News

Do you love Japanese food? Do you know a great recipe or a fantastic Japanese restaurant near you? We want to hear from the JETAA community and how they have kept in touch with the culinary delights of Japan since returning to the UK. If you would like to write a food based article to be featured on the site please conta...

A classic Japanese dish that is sure to make great comfort food this autumn. This dish is not as fast as the Katsu, but it's not difficult either and could be an impressive recipe to add to your

Chicken Katsu   This is a great way to get a taste of Japan with easily available British ingredients. Katsu just means cutlet, an...

1. How and why did you end up on the JET Programme and where did you go?   I had just finished my master’s degree in English literature, and w...

For lovers of Japan, cats, Street Fighter and okonomiyaki (and the debate about where the best one comes from), this book is difficult to put down once started.  The Cat in the City, the debut novel by JET alumni Nick Bradley...

To all JETAA UK members Around 2000 Martin Sel...

  London Green Chain Walk

This year's JET Returnees Careers Fair will take place on the 23rd of October 2020 from 11:00 to 16:00. The event will be held online, using the event platform Whova, and will be accessible both on the web app and on t...

A wish for peace and good health During lockdown JETAA North West decided to fold paper cranes to combine commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the A-bomb in Hiroshima with a wish for good health and peace for all across the world during the pandemic.  The number of cranes started small.

JETAA Photo Competition Winners Announced  It's the moment all our entrants have been waiting for. After an extremely difficult process of choosing from 25 excellent entries, our judges have made their decisi...

Written by Mikako Yokoyama; translated by Jeremy Gordon.  Since October 2019, I have been working as a foreign correspondent in Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun’s general European bureau. As the name suggests, while the office is in London, we cover news across the whole continent. Personally, I am primarily respo...

Featuring chapter news and upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. North West Chair's Message Hi everyone, I hope this message finds you well in these unusual times. JETAA NW has been quiet in terms of socia...

An exciting development for JETAA UK this year is our partnership with the UK branch of Ashinaga – a Japanese charity which has been supporting orphaned and single-parents students for over 50 years, and continues to expand its reach.  On 26 April, we launched our first event with Ashinaga UK as part of the 2.6 Challenge, a nationwide...

Ever adaptable and keen to meet members’ appetite to answer trivia questions on a competitive basis during lockdown, the JETAA London chapter hosted its first ever ‘online pub quiz’ on 30 April.  Over 30 people, and more including multi-person teams, joined from their homes with cups of tea and G&Ts in place of the pints of bi...

JETAA UK is going to partner with Japan Local Government Centre  (CLAIR in London) for the next ‘Welcome Back Careers Event and Exhibition Space’, which will be held on Friday 23 October 2020. This event provides the opportunity for former JETs to receive key advice and insight on the post-JET experience and job opportunities aroun...

Zoë Vincent was an ALT in Unzen city in Nagasaki prefecture from 2015-2016. After JET, she moved to work for the Fukushima Prefecture Tourism & Local Products Association. For that work promoting the region, hit by disaster in 2011, she has been featured both on NHK TV show Japanology Pl...

The Fuji Festival 2019 got off to a great start in September with a visit from Martin from Tsuchigumo Daiko to Kilmaron School in Cupar. Pupils of all ages were joined by a group from Castlehill Additional Support Class as they had the opportunity to learn Taiko drumming skills, a Japanese style of drumming. It was a fun packed, high energy afte...

Alison Beale was an ALT in Taketa, Oita prefecture. She is Director of the Japan Office for Oxford University, also her alma mater, with responsibility for forging and fostering links between Oxford and Japanese universities.  She talked to JETAA UK about her pride in being a JET and how the experience has shaped her life and career.�...

This section is a guide to the range of upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news are also included. Please look out for the dates of upcoming AGMs for JETAA Scotland, Midlands and North West. Where contact d...

Tak Tokumine is probably the most famous Japanese entrepreneur in Britain. As the man behind Japan Centre, the food hall and retailer just off Leicester Square, he’s helped to popularise authentic Japanese ingredients among a wider audience at the same time as Japanese restaurants – including some of his own – have boomed in popularity. ...

On Sunday 1st December, JETAA North West members spent a very pleasant afternoon in Altrincham, a charming Cheshire town just outside Manchester. We met at the train station and wandered over to the market. In the market hall, there were a number of independent food traders to choose from and we all selected a different cuisine, in...

On November 9th and 10th 2019, alumni represented JETAA NW at the annual DokiDoki festival held at Sugden Sports Centre in Manchester.  It was a great opportunity to connect with other people who share a passion for all things related to Japan.  There were wonderful performances, including Taiko, singing, and dancing as well as many craft and...

(Note: picture is the Kiso Mix of seasonal mushrooms, lotus root and cheese) The pitch: Europe’s 'original' specialist okonomiyaki restaurant Review: While 'Japanese pizza' may be a misnomer it captures something about the nature of okonomiyaki's appeal. Outwardly it's relatively unsophistic...

We come to the end of social activities for 2019 with the JETAA London Chapter – お疲れ様です！   On Friday 22 November alumni gathered at the Glasshouse Stores in central Soho for some socialising and to sufficiently wet whistles for the following two hours of glorious Japanese-style karaoke (complete with all of the del...

Picture: VIP speakers opening a sake barrel from Dojima Brewery (Left to right: Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, Trustee, Derby Museums; Lord Burlington, High Sheriff of Derbyshire; Marvin Cooke, MD, Toyota UK; Ambassador Tsuruoka; Tony Butler, Executive Director, Derby Museum)   Ambassador Tsuruoka, the High Sheriff of Derbyshire, Lo...

by James Gamgee, JETAA Scotland Chair Our first educational events have taken place this year. A special thank you to JETAA members Jess Williams and Luca Fois for their help in completing application forms. They raised £500 each. Together with £2,000 funding from the Japanese government via JETAA, this means we raised £3,000 this yea...

The pitch: Tonkotsu ramen from its Fukuoka heartland Review: Tonkotsu (a stock made from pork bones) continues to be, by a distance, the most popular style of ramen in the UK. Yamagoya is another chain, like Ippudo, Kanada-ya and others, with roots in Fukuoka. Reportedly, back in 1969 founder Masatoshi...

Photo: Luke (left) representing Ashinaga USA at a fundraising event for the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in Atlanta. Luke Happle was a CIR and Prefectural Advisor in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. He worked at the Miyagi Prefectural Office and the Miyagi International Association. After the JET Programme, Luke became a Programme Coordinator a...

This section of the newsletter is designed to be a guide to the range of upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news are also included. Enjoy! Find all contact details on the About section of the website. ...

When Fukuoka native Rie Yoshitake came to London 33 years ago, it was with a hazy sense of a strong purpose.  "I don't know why exactly, but ever since I was young I was very interested in the overseas connection between Japan and other countries. Somehow, with age, I thought I would love to be a bridge between the UK and Japan. Of cour...

On 27 September, in collaboration with the Japan Local Government Centre (JLGC) and the Embassy of Japan, JETAA UK held its annual programme of ‘welcome back’ events for JETs freshly back from Japan – with something on offer for JETAA UK members who’ve been back for a little longer too. Once again, the event was held at Asia House in Lon...

After ten years living in the UK, in 2014 Yuriko Kotani decided to try stand up. For most, the idea of doing stand up is unthinkable, let alone in a second language. When I asked the Japanese comedian how that first time felt, performing in English, she says, "It was absolutely terrifying." "I hated it. I thought I'll do it and then no ...

On Friday 19 July, outgoing JETs, JET alumni and invited guests packed the Paul Webley Wing in SOAS’s senate building to celebrate the imminent departure of this year’s JET participants to Japan. More than 300 people attended the event which opened with speeches from the Ambassador, Matthew Billin representing the outgoing JETs, and Rob Gor...

Staging an exhibition on manga, the Japanese tradition of comic books, is akin to staging an exhibition on American pop music: taken as a whole, the subject is so wide, so intertwined in its cultural context, who knows where you’d start? On top of that, while Pokemon and Dragonball may be fairly well known in the context of gaming and anime, u...

Vanessa Villalobos was an ALT in Tochigi City in Tochigi Prefecture north of Tokyo. She has built two businesses out of her experience on JET: an English tutoring agency for Japanese people in London, and a Japanese tutoring agency to connect Londoners with Japanese teachers. She told JETAA UK how she became an entrepreneur and the o...

This section of the newsletter is designed to be a guide to upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news is also included. London Recent events have included a trip to sunny Pri...

(If you're interested in writing a restaurant review for JETAA UK – including a good chance of winning a £25 voucher – see how here) The pitch: The UK’s most authentic tonkotsu ramen?  Review: The last ti...

JETAA Northwest Pre-Departure Events 2019 On June 8th and June 22nd, JETAA NW held social evenings in Liverpool and Manchester respectively for JETs heading to Japan this summer.  Incoming JETs and Alumni came together for an evening of delicious Japanese cuisine and socialisation as a farewell celebration.  There were many storie...

In June, JETAA London took advantage of the sunny weather and headed to Kanpai: London’s very own sake brewery. JET alumni were treated to a private tour with Tom, one of the co-founders, to learn all about how this traditional drink is brewed. It was a fascinating experience – we learned all sorts of weird and wonderful facts on how rice t...

JETAA North West: Japanese Afternoon Tea in Chester On May 18th, JETAA North West collaborated with SugarSalt Bakery and Kimono Keiko for the second time to bring together Japanese and British culture in the form of an Afternoon Tea at The Unity Centre, Chester. Upon arrival, participants were presented wi...

The British Museum in London is to stage the largest ever exhibition about manga held outside Japan. Manga and the connected anime and gaming industries are undoubtedly among Japan's greatest cultural exports. This exhibition both recognises the stature and richness of manga culture and explores how it became a global phenomenon, too tracing i...

We'd like to introduce a new section of the newsletter – designed to be a guide to upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news is also included. London Following

Walking tour of iconic film locations in the City of London  On Saturday 6 April the JETAA London Chapter held a tour around the square mile of the City of London which showcased filming locations from films such as Great Expectations, Children of Men, Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, James Bond, The Bourne Ultimatum �...

The pitch: Ramen and Kyushu ‘soul food’ with south London flavourings Review:  Nanban, run by JET alumni (ALT in Kitakyushu) and Masterchef 2011 Winner Tim Anderson, opened in 2015. It is one of a number of Japanese restaurants in Brixton, south London, that include Okan and KOI-Ramen Bar and is s...

The 2019 JETAA UK Annual General Meeting took place in Liverpool in January, presenting committee members with the chance to meet up, take stock, and discuss JETAA's calendar of events and future direction in this historic and beautiful city. Delegates from the Japan Local Government Centre (CLAIR London) and the Embassy of Japan in the UK als...

On 20 September the rugby world's focus and fans will shift to Japan as the Rugby World Cup kicks off for the first time in Asia. A premonition of that shift took place four years ago when Japan beat South Africa in Brighton during the 2015 World Cup, probably rugby's biggest upset in living memory. Rugby has traditionally been a n...

Simon Wood was an ALT in Kumamoto Prefecture between 1995-1997. Following his return to the UK he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. His career as a diplomat has taken him on four overseas postings – twice back to Japan, to Denmark, and currently Rio de Janeiro in Brazil as HM Consul-General. 1. What inspired you to join the...

Last Friday ex-JETs gathered in a characterful pub in Soho for a few Friday drinks. It was great to welcome some new faces to the London Chapter and it ended up being quite an international crowd. The force was strong with Nagasaki JETs with no less than three people from different parts of the southern prefecture!  After talking just a...

明けましておめでとうございます！Happy New Year! Hope you are all having a wonderful start to 2019, the year of the pig! Last Thursday 17 January, JETAA London held an annual general meeting in our usual Somers Town settings to go over the events of 2018 and think ahead to what exciting things we could do in 2019. It was a...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku) depicts an underside of Japan that few foreigners see or think about and, in my experience anyway, few Japanese people discuss in public. While Kore-eda is well-established as a director of perceptive films about contemporary family life, this was nonetheless a surprise winner of the Pa...