JETs who are based in an office, especially CIRs, may get a stack of letters, magazines or junk mail attached to a clipboard or in an envelope. On the envelope or a sheet of paper, there should be a group of boxes. After you read the material, you are supposed to stamp your inkan or sign your initial in the biggest box, and pass it on to the person who has not stamped his inkan in the box (i.e. has yet to read the material). If you want your report or letter to be circulated in the office, simply stamp the kairan box on the relevant material and pass it to a co-worker.　

Official trip forms

Most schools and offices have a form for official trips. Usually you are required to complete half of the form prior to your trip and the remainder upon your return. Sometimes failure to fill in the form results in non-payment of travel expenses. Check the procedure in your school or office. 　

Application for Leave

You may be required to complete a form when applying for leave. The process in each school varies.　

Sick leave

You may be required to complete a form when you take sick leave. Make sure of your school or office's requirements for documentation of sick leave. Some schools or offices demand a doctor's certificate even for short periods of leave.　

A note on sick leave The Japanese tend to take sick leave quite seriously, so if you are thinking of taking a "mental health" day, a hangover recovery day, etc., be prepared for a lot of worried colleagues who may call or even visit to inquire about your health.

Municipal ALT forms

Monthly Report
Issued by your BOE, the report lists your schools, number of classes, how much leave is left, when sick/annual leave is taken,and where you were on days where you didn’t have school.

Attendance Sheets
These are to be brought to all schools, to your supervisor at base school and then are sent off to the BOE for them to check.

Prefectural ALT forms

There may be variations between the forms used in different schools, but they usually have the same contents. Check whether you or your supervisor is responsible for filling out forms. It is also advisable to check the procedures relating to trips and leave with your supervisor.

Monthly Reports
These forms should be completed at the end of each month and handed to your supervisor at the school. Your supervisor should forward them to the Educational Advisory Division of the Ishikawa Board of Education (Gakko Shidoka). The staff at the Educational Advisory Division reads these forms and will follow up on any comments written on them. the kairan box on the relevant material and pass it to a co-worker.　

Dispatch/Translation Requests (派遣依頼書・翻訳通訳依頼書)

Whenever CIRs are approached with work requests, the CIR or their supervisor normally takes the call, with the supervisor asking the entity making the request to fill in an official request form. While the formality may take a few minutes, it allows both the CIR and their workplace to assess whether they are taking into account individuals’ workloads, resources, etc as well as the interests of the group making the request.

Proposals/Feedback Reports計画書、感想文・アンケート)

On many occasions, CIRs are asked by their supervisors to write an event proposal, feedback appraisal and/or a questionnaire to be filled out by the participants. Formats differ, so please check with your supervisor.

Leave Applications (年休届・代休届)

A similar form to those used by ALTs is filled out for annual leave (nenkyu 年休) and sick leave (byokyu 病休). However, due to the frequent out-of-hours work required of CIRs and not of ALTs, time-in-lieu (daikyu 代休) leave is extremely common, although some employers ask you to take it within a given time frame. Consult your supervisor about this.

Business trips

If you are required to travel for business purposes, you will be compensated for the costs. However, you are often reimbursed after travelling rather than before. Usually the amount of money you receive is not based on actual costs but on formulas of distance and costs for travel via public transport.

Generally if you travel outside the prefecture, you will receive your travel money either the day before you travel or on the actual day that you travel. In some cases, you may be required to pay hotels and conference costs up front before you travel. If you know that a conference is approaching, it is a good idea to reserve some funds to cover the costs.

Funds for Your Return to Your Home Country

As specified in their contract, all JETs should receive funds or tickets to return to their home country at the end of their tenure on the JET Programme. Generally, these funds are distributed as close to the contract expiration date as possible. This means that you will probably have to pay for your tickets before you receive the travel money. If you have questions, please consult your supervisor or, if you are a prefectural ALT, the liaison staff at the Educational Advisory Division.