Andrew Hudson
It’s been over 20 years since Andrew Hudson returned from the JET programme! Initially, he was struck by both how technologically advanced Japan was, and how different life as a (semi) rural JET could be.
Shortly after arriving in Japan, I encountered ticketless rail travel via Suica (a revelation), a digital camera (no film, amazing), and a mobile flip-phone that could take (admittedly grainy) photos. Beer could be bought from a vending machine by a paddy-field outside my flat, and the convenience store had a machine to pay utilities and buy J-League football tickets - I thought I was living in the future! That said, in the early 2000s Japan still loved fax and mini-disc, and was almost entirely cash-based. I nearly starved during my first golden week when all ATMs were shut and I had not known to take cash out in advance!
There was no WiFi, and Smartphones were yet to be invented. If you got lost, GoogleMaps was not available to save you. Communicating was painful: there was precious little English signage anywhere, even in central Tokyo. Google Translate didn’t exist, and I struggled to get by on rudimentary self-taught Japanese out of a textbook purchased in Kinokunia.
I recall accompanying a Japanese friend to an Avril Lavigne concert in Tokyo Dome as his plus-one after his date fell through, and burning the skin off my foot on his motorcycle exhaust pipe! I climbed Mt Fuji at dawn with my Aikido instructor, marvelling at the caldera in a sea of clouds, before wincing in pain with every step back down the steep man-made gravel slope to the 5th station carpark.
My journey in the 20 years since JET has been anything but planned or linear! Nearly 10 years after returning from JET, I applied to a Japanese company near Stoke in late 2014 and have been working for Sumitomo Electric Industries now for 10 years +, and finally obtained JLPT N1 in 2022.
The JET experience has quietly and slowly steered my life’s trajectory. After a long period in the wilderness learning my trade and obtaining professional qualifications, I applied to Sumitomo because of its link to Japan, and my clear interest in Japanese culture and language made it easy to ace the interview questions around motivation. Where I might otherwise have changed jobs or sought new opportunities, the link to Japan and the occasional opportunity to have stilted conversations in Japanese with ex-pat colleagues, has sustained my interest in working for Sumitomo.
My advice for current JETs: don’t panic or worry about finding a career or job like I did; enjoy the time you have in Japan as it is short and precious. You will have plenty of time to stress after you return to the UK! For recent returnees, be reassured, you have more time than you think so explore different opportunities and you will find the right path eventually. Keep the faith and don’t give up; it took me 10 years to find a job I enjoyed, and 17 years to finally pass JLPT N1!
Are you a JET alum with a story to share? Get in touch to be featured in an upcoming Senpai Spotlight.
