I apologize if a similar forum exists but, after all the news, and updates related to japan, I feel kind've depressed about the events and my future of going there someday.

I'm hoping to join the JET program after college, and work more on my Japanese to become a translator. Do you think participating in the JET program will become more difficult to be accepted (lesser funds) ? Is the situation going to be contained?

What do you guys think is going to happen for Japan's future? does anyone feel the same as I do?

The tsunami isn't really the thing to worry about, the economy in general is. The recovery is fragile and the jobs market is difficult at the moment.

I think I read somewhere that the JET programme is in line for cuts as Japan eventually attempts to get its budget in order. But the JET programme is hard to get onto anyway and it's not the only way of going to Japan, or of teaching in Japan.

As for Japan's future, personally I'm an optimist. But most people I find, aren't.

I think the JET program will no longer exist in 10 years and maybe much sooner.

From the perspective of a tax payer (me), I think that would be a good thing. JET are pretty highly overpaid and don't contribute much other than good international feelings (as in, very little educational benefit). A haken ALT only costs about 1/3 as much and offers the exact same thing with less management required, as it's offloaded to the haken company.

That said, haken ALT companies are very highly exploitative and you should never want to work for one

Ideally everything would go to direct hires of people who are actually qualified to teach English (at least an ESL cert). These people would not be ALT, but full-on English teachers with actual responsibilities that get the students to themselves once a week or so. It's like this already at some private schools.

With the high levels of radiation in japan, thats not going anywhere for thousands of years. I guess in my mind I picture a state of national panic. How safe is it going to be to live over there in a few years, and is society over there continuing to function as normal? From my understanding, its getting worst. isn't everyone else here nervous?

There are moderate levels of radiation in a very small area.

I'm getting tired of people thinking that all of Japan is now a wasteland covered in zombies and godzillas. The nuclear disaster has had zero effect on anyone outside the small evacuation zone. Also, it's not getting worse. Stop listening to the tabloid-esque news.

The tsunami has caused many more problems, but also has had pretty much no effect on anyone not living or doing business in eastern Tohoku.

Tolerence91 Wrote:With the high levels of radiation in japan, thats not going anywhere for thousands of years. I guess in my mind I picture a state of national panic. How safe is it going to be to live over there in a few years, and is society over there continuing to function as normal? From my understanding, its getting worst. isn't everyone else here nervous?

*facepalm*

The half-life of iodine-131 is 8 days, the half-life of caesium-137 is 30 years. These are the two primary radioactive substances that are being released at Fukushima. I like that everyone just makes up how long the radiation will last last instead of looking it up.

Jarvik7 Wrote:The tsunami has caused many more problems, but also has had pretty much no effect on anyone not living or doing business in eastern Tohoku.

Quoted for truth. I went out for Mexican food in Kyoto the night of the earthquake--though, of course, we spent a lot of the time talking about the earthquake.

Jarvik7 Wrote:The tsunami has caused many more problems, but also has had pretty much no effect on anyone not living or doing business in eastern Tohoku.

it does have an indirect effect though...

even US companies are impacted. factories here have shut down because of supply chain issues (I know a GM factory shut down and a Toyota factory announced it was closing down on certain days) and some models that are in high demand because of oil prices going up are in trouble too, like the prius... a lot of people want them but there aren't enough to go around.

at work, since i deal with auto mfrs, it's affected the timing of what we do... some of them are asking us to hurry, some of them are more delayed.



according to JET, there are about 200-300 positions in the affected region, which is still less than 10% of the overall JET program. still, that'll make it more competitive. i'll be trying to get into CIR this year.

LA times wrote an article about Japan possibly relaxing immigration rules, and if there's a renewed push to establish English in Japan there could be more demand.

"could be" as i'm just speculating, who knows what the future will bring since there was already political turmoil before the earthquake and now it's really getting intense in wake of the disaster response.

Jarvik7 Wrote:The tsunami has caused many more problems, but also has had pretty much no effect on anyone not living or doing business in eastern Tohoku.

Sure, people are mostly safe from radiation poison, but the economic effects of this tsunami across Japan are severe and world-wide.

Kanto isn't even going to have enough electricity to run factories at capacity for at least a year.

There were actual nuclear bombs dropped on Japan and those cities are two of the most densely populated in Japan now, so I think a little leakage in a mostly rural area is nothing. If they were purposely pouring poison meant to kill living creatures into the earth, I would be concerned. Oh wait, they have been saturating the planet with pesticides for decades now.

Read today's Asahi. The government says that all Kanto factories employing more than 1,000 people will be forced to reduce operations 30%.

And they're going to go after vending machines. Apparently all of Tokyo's vending machines use the same amount of power as 250,000 households.

Just thought that was interesting.

kitakitsune Wrote:And they're going to go after vending machines. Apparently all of Tokyo's vending machines use the same amount of power as 250,000 households.

Just thought that was interesting.

OMG! The radiation turned the vending machines into transformers!

531,000 外人 left Japan in the four weeks from March 12 to April 8

http://www.japantoday.com/category/natio...first-week

kitakitsune Wrote:531,000 外人 left Japan in the four weeks from March 12 to April 8

http://www.japantoday.com/category/natio...first-week

Japantoday.com Wrote:The total included 185,000 Chinese

Deadliest earthquakes ever
1. 830,000 1556 Shaanxi earthquake China
2. 779,000 1976 Tangshan earthquake China
4. 235,502 1920 Haiyuan earthquake China

Deadliest natural disasters of the past century
1. 2,500,000 1931 China floods China
2. 779,000 1976 Tangshan earthquake China
4. 234,000 1920 Haiyuan earthquake China

Deadliest natural disasters ever
1. 2,500,000 1931 China floods China
2. 2,000,000 1887 Yellow River flood China
3. 830,000 1556 Shaanxi earthquake China

kitakitsune Wrote:531,000 外人 left Japan in the four weeks from March 12 to April 8

http://www.japantoday.com/category/natio...first-week

all but 1 I know have come back by now