People will all view this survey in different ways. Here's my take on things...

1. Yes the survey was massively biased. It went looking for problems rather than paint a balanced picture of JET. This was intended. We all know that most JETs are very happy in Japan. I set out to find what the "problems" were and how they were being dealt with. As a result the statistics in the pie charts are not the most reliable - though they do hold some value. However, it is the comments on each segment that are by far the most interesting and tell us most about the real problems JETs face.

2. I have been in correspondence with several of this year's AJET committee about this survey. It has to be said that their response has been excellent. After extensive dialogue AJET carried out several surveys of their own - particularly with regards to housing and abuse. They presented their findings to CLAIR in November. I applaud this year's AJET greatly for this (even they realise that previous AJET committees haven't been up to scratch) but I remind them that doing the surveys is one thing, getting CLAIR to act on them is something else entirely.

3. As this survey (and the opinion's of many) shows, CLAIR have a very bad habit of washing their hands of any problems and putting complaints on a big pile to be ignored forever. The most flagrant instance of this was after conducting a very widespread survey in 2000, they discovered that OVER ONE THIRD of ALL JETs suffered sexual abuse (see JETblacklist in the links section for more). Nothing has been done to address this and sexual abuse is STILL widespread. This must change.

4. Our man at MEXT (and I should have made it more clear in the survey that MEXT is the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science, Culture, Jam etc) has taken a keen interest in this survey and the circumstances surrounding its creation (ie - the despicable behaviour of my BOE). Hopefully, steps will be taken to ensure that JETs who suffer on the Programme will actually have someone they can turn to for REAL support and assistance. I will post updates to this situation as I receive the progress reports.

5. I will post what happened to me and my BOE after the situation has been investigated and dealt with.

6. Some people are incapable of realising that because they are alright other people may not be.

7. Anywhere between 1 in 3 and 1 in 10 JETs (depending on which surveys you look at) suffer badly on this programme. Make sure that you are not one of them by finding out what your situation will be BEFORE YOU LEAVE for Japan.

8. There is currently no credible support structure for JETs with serious problems in Japan. THIS MUST CHANGE AND IT IS THE PRIME GOAL OF THIS SURVEY.

To date people who have suffered serious (medical) injuries have been ignored to the point where their health has been irreparably damaged. People who have been beaten black and blue by students have been told to stay at their school until the end of the year (several months) with NOTHING being done to stop the violence. People who have been routinely molested by their colleagues have been ignored by everybody.

Help in these instances usually comes in the form of - "why don't you write a letter" or "why don't you talk to the person involved" and "why don't you call the police [who don't speak English and who could really give a shit about a foreigner complaining about their remote town's highly respected kocho sensei]". Read more in the Comments section.

9. The JET Programme has little to do with teaching English. It is about coming here and simply "being a foreigner". Most people's "work" in schools involves acting like a tape recorder several times a week and being made to sit at your desk the rest of the time. Hopefully, this is as bad as it will get and you can put up with the pointless work and enjoy the experience of living in the weirdness that is Japan. Personally, I think CLAIR should come clean and put in the brochure that teaching has little to do with the job. They should write, "Come to Japan and be gawked at like a zoo animal and get paid for it". They'd still get plenty of applicants and everyone would be far less frustrated.

Finally, if you need to contact anyone regarding a specific response on the survey - ask me and I will mediate.

Finally finally, I did all of this because I was tired of hearing about everyone's problems being ignored. I decided to do something to change the system. That people are coming here and being abused, then leaving and having their successor suffering in the same way is disgusting. Hopefully, CLAIR and MEXT will now act to resolve such situations. If they do not, then new JETs must realise that they must stay at home rather than go to a place where the likelihood is that they will be miserable. There is (at present) no help for you in Japan should anything go wrong.

I will update this page when I have time.

If you have any comments or stories to send me: send them to jetsurvey2002@yahoo.com

If you want to discuss the findings of this survey go to Big Daikon