So, at the end of January, I got an e-mail stating that I was one of the lucky few with an interview with the JET Program. I had the interview yesterday.
We stayed the night in Salt Lake City so that there would be no chance of me getting to the interview late. When I got to the interview, they asked that I fill out a form and wait in the lobby for my interview to start. I chatted with a couple other applicants until it was time to go. When I got to the room, there was an old, long plastic table with three older Japanese people sitting behind it. Sorting through stacks of application papers, they asked me to come in and shut the door. My chair was a good five to six feet from the table, and they avoided eye contact. Clearly, they wanted to rattle me and make me feel like I was just a number to them. After I sat down (I had to ask if I could sit, as they exchanged no pleasantries), they jumped right in to the interrogation, er, interview.
Here are the questions they asked (that I can remember).
Why Japan?
Tell me what you know about Japanese pop arts.
What things did your neighbor mention about Japan? (contextual)
If you could teach the Japanese people three things about America, what would they be?
How would you explain American poverty (and 46 million uninsured) to a culture that doesn't have it?
How could you justify poverty in the context of the American dream that is supposedly available to all?
How would you explain the confusing presidential primary system? Why did Mitt Romney drop out of the race?
It seems that all your teaching has been with members of the LDS faith. How will you adjust to people that smoke, drink, and party?
How will you separate yourself from "missionary you"?
Did you request placement (why)?
What has your wife done to prepare mentally and emotionally for living in Japan?
What will she do while you're in Japan?
You may live in a place where you live 100 miles from the nearest chapel. How would you handle that?
What do you think would be the biggest challenge for you and your family if you were a JET?
Do you have any questions for us?
The most standard questions were actually the ones that tripped me up. I had come in with all sorts of knowledge about Japanese politics, history and geography, but they asked me about pop arts! Of course I know about anime, baseball and video games! But how do I say that without coming across as an anime nerd (which I most certainly am not) or a video game dork (guilty as charged)? I mentioned that I owned the Miyazaki films, but that a lot of anime was too violent for my tastes. I mentioned that I was familiar with the Dragon Quest series (why can't life have a TiVo? I'd have hit rewind right there). I wish I could have prepared myself better for the question. I know exactly why I want to go to Japan (I want to learn the language), but I said some crap about how I had a neighbor who lived in Japan (Duane George). I might have redeemed myself by mentioning that I studied Japanese at BYU and was fascinated by the culture and language. It would have been nice if I had mentioned that I really want to see Japan and learn the language (I did mention this later). The first two questions made me extremely nervous, but I quickly calmed down in time for the difficult questions.
The questions that should have been difficult were actually extremely easy to answer because of the insane amount of time I put into preparing for the interview. I've been closely following the primaries, so that was a breeze. As for the question on poverty, I mentioned the role of choice in the American dream (the system is set up for people to succeed—they just need to understand the system). I also mentioned that poverty can also have cultural ties (sometimes people choose to rely on the government and don't take advantage of all the opportunities they have). The questions about religion were also easy, since I've lived with non-Mormons for the majority of my life, and pretty much all of the people I taught were not members of the church. I've had 5 years to adjust to normal life since my mission, so I don't feel like that's an issue. I was up front in saying that my religious beliefs are deeply rooted, and that that wouldn't change. However, I'm not going there to convert the world. I'm going to teach English to kids. Let the missionaries focus on religion.
Regarding distant meeting houses, I said that we need to make sacrifices. Somehow one of the ladies interpreted that as "I would sacrifice my church attendance for the program." She asked if I meant that I would not go or if I would make the trip every week. I clarified that it was important to my family, and we would get up at 4AM and travel for hours if we had to.
Whenever possible, I let them know that I've been reading about the history of education in Japan, or anything else that was relevant. I mentioned that Stef's been just as gung-ho about it as I have.
After a somewhat shaky start (first 2-3 minutes of a 25 minute interview), I think I nailed it. We will, of course, see what happens. I'll find out early in April if I got it. In the meantime, I applied for another program as a backup plan. Now I can just focus on school! Aw, who am I kidding? These next 5-6 weeks are going to take forever!
