Be a Host School for the Japanese Language Education Assistant Program (J-LEAP)
Academic, Uncategorized 
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Thanks to JET alum Stephen Smith for sharing this information. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Applications to be a host school for the Japanese Language Education Assistant Program (J-LEAP) are now available online. This program seeks K-12 Japanese language teachers to apply to become supervisors to young, native Japanese teaching assistants who have studied Japanese language pedagogy. In addition to receiving a teaching assistant for two years, selected schools will be provided with a $1,000 stipend to purchase teaching materials for the Japanese language classroom.
Please not that J-LEAP teaching assistants cannot serve as independent teachers in the classroom. They are not certified and need to be supervised by a certified teacher.
Please click on the link below and scroll down to the J-LEAP section. You will find links to downloadable program prospectus and application on the right. (Deadline: all application materials need to be submitted by January 31.)
http://www.laurasian.org/Programs.htm
JETAA USA National Conference in San Francisco this weekend
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I’m heading to San Francisco today to participate in the the JETAA USA Conference for the next four days hosted by JETAA Northern California. A great opportunity to meet and work with officers from the 19 US chapters to build and strengthen the JET alumni community and its goals and purposes.
Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94)
Job: Postings from Idealist.org 10.24.12
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Via Idealist.org. Posted by Geneva Marie (Niigata-ken 2008-09) Geneva is a contributor to both JETwit and JETAANY. Geneva is on a continuous (epic) search for Japanese-related jobs in the United States. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Grants Associate with Give2Asia
Posted by: The Asia Foundation
Type: Full-time
Location: San Francisco, CA
Salary: Commensurate with experience
Application Deadline: November 2, 2012
Give2Asia is seeking a highly organized and motivated professional to become our new Grants Associate. The Grants Associate is responsible for supporting grant-making and donor stewardship activities. Bachelors degree with minimum 2-3 years of professional experience required. Interest in international philanthropy and international development preferred.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/xPTGS3GhB7SP/
Au Pair Coordinator
Posted by: Cultural International Homestay (C.H.I)
Type: Part-time/Contract
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Salary: Approx 1000/placement per year
Application Deadline: Not Specified
The J1 Au Pair program is looking for a local coordinator ( APC – Au Pair Coordinator) for the Milwaukee area. The coordinator would be responsible for developing the area from the ground up and would be expected to spend between 2-5 hours a week assisting families and Au Pairs as well as marketing. This is a part time independent contractor position and coordinators are paid for each family they recruit who places with an Au Pair.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/xPM2f5MP5gnp/
JQ Magazine Seeks Writers for Winter 2012!
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Visit JQ magazine online at http://jetaany.org/magazine
As winter approaches, JETAA New York’s JQ magazine continues to provide content with an ever-expanding array of articles, interviews and features (see our recent stories here). We’re now looking for new writers, including recent returnees and JET vets, from all JETAA chapters worldwide for posting stories via our host at the global JET alumni resource site JETwit.com. (Scribes are also encouraged to join the JET Alumni Writers group on LinkedIn.)
Below are story ideas grouped by JET participants and alumni (JET World) and those more on Japanese culture (Japan World). And if you’re a JET or JETWit contributor from anywhere in the world with a story idea of your own, let us know!
Click “Read More” below for our winter 2012 ideas pitch package, and contact JQ editor Justin Tedaldi (magazine [at] jetaany [dot] org) to sign up for stories.
WIT Life #217: David Mitchell’s Japan connection
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Last week I had the chance to see English author David Mitchell at Symphony Space. He appeared with several actors who read short stories he had selected as some of his favorites, and then Campbell Scott read a sample from his novel Cloud Atlas. Mitchell was alternatively humorous and self-deprecating, and he offered many insights into what had grabbed him about the short stories he had picked as well as the way he pursues his craft.
Cloud Atlas is actually composed of six interlocking novellas that span centuries and characters, and they are connected by the theme of souls being reborn in different places and times. Cloud Atlas is challenging to read at times, but really fascinating stuff so totally worth it. The movie version is being released later this week, and I’m very eager to see how much Read More
Justin’s Japan: New York Comic Con Welcomes ‘Sakuran’ Creator Moyoco Anno
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Manga author Moyoco Anno with New York Comic Con attendee Joy Charbonneau of Pacifica, CA, Oct. 14, 2012. (Justin Tedaldi)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Anime and manga fandom came out in full force at New York Comic Con last weekend, with a record 116,000 fans visiting the Jacob K. Javits Center for the annual event. Sunday (Oct. 14) hosted special guest artist Moyoco Anno of Sugar Sugar Rune and Sakuran fame.
A professional mangaka (manga artist and author) and one of the most respected names in Japanese comics today for her josei (ladies’) comics, Anno was in town to promote the recently released English-language edition of Sakuran, a starkly drawn tale of Japanese courtesans in the Edo period.
“We’d been thinking about publishing Sakuran for a few years now, and were finally able to convince [our] CEO to take the plunge,” said Ed Chavez, marketing director of Vertical Inc., the book’s North American publisher, which had its own booth at Comic Con. Based in New York, Vertical translates Japanese works of fiction and non-fiction that are considered good reads with universal themes from its vibrant book market.
Standouts of Vertical’s manga stable include Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha, Usamaru Furuya’s No Longer Human and Kanata Konami’s Chi’s Sweet Home.
For the complete story, click here.
I’ll Make It Myself!: Pumpkin Spice Latte with Kabocha Purée (Bonus: Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe)
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to L.M.at jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
If every Japan food blogger is required by law to cover okonomiyaki (twice), then every food blogger in the US and Canada is required to offer a homemade version of Starbucks pumpkin spice latte.
The most popular variety has pumpkin purée rather than syrup mixed into it. Whether you live in Japan or the US, you don’t have to worrying about buying canned pumpkin before the Thanksgiving hoarders get to it or even stocking up on the orange pumpkins that seem to disappear on November 1 to make your own purée. Where there is squash, there can be “pumpkin” spice latte. No import store required.
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘The Buddha in the Attic’
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“Just the right length, the perfect amount of general and specific, and no solid story but yet the story that so many people in the United States—and elsewhere—can tell about hope, and heartbreak, and the ways in which lives change that most of us never intend or imagine.” (Knopf)
By Liz Mathews (Hiroshima-ken, 2005-06) for JQ magazine. Liz is the JETAA New York Book Club wrangler.
I would like to start by saying that the JETAANY Book Club discussed reading Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic for at least five months before choosing it for our fall meeting. This is notable because 1) we were right in our primary reason for putting it off; and 2) we were even more right in finally selecting it to read. It’s easy to explain the first note: Over the summer we thought it best to opt for a lighter, more beachy read, and not a novel about Japanese “picture brides” and their distressing existences in the United States of the early 20th century.
As for the second point, autumn and its colder, shorter, darker days did turn out to be a much more appropriate setting to read Otsuka’s carefully composed novel. Otsuka wrote her book in eight sections, writing mostly from the perspective of the women—the women as a united “we”—who came across the ocean to a new life of false promises, how they endured meeting their husbands the first time, how they got along (or didn’t) with their employers and new fellow countrymen, and what happened as a new, Japanese American generation grew.
For all the suffering in those first five sections, there is hope written between the lines. Hope for a new life with a wonderful husband, hope that hard work will pay off in acceptance, and hope for their children in that, as one of the paragraphs ends, “Whatever you do, don’t end up like me.” But then, as one club member put it, “You come to this country, you work your ass off, you think you’re getting somewhere…and then you don’t” (referring to the war’s outbreak).
When we got together to discuss The Buddha in the Attic, we spent a fair amount of time talking about the perspective the story was written from—first person plural—and how initially we didn’t like it, but then either grew accustomed to it or could at least appreciate it as a tool. One attendee stated, “Everyone’s situation is different. You can’t even generalize the Japanese experience.” Another pointed out, “[Otsuka] has a new story in every sentence.” We laughed a little at this realization, probably as all our thoughts turned back to our own departure orientations, when we were constantly told those very same things.
Japanese Lessons by Reading Newspaper
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The following is an ad for a private Japanese language tutor:
Do you want to focus on reading/writing? No problem! I will create a customized curriculum for you.
I am a native Japanese speaker, an experienced and certified (MA in Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language) Japanese language consultant. I have experienced all the class settings from a public high school to 4 year colleges. I previously taught business Japanese at the Japan Society in SF. I have also taught private lessons for business people at companies such as Fujitsu, Cisco Systems, and Palo Alto Research Center.
Through these teaching experiences, I found that reading Japanese News Paper can be an effective way to improve Japanese proficiency, especially for advanced learners. This approach can also bring learners closer to Japanese culture through the latest news in Japan. Thus, I decided to begin offering a Japanese tutoring program with Japanese News Paper, which focuses on reading using e-mail.
How to begin? Simply respond to parenthoodconsulting@gmail.com and I will send you a sample lesson for free, which is a selected Japanese newspaper article with Hiragana reading for every Kanjis. English versions of the article will follow for your reference.
If you like it, move on to the next stage: weekly lessons. It’s really affordable. I will provide tutoring if you need help with reading/pronunciation.
You can do a trial lesson (first 4 weeks of the weekly lesson) for FREE!
Come join our Japanese News Paper Reading Society today!!
Kenji
parenthoodconsulting@gmail.com
Job: Administrative Assistant at The Embassy of Japan (DC)
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Via JETAA DC. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Administrative Assistant
Posted by: Embassy of Japan
Type: Full-time
Location: Washington, DC
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The Embassy of Japan is seeking an individual for the position of Administrative Assistant in the Consulate Section starting from January 4, 2013.
Requirements:
•U.S. Citizen or green card holder
•Fluent in both English and Japanese.
•Computer skills such as the ability to use Microsoft Word, Excel, and Dreamweaver (Web Development Application).
•Experience living or working in Japan preferred.
•Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
Work Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00am – 12:30pm, 1:30pm – 5:00pm
Lunch Break: 12:30pm -1:30pm
The Embassy offers group health insurance coverage, 15 days of paid vacation per year, a number of paid U.S./Japanese holidays, and sick leave. Salary is commensurate with experience. Read More
Job: The Japan Information & Culture Center (JICC), Internship (DC)
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Via JETAA DC. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Intern
Posted by: The Japan Information & Culture Center (JICC)
Type: Internship
Location: Washington, DC
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Internship Opportunity:
The Japan Information & Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan is seeking unpaid, part to full-time interns (12-35hrs/week) for Spring 2013. Internship start/end dates and hours are customized with the academic schedule of the chosen candidate.
The JICC is a part of the Public Affairs section of the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC. Our primary role is to promote a better understanding of Japan and Japanese culture by providing a wide range of information and events to the American public, particularly in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. We strive to build bridges between the two cultures through various activities, such as film screenings, art exhibitions, lectures, an online newsletter, and school programs. The JICC is the gateway to connect the American public to Japan and the interns are an integral part of our efforts. Read More
Job: Smithsonian Asian Pacific American (APA) Center Internship Opportunities for 2012 (DC)
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Thanks to JET Alum Steven Smith, for sharing this opening. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Intern
Posted by: The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Type: Internship
Location: Washington, DC
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Internship Opportunities:
Please note the following deadlines:
■Spring 2013: October 26, 2012
■Summer 2013: March 29, 2013
■Fall 2013: June 28, 2013
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American (APA) Center announces internship opportunities for 2012. Selected interns will be provided with an office space equipped with a computer, phone, access to Smithsonian collections, libraries, reference materials, and other resources, as well as advice and research guidance from the APA Center and other Smithsonian staff.
Want to know what it’s like to be an intern at the Smithsonian APA Center? Click here to read blog posts written by past interns. Read More
I’ll Make It Myself: Halloween Taste-Testing: Mister Donut and Doughnut Plant
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
I distinctly remember saying last year that I wished that Mister Donut would get a pumpkin-flavored doughnut, and this year, my wish came true!
Job: HelloEnglish.US seeks ESL tutors for Japanese learners on Skype
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A job listing directly from HelloEnglish.us which has posted to JETwit previously and had success hiring JET alumni as a result:
Job Position: ESL Tutors needed for Japanese learners on Skype
Job Details: My name is Scarlett and I live in Wilmington, NC. I own a small business that is growing quite rapidly called HelloEnglish.us. I give English conversation classes to people in Japan on Skype. Currently, I have around 400 students. I have about 30 current tutors but it is not near enough. I have over 1800 classes that are prepaid and I am looking to hire 20 more tutors. I am in need of teachers or tutors who would like to earn extra money. One of my teachers was accepted into the JET program. He found it invaluable to work here in a small way to prepare for what was coming in Japan. I also think that this might be very helpful for JET Alumni re-acclimating themselves to their home country. Or like me, an older woman who looks back affectionately on my time in Japan and sees my conversations as a way to re-connect with the culture I know and appreciate so well.
This job pays $12 per 55 minute class completed and is paid through PayPal on a weekly basis. The tutors make their own schedule of when they would like to give classes. The job is “located” on Skype ~ a free computer application.
Here is more information about the positions and how to apply: http://www.onlineeikaiwa.jp/eslteachers.html
I have had previous success hiring alumni of the JET Program and would love to hire more.
I’ll Make It Myself: Kabocha Squash Purée (Pumpkin Purée Substitute)
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Trying to shift your mentality of “I can’t have it because I can’t buy it in Japan” to “I’ll make it myself!” is hard. Really hard. For example, let’s take my recent discovery of how to purée kabocha to substitute for pumpkin purée/canned pumpkin in American recipes. Kabocha and pumpkin have different textures. Pumpkin has more water content, so mashing and processing boiled or baked pumpkin (something I might have phoned my mom about in grad school) results in a texture like thick applesauce. Mashed kabocha is more like mashed potatoes.
Trying to substitute mashed kabocha for canned pumpkin does not work. This is what I was told, and it’s true. But that doesn’t mean you can’t purée it by adding water and blending.
I know, I know.
