News

After ten years living in the UK, in 2014 Yuriko Kotani decided to try stand up. For most, the idea of doing stand up is unthinkable, let alone in a second language. When I asked the Japanese comedian how that first time felt, performing in English, she says, "It was absolutely terrifying." "I hated it. I thought I'll do it and then no ...

On Friday 19 July, outgoing JETs, JET alumni and invited guests packed the Paul Webley Wing in SOAS’s senate building to celebrate the imminent departure of this year’s JET participants to Japan. More than 300 people attended the event which opened with speeches from the Ambassador, Matthew Billin representing the outgoing JETs, and Rob Gor...

Staging an exhibition on manga, the Japanese tradition of comic books, is akin to staging an exhibition on American pop music: taken as a whole, the subject is so wide, so intertwined in its cultural context, who knows where you’d start? On top of that, while Pokemon and Dragonball may be fairly well known in the context of gaming and anime, u...

Vanessa Villalobos was an ALT in Tochigi City in Tochigi Prefecture north of Tokyo. She has built two businesses out of her experience on JET: an English tutoring agency for Japanese people in London, and a Japanese tutoring agency to connect Londoners with Japanese teachers. She told JETAA UK how she became an entrepreneur and the o...

This section of the newsletter is designed to be a guide to upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news is also included. London Recent events have included a trip to sunny Pri...

(If you're interested in writing a restaurant review for JETAA UK – including a good chance of winning a £25 voucher – see how here) The pitch: The UK’s most authentic tonkotsu ramen?  Review: The last ti...

JETAA Northwest Pre-Departure Events 2019 On June 8th and June 22nd, JETAA NW held social evenings in Liverpool and Manchester respectively for JETs heading to Japan this summer.  Incoming JETs and Alumni came together for an evening of delicious Japanese cuisine and socialisation as a farewell celebration.  There were many storie...

In June, JETAA London took advantage of the sunny weather and headed to Kanpai: London’s very own sake brewery. JET alumni were treated to a private tour with Tom, one of the co-founders, to learn all about how this traditional drink is brewed. It was a fascinating experience – we learned all sorts of weird and wonderful facts on how rice t...

JETAA North West: Japanese Afternoon Tea in Chester On May 18th, JETAA North West collaborated with SugarSalt Bakery and Kimono Keiko for the second time to bring together Japanese and British culture in the form of an Afternoon Tea at The Unity Centre, Chester. Upon arrival, participants were presented wi...

The British Museum in London is to stage the largest ever exhibition about manga held outside Japan. Manga and the connected anime and gaming industries are undoubtedly among Japan's greatest cultural exports. This exhibition both recognises the stature and richness of manga culture and explores how it became a global phenomenon, too tracing i...

We'd like to introduce a new section of the newsletter – designed to be a guide to upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news is also included. London Following

Walking tour of iconic film locations in the City of London  On Saturday 6 April the JETAA London Chapter held a tour around the square mile of the City of London which showcased filming locations from films such as Great Expectations, Children of Men, Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, James Bond, The Bourne Ultimatum �...

The pitch: Ramen and Kyushu ‘soul food’ with south London flavourings Review:  Nanban, run by JET alumni (ALT in Kitakyushu) and Masterchef 2011 Winner Tim Anderson, opened in 2015. It is one of a number of Japanese restaurants in Brixton, south London, that include Okan and KOI-Ramen Bar and is s...

The 2019 JETAA UK Annual General Meeting took place in Liverpool in January, presenting committee members with the chance to meet up, take stock, and discuss JETAA's calendar of events and future direction in this historic and beautiful city. Delegates from the Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR London) and the Embassy of Japan in the UK als...

On 20 September the rugby world's focus and fans will shift to Japan as the Rugby World Cup kicks off for the first time in Asia. A premonition of that shift took place four years ago when Japan beat South Africa in Brighton during the 2015 World Cup, probably rugby's biggest upset in living memory. Rugby has traditionally been a n...

Simon Wood was an ALT in Kumamoto Prefecture between 1995-1997. Following his return to the UK he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His career as a diplomat has taken him on four overseas postings – twice back to Japan, to Denmark, and currently Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as HM Consul-General. 1. What inspired you to join the...

Last Friday ex-JETs gathered in a characterful pub in Soho for a few Friday drinks. It was great to welcome some new faces to the London Chapter and it ended up being quite an international crowd. The force was strong with Nagasaki JETs with no less than three people from different parts of the southern prefecture!  After talking just a...

明けましておめでとうございます！Happy New Year! Hope you are all having a wonderful start to 2019, the year of the pig! Last Thursday 17 January, JETAA London held an annual general meeting in our usual Somers Town settings to go over the events of 2018 and think ahead to what exciting things we could do in 2019. It was a...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku) depicts an underside of Japan that few foreigners see or think about and, in my experience anyway, few Japanese people discuss in public. While Kore-eda is well-established as a director of perceptive films about contemporary family life, this was nonetheless a surprise winner of the Pa...

Home Sweet Tokyo, NHK's first comedy led by a foreign writer, has aired for its second season. The show was created by former JET BJ Fox, who was interviewed by JETAA UK about his experiences and inspirations last year.  Another run of four...

The Japan Foundation Touring Programme returns this February and March, touring an impressive 19 cities across the UK, spanning Inverness to Exeter. Now in its 16th year, and arguably the largest programme of its scope in the UK, this year’s theme is that time-honoured subject of cinema – lo...

The pitch: Japanese comfort food in an authentic no-frills café setting. Review: E-Kagen is a great-value, no-frills café set above an Asian supermarket in the centre of Brighton. Don’t expect high-end, delicately flavoured works of art here: E-Kagen gives you a big, robust punch of flavour and you ...

Having fallen into studying Japanese himself as a teenager Stuart Drinkwater, a Senior Associate at PwC, now helps run the Birmingham Japanese Conversation Exchange (BJCE) group.  JETLAG talked to him about his experiences on JET and how working for PwC facilitated a ret...

Photo credit: ©Clive Barda photography Calling former Hiroshima JETs – help needed with a UK-Japan Season of Culture project: Five Primary Schools in Coventry, UK are seeking a partnership with five schools in Hiroshima city, Japan to support our Cities of Peace project which was launched in September this year. As part of th...

Overview Nihongo Scotland is a JETAA Scotland member-organized Japanese language group which has been operating since the summer of 2014. The group began as a small weekly study group for ex-JETs and has since grown to welcome students of Japanese from the wider community.  Nihongo Scotland has, to date, perform...

Saturday 13th October, JETAA, in conjunction with Japan Society North West, held a concert and workshop of Japanese folk music (minyou). This well-attend event welcomed Hibiki Ichikawa and Abkari Mochizuki from London to deliver an entertaining and educational performance th...

Image credit: Yoshiaki Miura Many JETs return from Japan keen to continue to use their Japanese in some way, be it professionally, just for enjoyment or gaining further qualifications, such as the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. But without the opportunity to use Japanese in everyday life, even when will is there, it can quickly dry ...

It’s now very likely that during your working life you will interview at a company or organisation from outside your home country, or be interviewed by someone of a different nationality: indeed, anyone who’s participated on the JET Programme has already experienced this at least once. Earlier this year

by Rob Gorton – JETAA Midlands Chair When I first returned from the JET programme I lived in London, where there’s an extremely large Japanese community. When I moved to the Midlands for work, I wondered whether I’d be able to find anything similar, and was worried not. Would there be anyone who shared my interest in Japan or my ex...

Former JET Beth Kempton has written a book seeking to distil the famous and elusive Japanese principle of wabi sabi into an approach to our fast-paced world. Praised by the Sunday Times as "a truly transformative read" (and with translation rights already sold in 19 languages), Wabi Sabi: Japanese wisdom for a perfectly imperfect life 

While Olly Wells had planned to go into teaching before JET, the experience has proved the foundation of a thriving career in the state and international sectors. He is currently headmaster of Rong Qiao Sedbergh School in Fuzhou, China, and is also doing a PhD at Lancaster University. JETLAG caught up with him to discuss his experiences....

To learn how to submit restaurant reviews to JETAA UK yourself – and stand a chance of winning a £25 Japan Centre voucher – please see this guide. Okan, London The pitch: Delicious Okonomiyaki a stone's t...

Gemma Treharne-Foose's three years in Shimane-Ken – first in Hirata and then Hamada – have had a major impact on her life: she realised a desire to 'sell Wales to the world' and, after working in PR for the Welsh government, a decade later she even named her marketing and communications business Ichibata after the train she took to visit h...

On Friday 21 September the annual JETAA UK Careers Forum was held at Asia House in London. We welcomed back the newly-returned JETs for a day of panel discussions and breakout sessions to discuss the transition period from being an ALT or CIR in Japan into employment in the UK and how to best leverage those JET skills. JET alumni from a...

After the Earthquake: Japanese Contemporary New Media Art Showcase On August 27th JETAA NW collaborated with FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool and invited the public to a presentation in the stylish cinema room, The Box.  Director of FACT, Mr Mike Stubbs, gave a presentation on the background an...

On August 18, JETAA North West was invited to join Free as a Bird, the Keiboku Calligraphy School’s second exhibition and performance at the Jacaranda Club in Liverpool.  The Keiboku School is a large private calligraphy s...

On Friday 20 July the London Chapter hosted a pre-departure gathering for outgoing JETs. The event followed the pre-departure orientation and embassy reception, and many took the short walk over to the Marquis Cornwallis to meet JET alumni and get advice based on first-hand experience (and be introduced to the concept of NIJIKAI!) It wa...

On July 21st, JETAA North West collaborated with SugarSalt Bakery and Kimono Keiko, both based in Chester, to bring together Japanese and British culture.  We named the event Kimono and Japanese Afternoon Tea. We had hired a room at The Unity Centre in Chester and upon arrival we were presented with a selection of beautiful...

On a scorching Sunday 24 June JETAA London met at Katzenjammers Bierkeller near London Bridge for a thrilling fun-filled afternoon of football. There were two second group matches: England v Panama and Japan v Senegal. Both teams could seal their progress into the knockout stage with wins, so all was to play for. A rowdy atmosp...

A former JET broke major ground last year when he became the first non-Japanese person to have his own sitcom on NHK.  BJ Fox – a comedy alias – is the star of Home Sweet Tokyo. The show focuses on the lives of the British Bryan Jenkins (played by Fox), his Japanese wife Itsuki and their daughter Alice after the family mo...

The first Japanese-owned sake brewery in the UK is on the cusp of opening. Dojima’s purpose-built facility on the grounds of the Fordham Abbey estate in Cambridgeshire promises to be a 'taste of Japan in the heart of the English countryside'. It’s been nearly 200 years in the making. The Hashimoto family behind Dojima first started b...

Europe’s largest Japanese food hall has just opened in Westfield London. Ichiba combines an array of food stations with retail space for Japanese culinary staples, sweets and treats, kitchenware and ceramics, sake, books and beauty products. All in all, 3000 Japanese products are reportedly on sale! Diners can choose between a ...

Submitted by a former JET: Hokkaido 2007-2009 The pitch: Award-winning, high quality Japanese food Review: I’ve actually visited this place a number of times over the years and have been constantly impressed with the high quality food offered. The menu does get refreshed every now and then and...

The Japan Society of the UK recently held its first regional business event: ‘Japanese Business Links in the North of England’, hosted by PwC in Leeds. Sarah Parsons, Managing Director of East West Interface, who is also a Trustee to the Japan Society and JETAA UK Chair, invited speakers within Japan-related businesses in that area to come ...

For Damon Mitchell, JET helped him to create and realise a lifelong connection with Japan, a connection he continues to nurture back in the UK as Games and Community Director of Ludorati, a board game café in Nottingham. JETLAG caught up with him to learn how he first made it to Japan (via Slovakia) and why he recommends the film Y...

On 22 May the first JETAA Midlands Japanese-Themed Board Gaming Social took place at Ludorati in Nottingham.  It was conceived as a joint event including both JETAA Midlands and students of the Japanese Society from Nottingham University to promote participation in the JET Programme. The idea was to create an informal atmosphere where...

The JETAA Scotland Chapter has been seriously busy since spring, organising several events promoting Japanese culture and intercultural interaction, with the support of JETAA, Japan Society of Scotland, Japan Society UK and The Sasakawa Foundation and supported by the Japanese Consulate in Edinburgh. Fuji Festival ...

JETAA UK’s annual Welcome Back Careers Event will be held at Asia House in London on Friday, 21 September 2018, 13:30-18:00.  This event provides an invaluable opportunity for former JETs to receive advice on developing their careers post-JET and the ideal forum to learn about job opportunities and industries where their skills ...

On June 3rd JETAA North West attended Japan Day as an exhibitor.  We had a stand where we exhibited paraphernalia from our time teaching in Japan, kimono and Japanese culture books.  Japan Day is Japan Society North West's free all-day festival celebrating the many fascinating aspects of Japanese culture.  Since 2006, it has been held every ...

JET Pre-departure Events in the North West On June 16th and 23rd JETAA North West held get-togethers in Liverpool and Manchester respectively for those in the area who are due to go out on JET this summer.  We also invited alumni along to give advice from their first hand experience of Japan. The Liverpool get-to...