The Chinese/Mexican Restaurant: A New York Phenomenon
Devon Brown (Tokyo-to, 2002-04) is a freelance writer with a focus on food. You can read more of her writing at TravelingTastebuds.blogspot.com.
Have you ever walked into a Mexican restaurant only to find it staffed entirely by Chinese people? For those of you outside the New York area, I’m sure the answer is no. Last week I wrote a piece about this subject for bushwickbk.com and thought it might be interesting to share with a wider audience.
In 1991, motivated by the market saturation of Chinese restaurants, a Chinese immigrant named Mr. Zheng opened…
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Health Insurance and Freelance Translators
For any freelancers–translators or others–there’s a good discussion of what various freelance translators in the U.S. do for health insurance on the Honyaku GoogleGroup at http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/browse_thread/thread/ede45eb284546152?hl=en. (You need to sign up and be a member of the group to see the discussion, btw.)
Writing opportunity: JQ (JETAANY Quarterly) seeks writers
JQ (JETAANY Quarterly) Magazine editor Justin Tedaldi is seeking writers for the below assignments. If interested, contact Justin at magazine /atto/ jetaany /dotto/ org.
1. JETAA ALUMNI AUTHOR SHOWCASE – MARCH 22 @ 1:00 p.m.
On March 22, JETAA NY is pleased to present three great authors – Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06) and Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04) – who will discuss their books, the craft and business of writing and how their JET experience fits into the picture. Here’s a chance for you to write a story about this unique, first-time ever event!
Moderator: Randall David Cook (Fukui-ken, 1991-93) is the author of the acclaimed off-broadway plays Sake With the Haiku Geisha and Fate’s Imagination.
*Click http://jetwit.com/wordpress/library/authorsbooks/ to see a full list of JET alumni authors.
*Special guest appearance by Akira Sugiyama, Director of the Japan Information Center of the Consulate General of Japan in New York .
This event is being organized in cooperation with the Consulate General of Japan in New York.
2. JAPAN NITE ’09 CONCERT – MARCH 22 @ 8:00 p.m.
Since 1996, BENTEN Tokyo & SXSW Asia Rep have held an yearly showcase called JAPAN NITE U.S. TOUR including SXSW appearance and has introduced countless Japanese Artists to the world. 2009 will mark its 13 year anniversary. The performer’s brilliant musical performances, unique character and variety of style has won the acclaim of many, and Japan Nite evolved each year to become one of the most popular showcases in SXSW. The event has featured over 60 bands, including the likes of LOVE PSYCHEDELICO, ORIGINAL LOVE,,Lolita No.18, Number Girl, Petty Booka,TsuShiMaMire, noodles, PE’Z, Stance Punks, ELLEGARDEN, HY,The 50 KAITENZ, ASAKUSA JINTA, PISTOL VALVE, THE EMERALDS, ORESKA BAND and GO!GO! 7188 and more. We have Two Japan Nite shows during this year SXSW and after that we travel 7 other cities as always. Please check out the schedule below and come to see awesome new bands! You know Asakusa Jinta and detroit7 are coming back again. I am sure they are going to be one of the highlights of the tour and I am so happy to introduce new all girl bands and also Japanese punk legend band, SA. You should check out indie band hero, SPARTA LOCALS also. It’s so nice and unbelievable that one of the best alternative band, GRAPEVINE also join the tour!
Concert is Sunday, March 22 at NY’s Bowery Ballroom with: detroit7/SA/SPARTA LOCALS/FLiP/Omodaka/GRAPEVINE/ ASAKUSA JINTA
Anyone interested in reviewing the show or interviewing the coordinators or talent?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=1000416699
3. JET ALUM PUBLISHES BOOK OF POEMS
JETAA Chicago Newsletter editor Elizabeth Friedman told me about James Shea, a Chicago-based JET alum who has a new book of poetry recently out on Amazon. His info is posted on the Authors page in the JetWit Library, and an article about James would make a great story to share with JETAA Chicago for their next issue.
James Shea, a former ALT and Monbukagakusho research student, published his first book of poetry in November of last year. The book is entitled Star in the Eye and is available on amazon.com. Some of the poetry is inspired by his experiences in Japan as an ALT. The book has won the 2008 Fence Modern Poets Series Prize and was also named as one of the “Favorite Books of 2008″ by the Chicago Sun Times. For more information, please visit the following link: http://www.amazon. com/Star- Eye-James- Shea/dp/19342001 4X
4. JOKICHI TAKAMINE PLAY, APRIL. 10-11
JetWit contributor Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-Ken CIR, 2000-03) told us about a play running for two days in April (10-11) that we can we profile. It’s about Jokichi Takamine, the Japanese doctor who discovered adrenaline at the turn of the century. He married an American and after some time in Japan they moved back here and bought a Japanese estate called Shofuden that had been displayed at the 1904 World’s Fair. Stacy saw a DVD of a performance in Tokyo , and her company is a sponsor. Stacy will attend one of the performances and can possibly arrange tickets to anyone interested in writing an article.
5. NEW YORK-TOKYO.COM PROFILE
This is a group that frequently sponors exclusive films, music and multimedia events here in New York . We run a story about them and I’ll put you in touch with someone in charge to provide more info.
Started in 2001, NEW YORK – TOKYO (NYT) is a NYC – based event media production and marketing communications company that is uniquely positioned to tap into the creative cultural vibe between New York and Tokyo , media capitals of the world.
http://www.newyork-tokyo.com/wp/about/
6. JAPANESE CONSULATE FEATURE
The article “Nihonjin in New York ” in the current issue spotlighted the JLGC. For the next issue, I’m thinking of getting in touch with someone at the Consulate-General’s office. They publish an online newsletter of their own, and have at least one CLAIR representative we can speak with.
http://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/en/html/index.html
7. JOB PROSPECTS FOR JETS, CIRCA 2009
I’m interested in a piece that talks about the challenges new returnee JETs face after coming home and looking for work in this economy, as well as other JET alums considering new jobs or just looking for work. This could be as simple as anecdotes (along the lines of our “How’s the Economy Treating You?” feature from fall 2008), but I’d like to turn this into an actual feature story, with at least three volunteers providing the details.
8. THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE NEWSPAPERS IN NEW YORK
There are close to a dozen newspapers and magazines in Japanese that are distributed for free at grocery stores and other select places in teh city. The question is, why are there so many, who runs them, what is there staff like, and how can they be more in touch with the JET community?
9. TOKA…
Justin is also looking for contributions for next issue’s Nippon News Blotter and East Meets West along with additional story ideas, and would also like to talk ad sales for anyone interested in making warm calls to follow up with contacts he’s e-mailed the new issue to. The more advertisers JQ gets next time, the more it can grow and evolve content- and style-wise.
Any questions, e-mail Justin at magazine /atto/ jetaany /dotto/ org.
Job: Director of the Office of International Education (Pittsburgh)
Via Chronicle of Higher Ed international program jobs:
Position: Director of the Office of International Education – #5659
Salary: Unspecified
Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
Location: Pennsylvania
Date posted: 2/26/2009 Read More
Job: Bi-lingual Japanese Foreign Exchange Associate (New York)
Via JETAA NY Job Forum:
Bi-lingual Japanese Foreign Exchange Associate
Duties and Responsibilities:
Providing support for both institutional clients and self-trading individual customers from all over the world
Discussing the financial markets and what moves them
Assisting customers with account inquiries
Processing incoming account applications
Speaking about our trading platform and the FX market with prospective clients
Using an intelligent soft sales approach from a reputable company with no cold calling
Building and maintaining relationships with clients through phone, email Read More