The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program 10/10/24
When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history? Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures,
1987 Japan launched an initiative to place native English speakers in schools to improve English language proficiency. JET became the largest exchange teaching in the world.
When Chris applied he knew not to ask for Tokyo as that would be a mark against him. From Heathrow to Tokyo Narita airport take about 12 hours. Narita is 70 km east of Tokyo He was 22 years old and fresh out of university. He just happened to hear about this program on a plane to France.
37 million people live in greater Tokyo. Here they all did a 3 day course about their duties. He and a few ventured to the Shinjuku gritty red light district. The y were warned to stay away from the Kabukicho gambling as tourist were lured by the local crime syndicates.
He flew an hour to Yamagata the location has a population of 500,000 people and is famous for its high cherry yield, it has the highest snowfall on the planet from December to March when it get a wind from Siberia.
Of the 11 native teachers he had to work with one had lived abroad linger than 3 months. 3 could not speak or comprehend English. Typical American English was taught in Japan.
The town was Sakata which meant sake rice field. The area had had a lucrative safflower plant and the flower were also used for cloth dye.
2010 Japans population had peaked at 128 million when he came in 2012 it had already declined by almost a million. Rural Japans biggest problem is rapid depopulation. Sakata's high school had 1200 students and 120 teachers. There are racks to put your shoes and where you keep you slippers as you don't bring in out door shoes. There were a number of teachers who taught other subjects and could speak English but did not want to show off their skills.
With so few foreigners he was a unwilling celebrity. In this area of 100,000 people there were less the 10 Westerners. In a conservatives area there was an abrasive hentai artwork.
You have to commit to memory everyone names and the don't refer to them as you which is almost rude.
Japan is the most seismically active country on earth, it is a big geothermal wonderland with thousands of registered hot springs. When you go into the public bath you go in naked. First thing master the kanji for male and female so you know which side to go to. Some do have blue for male and red for female.
School classes involved far less debate and discussion as the emphasis is on group dynamics over the individual. Schools churned out model citizens who followed the rules and rarely questioned authority. Some teachers he ended up teaching more than the students as they had written exams and no practical speaking ability .
He had arrived in Japan with an indebted credit card and a mountain of student debt. Most JET teacher just stayed a year. Roy a New Zealander had passed the Kanji Kentel by memorizing 3000 kanji characters.
In Japan it is considered almost rude to tip. Undertaking paid side jobs is forbidden with JET but if he volunteered to teach adults in the local community he was invited to the occasional dinner parties.
English was far more popular with girls than boys and seen as a soft girly subject . Why learn a foreign language, only 40% of students learned it and was regarded and difficult and useless. Many of the adults he taught had travelled frequently abroad. The English textbooks were an atrocity and carried a strong anti war message and had numerous mistakes in them. JET teachers inability to speak Japanese pressured the kids to speak English, this worked in many ways. Kids were scared to put up hands as they might make as a mistake.. Learning to speak a language need making mistakes. It can take a Japanese student 9 years to master reading their mother tongue.
There was an unspoken rules that JETs were forbidden from dating Japanese teachers. Some teacher saw JET foreigners as a pointless expense, others were not sure how to put them to good use.
AS a kid of 7 Chris was given a camera to record a wedding that his grandfather couldn't travel to so he had master photography. So he set up making Utubes on Japan.
If you drink too much you don't get a taxi but a dalkou that drives you home in your own can and he doesn't need a Taxi license so its cheaper.
In winter the unemployed farmers are enlisted to drive the snow ploughs to keep the roads open.
The British helped the Japanese build the railways and infra structure so you drive on the left.
Japanese society minds it Ps and Qs but once people have had a few drinks together all this bottled up information comes out. In sake drinking you are not supposed to pour your own drink. Karaoke has never taken off in the West like in Japan. In 1961 the song Sukyaki by Sakamoto Kyu topped the Billboard Hot 100 so he was able to sing it in karaoki. Kyu died in 1985 when Japan Airline flight 123 Boeing 747 from Tokyo to Osaka had mechanical failure 520 passengers lost their lives.
When he didn't finish all the rice in his lunch pack he was criticized for wasting food. Either eat it or don't order it. People remember the post war poverty.
In the US 33% of the population is obese, the UK 28% while Japan only 3.3%. In Japan people walk 2000 paces more than Americans and food portions are smaller. Less processed food or snacking.
1982 The Blade Runner by Ridley Scott the 1989 Black Rain put Osaka on the map.
1995 As a result of the sarin gas attack in Osaka trash bins are not available in the streets but people keep clean never the less.
There are 37,000 Love Hotels for young couples to escape crowded multigeneration homes with paper walls. The soap and shampoo are unscented so as not to give away unfaithful partners.
When he tried renting a flat, he was turned down as the landlord didn't want a foreigner. Things are changing with the tourist boom.
The school year ends in March and teachers are often moved between school, cities and even regions. The public avoid foreigners.
Mount Fuji was considered so sacred that until 1868 women were banned from climbing it. It is a stratovolcano in an almost perfect conical shape. At the height of 3776 meter some people experienced altitude sickness. The last time it was active was in 1707.
It is considered good manners to wear a face mask in public in Japan. when you are ill. In winter it is a preventative issue. Like earphones it gives a message stay away from me. National Health covers 70% of your health bill its up to you to pay the last 30% so its a bargain. Drips are very popular for a first treatment then you get a prescription.
Dating couples agree early on that they are an item.
Culture Day foreign residents run stands showcasing the culture and food of their home countries. There were Chinese , Korean and Filipino residents but he was the only Brit asked to attend.
In Japan you are asked about your work to determine upfront you position in the relative hierarchy. Age is often a determining factor, the virtue of being older. People in positions of power act humbly in the presents of their elders.
He was approached to take part in an annual public speaking competition of 15 minutes, In his half baked Japanese he spoke half of it, and forgot the words and had to read the 2nd half. From that failure he resolved to take part again the following year when he won it.
He was approach to teach for a third year by which time he had mastered the language and felt he could now achieve more. You get brownie point in Japan if you get to the office early and leave late.
Bullying is a big problem in Japan and that is the reason kids are not keen to stand out and offer to answer questions you don't want to be a know it all nerd. Avoid standing out. Adhere to group conformity and collectivism. Join the bullies so as not to go against the grain. The first day of the new year a student jumped out of a 4th floor window. but survived with every bone broken after being a victim of bullies.
Brits came to Japan to learn the art of sword making , build a craft gin distillery and become a sake sommelier.
1974 Kentucky Fried Chicken marketed Christmas in Japan to fill the void and so 3.6 million Japanese families have this tradition of eating KFC on Christmas day. Commercialization of Christmas.
He had a Japanese girlfriend whose parents were terrified of meeting him, had never met a foreigner before.
After 2 years he had conversational Japanese fluent with a busy schedule was integrating into the local community.
Students had never been incentivized to learn conversational English. His Utube Abroad in Japan was the most watched on learning kanji. 700,000 views. Just 23 % of Japanese have a passport. Buckwheat pillows are one of Japans worst inventions.
Regional favorites Kobe wagyu beef, Hokkaido snow crab and juicy mutton barbeque, Sendal it is cow tongue, this was a cheap item that was made into something in demand.
Japan allows a no foreigner policy causing many foreigners to leave the country. For 265 years under the Edo there was an Isolationist policy, Soduko had closed Japan off to the world till 1868.
His abroad In Japan with 100,000 was making him about 500 pounds a month. His Mc Donald chocolate fry had become a hit overnight as American TV debated the pros and cons of this dish.
Japan is a Cat Nation its 8.9 million cats overtook that of dogs population. Cat Cafes are for poor soles who love cats but can't keep one at home. The food he ate there was full of cat hairs. One company allows staff to bring their cats to work mostly women.
In Japan wild animals include bears, wild boars, giant hornets and mischievous macaques rolling in the snow.
Mobile phones were emitting a terrifying loud alert. . He thought this was earthquake alert. He opened the window and an air raid siren announced North Korea something. In the 70s north Korea had abducted Japanese citizens on a rural beach and taken them to teach Japanese. The North Korean missile passed over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. He recorded himself in bed telling about this on Utube and this was taken up by every media outlet imaginable and 20 million viewers saw it and was the only footage of this. Now in Japan his Utubes began to draw attention for promoting the new J-Alert and was given a prize and Japanese knew his face.
2011 March a 9.1 earthquake unleashed destruction across the country. On the coast Tsunami sirens screeched in Miyagi and Fukushima to tell people to move to higher ground. hitting 250km of coast. The nuclear plant was damaged when it water pumps stopped causing the biggest nuclear accident since Chernobyl. 19,759 dead. On Utube he documented this. 300,000 had to be evacuated as a result of radiation. Rice field could no longer be used and were converted into solar energy farms.He documented his bicycle ride of 46 days and 2000kilometers across Japan building a Utube travel channel. Journey across Japan went on to be the most watched Japanese travel series.
Japan is changing in 2000 , 4 million tourist came to Japan. By 2016 31 million arrived. This resulted in restriction on where you could smoke cigarettes.
2019 the successful Rugby World Cup was in Japan and in 2020 Japan closed to deal with Covid, There is no country better equipped to handle this as they have the worlds lowest obesity , wear masks and Covid related deaths were a third of the US figure.
In the Edo 1603 - 1868 period property was taxed according to the street frontage so homes were extended backwards. These old home are not comfortable by todays standards and what was left after WW2 are disappearing.
Japans Meteorological agency developed an earthquake alarm just moments before the main event. Standard procedure during an earthquake is to get under a table or in a doorway.
There is always one more wild discovery waiting for you in the land of the Rising Sun.
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