Hello everyone. The third person that I interviewed for my networking component of the program was a JET program Coordination for International Relations (CIR) in the neighboring prefecture of Ibaraki. I met him through a school trip with the Middlebury School in Japan (the exchange program I am part of in  ICU, Tokyo) and decided to interview him since the JET program has been a career interest of mine for a long time.

Asking this person about his experience as a CIR and what led him there, he told me that he wanted to be part of the JET program and particularly a CIR after he studied abroad in Japan for a year in college. Upon graduating and coming to Japan as part of the program he told me that he had the goal of coming back to his own state in the US and to be part of his own local government, applying what he had learned from Japan. I thought that was a very cool idea since going back to Spain to work in the local government is something I have been considering as one of my career options as well.

As a non-native speaker of English, the only way I could be part of the JET program is through a CIR position either through Mexico and Spain, which have only 1 placement each. To be a CIR you need a fairly high level of Japanese (N2+) because you are directly working with the local government of the place for which you are placed. Asking him about his own post, he told me that he worked in the department of tourism and he did mostly translation and marketing work for the government office, but that he was also involved a little bit in the education division, particularly in matters pertaining early education such as kindergartens and elementary school. After having been in the same post for 2 years, he is going back to his home state in the US this year’s summer.

He told me that he had enjoyed his time as a CIR and would recommend applying to the JET program if I had an interest, as it was a valuable experience for him. He also mentioned that the program itself could help you with job hunting in Japan upon completion of your time and that they offered translation courses so you could do professional translation work. I found it very helpful to ask about the CIR position and he was the first and only one that I have met since now I know more about the program and can keep it as a career option upon graduation.