I am an incoming JET being placed in Saitama-ken at a private school. And so far I have been emailing someone at my school, I told them my arrival date and all that stuff, but they are asking me where I will be living. I was under the impression that my school or CO would take care of securing me a place to live in Japan, but it seems like they are expecting me to do that myself?
I’m not sure how I should answer their question about where I’m going to be living. Should I talk to my coordinator to try and clear some confusion? Or just start looking for places myself?
4 comments
Just be honest. State you’re not sure where as you don’t want to find housing yourself/not sure how to, and go from there. Being open and honest is the way to go.
Common question.
Hey, Saitama JET here. It is expected of us to find our own accommodation, BUT your base school/supervisor can help you with the process. Before I departed, the JTE point of contact at my base school asked me if I found a place or if I needed help. I was engaged at the time and planning to move in with my fiancé, but since his lease contract wasn’t up yet (and he lived in Tokyo at the time), I asked him to help me find a small 1K apartment nearby the base school.
He did and helped set up utilities , initial costs, and contracts. It was a crappy LeoPalace but beggars can’t be choosers (at least in my situation lol).
If you want, look for a few places on your own, choose your favorite, and ask the school to help with initial stuff while you’re overseas. If you don’t care about where you live, they might choose a place for you (and run it by you first).
Say ‘I don’t know, is there someone who could help me find somewhere? I am new to Japan.’
The buck will likely get passed until they find someone who can, I’d be shocked if they didn’t.
Hi! I’ve also been placed at a private school but in another prefecture. Did you contact your school first or did they contact you?
My CO hasn’t contacted me yet and am a bit worried about my housing situation too!