Suishou JETStreams

23/F/British JET since Aug 2018 SHS ALT -> SHS PA YouTube: Suishou JETStreams IG: suishoujetstreams

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New video: Japanese Apartment Tour!

Hey everyone! Are you curious about what a 3LDK apartment in Japan looks like? Take a look at my new video where I show you around my new apartment!

Both of my apartments have been 3LDK apartments, but this one is even bigger than the last!

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The next chapter

Hello, everyone! I hope you are well.

A month ago, I moved to just outside Fukuoka City to begin my new job as Prefectural Advisor. The local area is very residential and also very beautiful. I love Japanese neighbourhoods because all the houses are different and, in an area like this, many are personalised with decorations in the garden or on the front of the house. There are also bodies of water and crop fields nearby, which makes it wonderful to walk around even in this summer heat! The apartment itself is bigger than my last apartment (which was also big!) and I’m super fortunate to have such a spacious area for myself. I’ve met a few of the neighbours and done some community cleaning already. I’m the only JET from the UK in the area, and I’m very excited to make some new American friends. So far, my PA job has proved to be a mix of a lot of different responsibilities. I’ve been told that I need to give three lectures, conduct interviews for the new English teachers, and prepare for two ALT meetings/conferences – maybe online, which is a whole new ballpark for everyone – so I know that I have many things lined up for me in the near future. It seems that my position has three main responsibilities: answering questions and solving problems sent by the ALTs, helping the Japanese PA and English teachers at the Board of Education to make teaching resources to better English education in the prefecture, and organising Fukuoka’s 6+ annual ALT meetings. There are other jobs speckled here and there, and I’m very much looking forward to all the professional development opportunities I’ll have at this job. Although I haven’t been making YouTube videos much, you can find me making the odd ALT/JET Programme related video on TikTok. And, as always, I’m very active on Instagram if you’d like updates on daily life in Japan. Stay healthy! --Suishou

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Moving house in Japan

Since I am starting my job in the big city, at the end of this week I will be moving from my lovely 3LDK apartment to another equally lovely 3LDK apartment. I am super fortunate to have been assigned such spacious housing, and I’m really looking forward to having a big space close to the city! But as always, with moving comes plenty of expenditure and communication hardships. Remember that every situation is different and nothing about moving house in Japan needs to be difficult at all! In this post I’ll talk you though my situation.

When I moved into this apartment two years ago, I didn’t pay any security deposit or key money, which was very lucky for me at the time. I was told then about the moving-out fees and I was shocked by them, but their reasoning made sense. The move-out fee for my apartment is 88,000 yen (USD$840; GBP£650) in order to change the tatami mats and the paper sliding wardrobe doors, which they do for each new tenant. I called the landlord to ask if this was necessary since my tatami and wardrobe doors are in perfect condition, but he just got mad at me for questioning the system and refused to accept any waiver.

Sometimes, one would be allowed to leave furniture in their apartment when leaving on the JET Programme, as their successor would shortly move in to the apartment when they arrive. However, my situation is different for a number of ways. Most obviously, the new JET intake likely will not be able to enter Japan this year, so my successor would not have been here to move in for a year, and the apartment could have been given to another Japanese government worker. That is not the factor governing my situation, though. For me, in an unusual turn of events, my successor already lives in the area, and therefore doesn’t need any of my things. Therefore, I must empty my apartment completely and take it all with me! Not a problem, but this means that I had to hire a moving company.

I am very fortunate to have wonderful office staff in my base school. I have a knowledgeable friend in the office, so he contacted a cheap moving company which he recommended himself. I have heard stories from other friends here in Japan that it is common for moving companies to charge in excess of 50,000 yen (USD$475; GBP£370), but luckily, since I will be moving very early in the morning and out of the typical moving season, my total should come to less than 20,000 yen (USD$190; GBP£147)! I’m super grateful that the move will be cheap compared to all the money I had to shell out to leave the apartment.

The company came over the other day to give me cardboard boxes to use for free. I’m now in the process of packing said boxes and will hopefully be finished within the next couple of days. Then, at 8am on Sunday, I will start the move! I do feel very sorry for the movers, though… That day is forecast to be 31 degrees and extremely humid. Thankfully I have aircon installed, unlike when I moved in, so I might blast it to give them some respite.

My lovely supervisor has helped me with things like transferring my internet to my new apartment, cancelling all my bills, and she will also drive me to the new apartment. This weekend is only for moving my belongings; I will be coming back to my current residence and living with a friend to complete the last three contract days at my schools. After school on Wednesday, I will take my remaining belongings and travel to the city myself in the evening, spend the night in my new apartment, and get ready for my new job the following morning! Conveniently (heavy sarcasm), my new supervisor will be on a business trip the whole of my first day, so I will most likely be strikingly akin to a lost puppy in the morning at work, and in the afternoon when I need to be at home for them to install internet in my house! Japanese skills, here we go.

This has been the biggest sum of money I’ve had to pay out since I arrived; even more than what I paid when I went to hospital with a broken elbow. In addition to the moving fees, I had to pay out for some rather pricey medicine, too. Plus the last of my rent here. Plus the price I paid to buy furniture from other ALTs. In total for this moving period, I have had to pay over 180,000 yen (USD$1715; GBP£1325). As an inexperienced young adult with a very lucky situation of cheap rent, I don’t know where this price falls in relation to normal moving prices in Japan. All I know is that these necessary and sometimes unexpected large expenses are exactly the reason why I like save my money. I feel very fortunate that I can make this move without worrying financially, and I’m super excited to see where my life goes in the big city!

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Transitioning jobs in the JET Programme

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Suishou JETStreams: the blog dedicated to documenting my time on the JET Programme! I have big news!

I am reaching the end of my second year on the JET Programme and the situation of this Programme and the whole world is quite chaotic, to say the least. Due to Covid-19, many JETs who are ending their contracts are finding it extremely difficult to return to their home countries. As a result, my Prefecture offered a last-minute optional 1 year contract extension to JETs who applied to leave. I am very glad that this extension was offered since I now can spend some more time with my wonderful friends here, but I wish all the best to my colleagues who are struggling with postal and airline companies to get home.

 My job was essentially redundant for a period of three months earlier this year. My schools closed to students at the end of February and remained closed until the end of May. At the beginning of that period, I felt very lost in my purpose of being here. Without students to teach or lessons to plan, I had nothing to contribute to the school. Even the Japanese teachers began to struggle as time wore on. I spent a lot of time studying Japanese, learning about other hobbies, and sneaking off to spend time by myself and read a book or watch Netflix on my phone!

 Eventually, my school began short online lessons through Zoom which I was able to present in. It was a great opportunity for me to work with teachers outside of the English department! I have worked with other teachers before, but this time I led an online immersion lesson in Maths (teaching the students about imaginary numbers) and collaborated with an art teacher on a lesson about character design. Thanks to this experience, I have been asked to attend these classes again and the concept of immersion lessons with the ALT is gaining momentum in my school.

 However, I will not be around for much longer to carry out those lessons. In fact, I’m changing jobs! I will be the next Prefectural Advisor of Senior High School JETs for my Prefecture, and I’m very excited to start my new job! It will be sad to leave the fun environment of schools and say goodbye to my amazing students, but I am ready for a change and I am ready to help as many people as I can.

 As you can imagine, the situations of PAs are very hectic right now. PAs assist the intake of new JET participants, present at Prefectural Orientation, organise meetings for JET participants and deal with any professional or personal problems that are brought to them by their JET colleagues. It has just been confirmed that many of the new intake of JETs this year will be postponed, potentially by a whole year, especially from countries with high Covid-19 infection rates. Our Prefectural Orientation is now being designed for an online environment. I don’t know if it would therefore be safe to have physical ALT meetings or whether we will need to put everything online this year! Many JETs broke contract this year and left Japan to be with their families during the Covid-19 outbreak, and I’m expecting future problems in winter when Covid-19 increases alongside the annual influenza epidemic.

 There is a whole load of uncertainty about many things right now, but I am still looking forward to this next step in my working life. At 23, I know I will be only of the youngest PAs that my Prefecture has seen for a while, so I will do my best and work my hardest to ensure that I fill this role to the best of my ability!

I have a renewed motivation for this blog, so watch this space for lessons I have learnt and experiences I have enjoyed here in Japan.