Throughout last month, members of CLAIR Sydney attended send-off receptions held in Australia and New Zealand for new Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme participants and wished them luck in their exciting new adventures in Japan. The JET Programme started in 1987 with the purpose of increasing mutual understanding between the people of Japan and the rest of the world. It aims to promote internationalisation in Japan’s local communities by helping to improve foreign language education and developing international exchange at the community level. Australia and New Zealand are among the four countries in the Programme’s inaugural year. Under the Programme, participants are employed to work in one of the following positions: Assistant Language Teacher (ALT), Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), or Sports Exchange Advisor (SEA). Supporting all former and future JET Programme participants in Australia and New Zealand is one of the important missions for us here at CLAIR Sydney.
Since 1987, over 70,000 participants from 75 countries have taken part in the JET Programme as of July 2019. Approximately 4,560 participants are from Australia and 3,300 are from New Zealand, and these numbers are the 4th and 5th largest after the U.S., the U.K., and Canada, respectively. Thanks to over three decades of excellent work and positive attitude demonstrated by participants since the Programme’s establishment, the JET Programme has grown to become one of the world’s largest international exchange programs and has an outstanding reputation both in Japan as well as overseas.
When I was working in Japan, I was once told by the mayor of a small village that he was grateful to the JET Programme participants as children in his village were taught directly by native English speakers and had opportunities to interact with different cultures. With views like this, even if the new participants may be anxious about their new life in Japan, I am sure they will receive a warm welcome in their local communities, just as I did in Australia and New Zealand.
Above all, I hope the new participants will have an invaluable experience in Japan and come to know and love Japan more. I was born and raised in Osaka. Since I started working, I have lived in five prefectures: Tokyo, Saga, Tokushima, Nagano, and Kagoshima. Japan is a small country, but each region has its unique aspects, including the changing seasons, nature, history, culture, food, festivals, and prefectural characteristics. We hope the new participants will enjoy these aspects, and that they will become a bridge between Australia/New Zealand and Japan.
We sincerely wish the participants the best of luck in their new homes!
