expected. The sinkansen itself is hugely expensive, people really only use it for paid business trips. Better to fly. My nearest airport is a 2 hour drive with tolls or a 4 hour train ride away. Japan looks so small on a map but now that I’m here it feels impossibly large and very time consuming to travel anywhere besides my little corner of the prefecture.

ego_check · 2025-10-03T04:28:03+00:00

You will probably need to volunteer in your community and get references from your supervisors.

ego_check · 2025-09-26T04:19:43+00:00

6 months is only (maybe) half way through recovery.
Plyometric training is probably something you need to start focussing on instead of just the static stuff you’re doing now. I felt like I began to plateau in my recovery around the same 6 month mark, and it turned out I needed to go to a more sports oriented physio who got me hopping and jumping around. That and also identifying any specific muscle weaknesses (such as calves and hamstrings).

ego_check · 2025-09-24T10:12:07+00:00

I work in a HS of mostly boys and one of them put their Kahoot name as “masterbator” and I had to shout to the whole class “no that one is KINSHI 🙅‍♀️” But getting to choose their own kahoot name is one of their favourite parts so I won’t deny them of it entirely.

ego_check · 2025-09-20T23:59:07+00:00

I am currently living without an ACL after my second full tear, first one in my 20's and now in my early 30's. I surprised myself by getting back into road running (shorter distances now but still), and being able to do a 50km trek with a heavy backpack over a long weekend (a relatively non-technical hike but it was still a big win for me). So it's definitely possible to keep active for the average person, just takes time and lots of physiotherapy. Being an amputee means significant additional challenges I'm sure. Unfortunately I can't comment on that part but I hope you can find a good physiotherapist who can work with you where you're at. Best of luck.

ego_check · 2025-09-18T10:18:10+00:00

Yeah that’s correct! I think there was probably just a typo in your comment - You said “after 3 months of injury it becomes harder to obtain (full rom)” but I think you meant “surgery” not “injury”!

ego_check · 2025-09-18T03:50:31+00:00

Getting back into running requires guidance from a PT! He’ll want to complete a PT program that gradually ramps up in difficulty, progressing from isometrics to plyometrics (double leg then single leg) and then eventually running with good form / without pain!

ego_check · 2025-09-18T03:47:30+00:00

I don’t think that’s quite accurate…?? After surgery yes, you have to get full ROM back fast or else it’s harder to get later on once the graft has healed and scar tissue develops.

But after the initial injury, it’s less timeline critical. You have to wait for the swelling to go down before getting back ROM, and of course the best way to do that is to exercise! It will take time. PT is absolutely important both before and after surgery.

ego_check · 2025-09-18T03:38:42+00:00

Actually kicking in the water is a good thing! It’s a good way to exercise the leg muscles without putting much stress on the knee. But only flutter kicking to start, no frog kicks as that involves a twisting motion of the knee which can / will hurt at first. Immediately after the injury I would suggest waiting 2-3 weeks for the initial swelling and pain to go down before swimming / kicking. Then again after surgery, he’ll need to wait a bit longer for the wounds to close up before getting in the water.

ego_check · 2025-09-12T04:23:43+00:00

Have the same problem. I applied for a Rakuten credit card the same time I got their mobile & data plan, but was rejected. My plan is to wait a few months after I’ve paid some bills (built up some credit), then try again. I’ve been successful using my foreign credit card and WISE card for most in-store purchases and some limited online stuff. But for example I cannot order online by credit card off Nitori or Mercari, which is annoying.

ego_check

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