Recontracting Decisions While On JET

When you’re a JET, you get to consider how many times you want to renew your contract. As December fast approaches, I anticipate being asked by my school whether I want to extend my term to August 2025, or end in August 2024. This is shaping up to be a difficult decision for me, although I’m 90% sure of my choice. For any JETs who stumble upon this blog post, here’s some advice I’ve received from others.

Recontracting Points to Consider

First, your school may not offer you a new contract. This could be due to budget restrictions, or simply because you were not a good employee. It’s uncommon for JETs to not be offered to extend their contract, but it does happen.

Professional Goals

For the majority of us who get to make this decision, you should reflect on your goals. What do you plan to do beyond JET? Do you plan on staying in Japan? Would you like to become a teacher? Do you want to work in Japan, and if so, what field? I know several former JETs who became licensed English teachers here in Japan, including one of my coworkers. I also know some who plan on gaining employment elsewhere, such as translation. Personally, I intend on returning to the United States and entering finance.

Personal Growth

Another point to consider is your personal growth. My former coworker bestowed this piece of wisdom on me. When she was contemplating her decision to renew for a fourth year, she gave me this question to ponder. She said. “Are you still growing while on JET? If you are no longer growing, you should consider something else.” While paraphrased, these words have stuck with me. As I write this, I’m reflecting on my past two years at my school and how much I’ve grown. I’ve also realized how I have plateaued in my growth, and I take that into consideration when making my decision.

Community

Community is also important. While I encourage all JETs to integrate with their local Japanese communities, I’ve built a strong network of other JETs. Personally, I consider whether my friends are staying or leaving when making my decision. I’ve already lost two of my closest friends, and had a tragic falling out with someone I considered near and dear to me. Even so, the falling out is not a factor in my recontacting decision.

If you consider community connections in making your decision, it’s worth knowing most JET participants stay for two to three years. Most JETs treat the program like a gap year before continuing their education or finding new employment. In case this wasn’t obvious, I consider my friends’ intentions when making my decision.

Uncertainty

Many people don’t like uncertainty and consider stability when making their decision. I too am second-guessing my initial choice because of my contract’s stability, low cost of living, and low-stress work environment. By not renewing my contract, I risk unemployment without insurance, a higher cost of living, and higher stress. However, risk comes with reward and I remind myself that moving to Japan was a risk. Teaching English was a risk. Two years ago, I made a choice to pick up and move across the Pacific for an adventure. Now, my uncertain past has become a certain present. When I reflect on this decision, I have no regrets. I also remind myself to take a new chance and try something else. But that’s just me and my thought process. Plus, I have family to fall back on.

Burnout

Lastly, I’ll talk about burnout. This relates to my previous point about personal growth. Working on JET, while often low-stress, requires working with different personalities in different cultures. There’s a lot of reading the room and figuring out what your students are thinking or need. For those of us who lack in these abilities, it can be exhausting. Plus, there’s grading hundreds of assignments and essays (if you are teaching high school). You get tired.

There’s also thinking in and learning a new language, which is exhausting. Even my friends who are fluent in Japanese get exhausted. Whereas cultural natives anywhere intuitively understand their home culture’s nuances and rules, it takes mental energy for non-natives. This is normal and expected, but contributes heavily to burnout while on JET.

In short, burnout occurs within and outside of the workplace. It’s normal, and it’s okay to feel burned out. If you do, I recommend taking a vacation if you are able to before making any recontracting decisions.

About Me

I’m going to talk more about myself here, specifically my motivations and original intentions joining JET and how these experiences influenced my decisions.

Original Goals

My original plan was to do JET for only two years. I wanted to travel across Japan, force myself to acquire Japanese language abilities, and gain professional experience through teaching. Among my goals, I sought to achieve intermediate proficiency in the Japanese language. I also sought to publish more stories on my blog. As cheesy as this sounds, I sought to push myself, meet more people, and hopefully find love.

My Reality

I found myself having success in building a close-knit JET Community in Fukuoka Prefecture, and loving my workplace. I got to teach my students about global events, debate, public speaking skills, and even presentation skills. In addition, I volunteered for Fukuoka’s Association of JETs and raised nearly $3,000 US dollars (about 450,000 yen) for our scholarship fund. While volunteering for Fukuoka AJET, I emceed two Charity Concerts, led fundraisers, revamped our scholarship application, and conducted multi-round scholarship interviews. I never expected to do so much while on JET. In addition, I visited almost every region of Japan, even if it was brief. I also hosted many JETs from all across Japan, and visited a few too.

While I originally planned on just two years on JET, I decided to do a third because I wasn’t finished achieving what I set out to do.

My Recontracting Decision

I have decided not to renew my contract for a fourth year. I found myself suffering from burnout and confronting the fact that I have other career goals. While I  love Japan and hope to regularly visit in the future, this isn’t my home. I am forever an outsider, and I want to enter a career in finance. For me, my opportunities to enter finance lie back in the United States. In addition, I believe I will find love there too.