Career Planning Advice (Entering Second Year of JET)

I'm a long time lurker posting for the first time! Please be kind.

• Background –

For context, I'm a US JET in a rural placement entering the second year (as of the last week) and have also recently enrolled in the (MSEd in TESOL at Temple in Tokyo) online for which classes will begin this fall. Additionally, I'm awaiting results from the July N1 Exam (currently holding N2), but anticipate likely having to retake in December, which isn't the end of the world given I intend to stay on JET likely at least 3 years, if not 4 to enable full completion of the MSEd and sufficient accruement of savings.

Based on my reading of this subreddit, since I hold no teaching license, international schools are off the table and I can only really hope for private school (with an outside chance of direct hire license sponsorship there or at the BOE) and or university as the only viable and somewhat upwardly mobile post-JET teaching options.

• Main Question –

If I intend to stay in Japan beyond JET, what can I be doing now to optimize my chances of landing either of these (though my preferred is definitely university)?

Continuing to study Japanese hard and completing the masters before my time on JET seems to be the biggest things, but what else?

What organizations should I join? Networking I should be doing (given my rural placement)? What else should I be doing right now? Anything else come to mind based on my current situation?

I also welcome frank assessments about whether it's worth pursuing teaching here in Japan at this point. It seems there's a vocal camp on here who seem to think looking elsewhere might make the most sense given the industry's trends and the country's demographics. But for now, I'm interested in trying to stay for the medium term.

Thanks in advance!