JETAA UK Chair's New Year Message

Happy New Year to you all. 2017 was an exciting year for JETAA UK. We celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the JET Programme at the Houses of Parliament in March, we organised a successful Careers Day for returnees in October supported by many ex-JETs from companies such as Toshiba and Toyota, we held our second Academic Special Interest Group in Norwich in December and we created a new website.

Our local chapters have also been busy holding local events that create opportunities for ex-JETs to continue to engage with Japan. As Chair of JETAA UK, I sit on the Board of Trustees for the Japan Society and have been invited to join another committee linking in with UK events leading up to the 2020 Olympics (more on this soon). And I am always looking for more ways that JETAA UK can engage with other Japan-related organisations.

Since we are a voluntary organisation, we rely solely on the dedication of the volunteers of our national committee and local chapters. We welcome people who can put in the time to action their ideas (we have recently supported two ex-JETs in Norwich to host a meet up there). Ex-JETs make up an important and evolving network within UK-Japan relations, but without people actively getting engaged it won’t be anything more than just a talking shop.

We will hold our annual AGM in Edinburgh in March – if you are interested in finding out what we are doing, please email me: chair@jetaa.org.uk. I hope 2018 brings you peace, purpose and happiness, and to meet many more of you involved in JETAA activities over the coming year.

JETAA UK Chair – Sarah Parsons