The Importance of the Climb: A Journey from JET to Mayor
Kyle Schlachter (Kyoto, 2005-2006)
Interviewed by Marco Blasco (Aomori, 2021-2024)
Be it for one year or five years, it takes a certain type of person to pack up their entire lives and move to a completely foreign country. Yet year after year, countless JETs do it. I think this level of courage and risk-taking is a huge reason why many JETs end up in leadership positions, both in Japan and their home countries, when their tenure on JET is finished.
Kyle Schlachter is no exception to this.
I was very excited to talk to Kyle about his JET experience and his career path, as it’s not every day that you have the opportunity to speak with a mayor.
Kyle graduated from the University of Denver in 2003, and then graduated with his Master’s of Science in Geography from the University of Tennessee in 2005. While Kyle was in graduate school, a friend of Kyle’s then-girlfriend, now wife, participated in the JET Program. After both Kyle and his girlfriend spoke to the friend about it, they thought it could be a great way to explore the world and take a break from academics. Kyle had already deferred acceptance to a PhD.
Kyle with his now wife at Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto during their JET years.
So they decided to apply for the JET Program, and they were accepted and placed in Kyoto together.
When I asked Kyle what his favorite experience during the JET Program was, he replied that there were so many once-in-a-lifetime moments. He mentioned one particular excursion in early June when he and some friends set out to climb Mt. Fuji. Despite it being technically before the hiking season, they were determined to do so. Despite temperatures that dropped significantly during the hike, they were successful, however, and managed to watch the sunrise from the top of Japan’s tallest mountain.
While he only spent a year in Japan on JET, it seems that he really made the most of his opportunities and experiences, and that seems to be a pattern in his life. Most people can live their entire lifetime in Japan without ever climbing Mt. Fuji, and every JET knows that it can be easy to get stuck in our routines and forget that one of the reasons we came in the first place was because of that desire for new experiences.
Kyle (on right) with JET friends summiting Mt. Fuji together.
But the go-getter attitude did not stop with Fuji-san, it extended to his life back home. When he returned to the United States, he and his wife moved to Littleton, Colorado in 2009. While he is the current mayor of the town, he also (quite impressively) still has a day job as the executive director at the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board at the Colorado Department of Agriculture. He has worked there since he moved to Littleton in 2009, and his interest in the local community led him to get involved with and elected to the city council for a two-year term in 2017.
However, Kyle didn’t win reelection in 2019. He mentioned this setback as a piece of his advice to JETs: don’t be afraid to fail, don't be afraid to take risks that might not turn out as you hope. What’s important isn’t that you failed, but that you look back on those experiences with a new point of view, and then use that experience moving forward. It was during these two years when Kyle didn’t serve on the council that Littleton changed its leadership structure to that of an elected mayor. In 2021, Kyle ran and became the first elected mayor of the city. He was reelected four years later.
Kyle with students at Rakuhoku High School in Kyoto while on JET.
When I asked Kyle how his JET experience impacted his professional life, he said that it shaped how he viewed local communities, and it also taught him how to be a representative. He said he often finds that local government is actually the most impactful on people’s lives, and while on JET, one’s role as a cultural ambassador is not dissimilar. JETs are engrossed and become a large part of the local community and can impact the lives of their students and other teachers around them in significant ways. He also noted how, as mayor, he is the face of the entire community. What he says and does has an impact on everyone in Littleton, not just himself. It’s a very similar situation to the JET Program, where what you say and do is representative of your home country, and in some cases, most of the English-speaking world.
It can be a heavy burden, but it’s one that Kyle seems to shoulder with ease.
When I asked him if he had any advice for prospective JETs, his words were simple: “Just do it.” He said that it’s a blessing in disguise, no matter where you get placed, and that you should never be afraid to try something new. You never know where the path might lead you.
You might even end up being mayor someday.
About Kyle Schlachter (Kyoto, 2005-2006)
Kyle Schlachter was a Kyoto-shi JET from 2005 to 2006. Kyle was the first directly elected Mayor of Littleton, Colorado, first elected in 2021 and re-elected in 2025. Prior to serving as Mayor, he was an At-Large City Council member for Littleton 2017-2019. He has worked for the Colorado Wine Industry Development Board since 2010, serving as the executive director since 2023.
The Senpai Spotlight series features JET alumni from the US who have made successful careers for themselves in various fields—with the goal of inspiring JETs and JET alumni to pursue their own dreams while also offering some words of advice only a senpai could know.
If you, or someone you know, would like to be featured as a Senpai Spotlight, please reach out to us at contact@usjetaa.org.
This edition of Senpai Spotlight was written by Marco Blasco, a writer and editor based in snowy northern Japan. Originally from America, his interest in Japanese culture and religion brought him to Japan through the JET Program in 2021, where he has made a second home for himself.
