Leaving on a JET plane for Minoh, Japan

Five young people from Lower Hutt will soon be heading to Minoh, Japan to teach English on the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) programme. Minoh in Osaka has been Lower Hutt’s Sister City for 21 years.

The new exchange teachers are Thomas Palmer, Hannah Van Vliet, Martin Wabnitz, April Sului, and Malcolm Pimentel. They met with Mayor Wallace to talk about their exciting opportunity to immerse themselves in Japanese culture, represent Lower Hutt and teach English as Assistant Language Teachers in primary and junior high schools for at least a year. 

Mayor Wallace was pleased to meet these young ambassadors and said, “These young people will not only teach English in Minoh schools but also interact with locals and promote their home town, strengthening the very important Lower Hutt-Minoh Sister City relationship. Educational exchanges offer a great deal of opportunity for our city.” 

Minoh City Mayor Kurata is thrilled to receive so many young people from Lower Hutt to live and teach in Minoh for the first time in more than ten years, since a similar programme finished in 2006. 

The successful applicants have gone through a rigorous international application process. Thomas and Martin have experience mentoring and tutoring students at university. Malcolm is multilingual and has completed a degree in Teaching English as a Second Language. Hannah has completed an honours degree in Japanese language, so has a head start on her colleagues who are learning the basics of Japanese language and culture prior to leaving at the end of the month. Only April has been to Japan before as she has a sister already on the JET programme.

The new JETs will also be very involved with the Hutt Friendship Club, based in Minoh, who Skype with their counterparts in Lower Hutt each month to discuss topics of mutual interest.  It will be great to see local faces in Minoh and hear about their experiences.

It is just another example of the growing intercultural engagement and continued internationalisation between our sister cities.