JET Program Sending-off Party

The following late afternoon of the day we returned from Japan, the JET Program (Japan's governmental program to provide English native college graduates to local government and schools) Sending-off Party at a hotel near O'Hare airport. I, serving as an interviewer for JET candidate selection, was invited as a guest. There were quite a few new JETs, I recognized. My table was for some reason Kagoshima Prefecture JETs table (Southern most prefecture in Kyushu) rather than the Kyoto- area table. Since I lived in Kagoshima near the Sakurajima volcano during my kindergarten days and visited my grand parents many times before while they were still alive, I could give appropriate advice to JETs somehow. I was happy to find a sister of my student at COD in the group which were to go to Mie prefecture!