By Sage Burch

This year was a blast. 

Our team did a fantastic job this year, especially considering that we were finally stabilizing after a devastating global pandemic. 

We hosted three enkais (banquet / party / feast)! The first was over the summer to welcome in the last few JETs finally arriving in Ehime, their arrival having been staggered throughout the year due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. The second was hosted in December, after the yearly Skills Development Conference, perfectly timed to proactively welcome in the new year. And the final enkai was hosted this March so that JETs across Ehime could say farewell to their friends departing in April and to close out the academic year with a bang. 

We played three role playing games this year. Our first was a spooky Ten Candles game, a collaborative storytelling experience set during an apocalyptic alien invasion where we knew from the start that our characters would die. In February, we played The Skeletons at the Matsuyama Civic Center. After the darkness and violence of those games, we chose Cozy Town for our March RPG– a wonderful map-making game–which we hosted at Matsuyama City General Community Center.

Now, I have a farewell message for our team.

? Jordan has been keeping the blog alive and well for four years now, and they’ve been on AJET since their very first year on JET nearly five years ago. Thanks to Jordan’s hard work, we’ve been able to read story after story of JET experiences from years past and see how our experiences have changed or stayed the same over time. Their commitment to AJET and the Ehime JET community has been felt throughout the prefecture.

☀️ Peng has done a phenomenal job as our Event Coordinator this year, taking us back into the realm of in-person events. He has planned not one, but THREE enkais for all JETs in Ehime. Peng also organized the spookiest and most atmospheric of our RPG events, which was a personal highlight of the year for myself.

A Message to AJET Members Past

We’ve had several AJET members leave us halfway through the year, and we are so thankful for all that they brought to AJET.

? Ivania was an event coordinator alongside Peng . She had a lot of great ideas and was a wonderful addition to our team! We hope to see Ivania on our team again.

? Kyra was our social media coordinator and managed our Discord server. Though her time on AJET was cut short, we are so thankful that she was on our team.

? Matthew was our Secretary and helped manage the Discord on the side. He was our social media coordinator last year and did a fantastic job setting up the Discord!

I joined AJET back when we had to adapt to a new way of life and think of new ways to keep AJET alive, and now it’s time to bring back the AJET we once knew before the pandemic. That means more events, more socializing, and possibly even more cross-prefectural exchange!

Best wishes to the next AJET team. We know for sure you’ll do great things.

Sage Burch

AJET President, 2022-’23

Sage Burch is the President of Ehime AJET for the 2022-2023 year. Sage is a fourth year JET in Matsuyama City with a bachelor’s in Global Studies and an interest in creative writing and language learning.