The JET (Programme) Age Limit

Back when I was a JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Programme applicant in 1990 - and a successful JET setter 1990-1993, there was an age limit of 18 to 35-years-old.

That's no longer the case. Sometime in between then and now, the age limit was upped to 40, and then recently again to no age limit.

Today, February 3 2012, on the JET Programme Forums webpage, the following conversation took place:

Amor Dei wrote: "In saying that, I'm not sure if I'll be reapplying again since I'm most likely older than most of you (I turn 30 tomorrow and I'm debating on buying some old-man sweaters so I can moan and retire) and it may be in my best interest to settle into a new career. I'll have to pray about that since it will be another year to apply and another year spent in Japan if I'm fortunate enough to be hired."

The following response was posted to the Latin-minded Amor Dei (Love of God):
"Don't be discouraged just because you think you're older than most other applicants! In my city, we have several ALTs who came in their mid and late 30s! There used to be an age limit restriction of 40 but that's no longer the case, so don't give up yet! "

Wow... a 30-year-old who thinks he's old. Y'know what, with that attitude you'll never get in.

Thank-you to whomever wrote that response!

A friend of mine who is 50 will be applying to JET in a couple of years time - and you know what, I think he will succeed - mostly because along with an ability to communicate, he's investing time and opportunity to learn as much as he can about Japan and its mysterious culture.

There are two types of people (actually there are billions, but for this example there are only two): Those who are old, and those who act old.

Age only matters if you are wine or cheese. JET has removed its age restrictions for a reason - it knew it was potentially losing a lot of good people who want to be in the program who were hindered by an archaic age rule.

Having an age restriction seemed like a good idea at the time for this then 25-year-old, but to be honest, while a lot of the 20-somethings who ran around Japan while I was in JET were humble, honest folk who wanted to do a good job, there were some who liked to party too much (guilty, on occasion), and those who were simply immature bastards who took advantage of everyone they met.

Why would JET want immaturity when it could have smart folks who want to be in Japan and know how to communicate?

We had wall flowers who never left the sanctity of their apartment because Japan scared them. We had others who valued their own space and time rather than that of the community in which they lived.

You need to get out and live. Fly JET member. Fly and be free.

I was no saint, believe you me. I drank and hit on women - but I never did anything bad. I was 25 when I landed, and thought I was pretty mature, but I also knew I wasn't. I had never lived alone (stayed at home through university and college), never knew how to shop, cook, do laundry, or even how to get laid.

Mature? No. I was young. But, at least I had the ability to communicate with a smile on my face all the time - even when I didn't feel like smiling inside.

Believe me - that's the toughest thing in the world to do. I was called on it a few times by curious friends I worked with - the Japanese teachers - who wondered if all was okay... and though I gave them a half-assed explanation, they were still concerned about me to call my Ohtawara Board of Education office and let them know that I was down or depressed (not clinically) to make sure I was all right. I was always troubled by women. Girlfriend issues were at the heart of most of my discomfort in Japan.

I sound like I was completely immature while in Japan. But I wasn't. JET's Japanese personnel over there wanted me to be the president of my Tochigi-ken JET chapter. I should have done it. I should have been there to help other people... but by this time I was a fixture in the Ohtawara-shi community, and I wanted to do what I was sent to Japan to do - internationalize.

Now it's 2013. I am 48, married and with a wife, and let me tell ya - I have way more troubles now than I ever knew were possible as a brilliant 'mature' 25-year-old.

With age, hopefully comes maturity.

I would hope that the older person going or wanting to go to Japan is doing so because this is something they really want to do.

I didn't even want to go to Japan - but a commitment is a commitment in my books, and I never give a half-assed effort (at least not since I turned 18). Initially, I only wanted to get laid - I was committed to that, and in that I was a tremendously successful JET participant.

But once in Japan, I also embraced all that I could about Japan, and Ohtawara-shi in Tochigi-ken - my home town - calling it my home, because home is where the heart is. And at that time, my heart and soul were in Japan. In these last two paragraphs, I was mature.

While 27, I dated an 18-year-old Japanese woman, nay, girl, who should have been in adult videos - she was built and hot. But, her maturity levels were so below my own, I couldn't and wouldn't date her after a week. I sought out and found a more mature woman, closer to my own age.

And JET is coming to the same conclusion. Maturity is a must. The U.S. forces in Japan haven't quite come to that conclusion, as drunk, immature individuals are ruining things for the rest of the well-behaved armed forces personnel over there doing their job.

Perhaps JET figures that more mature people will lend a sense of stability to the Programme. Of course, JET is not simply looking for older, more mature people - it wants leaders, ambassadors, communicators! And, yes, if you can teach, that would be nice, too.

Yes, on the whole we were reasonably mature, but by and far the most mature folks I met on the JET Programme were the older ones who were married. I'm not saying married people would make the best JET participants (though they did when I was there), but they do possess qualities single 20-somethings lack. More patience. Maturity. The Hutchison family comes immediately to mind. The Izatt family, too.

Marshall, who was 35 on the JET Programme was mature, as well. I hated him only because I felt like he was trying to steal my girlfriend Ashley, but he was a nice person. I can say that 22-1/2 years later without lying. Christine in Ibaraki-ken was also 35. Beautiful and sexual. I don't know if she had maturity, but she knew how to use her social skills.

But that's the thing... with some people, as they age, they become more mature and wiser. I said, some people.

JET is looking for those people. I think I was certainly wiser than my 25-years when I was accepted into the Programme.

I wonder if I would be able to make it into the JET Programme in 2013 as a first-time applicant - maybe, maybe not. But it wouldn't be because I'm older than 30.

Amor Dei and all you others who think you are old, you are old. Age is a state of mind. But are you mature and wise?

To the rest of you... if you really want something bad enough... sit down with a bag of popcorn and try and figure out how it can be achieved. Or be patient. Things sometimes do work out. Sometimes they don't. But what's wrong with trying? Don't you want a bit of real happiness? I do. Funny how when you say that, often you don't get the happiness you expected.

And, since I am not a JET lackey, for chrissakes, if you really want to go to Japan to experience the culture, save up your damn money and go. And, should you want to stay, find a job.

It may not be as easy in 2013 or 2015 as it was for me in 1990, but you'll never know unless you try.

Let me quote my favorite gaijin (at this moment in time), Yoda, from Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back:
"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

Effing muppet is right. Of course, he was 900-years-old when he uttered that.

Just remember... the only age limits on the JET Programme are what you put on it yourself.

Cheers,
Andrew Joseph
And, just to show I can be literate, here's a quote from Samuel Clemens:
"Genius has no youth, but starts with the ripeness of age and old experience."
You should know him better by his pen name of Mark Twain.