Applicants with good written and spoken Japanese can apply to work as CIRs, assisting local government offices in international activities at a local level.

Duties may include:

Receiving guests from abroad
Editing and producing pamphlets in English or Japanese
Advising on planning for international exchange programmes
Assisting with the language instruction of government employees and local residents

These participants are placed mainly in publicly run schools or local boards of education. Those from the UK assist with classes taught by Japanese English language teachers and are thus involved in the preparation of teaching materials and in extracurricular activities like "English Speaking Societies". ALTs work on average 35 hours per week and receive an annual salary, which for 2003 was 3,600,000 Yen per annum. Please refer to the important note regarding taxation.

More than 90% of JET participants are employed as ALTs.

Typical duties for an ALT:

"Team teaching", or helping with classes taught by Japanese teachers of English
Assisting in the preparation of teaching materials
Participating in extra-curricular activities with pupils

In 2003, almost 600 participants were selected from the United Kingdom to work as ALTs.

The 1994-95 JET Programme saw the initiative to expand the focus of the programme's aims to internationalisation through sports. This initiative saw Sports Exchange Advisors (SEA) joining the programme for the first time (1994-95) when six SEAs from three countries came to Japan to work for local governments, coaching in the fields of soccer, swimming, basketball, and ice hockey. SEAs are sports professionals whose role is to assist with sports training and the planning of sports related projects.

For the 2003 - 2004 JET Programme year, the number of SEAs increased to twenty-nine.
The number of requests for SEAs from the UK varies each year. If you are interested in the SEA position, please contact the JET Desk for more information: 020 7465 6668.