Tokyo JET intake 5>100 by 2014, 100>200 by 2015

[miamicoordinator]

You know, I don't know why Tokyo would be expensive for a JET. We live on pretty nice salaries, and most COs will probably subsidize housing and transport.

Please do not spread this information. It is incorrect that most COs subsidize housing and transport. Yes, some do, and some don't. In my time, I have heard some horror stories (COs would not pay for a dime) and great stories (rent was only 100 bucks, and company car also). Your experiences can range by a large margin. We do not want applicants going with the idea they will be able to put all their salaries to loans/travel when some might need to pay a large amount of their salary to living expenses. Granted, JET salary is very generous, especially for having it be an entry level position, however, there is no promise that Tokyo will subsidize anything. If they do, great, but don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

[miamicoordinator]

So miamicoordinator, seeing as how basically none of us planned for the possibility of being placed in Tokyo, what do you think the odds are of people being placed there even though they didn't put it down as one of their preferred locations? Do you have any idea how that part of the selection process works? I left my third choice blank, but now I'm sort of wishing I had placed Tokyo down as a long shot.

No part of my interview covered what size city I would prefer as far as I recall. Do you think if they pull anyone, it'll probably be someone based in one of the big cities so they're not completely overwhelmed?

None of us have any intel on the specifics of how placements are arranged unfortunately. All we know is COs can request kinds of applicants, but if no one is available with their specifications, they get whoever is available. They do try to place you where you will be happy, but placement requests are just that, a request. Im sure everyone has an equal shot at the 100 spots.

[hello]

I lived in Tokyo for one year whilst on University exchange. It was no more expensive than where I live in Australia, in fact, clothes and food were significantly cheaper, and it was way more convenient transport wise. I'd love to be placed there

[ihatefall]

None of us have any intel on the specifics of how placements are arranged unfortunately. All we know is COs can request kinds of applicants, but if no one is available with their specifications, they get whoever is available. They do try to place you where you will be happy, but placement requests are just that, a request. Im sure everyone has an equal shot at the 100 spots.

Dear Miamicoordinator,
First off, I want to thank you for reaching out on the forums and providing an insiders view point. It helps us understand why things are done certain ways (for example the no staples thing.)

Would you say, and I imagine it to be so, that the requests from the CO has more weight to them than the applicants.

I know there is a town in Koichi-ken; Tosashimizu (the birth place of John Manjiro) that always requests and gets a JET from the Fairhaven, MA area because that is were he lived in the states. Clearly, no one ever requested to be way out there.

I am just wondering if the CO's needs and wants come first? (I think they should, since they are the ones paying the salary.)


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[Wasabi]

I know there is a town in Koichi-ken; Tosashimizu (the birth place of John Manjiro) that always requests and gets a JET from the Fairhaven, MA area because that is were he lived in the states. Clearly, no one ever requested to be way out there.

D: Shoot. Where I live now is only 30 minutes away from Fairhaven. I put my city of birth as to where I felt most comfortable representing, so *fingers crossed* that they'll overlook my current proximity to Fairhaven.

[ihatefall]

D: Shoot. Where I live now is only 30 minutes away from Fairhaven. I put my city of birth as to where I felt most comfortable representing, so *fingers crossed* that they'll overlook my current proximity to Fairhaven.

Kochi-ken, is one of the most beautiful places I have been in Japan!
(Also the two ES / JHS positions are filled, the SHS teacher is leaving but that is a prefectural position)

Watch the movie 'Harimaya Bridge', the setting is Kochi. It was written and directed by a former JET. (The scenes of Kochi are really beautiful.)
It was on Netflix, last time I checked.


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[Kdes23]

Dear Miamicoordinator,
First off, I want to thank you for reaching out on the forums and providing an insiders view point. It helps us understand why things are done certain ways (for example the no staples thing.)

Would you say, and I imagine it to be so, that the requests from the CO has more weight to them than the applicants.

I know there is a town in Koichi-ken; Tosashimizu (the birth place of John Manjiro) that always requests and gets a JET from the Fairhaven, MA area because that is were he lived in the states. Clearly, no one ever requested to be way out there.

I am just wondering if the CO's needs and wants come first? (I think they should, since they are the ones paying the salary.)


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I like to believe that there's almost no chance that she/he would be able to find out that information. CLAIR acts as the middle man between the BoE and embassies/consulates. Sure, maybe you can get the coordinator from the Boston consulate/embassy to answer that question. Chances are it's classified and not information they share though.

[Ercasse]

Would you say, and I imagine it to be so, that the requests from the CO has more weight to them than the applicants.

I know there is a town in Koichi-ken; Tosashimizu (the birth place of John Manjiro) that always requests and gets a JET from the Fairhaven, MA area because that is were he lived in the states. Clearly, no one ever requested to be way out there.

I am just wondering if the CO's needs and wants come first? (I think they should, since they are the ones paying the salary.)

It's probably one of the more complex balancing acts out there.

The COs are allowed to be very specific with their requests and CLAIR does their best to accommodate COs, particularly ones with slightly out-there needs. Some place will be very specific about the kind of person they need (Ex: ALT who speaks French and English, CIR who has lots of hardcore translation experience etc.) or they can be as vague as they like. CLAIR isn't obligated to send someone exactly like a CO has precisely requested, but I think they do their best. If anyone is curious about what kinds of things can be requested, when you are finishing up on JET get someone to show you the JET request form that COs fill out, it's pretty enlightening.

JETs also have lots of very legitimate things that need to be taken into consideration. Health issues and family stuff is usually at the top of the list I would think. So I feel like it would be overstating the case to say that CLAIR gives preferences to the needs of the CO over the needs of the JETs.

What I think is probably they best way to think of it is that CLAIR tries to send COs ALTs they think will be a fit for the CO and that CO's job while at the same time trying to send JETs to places they feel like they will thrive. I would think that the pool of applicants is wide enough that for the most part this balance can be achieved.

[hawkharness]

Please do not spread this information. It is incorrect that most COs subsidize housing and transport. Yes, some do, and some don't. In my time, I have heard some horror stories (COs would not pay for a dime) and great stories (rent was only 100 bucks, and company car also). Your experiences can range by a large margin. We do not want applicants going with the idea they will be able to put all their salaries to loans/travel when some might need to pay a large amount of their salary to living expenses. Granted, JET salary is very generous, especially for having it be an entry level position, however, there is no promise that Tokyo will subsidize anything. If they do, great, but don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

This. I'm one of the 5 Tokyo-to mainlanders (the other 5 are on the islands) and none of our rents are subsidized.

Also fresh veggies aren't difficult to come by, as we are in one of the most 田舎っぽい parts of the prefecture. It still takes a little more than an hour to get to the big city parts.

From what I've heard, all the new Tokyo-to incomers will be SHS. Dunno how accurate that is. All I know is I don't really want to be PA next year lol

[miamicoordinator]

Dear Miamicoordinator,
First off, I want to thank you for reaching out on the forums and providing an insiders view point. It helps us understand why things are done certain ways (for example the no staples thing.)

Would you say, and I imagine it to be so, that the requests from the CO has more weight to them than the applicants.

I know there is a town in Koichi-ken; Tosashimizu (the birth place of John Manjiro) that always requests and gets a JET from the Fairhaven, MA area because that is were he lived in the states. Clearly, no one ever requested to be way out there.

I am just wondering if the CO's needs and wants come first? (I think they should, since they are the ones paying the salary.)


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The CO has a big influence on placements, especially when it comes to places with sister-city relationships. For example, Miami is Sister Cities with Kagoshima. I know for a fact that kagoshima requests( and receives) a good number of JETs from our Consulate. Since one of the main reasons for JET is to promote friendship between Japan and the U.S., it just makes sense that people work in the cities that are connected to their home cities in the U.S. I have never heard of the town in Koichi-ken, but it would not be strange to think that they do indeed request people from Fairhaven because of John Manjiro(especially with his stories and books becoming ever more popular).

CLAIR wants to make the COs happy because they are the ones who will be paying for plane tickets and fees for the JETs who are coming. Sometimes CLAIR cannot accomodate specific requests, but they do try.

[Corvus]

The CO has a big influence on placements, especially when it comes to places with sister-city relationships. For example, Miami is Sister Cities with Kagoshima. I know for a fact that kagoshima requests( and receives) a good number of JETs from our Consulate. Since one of the main reasons for JET is to promote friendship between Japan and the U.S., it just makes sense that people work in the cities that are connected to their home cities in the U.S. I have never heard of the town in Koichi-ken, but it would not be strange to think that they do indeed request people from Fairhaven because of John Manjiro(especially with his stories and books becoming ever more popular). CLAIR wants to make the COs happy because they are the ones who will be paying for plane tickets and fees for the JETs who are coming. Sometimes CLAIR cannot accomodate specific requests, but they do try.

I'm sort of derailing my own thread but I was curious, are the CO's putting in said requests prior to short-lists or afterwards? I'm also curious if short-lists are all sent out for placement at the same time or if they trickle out depending on how soon post-acceptance paperwork is sorted out. Much respect for the information MC

[miamicoordinator]

I'm sort of derailing my own thread but I was curious, are the CO's putting in said requests prior to short-lists or afterwards? I'm also curious if short-lists are all sent out for placement at the same time or if they trickle out depending on how soon post-acceptance paperwork is sorted out. Much respect for the information MC

Prior to us sending Tokyo the recommendation list, each CO has a general idea of what kind JET they want. Granted, there are those COs that really have no preference at all. Then there are others that want/need a certain gender (or other specifications). I am unsure however if they officially let CLAIR know what their requests are before us sending our recommendation list.

Once we sent the recommendation list to Tokyo though, and the short-lister positions are selected, then the COs get access to who is available, and they choose who they want. Many people think JET placements are 100% random. This is not true. If you are going somewhere, there is a good chance that the CO sat down, read your file and decided "I really like this guy/gal" I want him/her. Sure, like I said, there are those COs that are a little less hands on and say "just send me whoever" but I know that many of them are very selective about who they pick. Maybe they had a good experience with someone from the UK, or maybe they had a real bad experience with a asian-girl obsessed white guy. You can imagine how many posibilities exist.

Remember though that everything depends on who get selected for the short-list. The COs have no control of who gets short-listed. They only have preference on who they get to pick after the short-list is established.

For the last part of your question, for the most part the amount of short-listers is set sometime in January or February in Japan. For those of you who know JETs in Japan, they need to recontract usually by December or January. This way the COs know who is staying and who is leaving and how many spots are available. So lets say that 1000 spots opened up this year(not the real number). we will initially have 1000 short-listers. However, there are always people who say they are going to recontract, and then between January and August decide they are in fact leaving. This opens up additional spots for JETs and then we are instructed by Tokyo to upgrade X amount of people to cover those spots. These types of upgrades are rather erratic and can happen anytime between April and December (that is why the alternate window is such a long period of time). I will give you an example from us last year. Originally we had 28 short-listers, and we ended up sending 33 by the end of the year. So, we had an additional 5 people added to our list. The year before that we had 13 original short-listers, and we ended up sending 19 people.

Tokyo is the power that dictates which consulates upgrade those types of JETs. It is not like we see spots open up and then each consulate needs to fight for the upgrade.

Hope this helps.

[kenkennif]

I would HATE to live in Tokyo. No nature?!? Screw that...

EDIT: Also, I struggle to keep hold of my wages enough as it is living in the middle of bloody nowhere. I'm pretty sure I would be homeless if I had to live in Tokyo!

[BeckyJones]

People in Tokyo kind of suck.
I enjoy this city less now that I live in it, as opposed to when I used to visit it on weekends.

This. Most people have a stary eyed view of Tokyo. It isn't the friendliest place in the world. Japan has so many great places outside of the metroplex that honestly are a lot better than Tokyo. I use to live near Fukuoka and way down south and loved it, now I live in Kanto and pretty close to the city. The difference is night and day. I would love to move farther away from the city.

[hawkharness]

Does anybody realize we're talking about Tokyo prefecture?

Not everyone here is cold and unfriendly, and yes there is nature! I don't know if JET is planning on putting anyone in the 23 special wards, but the rest of the cities I've been to (including the one I live in) are really nice, down-to-earth, liveable places.

Haters gon' hate I guess.

[Ini]

Tokyo prefecture?

[BeckyJones]

Does anybody realize we're talking about Tokyo prefecture?

Not everyone here is cold and unfriendly, and yes there is nature! I don't know if JET is planning on putting anyone in the 23 special wards, but the rest of the cities I've been to (including the one I live in) are really nice, down-to-earth, liveable places.

Haters gon' hate I guess.

*puts on nerd glasses.
technically tokyo isn't a prefecture
*pulls off nerd glasses.

sure there is nature, and nice people in Tokyo. Shit, there are even nice places in Chiba. But the fact is, most of it is a shithole. As for Tokyo, I find Kanto to be pretty cold. If you live outside of the city, everyone leaves and goes to the city on the weekend. if you live in the city, you are too cool for school and other people. It's just my experience, and everyone's will vary. But even my wife and that side of the family say Tokyo is cold and if it wasn't for the shopping we'd probably never go down to the city.

[hawkharness]

*puts on nerd glasses.
technically tokyo isn't a prefecture
*pulls off nerd glasses.

sure there is nature, and nice people in Tokyo. Shit, there are even nice places in Chiba. But the fact is, most of it is a shithole. As for Tokyo, I find Kanto to be pretty cold. If you live outside of the city, everyone leaves and goes to the city on the weekend. if you live in the city, you are too cool for school and other people. It's just my experience, and everyone's will vary. But even my wife and that side of the family say Tokyo is cold and if it wasn't for the shopping we'd probably never go down to the city.

Sorry sorry, Tokyo metropolis.

I understand that everyone thinks the city is cold, and that's because it is. I'm just trying to let people know that at least the current ALTs don't live in the city at all. Dunno about incomers.

[Ini]

yeah, because western tokyo is a rural paradise of rolling hills and buxom milk maids frolicking in meadows....

[Antonath]

yeah, because western tokyo is a rural paradise of rolling hills and buxom milk maids frolicking in meadows....

No no, you're thinking of that cafe in Akihabara, and the meadows are painted on the walls.