I’m a very political person, with a bachelors degree in Political Science. Most of my personal info such as my past and what I want to do in the future is political in nature. My previous involvement in politics such as jobs and volunteering would show which party I belong to. Would talking about it too much hurt my chances? Could this be viewed negatively? I certainly don’t plan on moving to Japan permanently and starting a revolution. I plan on returning to the States and pursuing a career in politics/government.
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I mentioned politics but only briefly. Perhaps if you frame it in the sense of going out to your community and canvassing/talking to people and interacting in meetings and socials with whatever your equivalent of a constituency party is.
All i know is that politics are often not a topic of conversation in Japan even among families so…
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It’s fine to talk about your passion for politics, how you have engaged with people, what you hope to achieve during the JET programme and how this will help you in your politics career. However, expressing your political opinions is not right and you should not do so in your SOP because you don’t know how it’s going to be received.
IMO JET isn’t particularly interested in your politics back home (aside from avoiding people involved in what they might consider dangerous/unseemly activity). They’d probably prefer you not get too heavily involved in Japanese politics while on the program either, but then we can’t vote here so that limits things anyway.
What JET is looking for is how you benefit them and they can benefit you. They are trying to find people who will be likely able to adapt to living and working in Japan first of all (because its a huge hassle if you break contract/have to leave), people who will not cause any big trouble while here, who have a genuine interest in Japan, and who can help with the overall goal of promoting Japan through their experience. If you can show through your jobs and volunteering that you can work well with others, adapt to difficult situations, interact with different cultures, etc. thats good. But I wouldn’t focus too much on the specifics of the politics itself or the policies (unless its related to fostering good relations with Japan perhaps) because thats not really what JET is about or looking for.
I’ve met JETs who belong to both the left and the right of the American politics (though one vastly outnumbers the other), so its not necessarily an issue, it all depends on how you relate it to the JET Program really.
every human has some sort of bias whether they realize it or not, including those who read and sift through applications unfortunately. it would be safe to avoid mentioning your strong political alignments to a single party. they also might ask you political questions in the interview. i was asked how i would deal with political questions from children in my interview and i basically said it would be best to redirect the topic into something vaguely related and unserious. they liked this answer. i was asked about politics a couple times in the many offices i worked in on JET due to the political climate back in the states.