[Xlll]

Originally Posted by Hatredcopter

I still think you're getting the wrong idea about JET. There's a lot of participants, but what matter does that make? It's not like you share the same school or even the same city with all of them. You'll likely not be working with any other foreigners at the school you're sent to. After arriving in Japan, the orientation in Tokyo is only three days in length - not exactly high school.

Another thing to consider is that you can hop aboard JET with no Japanese experience. Getting a teaching position elsewhere will be more difficult if you haven't learned a good deal of Japanese already. It's a bad idea to come to Japan before you know you have a job secured, so you'd have to learn [some] Japanese before coming.

The JET Programme is by and large considered to be one of the best programs for people to get working in Japan. Your life wouldn't be that much different were you teaching for a private company - you'd get up in the morning, leave your Japanese apartment for a ridiculously long commute to your school, and be an assistant language teacher.

It's rather unsettling to hear you have such a low opinion of the JET Programme when you don't seem to have a decent idea of what exactly it entails.

No no, you seem to be misinterpreting my message. First off, when I meant attending the orientations at Tokyo were as if it were "high school", I basically meant the social behavior that seems to spreading when attending the orientations itself, basically some people or the "new" particpants feel the need to skip out on the orientations to explore a little more of Tokyo while they are there or due to sheer boredom or the like. Also, you seem to believe that JET is the only key program in teaching and getting in Japan, there's countless programs and or companies out there willing to provide these quality services, and a handful of them don't require you to be fluent in Nihongo as well, so that's that. As for the JET Programme vs. company debate, it's practically pointless to compare the two since what they do for work and how they do it is relatively the same. The reason why I would rather work in a company than say a program like JET, is due to personal reasons, for one, I'm getting my bachelor's degree in Business Administration, so of course its only natural for me to seek out a job occupation that has a business-like environment that I can work and learn from, say like GABA for instance.

About how I feel towards the JET Programme, I believe its a awesome program to learn and experience from in terms of just getting out there in Japan, and a great one at that. I did my fair share of research on it and also had countless discussion on it with fellow participants and retirees, so telling me I don't have a "decent idea" on it without personally knowing my stance on the whole program itself is quite "unsettling" as well. Forgive me if I sound rude or rub off in the wrong way, but thats my stance on the JET Programme.