JETs are not employed directly by the national Japanese government, "the JET Programme" or CLAIR. Each JET Programme participant signs their employment contract with an individual contracting organisation or CO. * For ALTs, COs can be prefectural/designated city boards of education, municipal (city/town/village) boards of education or individual private schools. * For CIRs and SEAs, COs can be the prefectural/designated city government, a municipal (city/town/village) government or a related organisation.