The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, JET, is the largest scheme of its kind in the world. Since 1987 it has brought more than 75,000 young people from over seventy countries to Japan, mostly as assistant language teachers in public schools, and it is run jointly by three Japanese ministries with recruitment handled by Japan’s embassies and consulates abroad. That is why so many embassy websites carried a “JET” section.
The positions
Most participants are Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs), placed in elementary, junior high or senior high schools where they team-teach English with Japanese teachers. A smaller number are Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs), who need Japanese proficiency and work in prefectural or municipal offices on translation, events and exchange programmes. A few Sports Exchange Advisors coach. Placements range from Tokyo suburbs to villages in Hokkaido or Okinawa; participants do not choose the location, though they may state preferences.
Terms
Contracts run for one year from late July or August and can be renewed up to a total of five years. The salary, set nationally, starts at 3.36 million yen a year and rises with each renewal; the employing local authority also arranges housing, often subsidised, and enrolls participants in health insurance and the pension system. Return airfare is provided for those who complete the contract.
Applying
Applicants need a bachelor’s degree by the departure date and citizenship of a participating country; no teaching qualification or Japanese is required for ALT positions, though both help. Applications open in the autumn through the embassy or consulate of the applicant’s country, with interviews in the winter and departure the following summer. Competition is stiff in English-speaking countries, and successful applicants typically show genuine interest in Japan and in working with children.
What has changed
Numbers peaked at over 6,000 participants a year around 2002, fell as local authorities turned to cheaper private dispatch companies, and have been rebuilt since the mid-2010s as Japan pushed English education earlier into elementary school. The programme paused departures in 2020 during the pandemic and resumed in 2021. Alumni associations in most countries provide the most candid accounts of daily life on the programme.
This site is an independent reference on Japan’s diplomatic missions and is not an embassy or the JET Programme office.
