Jikoshokai Corner — JETAA Rocky Mountain Chapter

Today we would like to introduce our new JETAARM webmaster, Joe Mignano!

Welcome to JETAARM, Joe! Please introduce yourself.

Hi! My name is Joe Mignano. I was an ALT at Kuroiso Minami High School in beautiful Nasushiobara City, Tochigi Prefecture from 2010-2014. From 2012-2014 I was also a Prefectural Advisor for Tochigi.

After JET, I stayed in Japan for another 8 years working as a designer, developer, and writer for japan-guide.com, one of Japan’s leading travel guide websites for foreign travelers. I loved my original placement so much that I spent almost all of my 12 years in Japan living in Nasushiobara (...it’s that nice).

Enjoying the fine May weather on top of Mt. Nasu

Participating in the Otawara Yatai Matsuri in northern Tochigi.

What made you want to apply to the JET Programme?

Before Japan, I was mostly interested in Japan through taiko drumming. Taiko is a style of drumming that started as a traditional music in Japan, but became popular all over the world in the last several decades. In college, I earned degrees in Western music theory, composition, and music history, but found myself more strongly drawn to taiko than anything else, and played in my college’s taiko group (St. Olaf Taiko), and then a semi-professional group in Minneapolis, MN (Mu Daiko) for about 3 years.

After working at a music software company for a few years out of college, I really felt like I wanted to have the chance to try living abroad—something I’d never done before—as well as try teaching professionally. And at the same time, I really wanted to study taiko music more deeply. Japan, and the JET Program specifically, was the perfect opportunity. …And luckily (after a brief stint on the waitlist), I got in!

Playing taiko with Nihon Taiko Dojo in Tokyo’s Sanja Matsuri

What was your most meaningful experience on JET?

My four years on JET were some of the most meaningful and formative years of my life. It’s impossible to pick one. Having the chance to live, work, and become a part of a community in a foreign country is one of the most powerful experiences a person can have if they’re open to it.

…But if I have to…playing taiko in two annual traditional festivals—Northern Tochigi’s Otawara Yatai Matsuri and Tokyo’s Sanja Matsuri with Nihon Taiko Dojo—every year for nearly 12 years, were both honors I will cherish forever…and plan to join again in the future!

Ok, and one more: My time on JET gave me the opportunity, time, and enough money to travel all over Japan and even to many other countries around the world. Those trips I took while on JET were what encouraged me and gave me the experience I needed to work in tourism for the next 8 years of my life.

Watching the sunrise over Mt. Fuji from the Southern Japan Alps.

What are you most looking forward to as a JETAARM board member?

I’m looking forward to meeting other JET alums and helping them connect with each other, as well as sharing my experiences with people interested in maybe being a JET themselves.

Bonus Question: How exactly did you learn the importance of punctuality in Japan?

Well, I’m glad you asked! In my second year as an ALT, I was finally feeling like I was getting my bearings and finding a nice comfy routine at school…and I wasn’t always rocking up to school as perfectly on time as I was in my first year. That year, my school also happened to get a new kyoto-sensei (vice principal). He was an incredibly friendly, welcoming, and understanding guy, but he took his job seriously.

One morning (a morning I may have been a few minutes late rolling into the staff room), my new kyoto-sensei called me to his desk. He had a small box in his hand. The previous night, he told me he’d been at a party where he’d been the recipient of a neat prize: a handy little bedside alarm clock. He said, he was afraid, he didn’t really need one himself, but, he thought, “Ah! Joe-sensei might want this instead!”

…I wasn’t late to school after that. And I still have that same alarm clock at my bedside today. :)