Dear American JET Alumni,
I’m writing a book about American alumni of the JET Program and the growing influence of this community on the broader US-Japan relationship. I’m a professor at Indiana University and a JET alum (Shimane, 1993-1995). I’ve already published some research about American alumni of JET and the tremendous potential of this pool of college educated people with on-the-ground experience in Japan. My book will document the alumni community’s influence in a variety of settings — political, cultural, educational, corporate, media, etc.
As I work on this book I need your help. I’m interested in talking with American alumni about the various ways they remain involved with Japan after finishing their tenure with JET. Would you be willing to be interviewed for this project?
I’ve set up an online data collection site and am asking that alumni who are willing to be interviewed use that link to provide a few details about themselves so I can determine whom to contact and when, based on my research timeline. This project is authorized by my university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and as the first item at the link below indicates, all safeguards associated with such university-approved research are in place.
If you’re willing to share your post-JET experiences and your insights about the growing influence of the American JET alumni community please click on this link (http://bit.ly/1Fvjvof) and provide the requested information (name, contact info, years & position on JET, current job, and nature of continued involvement with Japan). I will follow up with you soon to set up a phone or Skype interview.
If you have any questions about this request or if you’d just like to know more about this book project — I’m always happy to talk about it! — please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks so much for any insights you can share. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Emily
Emily Metzgar, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Journalism
The Media School @ Indiana University
emetzgar [at] indiana [dot] edu
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