ABSTRACT
MANY THOUSANDS of young people from Britain have spent years in Japan as teachers of English. Some have also taught English literature and helped to spread understanding of British culture and history, but language teaching has been their main task. In the early post-war years they went to Japan at their own initiative or in response to job offers. Later, as the demand grew, the JET (Japan English Teachers) scheme was introduced and teachers were recruited in large numbers to assist in schools and offices. The scheme has undoubtedly helped many young British people to get to know something of Japan, Japanese people and Japanese culture. It has also contributed to improvements in the ability of Japanese people to speak and understand the English language, but as Mike Barrett (see Chapter 7) has pointed out, teachers of English in Japan have often been frustrated by the conservative attitudes of Japanese pedagogues and the rigidities of an examination system which puts the prime emphasis on grammar and syntax.
