Since I haven’t been able to find any definitive opinions on it, I was wondering if there’s anyone here who’s currently or was previously on the JET program who had previous experience living in Japan for an extended amount of time.
I’ve read varying opinions on whether or not having such experience is a detriment in the eyes of JET. I personally have previously lived in Japan for about 3 and a 1/2 years, and I mentioned as much in my SOP. Not particularly worried, but I am curious to see what anyone has to say on the matter.
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The only rule is that you can’t have lived in Japan for 6+ years in the past 10 years (from the [eligibility criteria](https://jetprogramusa.org/eligibility-criteria/)). Anything you can do to show them you won’t freak out and fly home in the middle of the night is a good thing.
2013-2018 JET. I had 3 1/2 years experience living in Japan prior to JET and got in. (Feb 2009-August 2012) I think it is definitely an advantage. They asked me a lot about it in the interview. For example, what I was hoping to get out of the JET experience compared to my previous experience. (For me, I wanted to be more involved in the community more and potentially experience rural life.)
I applied to JET while studying abroad in Japan in 2018 and was accepted!! (I’m also half Japanese and have been to Japan over 10 times throughout my life lol)
As others mentioned, as long as you fit the eligibility criteria, I think any time you’ve spent in Japan/any connection you have to the country makes you a strong candidate 😌 Best of luck!!
Anecdotal evidence but in my consulate arrival group this year I would say the far majority of shortlisters had at least some experience living in japan. Mostly short-term but I know a few who lived in japan for more than a year prior to jet.
I don’t think it is a disadvantage at all. I think as with any of your experiences or work history it is more about being able to reflect on it and present it in a way that they will view as being beneficial.
Has it made you want to find out more about japanese culture or live in a different place? Why? How will you extend your interest whilst you’re there? What did you get out of your experiences last time? Did it make you more able to adapt with new people and to new experiences? Did you keep any links to friends in japan? Endless possibilities but yeah that kind of thing.
It’s more how you talk about it. Saying I already know this and that (kind of showing you think you are there already) isn’t as beneficial as saying I enjoyed x so therefore I’d like to see more of y/ try joining a y group in the local community/ find out more about y.
I lived in Japan on and off for years before applying and got accepted.
I can’t see it hurting you, as long as you don’t come in thinking you already know everything about Japan (especially since you likely won’t be placed in the same area).
They want people interested in Japan; most people in my placement had lived here at least a year beforehand.
I don’t think that having spent time in Japan SHOULD work against you, but I also believe it CAN, unless you are able to address this point clearly in the interview. The reason likely has to do with the goals of the program, which do not necessarily seem logical on their face. TLDR given you spent quite a bit of time there already, have a clear explanation ready for what else you hope to gain from JET you didn’t get in your prior stay in Japan.
As background, I had spent my junior year abroad at a university in Tokyo, and when I applied to JET to start right out of college, I got specific questions in my interview (from the Japanese government rep on the interview team) about why I wanted to go to Japan again and what I expected to gain from going back. I explained about how I felt there would be a real difference in the experience between being a temporary student in Tokyo without a real place in society and being a teacher in a local school in a community in a different part of the country. I got in. My college friend (same year and same major too) who was Japanese-American, but grew up entirely in CA and didn’t speak Japanese at all growing up, got in talking about wanting to connect with his heritage. On the other hand, our other Japanese-American college friend (again same year/major), who was born in Japan, lived there for some years before eventually moving to the US, and who grew up speaking Japanese at home, ended up getting waitlisted initially, which he thought was because he didn’t have a satisfying answer to the same questions.
When I actually started JET and met more people at the orientation and in my city, I was confused at how many people seemed to have no connection to the country or language ability at all – seemed like it would make you more effective as a teacher to know how to relate to and speak to students and other teachers. But later I read a book about the formation of the JET Programme (“Importing Diversity” by David McConnell) and it seems to the ministries that formed the program, the purpose of JET was that Japanese kids would learn how to deal with foreigners and, as a side benefit, foreigners would go back to their host countries with a positive experience about Japan (this is back when there was more resentment about Japan’s rise). So actually having more experience in Japan already could cut against those aims (because you’re not quite as pure “foreign”, and maybe you already learned enough about Japan).
In short, don’t assume people (at least on the Japanese government end) will take prior experience in Japan as an unalloyed good thing, and be ready to answer the question with a good explanation.