WIT Life #233: Live Your Dream
Events, Film, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers 
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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.
Handmade bookmark distributed in Taylor’s memory
Last month I had the opportunity to interpret for Mr. Hakubun Shimomura, the current Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT or 文部科学省) during his time in Washington, DC. His schedule included a variety of official visits and meetings, including to a charter school and with various U.S. government agencies, but to me the most personally significant part of working with him was when he addressed the local JETAA chapter (In addition to MEXT, JET is carried out by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC or 総務省), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA or 外務省) and the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR or 自治体国際化協会).
Minister Shimomura provided opening remarks at a reception before the screening of a documentary called Live Your Dream, which tells the story of JET Taylor Anderson who lost her life in the tsunami two years ago. Also featured in this film is the other JET who passed away during this natural disaster, Montgomery (Monty) Dickson. Family members of both victims were present, and prior to the screening Taylor’s father Andy Anderson and Monty’s sister Shelly Fredrickson were on hand to share their memories of their loved ones.
Andy told how after a screening in Tokyo, a woman who had been touched by the movie presented him with1000 handmade bookmarks and asked that he distribute them in his daughter’s memory. Shelly gave an emotional tribute to her younger brother, telling of his early passion for Japanese and how he completely devoted himself to study of the language. She had flown out for the screening all the way from Alaska, saying that she never passed up a chance to speak about Monty and keep his spirit alive. There was not a dry eye in the house during the film, and on our way out audience members received the beautiful bookmarks in Taylor’s memory.
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