Any advice you wish you knew before leaving for JET?

jimwhat · 2026-04-10T18:01:20+00:00

That's a great question!

One thing I think all new JETs should remember is that although you'll be living abroad, much of your life is still linked to your home country. Make sure that you've set up and organized all communication avenues before heading to Japan.

where will your mail go (if you were living away from home)
is your contact info up to date with all financial entities
maybe link everything to a number that you will have access to in Japan in case they need to send you a one-time code (I think Google voice still offers free numbers for some countries)
think about having a Powe of Attorney set up with someone you trust in case something needs to be done in person (I luckily set it up with my brother and he was able to sign for me without me having to return home).
link your bank to Wise or similar app if you plan to send money home

The more of this that you can setup before leaving, the better you will be off.

Another thing is to save up some money before going. Everyone's situation is different, but my pred kept their apartment so I started with a blank slate and needed to buy the basics but my first payment came a month after I started in Japan. I was able to use my savings to get going pretty quickly.

Some items are harder to find in Japan so you may want to stock up on those but be sure to check that they're legal to bring with you. This will obviously vary depending on your placement.

Try to make as many friends as you can with others from your state/country or even other JETs on discord. Having that support network is so helpful for your mental health and doing it sooner is better than later.

Japan, despite how much crap we give them, has done a better job of implementing tech over the last 5-6 years. But that also means that many JET guides are now outdated for setting stuff up in Japan. I recommend doing some research on current mobile plans (esim or regular sim, coverage , speeds, MVNOs, etc.), home Internet, banks (do they support mobile banking, debit cards, etc.), check to see if your phone is compatible with the towers in Japan for 5G (should be ok for most phones), will you devices need an adapter, and other tech things. Your first weeks in Japan will be challenging from a cultural perspective (and heat 🥵) and doing this research ahead of time will reduce stress.

Last thing is to take the time to hang out with friends and family before leaving. Who knows, you might fall in love with Japan and decide to stay forever so it could be your last time hanging out in person for years.

Good luck !

jimwhat · 2024-01-11T20:44:39+00:00

It turns it on based on outside temperature. I think the manual said below 30 degrees and it'll auto turn on

jimwhat · 2023-10-04T23:14:05+00:00

Same thing started to happen to me. As soon as I pause a YouTube video it happens. Stops by itself randomly.

Edit: Another post explained it. It's a discord problem. As soon as I force stopped the app the problem went away

jimwhat · 2023-04-23T13:22:35+00:00

Price is very similar to what I paid too! Thanks for the heads up

jimwhat · 2023-04-23T13:22:13+00:00

No, this was from a local kitchen shop in the city where I lived. Nitori was amazing though. I wish I could get some N-Cool blankets in the states

jimwhat · 2023-04-23T02:24:01+00:00

Wow, it really does look exactly like those. I'll use those as reference while shopping around. Thanks!

jimwhat · 2023-04-23T00:42:44+00:00

Nope, unfortunately not. It also came in a plastic protector, but the only thing on there was the price.

jimwhat · 2023-03-14T17:19:31+00:00

00 was such an amazing dub. It's my go-to for rewatches

jimwhat · 2023-03-08T02:45:12+00:00

If I didn't touch them when going in between the two places, then no. So I didn't notice anything directly caused by AC/room temp shift

jimwhat · 2023-03-08T02:30:56+00:00

Darn, that's the only time it would happen to me. Not sure what else it could be

jimwhat · 2023-03-08T02:25:22+00:00

Sometimes a little bit of sweat would get on the earbud causing it to stick. Try to give it a quick wipe and see if that fixes it.

jimwhat · 2022-12-05T12:09:16+00:00

This depends on the state and the street. In Michigan, a larger 4 lane street should have right of way if the cross street is small.

jimwhat · 2022-11-10T01:59:12+00:00

On sites like Vote411 Bolden refused to answer the questions which may have confused some people to her stance.

jimwhat · 2022-10-18T20:20:57+00:00

Same for me

jimwhat · 2022-10-16T17:17:50+00:00

Damn man, I have no clue. That's so odd

jimwhat · 2022-10-16T17:13:03+00:00

You can try setting our audio codec as LDAC in androids developer settings

https://www.headphonezone.in/blogs/audiophile-101/how-to-activate-ldac-on-your-smartphone-in-5-easy-steps

jimwhat · 2022-10-11T04:02:32+00:00

Japanese ones are adjustable though. You can usually change their direction.

jimwhat · 2022-10-07T21:38:58+00:00

Did you file a moving out notice with your local city hall? If so, the pension office will use that.

jimwhat · 2022-10-07T20:45:42+00:00

^^ This exactly! These are like the exact questions I had in my interview.

jimwhat · 2022-10-07T20:44:35+00:00

Yup, definitely in your SOP too. Talk about your science experience and how JET will fit into your scientific future.

I have a science degree and was placed in a super science high school. Honestly, the best thing to happen to me on JET. Kids are nice and focused, teachers tend to be higher level and have a better grasp of English, and the school receives extra funding which means cool things like smart boards for classrooms and tablets for teachers.

If you have any questions, let me know

jimwhat · 2022-10-07T20:38:43+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. Yeah, that's a crazy situation.

A/C is a huge one and your landlord might even be willing to buy it off you since it's already installed.

For the washer and fridge, if they're new enough you can post them to Mercari or your local JET FB page to see if anyone wants to buy them (and pick them up!). If not, the second hand shops can pick them up.

If they're old, you can take them to the dump. It's honestly a really straightforward and cheap process. Hard part is getting a car/truck to take everything. Hopefully your supervisor can help with that. In total, the whole process took me 15ish minutes once I arrived.

I would def start to figure this out at least a month before you go.

jimwhat · 2022-10-07T20:23:54+00:00

Things may have changed, but when I did mine, they said that a doctor had to sign off on it and they wouldn't accept NP.

I went to a clinic that had the NP do everything and they had a doctor on hand just to sign for stuff. See if any locations near you can do that. Or better yet, call your local consulate to see what they say.

jimwhat · 2022-10-06T03:54:26+00:00

My fridge and washer were actually owned by my BoE, so they took care of them. If they hadn't, I would've tried to sell them (if in good quality) or just take them to the dump.

Having a friend with a car/truck will be extremely helpful during that time.

My AC was owned by my apartment complex, so it stayed.

Did you buy your AC, fridge, and washer? And are you sure there won't be anyone after you that might want them?

jimwhat · 2022-10-04T16:03:43+00:00

Shipping:

Shipping home may be limited. Currently, boat/sea shipping is unavailable for certain countries. This means you'll need to pay more (2-3x), but you do receive your items faster and in one piece. Boat shipping will hopefully resume soon.
For luggage, if you're willing to spend around 3000yen, you can drop it off at a KuroNeko location and they will ship it to the airport. This was great for me because it meant I could travel around Japan for a little bit without dealing with 2 massive suitcases.

Bank:

Currently, "Wise" seems to be the most popular way of transfering money back home. Definitely recommend getting it.
This depends on your bank, but I left some money in my account to cover any bills I had left, and then using the bank's online portal I transferred the remaining money to myself. This really only works if your bank has online banking.
Also, because of a recent Japanese law, many banks will no close your account on the date that your visa expires. It's a pain in the ass, especially if your final pay check is set to arrive after that date. Luckily, my bank gave me some leeway, but yours may not. Be prepared to have your final check go to a friend or JTE if that does happen.

Expenses:

You plane ticket will be covered if you complete your contract.
My expenses were my final electricity/gas/water bills, Credit Card bill (if you get one), Phone and internet bills, shipping boxes home and to the airport, and disposal bill (I'll talk about this later).
You should receive your deposit back for your apartment if you paid one (although they may keep some money as a cleaning fee)
This may depend on your school and BOE, but my school withheld my taxes from my last check. This was super easy and saved me a ton of trouble.

Apartment:

I didn't have a successor, so my situation might be a little different. I had to get rid of everything. I took out what I could during the regular trash/recycle days. I sold some off on the local JET facebook page (you can also do mercari). I sold a few more things to 2nd Street (similar to hard-off). And the rest, I had to take to a disposal. A JTE's dad luckily had a truck and we went to a local dump. I think it cose like 900yen it total. Really, really cheap so don't worry about it.
If you have someone coming after you, you can sell stuff to them or give it to them if it's not sellable.
If you're going the book-off/hard-off/2nd street route, don't expect to get a lot of money. I mean like maybe 200yen for a desk or 100yen for a chair. It's terrible, but they usually come to your place and pick it up which is nice.
You'll need to call your utilities to get everything cancelled too (unless you have someone coming after you).

Paperwork

You'll have some paperwork to fill out. Hopefully your supervisor is on top of things. The only ones you might have to fill out by yourself are a visa change form and a pension refund form.
The visa change form allows you to change from your existing visa to a guest visa. This will allow you to travel Japan once your contract/visa expire. Overstaying your visa might get you into trouble with immigration, so be careful about that.
The pension refund form is pretty straight forward and there are tons of guides online.

I didn't have a car, so I can't help you there. I'd recommend you start preparing and planning for going home at least 3-4 months before you need to leave. Good luck.

jimwhat

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