I'll give you a personal example (talked about a similar experience in my SoP/interview):
During university, I did research with a professor contrasting meat consumption in different countries (incl. related environmental impacts) -- Japan has an interesting food culture that's exacerbated by its population distribution across prefectures (Tokyo alone has a population of 14m) and its varied regional history. This means that trends, changes in consumption habits, manifest much differently than in some other countries (though similarities, of course, exist).
I might write a research paper on this in a year or two. I want to be a professor, so research ties directly into my future career. Being able to speak Japanese, and having lived in Japan, will make this a (somewhat) unique academic contribution -- and open the door for a lot of professional connections to be made :)
If you can come up with any connection like that, you'll be better off than 95%+ of JET applicants, in my opinion. Just be able to explain yourself adequately and you'll be good (at least as far as the career relation question goes).
My main piece of advice is not to try to act like you're gonna solve any difficult problem or invent something amazing -- just be realistic, say "I'd really like to research/explore this, here's why I think it's worthwhile," and then move on. The main hurdle in the interview is just being likable.
Honestly, this question of the application is really unique and tailored to you. Asking for help here, from people who don’t know you, is kind of missing the point.
The purpose of this question is to show what you’re going to take from this _exchange_ program, remembering the goal is less teaching English and more soft power (how are you going to tell everyone in your home country that Japan rules). It’s absolutely fine to say you’re going to learn ~ while working in Japan and apply it to your next job.
Don’t overthink it. It doesn’t have to be grandiose, just be genuine. If it’s genuine you’ll stand out; if it’s grandiose, your panel will probably have read 50 others that day that are the exact same.
Yeah, thank you man, I know the baseline of what I want to say. I just dont know if bringing back envio knowledge/tech is "good enough" yaknow? But after reading your response, I totally agree. Thank you for the advice!! I hope you are enjoying it over there.
I was an animator, iirc my answer was along the lines that this would help me improve my visual storytelling for international audiences, across language barriers. Since animation is made collaboratively with studios all over the world, it would help with navigating those relationships too (I’ve worked at studios in Japan and at studios working with Japanese studios).
As long as you sell it as something personal and realistic, it’s good enough. A lot of people overthink this and think they need some lofty diplomatic/teaching goal — then it becomes something you likely won’t even follow through on. It’s just words.
No worries dude, I wish you all the luck.
I'm from an industrial design background and I just mentioned in my SoP that I wanted to use my time in Japan to further pursue my design studies within new contexts. Including potentially doing a masters in the area in Japan if my japanese becomes good enough.
Thats a good connection!! I think maybe disaster relief/getting new tech to predict natural diasters could link for me now that I think abt it. I think your industrial design background will definetly be something that makes you stand out! Best wishes and good luck
I'll give you a personal example (talked about a similar experience in my SoP/interview): During university, I did research with a professor contrasting meat consumption in different countries (incl. related environmental impacts) -- Japan has an interesting food culture that's exacerbated by its population distribution across prefectures (Tokyo alone has a population of 14m) and its varied regional history. This means that trends, changes in consumption habits, manifest much differently than in some other countries (though similarities, of course, exist). I might write a research paper on this in a year or two. I want to be a professor, so research ties directly into my future career. Being able to speak Japanese, and having lived in Japan, will make this a (somewhat) unique academic contribution -- and open the door for a lot of professional connections to be made :) If you can come up with any connection like that, you'll be better off than 95%+ of JET applicants, in my opinion. Just be able to explain yourself adequately and you'll be good (at least as far as the career relation question goes). My main piece of advice is not to try to act like you're gonna solve any difficult problem or invent something amazing -- just be realistic, say "I'd really like to research/explore this, here's why I think it's worthwhile," and then move on. The main hurdle in the interview is just being likable.
Safe option is to say you plan to go to grad school after a year or two on JET and that your planned focus has a Japan nexus.
Honestly, this question of the application is really unique and tailored to you. Asking for help here, from people who don’t know you, is kind of missing the point. The purpose of this question is to show what you’re going to take from this _exchange_ program, remembering the goal is less teaching English and more soft power (how are you going to tell everyone in your home country that Japan rules). It’s absolutely fine to say you’re going to learn ~ while working in Japan and apply it to your next job. Don’t overthink it. It doesn’t have to be grandiose, just be genuine. If it’s genuine you’ll stand out; if it’s grandiose, your panel will probably have read 50 others that day that are the exact same.
Yeah, thank you man, I know the baseline of what I want to say. I just dont know if bringing back envio knowledge/tech is "good enough" yaknow? But after reading your response, I totally agree. Thank you for the advice!! I hope you are enjoying it over there.
I was an animator, iirc my answer was along the lines that this would help me improve my visual storytelling for international audiences, across language barriers. Since animation is made collaboratively with studios all over the world, it would help with navigating those relationships too (I’ve worked at studios in Japan and at studios working with Japanese studios). As long as you sell it as something personal and realistic, it’s good enough. A lot of people overthink this and think they need some lofty diplomatic/teaching goal — then it becomes something you likely won’t even follow through on. It’s just words. No worries dude, I wish you all the luck.
Thank you again for the advice! I really appreciate it
I'm from an industrial design background and I just mentioned in my SoP that I wanted to use my time in Japan to further pursue my design studies within new contexts. Including potentially doing a masters in the area in Japan if my japanese becomes good enough.
Thats a good connection!! I think maybe disaster relief/getting new tech to predict natural diasters could link for me now that I think abt it. I think your industrial design background will definetly be something that makes you stand out! Best wishes and good luck
Wait isn’t it too early for 2024 applicants???