As one of the leavers for this year, I was thinking that its crazy how sometimes things start to workout for you just as you’re about to leave. Even saw it on an earlier thread. Regardless, I was curious to see what are y’alls thoughts on leaving? Whats something you’ll miss at work/your city(or lack thereof lol)/ friends etc. ?
19 comments
Famichiki after work.
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I left after being held on for a 6th year due to COVID, and stayed in prefecture with another ALT job.
One thing that I definitely miss about living in a small town is that I only had two schools to work at. Now that I work at a different school everyday, I see why some ALTs and JTEs alike don’t like that system.
It’s hard to build a relationship with other teachers because obviously I only see them during work. It was nice to be able to actually connect and be friends with my co-workers since I saw them everyday. Hell, two of them were signatories of my wedding certificate.
Of course another thing that I miss is the sense of community. I really felt it when I first joined, but that feeling of being a part of a group and everyone has the same problems and can all vent about them at a drinking sesh. Man what I would give to be young again.
Definitely going to miss a couple of friends I made here in Japan. Both of them recontracted so they’ll be staying here in Japan.
I’ll also miss the steady schedule and general lack of real responsibility. My old job back home is shift work with a high amount of stress and responsibility, so being an ALT was a nice break.
I’ll miss my schools, my community, and most importantly telling Yamato what time I want my packages delivered…. Lol
Things I won’t miss is definitely how annoying banking here is, like so many things I took for granted back home in regards to that.
Green tea and onsens
So I’m like, 90% sure I’m going to be getting a job in Tokyo/Osaka, so really all I’ll miss are the 8-4s with no overtime, and cheap rent.
I won’t miss the soul sucking desk warming or constant roaches, mukade and spiders though.
If I was leaving Japan I’d miss most things. Independence, the 7/11 outside my apartment, the gym, how cheap everything is, not paying taxes, green tea, most of what I eat, karaoke…
I stayed in Japan after JET but got a ‘proper’ job in Tokyo (going on 15 years or so now). I still look back fondly at my JET times – adventure and partying with a great community of people from all over the world. No responsibilities – just living every day carpe diem style. I felt so alive.
I will miss Hamazushi
Easy money.
I will miss the peace I created by myself here. The life I could have built and the story I could have written.
I go back to a wild wild wild west of a family and home, I have no regrets though, I’m choosing to go back, I could have re-contracted easily.
I will miss the sun setting over the rice patties as the clouds part away just briefly enough for you to catch the sun fading away behind those not so distant mountains.
I will miss my neighbor and their wacky tiny little dog who always comes running out to greet me with a bark. I will miss the grandma and granddaughter who always come running right after the dog to also greet me and say welcome home.
I will miss the simple dinners I can have after a long day in a private counter seat. Whether it be a quick and small serving of gyoza just to soothe an aching stomach after 2 and a half hours of club activities or a large pork cutlet bowl with 3 extra servings of rice after 3 hours of running the track with the kids. Or if I was feeling extra fancy, 20 of the most expensive plates at Hama/Kappa/Genki/Sushiro/Kura.
I will miss the eerie silence of the cities at night. Where financial and commercial districts, once buzzing around with countless voices and faces from places far and wide, become dimly lit shadows of their daytime-selves.
I will miss the sounds of the orchestras of frogs and crickets in the rice patties.
I will miss the restaurant owners and the people I’ve come to know here. Their stories, the time that we’ve shared, the moments we’ve created together. The memories we’ve made.
I will miss the mountain roads. Coasting through this country on two wheels has given me a newfound respect for nature, for the nature of people, and for the nature of life. Beauty can be found almost anywhere, and yet it was here that I saw some of the most beautiful mountains, roads, forests, and people in my life.
I will miss my students who have truly won my heart over. I was always emotionally distant from my students back in my home country, it was a professional distance, to shield me from the potential pain if a student failed to make it.
I’ve watched many of my students fall out and drop out because of unforeseen circumstances. Students whose families strip them away of their futures, students whose demons strip them away of their peace, and students whose illnesses strip them away from their independence.
I have always cared, but with half a heart, so I would not feel the sting of failure. Yet here I learned to open my heart whole, to accept the good with the bad. To accept as well that you will not always succeed in trying to get through to a student. You do your best, try and do better next time, and that’s all you can really ask for.
So many of these students, despite all the cards being stacked against them, show up to school cheerful, full of energy, and always try their best to be kind. They still got a whole lot to learn but they have taught me to open my heart and smile.
Never have I felt so much joy and happiness at work.
I will miss the ability to wake up and not having to worry about anyone, not having to be on alert in case there was an emergency for me to handle, not having to worry about whether or not I have enough sick leave or PTO to take my parents to the hospital or brother to his appointments.
I will miss the peace that all of those things above brought me. Yet I am choosing to go home why?
Because I miss my friends, my family, I miss the life that I fought tooth and nail for back home. I am in my 30s and I have spent so much time building so many relationships up back home, watching and helping so many of my nieces and nephew grow that I want to see it all through to the end. Being here also reminded me of how many things left unfinished back at home I have to deal with.
This excursion on JET was always just a 1 Year plan, nothing fruitful but essentially a long $2000 vacation. Yet I made so many beautiful memories, there are so many things I will miss here.
I did not think I would come to the end of this road and as I start to come to terms with my immediate end, feel this kind of sorrow at leaving.
“This song is ending, but the story never ends.”
As the great 10th Doctor once said,
**”I don’t want to go”**
I miss a lot of things, but right this second I miss the healthcare system. 😬
How long did you stay?
I always said to people that 1 year is not enough – 3 years seems perfect – other life problems aside.
What do I miss most?
JET provides a great “prepackaged” lifestyle and group of friends. In life it is rare to find a place where you have people in the same position, job, age and role as you.
Normal jobs don’t have it
It comes with automatic friends, festivals, places to stay when you travel and a job with low stress.
It’s a moment in time I’ll always treasure and I’ll encourage jets to make the most of the time by getting out and about!
I miss a lot. JET was always temporary, but as a job fresh out of college where I got to meet people from all over the world, have an affordable rent, and live in a foreign country, it was an excellent 5-year gap. In no particular order I miss:
Toilets where I don’t make eye contact with people on the other side through the cracks in the stalls.
Nomihoudais.
Strong community and friend group. I could message my friends on any given day and hang out. The friends I made there are still some of my best friends. In my town as the only ALT, I was often invited to cool cultural events and parties.
Cheap travel to neighboring countries and prefectures.
Onsen.
Easy job.
Sense of safety going out at night
Don’t hate me for this, but in Japan you REALLY do feel the four seasons differently with distinct visible markers. I miss the spider lilies popping up along the golden fields at harvest time, the freshly flooded fields that reflected the sky, making umeshu with freshly picked plums, the way the rice fields flowed like waves under the summer breeze, the cherry blossoms…
Generally good students. They were so sweet and some have gone on to study abroad. I wish them nothing but the best
The convenience stores.
Excellent public transportation network.
Affordable healthcare.
There’s a lot I miss.
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The kids and their love and practicing Japanese every day. I didn’t know any Japanese when I came here a year and a half ago, but now I am about N3. I am always bugging and talking to people everywhere. And the kids are amazing. I love them so much. I work at an elementary school of like 900 kids. Before I came to Japan, I never wanted my own kids, but now I would love that. However, other than these two things, I feel like my brain has turned to mush being on this program. In my placement, the job is not demanding or challenging, half of the week I am expected to just sit at my desk and do nothing. After a year of trying to ask or find something to occupy myself with, I just go on walks and leave and come back when I have class. Nobody cares lol.
There are a few classes where I am the T1 teacher, and those are always fun for me, but mostly, it’s just not like that. I feel like I have not grown much while being on this program–more so regressed. Sure, I have learned Japanese, but I am ready for something more fulfilling in life then rotting at a desk and in a town where there is absolutely nothing to do and where the only thing people do for fun is drink their lives to oblivion. lol
And, this just might be from what I have seen, but the ALTs that stay here for all five years… a lot of them never learn any Japanese, have not a lot of ambition, and are know-it-all control crazed individuals. So that hasn’t been fun for a couple of us located in different places of Japan on the program.
In my opinion, the JET Program really babies its ALTs, and it doesn’t really force anyone to grow up. A lot of the JETs seem to revert to middle school mode, and its just better to make friends with other people for the most part. hah. I came on the JET Program after working in the professional world for many years, and it will be nice again to be around people with drive again.
Onsen, tachigui soba, basashi … but most of all the kind, considerate, and loving Japanese people.
I had some really sweet, kind coworkers. I’ll miss them. Also Japanese fast food restaurants are too notch. I had some fun times doing club activities with the kids like after school rock band. Hang out play guitar with the kids, have them show me some japanese music they like and learn songs together. It was fun, felt like the movie school of rock.