OMG I'm so happy I found your channel! I'm an incoming 2021 JET bound for ishikawa so having this information that's in the context of COVID is such a lifesaver! Thank you so much! 🤩🧡
@@ADreamInJapan Yea! I got placed in Komatsu, Ishikawa, and I'm also coming from Arizona so I'm sure I'll relate to the change in climate struggles haha XD
This really helped calm me down just a little. I'm a little poor and though I have some savings in anticipation of heading to Kyushu, I was starting to panic about affording a car on top of everything else. Both this and the other part (watched them backwards oops) were super straight forward and helpful!!
Yay I’m glad it helped you out! That’s my goal! Kyushu is very reasonable unless you’re headed to Fukuoka or Kumamoto city center. I loved living in Oita prefecture but was glad I loved out of the city. Less tempted to go shopping a lot when the good stores are far. Definitely needed a car to have fun tho. However I had many friends who survived without one. You just gotta be a planning type person and I’m not. Hehe. Good luck!! Where you headed?
These videos are so great and transparent! As a 2020 JET that got delayed to fall 2021, the whole process has felt distant and disconnected. Thank you for your clarity and positivity!
Thank you! I'm not trying to bullshit people! Transparency is my policy!, as i WISH that JETs was too sometimes! It's a great program and community ONCE you are here, but up until then, even on a non-corona year, the disconnect can feel real! Hang in there!
Wow this is legit so helpful! Thank you so much! I’m planning on doing jet next year and I’ve been saving up money. This will help with creating a more accurate budget. :)
@@ADreamInJapan No I am considering moving there, but the whole month or two to get wifi is a bother, also I have only seen data plans with a limit like 30gb of data, and I couldn't find info on unlimited data plans in Japan.
Oh! There’s definitely unlimited data plans but you’ll pay for it. I’ll do some hunting for you! It might take me a little bit, but please tell me your Twitter or something so I can tell you when I post it! I have a few other JeT updates in the works for now, but I put out my feelers for you today.
If you are coming to Japan to teach or otherwise. Having a Facebook is extremely helpful even if you only use it to network and ask questions. Just my advice. I’ll do a video about phone plans eventually but there’s a few more important things on my video list. So please hang in there!
Very very useful. Thank you. Please can you explain how it works from the beginning. Like you land, you're picked up, taken to a hotel for quarantine, then what? Get taken to your apartment and then how is everything paid for? Just hand over cash to the landlord? You talk about a car but surely its not legal to just buy a car and drive it? Surely you need a Japanese license etc?
Thanks for watching! There’s extensive info available about the jet timeline available online. However I get that 2021 is pretty special circumstances. If you check out my most recent two videos, about pre and post arrival it pretty much explains all you just asked. And my next video series ( to be done in a series of shorts) is actually about driving in Japan. But the short answer is yes, if you get your international drivers permit from your home country before arriving in Japan you can drive basically right away for a year, then you must test to get a Japanese license.
Hey girl! I'm working on my bachelor's degree in education. I'm leaving for Europe in August of 2023 for the TEFL certificate. After I come back from Europe I'll finish my degree work. I'm wanting to apply for JET once I get completely done. My main two questions are one with me having a bachelor's degree in education, and TEFL certification is there a higher chance of getting into JET? My second question is I have a dog I'm wanting to bring with me. He's a husky. Will JET allow me to bring my dog? Of course, I don't mind paying a deposit or any extra fees. I'm just trying to look ahead haha
Thanks for the comment! Well, yes. Having a bachelors in Ed and a TEFL (mine was cheap and from an online thing…so like idk how much weight that had) will at least show you wanna teach and mot just party in Japan. So it can’t hurt haha. As for the dog, I mean, people have done it, but not from the get go unless you have a spouse or someone coming with you. Most jes bring their pets back after their first trip home because when you arrive with JET you will not have time to separate from the group and deal with all the quarantine procedures necessary. A spouse could do that if they are staying at a separate hotel during orientation. Check out this petraveller.com.au/blog/bringing-your-pet-dog-or-cat-to-japan-all-you-need-to-know it sounds like a pain in arse to me, but if you love your dog, good luck! Most jets who don’t plan to stay forever leave their fur babies with family because it’s much easier. In addition to all the requirements to import them, you also will have the added issue that MANY Jet apartment will have no pet policies or additional fees for pets as well the high chance that all cleaning fees will be kept by the landlord for pet related cleaning and damage. If the apartment your pred had doesn’t allow pets, you can ask your supervisor before arrival to elk you find a pet friendly place, but most are more expensive. The more countryside you are though, the easier finding something will be. Sometimes houses in the inaka are as cheap as apartments to rent. However, not all JETS will have a long time to communicate with their supervisors or preds. So, that’s a huge unknown to combine with all the timing of the rabies tests. So, I’d say as a single person it’s near impossible to bring a pet over when you start the program, but after 6mo-1yr it may be manageable
Ah! That’s not my intention. This is truly worst case scenario. I know many who made it on much less! This is to be comfy. In a few months of living humbly, you easily make this back if you don’t go crazy on furniture buying or drinking. Haha. You can probably manage inaka move on with 2k. The unfortunate thing is, you don’t choose your placement. But you can certainly say things about saving money and wanting to live rural in your interview.
@@ADreamInJapan That's good to hear! Thanks for the reply. I like to be prepared for anything and getting more information on the start up is appreciated so thank you for the informative video and tips, appreciated.
Thank you for doing this! I'm trying to pull everything together before the big move as I was placed in Tottori prefecture. I think I'll be in one of the cities there, but it has a really low population so I'm not sure which to plan for. Not sure if you would know the answer to this, but does it take long for your BOE to get in contact with you?
When is your leaving date?? Do you know if you are elementary or high school? I know you don't wanna hear an "its ESID" but it is a little bit. There's kinda 3 scenarios. If you are to be an ES/JHS JET, then your BOE is actually rather small, only really operating your city/town. Sometimes ES/JHS JETs get very little contact, because sometimes no one at the BOE speaks English, and so they kinda freak out and just don't reach out! Hopefully this will not be the case. If the ALTs that work/worked there already left last year, then contact is even more rare I would think, as many ALTs try to find their successors via social media. If you DO NOT have a facebook, getting in contact with your predecessor is nearly impossible until very late. SO I encourage you to find your prefectural facebook group (see my last video about connecting with your area), there you may find a self-intro post that the current ALTs read, if you say where you are placed, they may be able to connect you "unofficially" to your successor. If you are a High School JET, your school and advisor will most likely reach out as soon as the BOE tells them about you. HS ALTs usually have a good English Teacher Team, one of who will be in charge of you, aka your advisor. That will either come in the form of email, or possibly snail mail. I had both. Sometimes the current ALT is asked to contact you on behalf on the school. SO, check your spam box. I'd say it's rare, but not unheard of, to have no contact before arrival, but depending on the school, English ability, and attitude of those in charge of contacting you, it could be later. I think I got contacted about...6 weeks before my departure date? So, kinda late. And that was a non-glabal-pandemic year! Hang in there! Feel free to reply if you need more help!
@@ADreamInJapan Thank you for your reply! I am leaving on september 11th, so very soon! I am a prefectural JET, so many people have identified this as high school (though I could be wrong). I have joined the facebook group and many people have gotten to connect with their predicessors. However, when I was given my placement it only identfied I was in Tottori (saying Tottori-ken, Tottori-ken). So I'm not sure where in Tottori I am going. Just a little concerned since it is coming up so quickly and silence is deafening as they say. I'll keep an eye on the traditional mail alongside my email/spam, thank you for the advice on all of this!
No problem! Yes you are a high school jet. (It’s better trust me) if your pred left this year, or last year there is no ALT at school to help the advisor- thus it’s all on your advisor to contact you. The “prefecture” is a big place. The head honcho of the English department chooses the jets (from a block given to them by Clair) then they sift and distribute to their city high schools. So it could honestly be -with the mess of corona that your school doesn’t even know yet. Please check out my next video about corona ( later this week) and I’ll mention this exodus phenomenon that will surely screw with this entire season. Hang in there! And Tottori is right by GeGeGe no Mori! I want to goooooo. Let’s keep in touch!
OMG I'm so happy I found your channel! I'm an incoming 2021 JET bound for ishikawa so having this information that's in the context of COVID is such a lifesaver! Thank you so much! 🤩🧡
Oh Ishikawa! I haven’t been there yet! Maybe I’ll come visit! Add me on Facebook!
@@ADreamInJapan Yea! I got placed in Komatsu, Ishikawa, and I'm also coming from Arizona so I'm sure I'll relate to the change in climate struggles haha XD
I just got my placement today and I’m heading to Ishikawa as well!
This really helped calm me down just a little. I'm a little poor and though I have some savings in anticipation of heading to Kyushu, I was starting to panic about affording a car on top of everything else. Both this and the other part (watched them backwards oops) were super straight forward and helpful!!
Yay I’m glad it helped you out! That’s my goal! Kyushu is very reasonable unless you’re headed to Fukuoka or Kumamoto city center. I loved living in Oita prefecture but was glad I loved out of the city. Less tempted to go shopping a lot when the good stores are far. Definitely needed a car to have fun tho. However I had many friends who survived without one. You just gotta be a planning type person and I’m not. Hehe. Good luck!! Where you headed?
@@ADreamInJapan I'm on my way to Satsumasendai in Kagoshima; it's oddly pretty similar to my hometown
Thanks for the video and advice! I've been placed in a smaller city so not as rural as the inaka, but definitely found these insights super helpful 🥰
So glad it helped! My video this coming week is aimed at you! So, please check it out once it's up!
@@ADreamInJapan amazing, looking forward to it!! 🥰
These videos are so great and transparent! As a 2020 JET that got delayed to fall 2021, the whole process has felt distant and disconnected. Thank you for your clarity and positivity!
Thank you! I'm not trying to bullshit people! Transparency is my policy!, as i WISH that JETs was too sometimes! It's a great program and community ONCE you are here, but up until then, even on a non-corona year, the disconnect can feel real! Hang in there!
Wow this is legit so helpful! Thank you so much! I’m planning on doing jet next year and I’ve been saving up money. This will help with creating a more accurate budget. :)
Thank you! I’m so glad I helped you! That was my goal! I had zero idea what I needed and honestly would’ve killed for this video 5 years ago!!
Soooo much information!! Surprised thou could remember all those details🤪
Thanks as always! Haha. Trying to fill in the info gap for the new JETS since they aren’t getting proper info from their previous alts.
Can you do a video on different phone plans in Japan? Namely unlimited phone/data plans?
Interesting idea! Do you need English support? Cause basically Sakura is the only one I know with English support. All others are Japanese companies
@@ADreamInJapan No I am considering moving there, but the whole month or two to get wifi is a bother, also I have only seen data plans with a limit like 30gb of data, and I couldn't find info on unlimited data plans in Japan.
Oh! There’s definitely unlimited data plans but you’ll pay for it. I’ll do some hunting for you! It might take me a little bit, but please tell me your Twitter or something so I can tell you when I post it! I have a few other JeT updates in the works for now, but I put out my feelers for you today.
@@ADreamInJapan thank you, I'm not on any social media, sorry.
If you are coming to Japan to teach or otherwise. Having a Facebook is extremely helpful even if you only use it to network and ask questions. Just my advice. I’ll do a video about phone plans eventually but there’s a few more important things on my video list. So please hang in there!
thank you for making these in depth videos!
Thank you for watching!!
I noticed water, electricity, trash pickup were not on the list. Are they included in rent?
Very very useful. Thank you.
Please can you explain how it works from the beginning.
Like you land, you're picked up, taken to a hotel for quarantine, then what? Get taken to your apartment and then how is everything paid for? Just hand over cash to the landlord?
You talk about a car but surely its not legal to just buy a car and drive it? Surely you need a Japanese license etc?
Thanks for watching! There’s extensive info available about the jet timeline available online. However I get that 2021 is pretty special circumstances. If you check out my most recent two videos, about pre and post arrival it pretty much explains all you just asked. And my next video series ( to be done in a series of shorts) is actually about driving in Japan. But the short answer is yes, if you get your international drivers permit from your home country before arriving in Japan you can drive basically right away for a year, then you must test to get a Japanese license.
Hey girl! I'm working on my bachelor's degree in education. I'm leaving for Europe in August of 2023 for the TEFL certificate. After I come back from Europe I'll finish my degree work. I'm wanting to apply for JET once I get completely done. My main two questions are one with me having a bachelor's degree in education, and TEFL certification is there a higher chance of getting into JET? My second question is I have a dog I'm wanting to bring with me. He's a husky. Will JET allow me to bring my dog? Of course, I don't mind paying a deposit or any extra fees. I'm just trying to look ahead haha
Thanks for the comment!
Well, yes. Having a bachelors in Ed and a TEFL (mine was cheap and from an online thing…so like idk how much weight that had) will at least show you wanna teach and mot just party in Japan. So it can’t hurt haha.
As for the dog, I mean, people have done it, but not from the get go unless you have a spouse or someone coming with you. Most jes bring their pets back after their first trip home because when you arrive with JET you will not have time to separate from the group and deal with all the quarantine procedures necessary. A spouse could do that if they are staying at a separate hotel during orientation.
Check out this petraveller.com.au/blog/bringing-your-pet-dog-or-cat-to-japan-all-you-need-to-know it sounds like a pain in arse to me, but if you love your dog, good luck!
Most jets who don’t plan to stay forever leave their fur babies with family because it’s much easier. In addition to all the requirements to import them, you also will have the added issue that MANY Jet apartment will have no pet policies or additional fees for pets as well the high chance that all cleaning fees will be kept by the landlord for pet related cleaning and damage. If the apartment your pred had doesn’t allow pets, you can ask your supervisor before arrival to elk you find a pet friendly place, but most are more expensive. The more countryside you are though, the easier finding something will be. Sometimes houses in the inaka are as cheap as apartments to rent. However, not all JETS will have a long time to communicate with their supervisors or preds. So, that’s a huge unknown to combine with all the timing of the rabies tests. So, I’d say as a single person it’s near impossible to bring a pet over when you start the program, but after 6mo-1yr it may be manageable
Just thinking about affording this gives me so much anxiety. I don't think I'm in a situation to afford this unfortunately
Ah! That’s not my intention. This is truly worst case scenario. I know many who made it on much less! This is to be comfy. In a few months of living humbly, you easily make this back if you don’t go crazy on furniture buying or drinking. Haha. You can probably manage inaka move on with 2k. The unfortunate thing is, you don’t choose your placement. But you can certainly say things about saving money and wanting to live rural in your interview.
@@ADreamInJapan That's good to hear! Thanks for the reply. I like to be prepared for anything and getting more information on the start up is appreciated so thank you for the informative video and tips, appreciated.
Thank you for doing this! I'm trying to pull everything together before the big move as I was placed in Tottori prefecture. I think I'll be in one of the cities there, but it has a really low population so I'm not sure which to plan for. Not sure if you would know the answer to this, but does it take long for your BOE to get in contact with you?
When is your leaving date?? Do you know if you are elementary or high school? I know you don't wanna hear an "its ESID" but it is a little bit. There's kinda 3 scenarios. If you are to be an ES/JHS JET, then your BOE is actually rather small, only really operating your city/town. Sometimes ES/JHS JETs get very little contact, because sometimes no one at the BOE speaks English, and so they kinda freak out and just don't reach out! Hopefully this will not be the case. If the ALTs that work/worked there already left last year, then contact is even more rare I would think, as many ALTs try to find their successors via social media. If you DO NOT have a facebook, getting in contact with your predecessor is nearly impossible until very late. SO I encourage you to find your prefectural facebook group (see my last video about connecting with your area), there you may find a self-intro post that the current ALTs read, if you say where you are placed, they may be able to connect you "unofficially" to your successor.
If you are a High School JET, your school and advisor will most likely reach out as soon as the BOE tells them about you. HS ALTs usually have a good English Teacher Team, one of who will be in charge of you, aka your advisor. That will either come in the form of email, or possibly snail mail. I had both. Sometimes the current ALT is asked to contact you on behalf on the school. SO, check your spam box.
I'd say it's rare, but not unheard of, to have no contact before arrival, but depending on the school, English ability, and attitude of those in charge of contacting you, it could be later. I think I got contacted about...6 weeks before my departure date? So, kinda late. And that was a non-glabal-pandemic year! Hang in there! Feel free to reply if you need more help!
@@ADreamInJapan Thank you for your reply! I am leaving on september 11th, so very soon! I am a prefectural JET, so many people have identified this as high school (though I could be wrong). I have joined the facebook group and many people have gotten to connect with their predicessors. However, when I was given my placement it only identfied I was in Tottori (saying Tottori-ken, Tottori-ken). So I'm not sure where in Tottori I am going. Just a little concerned since it is coming up so quickly and silence is deafening as they say. I'll keep an eye on the traditional mail alongside my email/spam, thank you for the advice on all of this!
No problem! Yes you are a high school jet. (It’s better trust me) if your pred left this year, or last year there is no ALT at school to help the advisor- thus it’s all on your advisor to contact you. The “prefecture” is a big place. The head honcho of the English department chooses the jets (from a block given to them by Clair) then they sift and distribute to their city high schools. So it could honestly be -with the mess of corona that your school doesn’t even know yet. Please check out my next video about corona ( later this week) and I’ll mention this exodus phenomenon that will surely screw with this entire season. Hang in there!
And Tottori is right by GeGeGe no Mori! I want to goooooo. Let’s keep in touch!
@@ADreamInJapan Sounds good to me! And even though there will be some odd challenges considering the situation I am still very excited!