I applied online. The process took 7 months. I interviewed at JET Program (Phoenix, AZ) in Jan 2016
Interview
Interview process was great overall. In person with a panel of staff and Japanese ministry interviewing. Lasted one hour. More of a conversation than series of questions. Be prepared to talk about educational background and reasons for wanting to be in Japan. They will ask placement preferences including cities and age range teaching preference. They will ask questions about past teaching experience and why you will be a good fit as a teacher in Japan. They will also as a few situational questions such as describe a time you managed conflict between two people.
wirtten personal statement, online application , then face to face interview. Sometimes they ask you to take a simple japanese test too to check your level. The time between applying and finding out you have an interview was about 3 months. After the interview it took about 3 months before ifound out if i had been offered and position and an additional 3 months before I found out where i was being placed.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
If you could teach students about three famous people from your home country, alive or dead, who would you teach them about?
Smooth. Interviewers were kind. Asked questions about why I wanted to join, asked me some questions in Japanese, asked about ways I could contribute as an ALT, and that was that.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What methods do you plan to use to get students interested in English outside of the classroom?
Panels consist of three to four members, stay calm and remember what you wrote in your SOP, you will do fine! Just be professional and polite. Don't worry about the Japanese portion, it does not effect your acceptance.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you teach a lesson about animals to elementary schoolers?