Hey Howdy Hey… I’m on a yo-yo!
Hello and welcome to Ultimate Crumpet! Allow me to introduce myself – my name is Jason and I will be your guide during your stay here. I’m a 22-year-old Englishman who graduated from Sheffield University last year with a BA in Japanese Studies. Nice to meet you!
I’m currently residing in Japan – specifically Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, working as a Co-ordinator for International Relations (known simply as a CIR) and Prefectural Advisor (PA) on the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. You may have noticed that the JET programme has a whole wealth of abbreviations that are commonly used amongst its participants and will be used here on this blog too. Here’s a very brief guide to some of the more common JET (and therefore Ultimate Crumpet) abbreviations:
JET/JET Programme – Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme
ALT – Assistant Language Teacher
CIR – Coordinator for International Relations
PA – Prefectural Advisor
JTE – Japanese Teacher of English
CO – Contracting Organisation
PC – Programme Coordinator
Phew! There are a bunch of others floating about within JET but these are the most commonly used so try to keep them in mind! I must admit when I first arrived in Japan on the JET programme and thrust into the 3 day crash course Tokyo orientation before being sent off to our various contracting organisations, these abbreviations were being used constantly and I felt extremely confused and out of the loop but you soon get used to it.
Now that is out of the way, what exactly is Ultimate Crumpet and how on earth can a crumpet be ultimate?
Ultimate Crumpet is simply the title of this blog and (sadly) completely unrelated to the actually content you will find here. This is a blog from a current CIR on the JET programme and aims to provide an insight into an individual’s work and social life in Japan. I sincerely hope that what you will find here may prove to be useful and informative source for insider information about life on the JET programme and life abroad in Japan.
Moreover, I created this blog as a way of letting family and friends back at home see exactly what I am up to here as I am generally pretty hopeless at keeping in touch with everyone on a regular basis. For this reason, not all posts will be work or JET related but merely some random info into recent events. Credit for the design of the ultimate crumpet you can see at the top of this page goes to the lovely Nelle Macbeth.
I will also be posting photographs and videos from my life here regularly to help further illustrate and support what I write as I have no confidence in my own writing and descriptive abilities! Links to my photo albums/video channel can be found in the links column.
If you are here hoping to find the recipe for the ultimate and tastiest crumpet, I can tell you that now that a full blog is rather unnecessary – Just slap some butter and jam on there! Simple.
I hope that you enjoy reading this blog – Please stick around and do try the complementary virtual crumpets on offer. All comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you and farewell for now!