Glossary

These are official documents and forms for the Kobe Board of Education. They must be printed, filled out and submitted in person or through school mail (bunsho).

View all Official Documents

Omiyage is the Japanese word for 'souvenir'. It can be used for any kind of souvenir, but in the context of your school or workplace, it generally means those small mysterious snacks occasionally found on your desk when you arrive at work in the morning.

It's not expected for you to give out omiyage at all, but if you do go on a trip and manage to bring back some treats, it's a great way to start a conversation about your trip, talk to someone haven't had the chance to yet, or just generally make everybody think better of you.

Buying Omiyage:
Omiyage can be found at many places, but the easiest place to find them is the special omiyage store at major stations. The 7/11 omiyage store at the Shin Kobe Shinkansen Station is one such example. You can check on the back of an omiyage box to see how many are included (it will say something like ３０個入り), and remember some schools have 50+ staff members, so make sure to buy enough!

When giving out omiyage, don't forget the people in the admin office and maintanence rooms. They will love you for it!

A demon

Acronym for Official Teacher of English.

Many JET contracting organizations refer to this as JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), however Kobe City uses the term OTE to avoid the assumption that all English teachers are Japanese.