Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones applied to the JET Programme on a whim, but it changed his life! He was placed in Tosu city, Saga prefecture, in 2006-2008. After three heady days of jet-lagged training, karaoke and cultural immersion in Tokyo in August 2006, he flew into the hot, sticky humidity of the Kyushu summer.
The remote calm of ‘inaka’ Japan was a bigger shock to the senses than the neon jungle
of Tokyo. My senpai, Noda sensei, showed me around small-town Tosu, took me to
‘Joyful Town’ for udon, and then dropped me at my upstairs apartment next to a river, surrounded by the classic mix of industry and rice paddies. This would be my base for the next two years.
The first three months were hard. It was hot, like really hot. I couldn’t understand what was being said, I often bought the wrong thing from the shop as I couldn’t read anything (Yogurt instead of milk, bread I thought was just bread and could contain anything as varied as curry, custard or a sausage.) Mostly I couldn’t quite work out how I had ended up living thousands of miles from home and teaching 16-year-olds how to introduce themselves in English.
And then it really began: friendships with people from across the world I would never otherwise have met, countless opportunities to step out of my comfort zone and quite literally lead from the front every day. The wonders of discovering the brilliance of young people to surprise you – from Tosu High School’s Olympic level gymnastics team to the determined speech contest entrants from my after school English club. And outside of the day job, I had a lot of fun. Road trips from the deep south tropical paradise of Yakushima, surrounded by monkeys and flying fish, ski trips to the Japanese Alps, cultural festivals organised around everything from pottery to sake heritage. Random encounters with Japanese folk who were keen to practice English, on the train, in a shop, up a mountain and quite often whilst naked in a hot spring!
My experience on JET opened so many doors. It gave me the confidence to leap into the unknown, it taught me what it feels like to be different and to confront that, it gave me the skills to navigate cultural and political divides. It also taught me that although language is important, and that you don’t need to be a linguist to learn Japanese (you just need no other choice,) it’s often less important than a smile and a kind gesture. All these skills have been critical not only to my career pathway since, teaching in Hong Kong, franchise management for the Japanese juku Kumon and now helping to lead a national Education charity, it also shaped my character and my values.
Mostly it taught me that in life if you get the chance, take it!
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