By KPR
Bowling Green, KY – Every summer a few hundred Americans gather at the nearest Japanese Consulate and prepare to move to Japan. This year eight Kentuckians are among them. They leave from Nashville on Saturday morning. They're the latest recruits into the Japan Exchange and Teaching, or JET Program. Most of them will be teaching English in Japanese public schools. Following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation crisis in Japan, far more applicants than usual turned down offers to join the JET program. But Adrienne Ledbetter isn't one of them. She's from Bowling Green and said she thinks her new job plays an important role for people from both countries.
"Without Japan and they're moving manufacturing over here there would be far fewer jobs and far fewer investments. It makes me feel really grateful. Because sometimes I feel like Kentucky is, we're not thought of so kindly by other parts of the United States."
Ledbetter she took some Japanese language classes at Western Kentucky University. She's one of eight Kentuckians leaving for Japan this weekend.