Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program (45 page)

It takes three years for dripping water to make a mark on a rock
(Ishi no ue ni sannen).

Japanese proverb

On 7-8 October -1996, hundreds of people converged on the Keio Plaza
Inter-Continental Hotel in Tokyo for two days of ceremony and symposiums held to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Japan Exchange
and Teaching Program. Walter Mondale, the U.S. ambassador to Japan at
the time, presented the commemorative speech, and the three sponsoring
ministries gave out dozens of "meritorious service awards." Panelists who
had played key roles in the development of the JET Program discussed
such topics as the changing roles of assistant language teachers, the internationalization of local communities, and future issues for the JET Program. By the following spring, CLAIR had published a 36o-page tome titled The JET Programme: Ten Years and Beyond, which boasted in its
foreword that JET was "one of the largest human exchange programs in
the world."' The overall tone of the commemorative events was celebratory, and the moral of the story seemed clear: through programs like JET,
Japan was gradually coming of age in learning how to cope with "internationalization."

The tenth anniversary provides a useful opportunity to assess the
major continuities and changes in the JET Program over its history. This
long-term perspective is invaluable for it allows us to distinguish the essential and fixed features of the program, and the cultural ideologies and
political priorities that support them, from those that are transient and
malleable. Such a perspective is crucial for understanding how the JET
Program managed to rise above the difficulties that plagued its formative
years.

This chapter therefore revisits policy developments at CLAIR and the
Ministries of Home Affairs, Education, and Foreign Affairs since the early 19gos. As noted earlier, one of the most striking features about the JET
Program at the national level is the complex relationship among the several bureaucracies involved, each with distinct interests in seeking internationalization. For each of these ministries and their subordinate branches,
we must assess the learning curve as it pertains to the main (if vague) goals
each envisions for the JET Program-improving the "internationalization" of local communities (CLAIR/Home Affairs), reforming English education (Education), and enhancing foreign understanding of Japan (Foreign Affairs).

My argument in this chapter is twofold. First, improvements have occurred surprisingly quickly, thanks to a combination of top-down leverage,
the mobilization of knowledge, and the ability of local teachers and administrators to put themselves in the position of learners without relinquishing autonomy. National-level officials have tackled, with some degree of
success, virtually every problem raised by the JET participants, and they
have pressured local officials to do the same. Second, in examining the program's implementation broadly and over the long term, one can see a subtle yet powerful cultural drift at work. In shaping program policy and
structure, the view of the JET Program as a vehicle for improving foreign
understanding of Japan clearly has gained the edge.

CLAIR AND THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS:
PERFECTING PROGRAM POLICY

My most recent visits to CLAIR in 1995 and iggg were eye-opening.
Now situated on the twenty-fourth floor of the Shin Kasumigaseki
Building in the heart of Japan's government district, and affording a
breathtaking panorama of Tokyo, the office was a far cry from the
crowded room in the prefectural office building (todofuken kaikan)
where the agency got its start in 1987. CLAIR's staff had increased tenfold, and most concerned themselves with other dimensions of the Ministry of Home Affair's growing international presence. The atmosphere,
too, had changed considerably. The pace was noticeably less frantic, and
conversations with CLAIR officials confirmed that heated disagreements
between program coordinators and Japanese staff were rare. As one program coordinator put it, "Now we fight about where we're going to eat
lunch." The program was by no means on autopilot, and the CLAIR staff
clearly remained dedicated and hardworking, but much of their task had
become routine.

Subsuming the World under JET. Program Expansion

The smooth workings of the office are particularly striking given the rapid
expansion of the JET Program. By 1999 the total number of participants
was double the initial target of 3,000. Most of this growth has been
achieved by steadily increasing the numbers of ALTs from the six core
English-speaking countries. It seems quite likely that the program will
continue to expand, as the secretary-general of CLAIR confirmed in 1997:
"Seeing that our survey shows that the number of JET participants requested are increasing every year, we take it that there still exists substantial potential demand. In order to meet such demand from local public bodies, it is necessary to increase steadily the number of participants."'

Several trends in this overall expansion are worth highlighting. The
most significant growth in recent years has taken place in municipalities
rather than prefectures (see table 6). In the first year of the program, 72
percent of JET participants were assigned to prefectural boards of education, and municipalities employed only i8 percent. By -1997, however, the
prefectural share had fallen to 47 percent while those in municipalities had
risen to 46 percent (the remaining participants in both cases were employed in private schools or in special district offices). This meant that by
the tenth year of the program, fully half of Japan's municipalities employed a JET participant. For instance, when Chiba Prefecture began the
JET Program in 1987, fewer than 20 percent of its eighty municipalities
participated. Ten years later, 81 percent of the municipalities were inviting
ALTs each year, and Chiba prefectural officials were talking seriously about
ways to reduce the financial burden on the smallest villages that wanted an
ALT but simply couldn't afford to add even one additional staff member. In
Toyama Prefecture, an ALT is now posted to every single public high
school, and there is one ALT for every two junior high schools. Local officials' thirst for JET participants shows little sign of abating. Shiga Prefecture plans to increase their eighty-one JET participants by 50 percent in
the near future, and continued expansion is planned for every prefecture in
Japan. The goal of placing a JET participant in every single municipality in
the nation, which seemed so idealistic ten years ago, is now well within
reach.

Revisiting Nationality

The diversification of participating countries has also been astounding. I
vividly remember attending a session for coordinators for international relations at the i99o Renewers' Conference in which the issue of the nationalities of JET participants was brought tip. One American CIR complained,
"My prefecture has international relations primarily with China and
Brazil yet there's no one to deal with them. I kept asking my boss, 'Why
did you hire me?' I almost talked myself out of the job." The program coordinator facilitating the session replied that they had repeatedly brought
up this point with Japanese officials at CLAIR, but the idea had never gone
very far. She concluded, "We still come up against a lot of racism and'the
West is best.' You can imagine the politics involved." Another CIR wondered if it would be possible to have CIRs who don't speak English at all.
Again, the program coordinator replied that it had been proposed, but to
little effect; indeed, the little progress that had been made was almost accidental. "Even with the French and German participants, he [then-Prime
Minister Takeshita] made promises that shocked the ministries and for
diplomatic purposes they had to be kept." As the discussion concluded,
many observed that CIRs can do much to promote the idea that internationalization is more than just hiring Westerners and that they all should
encourage their local offices to hire people from non-Western countries.

Such exhortations would be unnecessary today. By 1997 fully 35 percent
of CIRs hailed from non-English-speaking countries. Beginning with
China in 1992, which was soon followed by Korea (1993) and Russia (1994),
ten additional countries have been invited to send CIRs to select prefectures
and municipalities. More recently, individuals from Italy, Mexico, and Israel
have joined the program. Especially significant was the dispatching of an Israeli to Yaotsu-cho-the hometown of the late Sugihara Chiune, who as
Japan's acting consul in Lithuania during World War II issued visas to more
than 6,ooo Jews fleeing Nazi oppression and who thereby saved many lives.

In addition, an entirely new category of JET participant, the Sports Exchange Advisor (SEA), was created in 1994. A local government can forward a request for a specific type of professional athlete to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, which then begins inquiries through its diplomatic channels to locate a suitable candidate. Alternatively, ministry officials may locate a potential applicant abroad and then set out to find a municipality
willing to host him or her. Some of this expansion has been tied to the
hosting of international sporting events. By 1996, for instance, Nagano
Prefecture, home of the 1998 Winter Olympics, was employing forty-two
CIRs and SEAs, double the number of any other prefecture. The proportion
of CIRs and SEAs to ALTs has been steadily growing, from approximately
4 percent of total JET participants in 1987 to io percent in 1997.

Obviously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has played a crucial role in
facilitating this expansion. In fact, countries have been lining up at the door
to gain admittance to the program, as the director of the Cultural Affairs
Division has noted: "Governments of many countries, including both those
which have sent JET participants and those which have not, are interested
in and think highly of JET. For example, JET sometimes becomes a topic of
conversation at bilateral top-level meetings or meetings of foreign ministers and desire is sometimes expressed to the effect that they also want to
send their youths on the JET Programme or that they want to have the
number of their participants increased."3 But this growth is also clearly in
line with the Ministry of Home Affair's interest in using the JET Program
to improve international linkages among local communities. Discussion is
currently under way at CLAIR to create new categories for participants
with artistic or cultural talents. These new developments highlight the
pressing need for a careful ethnographic study of the CIR and SEA components of the JET Program.