Below is the short version of what happened to me. I'm conscious that by simply by publishing it and naming-and-shaming the people involved, I am opening myself up to accusations of sour grapes. However, I want to post the whole story so you can all see what happened to me, see how I reacted and most importantly of all, see how the JET Programme administrators reacted.

I did not just moan or bitch on the internet, I went out and found other people who had also suffered. I then took our cases to CLAIR and the Ministry of Education in order to get a viable support structure established. By doing this I thought I would be helping all present and future JETs and stop people suffering from blackmail, lies, molestation and assault.

It is now perfectly clear that there is no real support structure in place on JET. Nor will there be. The purpose of this final update is to let you all know that after long months of taking my recorded evidence and my Survey findings to CLAIR, MEXT and AJET in an effort to make an example of my BOE, nothing happened. Indeed, only MEXT and AJET were in anyway shocked. CLAIR did what they could to rubbish me from the start (just have a look what Kristina Fukuda says is required for your confidential meetings to truly be confidential [part 2]). Huw Oliphant at the Ministry of Education offered great sympathy to me and my aims, but finally admitted, that in his part-time capacity, he was powerless to help against a BOE that had everyone covering for one another. AJET were great initially, they even sent out there own surveys. Unfortunately, they finished up by passing all the results on to CLAIR.

Who once again did nothing.

Anyway, I'll split this final update into three parts.

Part 1 - My story - in a [big] nutshell
Part 2 - My complaint to CLAIR
Part 3 - My complaints to The Ministry of Education

also available is my correspondence with AJET

PART 1...

MY STORY

[The hyperlinks below will launch audio-clips in mp3 format. I have tried to reduce the size and length as much as possible so some clips may only offer little evidence for my case. If you want a copy of the full recordings I have no problems sending you a CD with the full meetings on it.]

I was happily working in my base school (Yamada JHS in Sendai) when I received an email from Jennifer Kikuchi aka Jennifer Fitzgerald (my Prefectural Advisor) telling me that I had to move schools (an immense upheaval) and that I was lucky to still be on the JET Programme.

At the time my other-half was heavily pregnant. We had enough to worry about with having a baby in Japan (she too is English). We did not need this.

I went to see Jennifer and Kamekura (Japanese ALT liaison). Also present was Sendai's ALT trainer, the redoubtable Ann McAllen - a good friend. I sensed something was afoot and so I secretly taped the conversation.

I'm glad I did.

Jennifer, who I had always assumed was a friend and ally, rather than telling me what was going on, to my dumbfounded amazement, proceeded to lay into me, demanding that I not make a fuss about the decision to kick me out of school. I was not allowed to know what I had done wrong. Over the course of the meeting I was lied to, blackmailed, and generally threatened with losing my job altogether. I also had confidential information revealed about me.

I asked what I had done wrong. I was told by Jennifer and Kikuchi that they did not know. I expressed the view that any problems were probably due to cultural differences, and that solving them by sacking me would not solve anything - what was the point of JET if not to cross cultural boundaries? I was told by Jen that the purpose of the JET Programme was "not about importing cultural diversity but about learning things like calligraphy, flower-arranging and karate then going home and saying how great Japan is".

I was also told that it is OK for BOEs and teachers to lie to ALTs, that JETs in other prefectures had had their contracts revoked altogether, simply because the BOE didn't want them there any more. I was also told that I must follow unwritten rules that weren't in my contract. The message was clear, we don't care about your well being. We're not going to fight your case. Just move on or there'll be big trouble.

This from the only people that were supposed to be on my side.

Sensing that I may not have a choice in the matter, I said I'd try and patch things up with my teachers. But if I really could not stay at my base school then could I please move to Nishitaga JHS which was right next to my apartment? Thus, I could be near to my girlfriend and new baby - a situation they were well aware of - and lessen the long and stressful process of settling in all over again, at what would be an already very stressful time for me. They said no problem.

One other thing was revealed - my Kyoto sensei (who had done nothing but smile and be nice to me over the course of a year) had been complaining about me for 6 months without telling the BOE what was wrong. Evidently, Jennifer, rather than discussing any of this with me, and rather than stick up for me in any way, had had enough 'me' and 'my trouble-making'. Not being telepathic, I was oblivious to all of this. She was sick of the trouble 'I' had 'caused' her and wanted the problem solved the old-fashioned Japanese way - eliminate the person who is causing the problems. It didn't matter whether I had done anything wrong or had a fair hearing, or that she was supposed to be sticking up for me..

Ann later told me she was disgusted by the way I was treated by Jennifer and Kamekura - and that this was a factor in her leaving JET after just one year.

I left this meeting resolving to have a heart to heart with my head teachers to sort out the problems.

I did and was assured by them all would be fine.

A few days later I was driven back to the BOE. I walked into a meeting with five-or-six BOE top brass and was out of my mind with worry. They spoke about me in Japanese for a long time. During this time they asked me practically nothing nor told be anything. They did not at any point tell me what I had done wrong. Again I taped all of this. Eventually, Kocho said that a problem had occurred in September (it was now June). He did not say what it was. All of the other people in the meeting asked why he had waited some 8 months before telling me of a problem. I received no proper answer to that one.

Jennifer and Kamekura were again supposed to be "on my side" but were useless. As with all people in their position they were very junior in the BOE and did not even try to argue with their superiors. When I was asked questions they mistranslated my answers. My questions were also mistranslated: (I asked short one-sentence questions liek "what have I done wrong" to avoid confusion. Kamekura and Jennifer translated them over the course of a one-minute lecture. I never received a proper answer.

At one point I was told that if I stuck to my contract there could be no problems. It was all that mattered. I agreed fully and asked if I had breached my contract at any point. They didn't answer. In a shameless contradiction they then said that the most important thing was that I follow the 'unwritten rules' of my contract - that being part of the staff-room team was all-important. I agreed with them. They moved on.

Kamekura off-handedly spoke of nenkyu. If you think that it works as stated in the contract. Think again.

During the meeting I realised that really I didn't have much hope of staying at Yamada JHS. I said as much to Jennifer and again sought assurance that I could go to Nishitaga JHS instead. She knew how stressed I was. Her response was disgusting. She took great umbrage at my "demand" and reminded me that being booted out of school for no reason with a baby on the way was not nearly as stressful as her life... sat at a desk all day. She also said that loads of other Sendai JETs had bigger problems than me - which was strange as I knew all of them. Only one girl was having problems - she was being beaten black and blue by one of her students. CLAIR's only advice was for her to write her school a letter about the situation. Jennifer and Kamekura's response was to move her to another school - even though she didn't want to go - but that she had to wait until the end of the school year before doing so. The problem was later "fixed" by sending a male JET to that school. He was oblivious to what had gone on beforehand.Anyway, I knew she had no interest in going to Nishitaga JHS. Jennifer continued by saying she had single mothers to deal with and that if other JETs travelled for one hour on the bus to get to their schools, then so could I. I didn't have any 'real' problems. Thanks, Jen.

Eventually I was allowed to leave the meeting. I had been there 1.5 hours and learned nothing. They carried on talking about me for another hour.

The next day Jennifer phoned me like she was my best friend again and said that the Kocho had been reprimanded for not telling anybody about any problems. Jennifer said I was out. I said so long as I go to Nishitaga, I don't care. She said fine.

Next I went to the Tokyo Recontractor's conference. At the CLAIR and MEXT (Ministry for Education) Q&A session I submitted an anonymous question which asked whether MEXT agreed with my PA's statements about JET not being about importing cultural diversity but about learning calligraphy, flower-arranging and karate, about it being ok for BOEs and teachers to lie to ALTs and about the story that JETs in other prefectures had had their contracts revoked simply because the BOE didn't like them. To his credit Huw Oliphant read out this question - and it was to huge gasps from the entire assembled audience. He did not agree with those statements at all.

CLAIR cancelled their Q&A session due to there being "too many questions".

Later, in one of the final seminars, a JET PR girl was busy telling everybody how great we all were and what a good job we were doing on JET. I found this quite distasteful. I had spent much of the conference listening to people from all over Japan regale each other with their nightmare scenarios. It turned out plenty of people had been utterly shafted at work. Other people had been molested and physically assaulted by their students and teachers. All spoke of the abject lack of support by CLAIR and the PAs. My problems felt small in comparison.

So when the PR girl asked if there were any recommendations that the CLAIR organisation could implement (probably proactively) in order to make the great Programme even better, I took the microphone and said, "Well you could try solving problems instead of hiding from them".

This drew a round of applause. The PR girl tried to fob me off by saying that everyone has problems and that this is part of the challenge of coming to a foreign country. To which I grabbed the microphone again and told her about people being assaulted, blackmailed and molested. The PR girl looked somewhat uncomfortable at that. Eventually she tried fobbing me off some more but, in front of a packed audience I took her on, saying exactly what I though of CLAIR's problem solving abilities, why I thought it and offered examples to back up my case. To her continuing discomfort it was clear I was getting a great deal of support from the audience. The session eventually ended with me announcing I was sick of the lack of support offered to JETs with problems and that I'd start up a website or similar to bring these people together.

After the meeting JETs kept coming up to me and congratulating me for what I'd done. Lots of people gave me their contact details and offered to help.

Over the next several months I created the JET survey and built the website. It was a huge undertaking.

A week or so later I received a letter through the post. I was not going to be sent to Nishitaga JHS but a far less desirable one (the second largest in Sendai) that was further away and demanded more out-of-hours commitment than most other schools. Hardly what I needed with a baby on the way. Once again Jennifer had lied to me.

I was in a world of shit now. I had very little inclination to move to this other school. What made things worse was the discovery that the person who was given Nishitaga JHS was another British male JET who had only chosen it on a whim and not as his first choice.

I simply could not work for people who treated me in this way.

I revoked my intention to renew my contract.

I can't tell you how much grief, stress and financial hardship this inflicted upon my family at this time. We had a baby a couple of weeks later.

I eventually returned to England in December.

I made a formal complaint to Huw Oliphant at MEXT regarding way my BOE had treated me. I also submitted all of my Survey results. I told him the reason I was doing all this was to ensure that such things stopped happening on JET and to bring about the creation of a workable support structure. On his advice I also made a formal complaint to CLAIR about how Jennifer had betrayed my confidence despite being an official JET councillor.

Yes, there also was a more-than-slight motivation to get back at Jennifer, who had been acting like my best friend right up to my leaving Japan.

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Now, after several months, and despite submitting full recordings of all the meetings that had taken place, CLAIR told me that they weren't going to do anything.
Huw Oliphant told me that after performing an investigation, he could do nothing to help me. The entire survey had been looked at, the recordings, listened-to and they did not care a jot. Jennifer had said I was a troublemaker who was simply upset at not being placed in a school I wanted to go to. The BOE and MEXT accepted this explanation.

Even though I was armed with hard facts and documented evidence, CLAIR and MEXT did not care one iota about JET's problems in Japan. There is no support structure on JET and there is not going to be one.

Make sure you know the exact situation you are entering into - before you go.

I am now in England with a good job. I still keep in touch with friends in Japan and I did not want to abandon all the work I had done just because I had left.


Part 2: My complaint to CLAIR
Part 3: My complaint to MEXT