Making a Decision, Part I - The Process

This post is coming a few days late, since I've had some recent medical things to take care of. Don't worry, I'll get to that in another post, but it's caused me to be busy enough to let other things slide.

This Friday, February 6th, marks the deadline for the JET Programme’s (JET) re-contracting process. Every Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) on JET must make a decision about whether they will stay for another year or move on to something else. It is no different for me. Though the deadline is only days away, I have been thinking about this decision for months.

Last year at this time, the decision was easy. I had only been in Japan for six months, and the idea of leaving after a year seemed entirely too hasty. There were those who decided that one year here was enough for them, but I knew coming into JET that I would stay for at least two years. I had a few conversations about this, most notably with my friend Kate. Not too long after her wedding (which I was disappointed to miss), we got in touch and the idea of a third year came up. I remember saying I wasn’t sure yet, that I would have to see how the rest of my second year goes. And this is where one of the problems with the JET re-contracting process arises ? timing.

Applications for JET are accepted up to the first Sunday in December. Applicants deemed worthy receive replies around mid- to late-January and are offered interviews in mid-February. All interviewees receive replies of acceptance or denial around late-March to April, and those accepted receive placement notifications in May. Successful applicants will then have a matter of months to prepare themselves and their things for the trip overseas.

You might notice this application process is based on the U.S. school year. Primarily, it gives senior college students the chance to apply for JET during their final year. Upon graduation, successful applicants have 1-2 months before leaving for Japan (professionals like I was simply quit when they feel like it). But before the new ALTs take off, the current ALTs must have decided whether they will stay or go. To sync this whole process, the deadline for current ALTs to re-contract or not is the first Friday of February. As one presenter at this year’s Okinawa JET Mid-Year Conference put it, “they really make you decide too quickly.” After just six months of living in a new country, after the season with the shortest days, during a period where many begin to experience symptoms of culture shock, and after a period of time that’s not really suitable to making the best decision, JET makes us choose.

All this leads me to my point that the decision to stay another year or not is not as easy as it seems. The decision I make by Friday will either leave me with six more months of working on JET (meaning I’d be 3/4 through my JET career) or another year and a half (putting me at the half-way point). When I think about making a decision that will contract me for one and a half years, it seems pretty heavy.

Each day this week, I’ll be making posts about my decision to re-contract or not. Today’s is the first, a brief description of how the process works. Tomorrow, I’ll outline the positive things about JET and my life in Japan. Wednesday will be the counter to that, touching on some of the things that could be going better or just aren’t going well. Thursday’s post will be a wrap-up of any other points or thoughts I may have forgotten. And then Friday, I’ll post my decision.