CLAIR News June 2023

Important

New

General Notices

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 not covered by health insurance.
The coverage period for this year is from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Documents for the subsidy should be submitted through Contracting Organisations until 5 April 2024. Since there is a high volume of applications in March and April, please kindly submit the documents in advance.

JET Programme participants can also receive free counselling offered by CLAIR via Web Mail and Skype. If you wish to use these services, please access them using the URLs below, input the ID/password, and follow the instructions for registration. Up to 7 Skype sessions are available between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. We recommend starting with web mail, which has no limits on usage.

Web Mail and Skype Counselling

Website: https://jetcounseling.com/
Login Information:
User name: jet
Please check the email edition of CLAIR News for the latest password.

CLAIR requests that each JET Programme participant 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).

* If your contracting organisation has changed, please register your new address.

Contact Information Survey: https://goo.gl/u1gVT2
Login ID: JET Number (11 digits beginning with 20)
Password: Date of birth (YYYYMMDD)

*For JET Programme participants who were originally scheduled to arrive in Japan in 2020 or 2021 please use your pre-arrival JET number that starts with 2020 or 2021

Emergency Pocket Guide for JETs
To ensure your safety in Japan, please take the opportunity to ensure that you are prepared in case a disaster occurs.
CLAIR has compiled an Emergency Pocket Guide for reference in the event of a disaster. Please keep it with you at all times. Please ensure that you fill out the important parts and keep it with you in case of a disaster.
*CLAIR distributes the Emergency Pocket Guide during orientation for new arrivals.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/emergency-support/

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.

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.

For JET Programme participants who arrived in summer, it is almost time to extend your period of stay, so please check the dates written on your Residence Card (especially JET Programme participants in their third year who will be reappointed for another term).
For information on extending your Period of Stay or changing your Status of Residence, please refer to page 71 of the General Information Handbook (GIH).

https://jetprogramme.org/en/gih/

If you are finishing your term of appointment on the JET Programme this summer and are returning to your home country, please make sure you have discussed travel arrangements with your contracting organisation. Please also be aware that in principle contracting organisations are not required to pay for PCR tests or quarantine fees that may be required by other countries.

JET Programme participants finishing their appointments in 2023 should refer to CLAIR’s online After JET Guide for information about how to prepare for your successor, move out of your apartment, deal with ‘reverse culture shock’ and prepare for your next career move.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/ajg/

This year, the JET Internship Programme will run from the afternoon of Sunday, 20 August to Friday, 25 August 2023. The Internship Programme represents an invaluable opportunity to experience work in a Japanese company, so please consider applying. The Application deadline is Monday, 12 June 2023.

(Application requirements)

• Applicants must be recontacting and be in their second or later year of participation on the JET Programme as of August 2023.
• Applicants must have JLPT N2 or above or equivalent Japanese language skills and be able to perform their duties in Japanese.
• Applicants must have received approval from the Contracting Organisation to participate in the internship.

For more details (including other application requirements) please see the following link:

https://jetprogramme.org/en/jetinternship/

CLAIR has started a new webpage on the JET Programme website for Embassies to post information for JET Programme participants from their country. Please check this page regularly for updates.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/embassyinformation/

Please note that CLAIR does not take responsibility for any of the information listed on this page. For enquiries regarding the information on this webpage please contact the embassy in question directly.

The 2023-2024 Grant for TEFL/TESOL Certification was announced in April. Those who wish to take a TEFL/TESOL course in 2023-2024 and receive the grant should carefully review the ‘Grant Overview’ and ‘Grant Guidelines’ available at the following link, then fill out the digital application form.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/tefl/

The deadline for the first application period is Friday, 26 May. Please do not begin your selected course until receiving a notice of eligibility from CLAIR in June.

For questions regarding the grant, please use CLAIR’s new grant-specific email address: grant@clair.or.jp

The 2023-2024 Grant for JLPT is offered to JET Programme participants who have passed the N1, N2 or N3 level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), during either the first or second tests of 2023. The grant reimburses the complete testing fee of 7,500 yen. To apply, please send the application form available at the following link by mail directly to CLAIR so that it arrives by the following dates. Details regarding applications procedures are available at the following link.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/jlpt/

Please note that registration for the first testing date has ended. Registration for the second testing date is planned to run from 24 August 2023 (Thursday) to 14 September 2023 (Thursday). For information on registering for the JLPT, please see the following link (non-CLAIR affiliated).

https://info.jees-jlpt.jp/#

Personal tax affairs in one’s home country are the responsibility of each JET Programme participant. Be sure to obtain and keep your gensen chōshūhyō, or Statement of Earnings. Please refer to the General Information Handbook (GIH) for more details.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/gih/

You can apply for online Japanese language courses offered by CLAIR.

For the 2024 fiscal year, changes are being made to the format and application process for the JET Programme Japanese language courses. Please check out the course guide on the JET Programme website (link below) for detailed information:

http://deli3.study.jp/?multi http://jetprogramme.org/ja/languagecourses/

Japanese Language Course Application Form

https://bit.ly/2HfLvpv

This is a reminder that CLAIR complies handbooks for ALTs, SEAs and CIRs on the JET Programme website.
The handbooks provide information on work duties and how to adapt to your workplace in Japan.
If you haven’t checked out your handbook yet, please take a look!
Additionally, the page contains teaching materials for ALTs, including many example games and activities for different school levels.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/acs-h/

Besides the ALT Handbook on the JET Programme website, there is another ALT Handbook produced by MEXT with support from the British Council. You can find it here: ALT handbook (https://www.britishcouncil.jp)

All JET Programme participants are strongly advised to register with their home country’s embassy or local consulate, and/or through your embassy run travel registration scheme 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 check the website of your home country’s embassy or local consulate for more details:

www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/protocol/index.html

JET Programme participants finishing their appointments and returning to their home countries may be eligible to receive a pension refund (lump-sum withdrawal payment). For more information, please refer to section 7.3 Pension Refund in the General Information Handbook (GIH).

https://jetprogramme.org/en/gih/

Information is also available in English and Japanese on the following website:

www.nenkin.go.jp/international/english/index.html (英語)
www.nenkin.go.jp/index.html (日本語)

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 participant. However, if you are liable for damages, the costs can be very high. Therefore, CLAIR recommends that JET Programme participants enrol in property insurance.

Although the majority of JET Programme participants live in rental properties, earthquake insurance may also be taken to account for the cost of lost household items, such as personal computers or TVs. Therefore, please take care to research a suitable form of insurance for your situation.