After our interview in late January 2023 our results were announced in late March and we had two weeks to send in our confirmation paperwork. This was the beginning of the four months leading up to our departure in early August and there was a lot that we needed to do!

Here is a timeline of when important events happened in the lead up to departure and I’ve included some tips that may help your own journey.

April 2023

Our acceptance forms required us to get a medical certificate filled out and signed our doctors, including a chest x-ray. We couldn’t get a doctors appointment immediately so my first tip is to make an appointment with your doctor or healthcare professional the day that you get the acceptance email from your consulate!

If you are an unmarried couple and want to be guaranteed to go to the same location as your partner, two weeks is enough time to organise a registry wedding too. There was more than one couple in our departure who got married specifically for JET.

Our email also included the dates and times of our pre-departure orientation in June so that anyone who would be working had a month’s notice to request time off and book transportation to their embassy or consulate. Attendance was mandatory and digital attendance was not an option.

April is also a good time to start looking at the exchange rate and saving up money. If you are going to Tokyo you will need a big lump sum for the up-front costs of paying for your apartment and furnishing it when you arrive. There is no way to predict how the exchange rate will fluctuate so choose a rate that will be your minimum and buy when it hits that. I’d also recommend getting a digital currency card, or the equivalent in your country, to store some currency for online payments and as an emergency reserve you can withdraw.

May 2023

Mid May was when we were given our arrival dates and when our Visas will be issued. According to the JET Website “JET Programme participants arrive in spring and summer every year. In principle, participants from Brazil, China, Korea, and Peru come to Japan in spring (early April), while those from other countries come in summer (late July/early August)”. There are two arrival groups in summer; one in late July and the other in early August. They arrive about a week apart and New Zealand is typically part of the second arrival.

Late May was when we were given our prefecture placements and we also found out if we were in a private or public school. The difference for Tokyo JETs at least, was that the public school JETs were placed in Tokyo with the Tokyo Board of Education as their employer, whereas the private school JETs had a different name for their employer. We had to send another email accepting the placement, which I imagine may be because some people may have been uncertain about committing and their placement could be the make-or-break information.

The email with our placements also had information about importing medication. You are allowed to bring two months worth of general medication but you must apply to bring in more than one months worth of prescription medication. Fortunately, our email came with instructions on how to apply for a Yunyu Kakunin-sho to allow the importation of prescription medication.

Second tip: the over-the-counter pain relief in Japan, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, often contains less of the active ingredients than NZ, and probably many other countries’, over-the-counter medication. Buy a two month supply as if you needed to take the maximum dose every day for 60 days so that your supply will last the maximum amount of time possible.

June 2023

Our orientation weekend was in early June and in 2023 they were held in person for the first time in a few years. The dress code for the first day was business formal and the second day was smart casual. Different workshops were held over the weekend and ours covered how to pack, what to expect on our arrival, our expected duties within the school, some cultural differences and how to deal with culture shock, some teaching methods and JET Alumni attended to provide their own experiences and tips. It was valuable to hear about the experiences of others and be able to ask them questions.

At the orientation we also had to fill in some paperwork for our Visas and give our passports to the staff to hold onto so they could attach the Visas to them when they were issued. We were very fortunate that the amount of paperwork we needed to submit to enter Japan had reduced compared to previous years due to the COVID pandemic settling down. It looked nightmarish the amount that used to be required!

Third tip: Buy just one black suit for your orientation weekend and formal farewell, your arrival in Japan and your important dates throughout the school year. You can go and buy more only if your Predecessor tells you that your school is strict on their dress code, otherwise you may end up with more suits than you actually need taking up precious luggage space.

Late June we were issued our flight tickets by the travel agency and given the dates for our Pre-Departure Orientation and reception evening. The Pre-Departure Orientation was compulsory but this time allowed digital attendance and the reception afterwards was optional.

July 2023

We were expecting to be contacted by our schools any time from mid June to the first week of July. When we finally got contacted by them we learnt our school’s name, size, some facts about the student population and some of us got information about our predecessors. There were also some videos about what to expect in the first weeks of our arrival in Japan and, since we were going to Tokyo, the contact information of the Rental Agency who would be aiding us in finding accommodation. People who were living outside of Tokyo were given information about how they would be travelling to their prefecture, how to ship their luggage and who they would be meeting upon their arrival.

Once again we had paperwork to fill out and return, such as ordering a hanko/inkan stamp, and we booked online meetings with the Rental Agency. This is when you may be required to pay a lot of money to secure your apartment so beginning saving back in April should give you the funds to pay.

Fourth tip: get in as soon as you can for the apartments. There were at least 80 JETS arriving in Tokyo, all needing a place to live, and you may be arriving over Obon (A big festival week). During Obon all the banks, Rental Agencies and Real Estate Agencies will be closed so if you don’t have accomodation sorted before you arrive, it will be nigh on impossible to find reasonably priced hotels or other places to stay until you can arrange it after Obon.

During this time you will probably be getting in contact with your predecessor, whose position you will be taking over, or a Co-JET who is staying at your school and should know the ropes. When you get in contact with your predecessor (Pred from now on), you will likely be asked to buy a whole bunch of their furniture that they will no longer need. Fifth tip: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY ANY OF YOUR PRED’S STUFF FROM THEM! If they have a really nice desk or you want a bed from day one, sure, take it off their hands. However, if they are trying to foist light fixtures or a really large, ugly couch onto you, its probably because it will cost them a lot to get rid of it so they are taking advantage of you. There are heaps of second hand stores, and a lot of them do delivery, so check out if there is a Treasure Factory (TreFac) near you and you can find reasonably priced, reasonably well cared for furniture there. Nitori is a reasonably priced store that sells new furnishings and you can find heaps of accessories and kitchenware at ¥100 stores such as Daiso and Seria.

Late July we were emailed the final confirmation of our Post-Arrival Orientation information and the orientation schedule held by our contracting organisation (in our case the Tokyo Board of Education).

August 2023

Our Pre-Departure Orientation was held on the Thursday before we flew out. The day was spent at the Embassy where we were given final details about the hotels we would be staying at and the meals which would be provided, the procedures to get through customs, useful Apps for getting around and settling in, tips when getting a bank account, phone number and recieving general support from the Alumni. The evening was at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence and we got to mingle and try some tasty food. There were speeches and formalities but the staff who worked for or with the consulate were interested to hear about our motivations and interests in Japan.

Friday was our last day to ourselves in NZ and I made sure to eat one last steak and cheese pie. Our bags were packed in advance so we just had to haul ourselves to the airport on Saturday. Sixth tip: do at least one test pack a fortnight before you depart so you have time to either reduce the amount of stuff you’ll bring or buy an extra bag so you can take everything you need.

Saturday we arrived nice and early so we could check in the bags then chill for a bit. If your bags are a bit overweight, some of your fellow travelers may have some spare weight you can put your stuff in if you don’t want to pay the extra fare for overweight baggage. We flew to Auckland where every departing JET stayed so that we could all be driven to the international airport the following morning. We were also given back out passports with the Visas in them and warned not to lose them.

Sunday we were told a meeting time and given breakfast to eat on the bus on the way to the airport. Seventh tip: get up bright and early so that you avoid the elevator congestion when everyone else who is departing with you needs to use the elevator.

At the airport when you are waiting at the departure gate, fill in the digital arrival forms and customs forms so that your QR Codes are ready for your arrival. These streamline the immigration process and avoids uncomfortable questions in Japanese.

Then get on the plane and be prepared to follow all instructions for the next 3-4 days until you collapse in your new accomodation overloaded with information. Don’t worry, the Handbook has lots of useful information you can refer back to when you realise that you’ve forgotten what was important.