What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?
I am Stefan Hall. I was placed in Matsuyama-shi, Ehime-ken, from 1995-96. At the time of placement I was living in Virginia.
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When the cruise cancelled our family trip to China and Japan in 2020 there was much cursing, crying, and screaming. Then my 12-year-old daughter patted my shoulder and said, “Stop crying mom. Japan’s not going anywhere.”
Though impressed with my child’s maturity, I was ticked off. Sniffling, I thought of all the planning gone down the drain. But as I set the travel brochure on fire in the kitchen sink it hit me. I wasn’t using the lesson the JET Programme taught me – to be happy, expect only the unexpected.
It all started with blackmail and somehow got me through a pandemic.
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How did you find out about JET, and what led you to apply?
The program was well known at my college. I was interested in an experience abroad before graduate school, and I had more of a connection to Japan through kendo and pop culture.
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What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?
My name is Joshua Aresty. I’m from Boston, Massachussetts in the United States. I was placed at Hojo high school in Ehime Japan from 2009 to 2011. I went with my wife Tara Trent who was stationed at Matsuyama West middle and high school in Matsuyama.
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How did you find out about JET, and what led you to apply?
I heard about the JET Program during a college internship from a few employees who participated in the early years of the JET Program. As an international business major studying German and Japanese, I was interested in living overseas and a chance to hopefully improve my Japanese language skills. My Japanese ability was not the best (unsurprising since the foundation was built on freshman year intensive classes that started at 8:30 am). I thought that the best way I could improve my language skills would be by living and breathing Japanese every day. Having grown up as one of a handful of Asians in a rural town in upstate New York, I also wondered what it would feel like to live in a place where I would not be the face that stood out. After graduation I was wondering what to do next when I learned that the JET application window opened in the fall. I filled out the paper application I received from the Embassy of Japan on a typewriter and bought my first professional business suit the day before the interview. Back in 1999 there wasn’t a Reddit forum or YouTube videos to explain in detail how to ace the JET interview, so all I had was earnestness, a bit of naiveté, and a sincere interest in Japan.
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By Patrick Peh
Prologue
Not long after my arrival in Baishinji, I decided that it would be a tremendous waste not to write something about it. This place is not only rich in heritage, but also representative of a coastal suburban area close to the city. The reason it took so long for me to produce this piece of writing is because I wanted to do the Nakajima article first (Into the Seto Naikai). It was also because I was spending a lot of time refining lesson ideas (maybe I’ll do an article on the way I refine my lesson ideas as well), and editing previous drafts of this post.
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What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?
Pandemic greetings! I’m David Titterington from the USA, specifically from land stolen from the Pawnee and Kickapoo Nations – what we now call Kansas City. I lived in Niihama, Ehime, Shikoku (or New Port, Love Princess, Four Lands) from 2005 to 2010.
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What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?
My name is Nichelle Mitchell and I’m from the island of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). I was placed in Matsuyama-shi in Ehime ken on the island of Shikoku in August 2009.
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Edited by Jordan Rocke
Welcome to the final part of the 2020/21 Unbeaten Paths, looking at our rural southern stretch of Nanyo!
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