CLAIR News May 2021
1) The State of Emergency Declaration related to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), issued on 25 April 2021 has been extended to 31 May 2021 in Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka prefectures. In these affected areas, the government asks residents to refrain from non-essential and non-urgent outings, and advises to avoid travel over prefectural borders whenever possible. In addition, the government strongly encourages residents to refrain from non-essential and non-urgent outings after 8 pm, to avoid the use of crowded spaces during peak hours, and to not patronise establishments that do not comply with measures to reduce the spread of infection.
2) Semi-emergency coronavirus measures are in effect in Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Gifu, Mie, Ehime, and Okinawa prefectures. In these affected areas, the government urges residents to not gather in parks or public spaces to drink in groups, or to visit establishments that offer karaoke whose primary business involves food and drink (such as snack bars or karaoke parlours). In addition, residents are asked to not visit restaurants and other eating establishments outside of their reduced hours of operation, and to refrain from non-essential and non-urgent outings and travel, especially between prefectures in which the State of Emergency Declaration is in effect.
3) The government is continuing to call for basic prevention of infection measures such as wearing a mask, handwashing, and avoiding the ‘Mittsu no mitsu’, or ‘three Cs’: Confined spaces (with poor ventilation), Crowded places (with many people nearby), and Close contact (with people).
For further information, please refer to the national and local governments’ official websites.
-Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet
https://japan.kantei.go.jp
https://japan.kantei.go.jp/ongoingtopics/vaccine.html
https://corona.go.jp/en/
CLAIR’s Department of Multiculturalism has compiled information about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in multiple languages. Please visit the following link for information:
https://www.clair.or.jp/tabunka/portal/info/contents/114517.php
NHK WORLD also provides information about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/tags/82/
NHK Easy Japanese
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012293221000/k10012293221000.html
and Contact Information Survey for JET Programme Participants
CLAIR requests each JET Programme participant to register for the Safety Confirmation System (Emergency Call) and Contact Information Survey. These are two separate systems. Please register to both using the links below.
Safety Confirmation System:
https://asp2.emc-call.jp/clair/index_en.html
or
https://asp2.emc-call2nd.jp/clair/index_en.html
Your login ID and password are both the final nine numbers of your JET Number, omitting the first two digits (20).
Contact Information Survey: https://goo.gl/u1gVT2
Login ID: JET Number (11 digits beginning with 20)
Password: Date of birth (YYYYMMDD)
*A notice regarding the 2021 Safety Confirmation System (Emergency Call) will be sent out in mid-May. Please ensure that you confirm the content of this notice once you receive it from your contracting organisation.
In the event of a disaster CLAIR will confirm the safety of JET Programme participants using the Safety Confirmation System (Emergency Call). It only takes a few moments to confirm your safety via the email you receive. Please make sure you respond regarding your safety situation when a safety confirmation email arrives as it otherwise takes time for Host Prefectures/Designated Cities to confirm the safety of each individual JET Programme participant in the affected area(s).
In any given year in Japan, there will be somewhere which has had an emergency warning issued. The country is also prone to large earthquakes. At the moment Japan is entering a period of increased chance for emergency warnings to be issued as a result of increased rain and typhoons. Because of this, we are asking JET Programme participants and supervisors at each contracting organisation to confirm information registered with the Safety Confirmation System and to check how to respond to a safety confirmation request should an email arrive. If you receive a safety confirmation request email, please respond to it right away.
(For reference, it took six days to confirm everyone’s safety from the earthquake which struck off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture at 10:27 on 1 May 2021. However, roughly 80% of JETs in Miyagi Pref. responded within 5 hours).
Safety Confirmation requests are sent out based on Host Prefecture/Designated City, so participants may receive safety confirmation requests even when they are not physically near the site of a disaster. In this case, a response is still required from each individual to whom the request is sent.
With the aim of enhancing mental health support for JET Programme participants, CLAIR offers the JET Programme Mental Health Counselling Assistance Programme. This programme provides a partial subsidy (50%, up to 30,000 yen per year) for counselling costs incurred through consultation with mental health professionals in Japan not covered by health insurance.
The coverage period for this year is from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The application form must be sent to CLAIR by 8 April 2022 (Fri).
CLAIR also offers a free online service to provide JET Programme participants with mental health assistance from professional counsellors using Web Mail and Skype.
If you would like to use this service, please access the following website. After entering the password, you will be instructed to register. You can receive up to seven Skype Counselling sessions from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. CLAIR recommends trying the Web Mail Counselling system first. There is no limit to the number of threads you can start in the Web Mail Counselling system.
Web Mail Counselling
Corporate Code: (Please refer to the email version of CLAIR News)
English: https://www.kokoro-soudan.net/en/
Japanese: https://www.kokoro-soudan.net/
Skype Counselling
Corporate Code: (Please refer to the email version of CLAIR News)
English: https://www.service-fismec.net/inquiry-eng/login/
Japanese: https://www.service-fismec.net/inquiry-ftof/login/
JET Programme participants finishing their term of appointment in summer of this year are strongly recommended to start planning for their departure as early as possible.
Please refer to the relevant information for departing JET Programme participants found in the 2021 General Information Handbook (Chapter 7: Leaving JET, p165-179) and the After JET Guide.
In addition, if you require a certificate of employment or letter of recommendation for your future job search, please do not forget to request it from your contracting organisation (samples are included in the appendix of the manual for contracting organisations and After JET Guide as a reference).
General Information Handbook: jetprogramme.org/en/gih/
After JET Guide: jetprogramme.org/en/ajg/
All JET Programme participants are strongly advised to register with their home country’s embassy or local consulate while living in Japan, as your embassy may be able to help you and your relatives obtain necessary information and check on each other’s safety in times of emergency. Please ask your home country’s embassy or local consulate for details:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/protocol/index.html
Is your house or apartment covered by property insurance (kasai hoken)? If you do not know, please check with your contracting organisation supervisor.
There have been several cases where JET Programme participants were forced to pay for the damages to not only their own, but also their neighbours’housing when there were water leaks or other problems (if a water leak occurs, damage to the property of neighbours is covered by the JET Accident Insurance Policy Liability Endorsement, but damage to your own property as well as damage to the structure or building can only be covered by property insurance). Whether or not to purchase property insurance is the choice of the JET Programme participant. However, if you are liable for damages, the costs can be very high. Therefore CLAIR recommends that JET Programme participants enroll in property insurance.
The application period for the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) first test date (scheduled for 4 July 2021 (Sun)) ended on 16 April 2021 (Fri). Test results will be sent out in early September 2021.
The deadline to submit your documents to CLAIR is 29 October, 2021 (Fri).
The application period for the second test date (scheduled to be 5 December 2021 (Sun)) will begin in early September 2021.
https://jetprogramme.org/en/jlpt/
For those currently enrolled in one of CLAIR’s Japanese language courses, please remember to plan your study schedule ahead of time. If you would like to change your course level, you can do so by accessing the Contact Information Survey site, selecting your desired course, and then clicking the ‘OK’ button at the very bottom of the page.
Participants who apply before the 10th of any given month will be able to start their course on the 1st of the following month. Once your course has started, please remember to plan your study schedule ahead of time.
https://jetprogramme.org/en/languagecourses/
CLAIR provides grants to JET Programme participants who wish to improve their English teaching skills by obtaining online certification for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The application package was sent to all contracting organisations in April. Please ask your supervisor for the application package, or alternatively you can download it from the JET Programme website.
The deadline for submitting your application to CLAIR is 31 May 2021 (Mon).
https://jetprogramme.org/en/tefl/
CLAIR and The Yomiuri Shimbun have launched a periodical column in The Japan News, a globally-circulated English language newspaper. JET Programme Voices is a collection of articles submitted by current and former JET Programme participants which give a worldwide audience insight into unique experiences and achievements of participants during their time on the Programme. Instructions regarding the submission of documents are accessible from the link below.
https://jetprogramme.org/en/jetvoices
CLAIR provides an online tool to easily develop signage in multiple languages as part of continued efforts to promote disaster preparedness and internationalisation at the grassroots level. The main purpose of this tool is to allow users to create signage leading to evacuation areas, but it has many other useful templates as well. CIRs who are responsible for planning international events or translating signage as part of their work duties may find this tool helpful.
http://dis.clair.or.jp/ (Japanese only)
