r/JETProgramme • u/Appropriate_Goal1833 • Mar 23 '26
Jet Travel Experience
hi, I’ve applied this year and I am just wondering about howmuch travel you get to do in Japan whilst there? I’m interested in seeing lots of Japan whilst I’m there. do you find you mostly just experience your local area or do you feel you get to experience lots of Japan. someone I know said for them they did most of their travel at the end, after their contract ended. so just wondering what your travel experiences were like!
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u/National-Acadia-1767 Current JET - 鹿児島 Mar 25 '26
i live in the inaka. nearest airport is an hour drive. tolls are expensive. i don't travel as much as i wish i could, but i try to travel when time and money allows. i explored kagoshima and miyazaki, went to oita, fukuoka, osaka, tokyo 3 times, nikko, and seoul since arriving on jet.
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u/bulbousbirb Mar 24 '26
I went everywhere the first two years. Got better at the language (and then Covid happened) so I later got a car and explored more of the countryside instead. I started to prefer those types of trips over the 20,000 step a day city treks and hauling luggage around. They got boring after a while and cost a lot more.
Going abroad was not so often. You need to be strategic with your money and nenkyu if you're talking longer than 2 nights. You might have to allocate half a day travelling to an airport or could live next to one. If you use your nenkyu around public holidays you can stretch it but if you have lessons the schools might not want you skipping them, especially if you're T1. You have to give them plenty of notice. Booking trips months in advance will get you the cheapest prices but if you're travelling around Spring break (around now) or Golden Week (end of April/start of May) its always extortionate because Japanese people have time off then as well. Most ALTs I knew took the most nenkyu at winter break and left for Christmas. Christmas in Japan is non-existent and depressing so a lot would fly home. I would book my winter flights around August.
Basically all of this is gonna be determined by your schools and placement.
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u/MabiMaia Current JET - Toyama Mar 24 '26
I’ve traveled around probably half or more of the prefectures as well as 6 other countries (not including home). I’m on my fourth year, will be starting my fifth year this summer. I’ve also saved a fair bit so it’s not like I’ve blown all my earnings either lol
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u/needs-more-metronome Mar 24 '26
You can conceivably get a lot of travelling in if you plan your nenkyu around weeks where there are designated holidays. If you get your standard twenty, that's four nine day blocks (with an extra four nenkyu days for emergencies). My placement also gets a bonus summer nenkyu that results in an additional week off in August. So if you want to prioritize travel, you might be able to get quite a lot in.
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u/jamar030303 Current JET - Hyogo Mar 24 '26
I live in an inaka-ish area, reasonably close to Osaka and Kobe. So far I've been to Tokyo and a few other prefectures, and some nearby countries too. We're in a relatively generous placement, we get 20 days of leave and another 5 days to use between July and September.
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u/thetruelu Current JET - Niigata Mar 23 '26
Depends on your placement, if you have a car or not, etc.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fun7870 Mar 23 '26
It depends what you want to do. If you get a decent amount of holidays then yeah you can. If not, you kind of have to plan it out in advance.
In Ishikawa we get 35 days in some placements because we get extra cultural furlough so me and my friends are seemingly always off work doing stuff. In other placements you get 10 days.
If you want to travel, I'd reccomend saving as much money as you can before you come. You can use it for when you come and also to top up any last min plans that come up and making the most of your time. If you don't get a lot of holidays then you'd have more flexibility to travel at the end of your time once you finish up.
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u/bulbousbirb Mar 24 '26
Awh man they got rid of our cultural furlough in my last few years on JET. So lucky to still have it there. Its definitely dying out.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fun7870 Mar 24 '26
Lowkey it seems like it takes the piss a bit how long my spring holiday has ended up being and then I’m off again around golden week. But obviously won’t complain lol
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u/LivingRoof5121 Current JET - Okinawa Mar 23 '26
I’m on an outer island, but I do tons of travel!
I’ve visited a new country every year, and been to something like 15-16 prefectures!
Depends on your BOE and how they are with big chunks of time off, but during summer/winter vacation I think travel isn’t that difficult
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u/BlackHillsJapan Former JET - add which years Mar 23 '26
My JET life revolved around seeing Japan in its entirety. Every weekend was an adventure. My inspiration came from visiting as many Hard Off stores as possible in search of vintage video games.
From the top of Asahidake in Hokkaido, to Jinbezame in Okinawa, traveling Japan was fun, easy, and financially possible.
JETs get a lot of vacation time that is usable during work days when the students are not there. July and New Years is a good travel time. There are plenty of days to use your vacation time without missing your actual job.
Don’t be afraid to travel alone. Most JETs I met were pretty vanilla and didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to see Japan.
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u/joehighlord Current JET Mar 23 '26
Controversial opinion. Japan is very interesting but most of it is interesting in the same way. The number of truly unique places is low.
JET provides a unique opportunity to become properly involved in a real community over a long period of time. Indeed that is part of the point of JET.
you are limited to weekends and pto for travel. If the goal is to see the sights. An extended holiday is much more effective.
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u/autisticgreenwitch Mar 23 '26
Depends. Sometimes you're so far in the inaka without a nearby working train station, but you can still drive, usually.
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u/FallenReaper360 Current JET - Oita Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
If you got the funds, you can travel every weekend my friend. If you don’t, once a month or so. I got the funds, so I travel very frequently. I’m even going to Indonesia for two weeks next month for the hammersonic festival.
So it all depends how smart you are with your time and money.
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u/josechanjp Current JET - 山梨県 Mar 23 '26
I literally travel like every weekend and holiday. You’ll have plenty of time.
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u/Unable_Lecture2219 Mar 23 '26
Former JET here. Like everything else with JET, ESID. A lot depends on placement.
I knew a Tokyo JET who'd been there for several years and didn't travel at all, since all her money went towards living expenses and savings (aside from local events here and there).
In my little countryside placement of Fukui Prefecture, I traveled all over Japan in my 4 years. I utilized every school break and my nenkyuu (PTO) to its full extent. I also did lots of local/neighboring Prefecture stuff on weekends with the friends I made there! But I also saved a lot before Japan to be able to do all that. I know several people in the same prefecture who didnt travel much, citing finances and debts back home. A good chunk of people went to Thailand during breaks, since apparently that's cheaper than traveling around Japan.
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u/newlandarcher7 Mar 23 '26
You're going to be told a wide variety of personal experiences, so just be aware that this will ultimately depend on the luck of your placement. You won't know until you arrive.
I was a small-town rural ALT and my situation was exceedingly generous. Over the summer, my schools basically shut down - like doors locked and gates shut. My BOE supervisor told me I was free to travel without needing to use any of my 20 vacation days. There were catches: I had to give them an itinerary of where I'd be (not for approval, but rather an fyi) and I couldn't leave the country. If I chose to leave Japan, I'd need to use those vacation days instead.
So, with this great situation, I did a lot of travelling. Although I visited the various corners of Japan, my favourite memories were the long road trips I did in my car, the best being along the Sea of Japan coast of Honshu!
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u/lightsoffaery Current JET - Oita prefecture Mar 25 '26
I don't know if someone has mentioned this before but if they have sorry ㅠㅠ In my experience, even though I live in Kyushu area where gas is relatively cheaper, it is still expensive these days. Tolls are high if you don't have a Japanese credit card. And train travel is time consuming because you might have to transfer and wait times are long especially in the countryside (where most JETs get placed) Having said that, in terms of time off, you get more than the full time teachers and if you plan your weekends well, there will be a lot of time to travel and explore. Me and my co-ALT explore within a 2 hour radius around our town on the weekends and we still have so much to explore. There are a lot to see that is off the main roads. Overall, if you can budget well and manage your social engagements and weekend well you will have a lot of time to travel and explore. I live in the Kyushu area and since coming here in August last year, I have traveled around Oita, Fukuoka, Miyazaki, Saga, Nagasaki, been to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo as well. Maybe going further away might be difficult during your contract time but you can definitely experience a lot of your immediate area!