Customer Reviews

Getting Both Feet Wet: Experiences Inside The JET Program

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Of the meagre number of books published on the JET Programme, few manage to live up to expectations induced by their titles. For the most part, however, Getting both Feet Wet: Experiences Inside the JET Program does. Published two years after David McConnell's scholarly yet captivating Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program, this is a pleasant and at times penetrating collection of anecdotes from seven Japanese and seven native English-speaking contributors (mainly in Nagano), a collection that ranges from fuzzy, passing reflections to serious, two-way cultural criticism. Getting Both Feet Wet will familiarise people considering the JET Programme with the types of joys and frustrations to be encountered here in Japan. It might also rekindle memories from those of us already here for aeons of our early days of teaching, and help us re-appreciate and re-appraise what has happened so far in our lives.
Not many negative comments. The March 2001 message from (future) Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, coupled with important updates on changes made to the Programme listed in the Preface impressed me, but the first actual essay struck me as a little juvenile, partly the result of shaky English. Another essay later in the book was printed with several egregious typos. I welcome this book's many challenges, and its inclusion of divergent positions on issues like work hours, notions of rights, and "common sense." The contributors almost invariably assert that JETs should learn to re-evaluate invisible assumptions that are brought to light via intercultural encounters.

I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the JET program. Downsides are its a pretty dated, and the essays in it are all pretty similar. Still, you get to read about a lot of people's experiences. It was definitely worth the money and time to read it.

I suggest this for JET potentials as it has essays by Japanese teachers and other involved in program which gives you a better idea of what your employers will expect of you. Only downside is that it dosent have much in the way of possible negative experiences a person may encounter. Importing Diversity still the best book on the subject