After successfully making it through the initial process, I gave an interview for the Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) position. Unlike the other participants, I live an hour away from Portland. Others had to stay at a hotel for the night. Dressed professionally, my name was called and I went into one of the four rooms prepared for us.

They had a table set up and three people asking me questions. Two of them were former JET participants, the other was a Japanese language teacher. I felt confident and ready to answer any question they threw at me.

First they asked me the basic questions such as, what is my current position, have I ever applied to JET before, etc etc. Then they asked, “Why did you choose JET?” I knew the worst reply would be, “I love anime and Harajuku fashion!!!”  Which isn’t true.

Then they started to ask me questions based off my answers such as, “You said you wanted to join JET because you want to learn Japanese, but JET is more of a cultural exchange, not language. How would you adjust?” Then they asked me some culture based questions like, “What if a tall American guy came into the classroom and left and your students began to ask, ‘Sensei, when is the American coming?'” and things like, “What if you’re at an izakaya with your faculty and your boss came up behind you and offered a massage?”

Then they gave me a small portion in Japanese to see where my Japanese level is at. Had no affect on my interview, but they wanted to know how well I could speak Japanese.

Lastly, they asked me what my hobbies were. I said one of them was singing. That’s when they made me sing. They told me to sing something for them that would work with little kids. So I sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. They liked it! They asked about any other hobbies I had, and I told them that I like painting.

After that, they asked if I had any other questions.. and I asked.. shook hands and I was out the door. I felt good from my interview and I think I did well.