Hello, guys!

All the your re-contracting paperwork has been received. If you have not already received your written confirmation from your contracting organization, please follow-up with your supervisor. The folks at the prefecture were pleased to see just how many of you are staying on and are excited for the coming school year.

For those of you not re-contracting, I am very sad to see you go. The problem with being here so long is that you keep losing friends every year. I want to make sure that you are receiving all the information I can get you. Please click the "Keep Reading" button below for more information.

Time will go by faster than you think and, to start off, I wanted to give you as much detail as possible about what to expect, when to expect it and what is expected of you. Please take a look at this rough time line and start shooting questions my (or Mandy's) way about anything and everything.

Another resource it the Ishikawa JETs forum. While many of you may not use it, it has all the answers (and then some) about leaving Ishikawa. Please read both this timeline and the forum carefully.

On the afternoon of Monday April 20th, we will hold the annual Ishikawa Leavers' Conference. Attendance is not mandatory, however the information presented will help you prepare for leaving. We will also go over the details for the forms you need to fill out, legal obligations and Ishikawa specific information. If you are attending the CLAIR conference, the information provided there is much the same, but again much more specific to Ishikawa.

Please get a head-start on the list below. The collective activities may seem over-whelming, but take it month by month and it becomes manageable. Each month, I will send out the information pertaining to the actions listed for that month. Again, feel free to contact your loving prefectural advisers with any questions or concerns that you have, at anytime. We're here to help!

Leavers’ Timeline
March
1. Your stuff
a. Start sorting through your belongings
b. Decide what will go back to your home country and what will stay here for your successor
c. Start getting rid of JUNK
2. Re-establish contact with people back home
a. One of the hardest things for some people is going home.
b. While you may have actively communicated with your family and friends back home while you have been here, you still have physically been absent from their lives for one year or more.
c. Make your presence known!
i. Tell them you’re coming
ii. Plan to meet with people
iii. Get them involved in your life in tangible ways

April
1. Research and make shipping arrangements for belongings being shipped back to your home country.
a. Options are:
i. Mail Service
ii. Private Shipping companies
iii. Door-to-door cargo service companies
iv. Port-to-port cargo service companies
b. Look into shipping insurance options and costs
2. Ask for letters of recommendation (Suisenjo) from your supervisor, school, or the prefectural advisors.
a. Please keep in mind that Japanese recommendations are very different from what you are used to. Please show them an example of what you want and need.
b. Some of the Japanese people will ask you to write your own and then they will sign it.
c. Please include a copy of your current resume and a statement of purpose for those you ask to write a recommendation.
3. If you are staying, start networking and get resume and cover letters together.
4. If needed, schedule a career-counseling session with your prefectural advisors.
a. What we can provide assistance with:
i. Mock interviews
ii. Resume writing
iii. Goal-setting & counseling
iv. References
b. Please schedule time with us!
5. April 20th: Leavers’ Conference, at Rifare, Kanazawa
a. More detailed information and official business trip form to come from the Kencho two weeks prior.
b. This is not a mandatory session, but we will help walk you through some of the forms and legal issues; provide career and personal counseling; and go over any questions and concerns you have about leaving.
6. Begin compiling information on your workplace for your successor(s) including but not limited to:
a. ALTs
i. Past lesson plans & class activities
ii. Calendars and class descriptions
iii. Copies of materials used in your classes
iv. Official forms for your schools and contracting organizations
v. Teacher Facebook (not the application, both of the English teachers and the staff at the school and/or offices that have been good resources for you)
vi. List of job expectations from your supervisor *and* you (as what the expect and your perception may differ)
vii. Description of each class to be taught, including the syllabus for each class (ask for them)
viii. Description of the school (including clubs, special programs, academic objective)
b. CIRs
i. Past events & information on the planning process
ii. Official forms/reports for your CO
iii. List of job expectations
iv. Event timeline, if there’s one
v. Description of workplace/staff members at your CO

****Please leave your successor more prepared than you were****

May
1. Continue compiling information for your successor
2. Solidify shipping arrangements
3. Continue talking to people back home
4. Begin a dialogue with your contracting organization about travel arrangements. Your contracting organization ultimately has the power to decide how your travel arrangements are made and how they will be paid for. PLEASE CONSULT THEM BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR TICKET HOME.
5. Prepare information and options for when you contact your successor
a. Will they have a choice about living arrangements? If so, prepare some options.
b. Talk to your contracting organization about how they will help your successor setup their life in Japan and write it out in Japanese and English, detailing who will do what and when.
c. How much money will they need?
i. All move-in costs
ii. Money for baggage transport from Tokyo
iii. Living expenses for the first three months
iv. How much will it cost to set-up all their utilities?
v. What methods of payment they should use for their utilities
vi. What will they need to buy for their apartment and around how much it may cost

June
1. Tentative information sent to the prefecture regarding successors. Please remember the process of filling out the paperwork before you came. Some short-listed candidates do not choose to take their JET placement. What this does is creates holes and vacancies. You may or may not have a finalized successor until the very last minute. We will do our best to notify your school/BOE/ and you of the finalized successor as soon as we obtain the information. Placements for municipal ALTs and CIRs are determined at the national level by CLAIR and MEXT. Placements for prefectural ALTs and CIRs are both through CLAIR/MEXT and the prefectural board of education (who then place the ALTs). I know you want to know this information and, trust me, we work to get it to you as fast and as accurately as possible.
2. Contact you successor when you receive the finalized information and continue a dialogue about the transition throughout the coming months.
3. 3rd year JETs: Municipal Taxes – PAY THEM
4. All JETs: Tax responsibilities to your home countries
5. Ship belongings not needed now, but needed upon arrival in home countries
6. Begin selling, sorting, giving away belongings
7. Begin discussing arrangements with your school/contracting organization for departure to include:
i. Pension and pension refunds
ii. Travel arrangements
iii. Remaining vacation time and contract termination date
iv. Monetary proxy and financial arrangements*
v. Arrangements to close accounts, finalize billing accounts, pension proxy*
vi. Arrangements for selling, transferring or disposing of your car
*Note your proxy/representative need not be from your contracting organization. Choose someone you trust to follow-through on important legal matters that you can easily contact once you are in your home country. As long as the person is legal resident of Japan, you can name them your proxy. This includes your Japanese friend Kenichi, another JET, a teacher who is not your supervisor but that you are friends with, etc. Again, someone reliable, someone you trust. They will have to take days off work to do some of the things required – so choose someone who likes you and has your best interests at heart.*

8. Alter Visa status at the local immigration office (can be done starting from the end of May up to end of July). Forms and details will be provided at the Leavers’ Conference on April 20th.
9. Begin writing farewell speeches

July
1. Beginning of July
2. Continue sorting belongings to sell, throw away
3. Make sure everything a new person in your job needs is available and will be available at their desk.
4. Finalize arrangements detailed above in regards to travel, bills, financial arrangements and legal obligations with your contracting organizations
5. Visa changes must be completed at the immigration office
6. Complete change of address & forwarding information to your address in your home country or location to where you will actually be living. Please do not forward to another JET, leave mail to come to your successor (by failing to fill out the request form), or forward to your school.
7. Mid-July
8. Ship belongings not being personally transported with on your flight home.
9. Complete exiting paperwork with your contracting organization
10. Make final arrangements with your successor
11. End of July & August
12. Close all accounts that can be closed prior to leaving
13. Ship bags to your departure airport
14. Say your good-byes.

I will be posting your questions on the forum - where this list also appears. Please check this thread periodically to see what questions people are asking: http://j-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=182&t=9295

That's the nitty-gritty of leaving. Please do not procrastinate. The more actively you prepare, the easier it will be.

Have a great week!
-Tonya