CLAIR News June 2021

CLAIR News June 2021

1. Hokkaido, Tokyo, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Okinawa Prefectures are current under a state of emergency due to the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The state of emergency will last until 20 June 2021. Residents in the affected areas are asked to refrain from non-urgent, non-essential outings (especially after 8 pm) and are strongly urged not to cross prefectural borders. In addition, residents are asked to avoid crowded spaces during the peak times of the day, and to refrain from visiting establishments such as restaurants who do not implement measures to prevent the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

2. Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Ishikawa, Gifu, Mie, and Kumamoto Prefectures are currently under quasi-emergency measures to prevent the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). These measures will last until 13 June 2021 for Gunma, Ishikawa, and Kumamoto Prefectures, and until 20 June 2021 for Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Gifu, and Mie Prefectures. In these prefectures, clusters of infections have occurred during activities such as karaoke in the afternoon. Therefore, in these affected areas, residents are urged not to visit establishments that offer karaoke whose primary business involves food and drink (such as snack bars or karaoke parlours). In addition, residents are asked to not gather in parks or public spaces to drink in groups, not visit restaurants and other eating establishments outside of their reduced hours of operation, and to refrain from non-essential and non-urgent outings and travel, especially between prefectures in which the State of Emergency Declaration is in effect.

3. The government is continuing to call for basic prevention of infection measures such as wearing a mask, handwashing, and avoiding the ‘Mittsu no mitsu’, or ‘three Cs’: Confined spaces (with poor ventilation), Crowded places (with many people nearby), and Close contact (with people).

For further information, please refer to the national and local governments’ official websites.

-Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet
https://japan.kantei.go.jp
https://japan.kantei.go.jp/ongoingtopics/vaccine.html
https://corona.go.jp/en/

CLAIR’s Department of Multiculturalism has compiled information about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in multiple languages. Please visit the following link for information:
https://www.clair.or.jp/tabunka/portal/info/contents/114517.php

NHK WORLD also provides information about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/tags/82/

NHK Easy Japanese
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012293221000/k10012293221000.html

Vaccination for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) began on 17 February 2021, and is projected to conclude around the end of February 2022. At the present stage, medical personnel and the elderly are eligible to receive vaccines. After this stage, those with pre-existing conditions will be eligible to receive the vaccines. With regards to vaccines for the elderly, certain local municipalities began vaccination drives on 12 April, and after May vaccination drives will be open in all local municipalities. The government is working to make sure that all of the elderly will be fully vaccinated by the end of July.

CLAIR requests each JET Programme participant to register for the Safety Confirmation System (Emergency Call) and Contact Information Survey. These are two separate systems. Please register to both using the links below.

Safety Confirmation System:
https://asp2.emc-call.jp/clair/index_en.html
　or
https://asp2.emc-call2nd.jp/clair/index_en.html
Your login ID and password are both the final nine numbers of your JET Number, omitting the first two digits (20).

Contact Information Survey: https://goo.gl/u1gVT2
Login ID: JET Number (11 digits beginning with 20)
Password: Date of birth (YYYYMMDD)

*A notice regarding the 2021 Safety Confirmation System (Emergency Call) was sent out in mid-May. Please ensure that you confirm the content of this notice once you receive it from your contracting organisation.

In the event of a disaster CLAIR will confirm the safety of JET Programme participants using the Safety Confirmation System (Emergency Call). It only takes a few moments to confirm your safety via the email you receive. Please make sure you respond regarding your safety situation when a safety confirmation email arrives as it otherwise takes time for Host Prefectures/Designated Cities to confirm the safety of each individual JET Programme participant in the affected area(s).

In any given year in Japan, there will be somewhere which has had an emergency warning issued. The country is also prone to large earthquakes. At the moment Japan is entering a period of increased chance for emergency warnings to be issued as a result of increased rain and typhoons. Because of this, we are asking JET Programme participants and supervisors at each contracting organisation to confirm information registered with the Safety Confirmation System and to check how to respond to a safety confirmation request should an email arrive. If you receive a safety confirmation request email, please respond to it right away.

(For reference, it took six days to confirm everyone’s safety from the earthquake which struck off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture at 10:27 on 1 May 2021. However, roughly 80% of JETs in Miyagi Pref. responded within 5 hours).

Safety Confirmation requests are sent out based on Host Prefecture/Designated City, so participants may receive safety confirmation requests even when they are not physically near the site of a disaster. In this case, a response is still required from each individual to whom the request is sent.

With the aim of enhancing mental health support for JET Programme participants, CLAIR offers the JET Programme Mental Health Counselling Assistance Programme. This programme provides a partial subsidy (50%, up to 30,000 yen per year) for counselling costs incurred through consultation with mental health professionals not covered by health insurance.

The coverage period for this year is from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The application form must arrive at CLAIR by 8 April 2022 (Fri).

※　Starting April 2021, counselling institutions and individual practitioners residing overseas will also be considered eligible for the subsidy. Please consult with your contracting organisation supervisor for more information. If you wish to apply for the subsidy, you must do so through your contracting organisation.

In addition to the Web Mail and Skype counselling listed above, we offer a toll-free telephone counselling service which does not require any advance reservation to use. The service generally operates twice per month, on the 10th and 20th (counselling days which would fall on a Sunday or holiday are instead held on the Saturday prior to that day). The counselling dates for the 2021-2022 fiscal year are listed below. Please make the most of these services if you are experiencing anxiety or other burdens on your mental health.

※Schedule for the fiscal year of April 2021 to March 2022 (from June 2021)
10 June (Thurs), 19 June (Sat), 10 July (Sat), 20 July (Tues), 10 August (Tues), 20 August (Fri), 10 September (Fri), 18 September (Sat), 9 October (Sat), 20 October (Wed), 10 November (Wed), 20 November (Sat), 10 December (Fri), 20 December (Mon), 8 January (Sat), 20 January (Thurs), 10 February (Thurs), 19 February (Sat), 10 March (Thurs), 19 March (Sat)

Web Mail Counselling
Login Password: (Please refer to the email version of CLAIR News)
English: https://www.kokoro-soudan.net/en/
Japanese: https://www.kokoro-soudan.net/

Skype Counselling
Login password: (Please refer to the email version of CLAIR News)
English: https://www.service-fismec.net/inquiry-eng/login/
Japanese: https://www.service-fismec.net/inquiry-ftof/login/

Counselling via Telephone
Phone number: 0120-810-803
(No advance reservation required. Calls are free of charge.)
※ Limited to one call per person per day (no annual limit)
※ CLAIR has prepared three telephone lines for this service; however, there may be times when the lines become congested. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

JET Participants finishing their term of appointment in July-September this year are strongly recommended to start planning for their departure as early as possible.
Please refer to the relevant information for departing JET Programme participants found in the 2021 General Information Handbook (Chapter 7: Leaving JET, p165-179) and the After JET Guide.

In addition, if you require a certificate of employment or letter of recommendation for your future job search, please do not forget to request it from your contracting organisation (samples are included in the appendix of the manual for contracting organisations and After JET Guide as a reference).

General Information Handbook: jetprogramme.org/en/gih/
After JET Guide: jetprogramme.org/en/ajg/

For those currently enrolled in one of CLAIR’s Japanese language courses, please remember to plan your study schedule ahead of time. If you would like to change your course level, you can do so by accessing the Contact Information Survey site, selecting your desired course, and then clicking the ‘OK’ button at the very bottom of the page.

Participants who apply before the 10th of any given month will be able to sttart their course on the 1st of the following month. Once your course has started, please remember to plan your study schedule ahead of time.

http://deli3.study.jp/?multi
https://jetprogramme.org/en/languagecourses/

CLAIR and The Yomiuri Shimbun have launched a periodical column in The Japan News, a globally-circulated English language newspaper. JET Programme Voices is a collection of articles submitted by current and former JET participants which give a worldwide audience insight into unique experiences and achievements of participants during their time on the Programme. Instructions regarding the submission of documents are accessible from the link below.

https://jetprogramme.org/en/jetvoices

For JET participants who arrived in the summer, it is almost time to extend your period of stay, so please check the dates written on your Residence Card (especially JET participants in their third year who will be reappointed for another term).
For information on extending your Period of Stay or changing your Status of Residence, please refer to page 69 of the 2021 edition of the General Information Handbook (GIH).

https://jetprogramme.org/en/gih/

CLAIR provides an online tool to easily develop signage in multiple languages as part of continued efforts to promote disaster preparedness and internationalisation at the grassroots level. The main purpose of this tool is to allow users to create signage leading to evacuation areas, but it has many other useful templates as well. CIRs who are responsible for planning international events or translating signage as part of their work duties may find this tool helpful.

http://dis.clair.or.jp/
https://www.clair.or.jp/e/multiculture/index.html