Oct 26

WIT LIfe #54: Samurai Umpires

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

Last night I was able to attend a private screening of the intriguing documentary Samurai Umpires in the U.S.A.  Executive producer/director Takayuki Tanaka is a Japanese native who conceptualized the idea for his film while studying at the New York Film Academy.  His work focuses on six Japanese baseball umpires working in the minor leagues with dreams of making it to the Majors.

This all-male group ranges in age and umpiring experience, and the movie delves into Read More

Oct 16

WIT Life #52: Manifesto Woes

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

The Manifesto is the imposing name of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)’s platform for its new government, one that promises to “put people’s lives first.”  In order to accomplish this, its five pledges are the end of wasteful spending, childrearing and education, pension and medical care, regional sovereignty and employment and the economy.  Although great in theory, new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is realizing that these goals are easier to state than actually carry out.  Japanese ministries and agencies asked to spend a record 95.04 trillion yen ($1 trillion) next fiscal year, risking expansion of the world’s largest public debt.

This creates the issue of whether the DPJ can fulfill its election pledges without worsening an already significant debt burden.  In response to this, Fujisankai carried out Read More

Oct 16

JQ Magazine’s “Fall Classic Rock” Issue Now Available Online!

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Page 3……..Letter From the Editor / Letter From the Treasurer
Page 4……..Nippon News Blotter / CJ’s Wedding
Page 5……..Comings & Goings / JETAA National Conference in Chicago
Page 6……..JETAANY Annual Softball Tournament
Page 7……..Working the Written Word by Alexei Esikoff
Page 8……..Nihonjin in New York – Featuring JETRO’s Maya Eiki-Law by Joe Marucheck
Page 8……..Actor Jun Kim Talks heavenly BENTO by Adren Hart
Page 9……..Americans on Fuji: Talking with Author Sara Backer by Veronika Ruff
Page 10……International Visitor Leadership Program Interpreting by Stacy Smith

Page 11……JQ&A with New York Anime Festival’s Peter Tatara by Justin Tedaldi

Page 13……Anvil with Sacha Gervasi:  The JQ Interview: by Justin Tedaldi

Page 14……What We Did This Summer – Photos

Page 15……Theatre Review: A Recipe for heavenly BENTO by Adren Hart

Page 16……Film Review: Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo by Lyle Sylvander

Page 17……Book Corner: The China Lover by David Kowalsky

Page 18……Ace Frehley: Back in the New York Groove by Justin Tedaldi

Page 20……New York Anime Festival Photos

Page 21……Film Review: The Cove by Elizabeth Wanic

Page 21……Book Corner: Japanese Kitchen Knives / Food Carving by Yukari Sakamoto

Page 23……Top 12 List / Life After the B.O.E. / Sponsors Index

Oct 9

WIT Life #51: Environmental Education

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

Time.com featured an interesting article today about how ANA is encouraging its customers to utilize restroom facilities before coming on board in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint.  With lighter loads, planes would have reduced fuel consumption and therefore less impact on the environment.  A great idea in theory, but as the article mentioned questionable as to how successful it will be in practice.   Also, interestingly enough the pre-flight announcement with the request is only in Japanese, so those who do not speak the language might not know what is being asked.

Reading about this endeavor got me thinking about how my own attitude toward the environment and my habits subsequently changed as a result of my time living in Japan.  I remember one of the first things that surprised me Read More

Sep 30

WIT Life #50: Under the Wire

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

Big news for expecting parents.  Going into effect today in Japan (October 1), child care costs will be  borne directly by hospitals.  Previously pregnant women would have to pay the one-time delivery/child rearing costs up front and later received 380,000 yen back, but now it will be directly paid by the hospitals at a 40,000 yen increase of 420,000 yen .  This was initially proposed in Read More

Aug 8

JQ Magazine’s Summer 2009 “¼ Cheap Trick” Issue Is Out Now!

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The leader of a band that’s sold over 20 million records and brought the words “At Budokan” to the big time, the new Japanese ambassador to New York, a tour of Philadelphia that’s uncannily Zen, and chats with award-winning writers, French pastry operations managers and even a maid-outfitted cosplay superstar complete with bunny ears. All this and more in the new summer issue of JETAANY’s JQ magazine.

To preserve our budget for alumni events, and in an effort to be greener and save paper, JETAANY will begin charging for print copies of JQ Magazine. The cost is $12 for 4 issues and you will only have the opportunity to sign up once a year – annual subscriptions will occur each fall.  Please note that the magazine, in its entirety, is also available online. If you would like to sign up to receive a paper copy by mail, please follow the PayPal link below (Add to Cart) or e-mail magazinesubscriptions@jetaany.org for more information. Remember you must put “JQ subscription” and your desired mailing address in the Paypal comments box.

Editor: Justin Tedaldi – magazine@jetaany.org

Jul 29

WIT Life #46: Defining adulthood, hostess envy and 2-D love

Anecdote Article, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life Add Comment (3)

WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

There is talk in Japan of changing the legal adult age of 20 down to 18, as a government advisory panel introduced this idea on Wednesday.  This was put forth by the Democratic Party, who is expected to take power from the long-reigning Liberal Democratic Party in the upcoming general election.  The proposal will be submitted to Japan’s justice minister if the Legislative Council approves it at its general meeting in September.  This could go through sas early as May of next year, and it would allow people to vote in elections and get married without permission from their parents two years earlier than is currently permitted (the current marriage age is 18 for men and 16 for men, but they suggest making it 18 for both).

It has been said that this idea is being floated for the purpose of “young people’s self-sustainability,” but the word on the street from those interviewed on the news was that Read More

May 13

Baker’s Dozen 二番： Should I Stay or Should I Go?

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Eric Baker (Fukuoka-ken, 2006-08) hopes he is approaching the end of a year of travel and reconnecting. He’ll be writing about his thoughts and experiences as he transitions back to working in the States.

Should I stay or should I go now?…

This indecision’s bugging me.

Post-JET I hit the road for five months and ran into all sorts of people. For the inevitable question “where are you from?” I kept stock answers based on who I was chatting with. So for the toothless Syrian shepherd who’s English consisted of “Bush. Bad!”—vigorously illustrated with furrowed brow and shaking head—followed by “Obama. Good!” I threw out my vigorous nose point and Japanese accented “America.” This built enough rapport to move on to higher-level discussions, like “Clinton! Very good!” followed by suggestively arched bushy eyebrows, gaping smile and hip gyrations.

For the umpteenth hawker, I’d occasionally throw out something exciting like “I’m Japanese” or “I’m from Holland.” Either they’d be confused or annoyed and leave me alone or we’d start in on a more interesting conversation. “(playfully) Noooo. Really, where are you from?” In a small Egyptian town I spent two insightful days hanging out with a shopkeeper and his friends after starting a conversation like this.

I loved being able to connect with Japanese backpackers, who were universally びっくり！ that I could speak Japanese. I often had to say a few sentences in Japanese before they could comprehend that this white face was Read More

Feb 3

JetWit Blog Beat: The Cheetos Makeover

Anecdote Article, Blogs, Cartoon/Illustration, Humor, Writers Cheetos, Engrish, JetWit BlogBeat, Lars Martinson Comments Off on JetWit Blog Beat: The Cheetos Makeover

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JetWit Blog Beat by Crystal Wong (Iwate-ken, 2002-04) is a recurring item featuring posts from the blogs of various JET alumni.  Crystal is a former English-language writer for Kyodo News. She now works as a media planner in Chelsea and sorely misses all her favorite midtown ramen joints.

Nothing brightens a gloomy winter morning faster than a dose of that irresistible Engrish the Japanese churn out so prolifically (despite our best efforts to guide them otherwise).

Cartoonist Lars Martinson (Fukuoka, 2003-2006), author of the graphic novel Tonoharu: Part 1, shares a gem found on a bag of “Gourmet Cheetos”: http://larsmartinson.com/sophisticated-junk-food/

Dec 21

JET and the Japanese practice ethic

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Two stories stand out in my mind when I think about the Japanese practice ethic:

1. I used to occasionally play with the ping-pong club in one of my junior high schools.  After playing a couple matches with the 2nd and 3rd years, I noticed some 1st years in the hallway adjacent to the gym.  I went over to talk to them and realized that they were all standing in a line, holding their paddles, and practicing their swing at an imaginary ping-pong ball over and over for an hour.
2. My friend who was an ALT in the high schools in my town decided to participate in the kyudo (Japanese archery) club.  He learned that for the first three months the students don’t even touch a bow.  They just practice the arm movements with an imaginary bow.  Then the next three months they have a bow but no arrow and they practice the movements over and over before they finally learn with an arrow.

These stories always fascinated me.  I think they get at some of the fundamental cultural differences between Japan and the U.S. (or most other countries for that reason.

What “practice” stories or observations or memories from JET days do you have?

You can send an e-mail to jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com or just post as a comment below.

Dec 18

Layoffs

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I just heard from a JET alum who lost their relatively senior level job with a non-profit that has funding issues.  I also heard from a JET alum who seems to be keeping their job but at the expense of a colleague who is being let go.

How are you doing with your job situation or your job search?  E-mail jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com with your story (which will be posted anonymously).

Dec 12

Favorite translator?

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Remember that episode of Family Ties where Alex mentions his favorite economist (Milton Friedman)?  Well, I was wondering if JET alums have favorite translators.

If you have a favorite translator (or translators) , please let me know, and let me know what you like about the translator.

I’ll publish the aggregated results on JetWit in the next week or so for the benefit of the JET alum community.  (So if for any reason you don’t want your name included with your comments, just indicate that in your email.)

E-mail responses to:  jetwit /at/ jetwit /dot/ com

Nov 25

Holiday Memories from Days of JET

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To get everyone in the mood for the holidays (or reflect back on your JET days), here’s a selection from the JetWit Library, an anecdote article from the Fall 2004 JETAA NY Newsletter.

Holiday Memories from Japan

Living in Japan posed some unique challenges during our favorite holidays.  But we know that’s also what brings the best out in us. Below are some of the ways your fellow alums celebrated their traditional holidays in Japan.

Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02)

I had Thanksgiving at the ambassador’s residence with about 100 other JETS from the Tokyo area. Ambassador Howard Baker, former Senator from Tennessee and Chief of Staff under Reagan, and his wife Nancy Kasslebaum who was a former Senator from Kansas, greeted us as we entered the door.  It was a real Thanksgiving feast with a choice of Turkey, Roast Beef, Ham – all layed out in display style. After dinner, we got to mingle with the ambasador and his wife as well as talk with numerous marines who were also invited. The ambassador and his wife were both very down to Earth.  We could also see the room where the famous picture of MacArthur and Hirohito was taken.

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Nicole Hebert
Saga Ken 1998-2000
My most memorable holiday had to be Thanksgiving. A group of us from AJET decided to put together a Thanksgiving Dinner just for us- the gaijin. We ordered food about a month in advance from that foreign food shop in Kobe…or was it Osaka?? Surely you know what I’m talking about. It was an ordeal to find a place in my city that would hold us all for some reason that had a working kitchen and tatami room available. Eventually, a JET in another town found one through her Board of Ed. We had it all planned out, how much was needed for the lot of us and it looked like had enough food.  Although it was two days after

READ MORE

Nov 15

POLITICAL ANIMALS – Stories of politics from days of JET

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We didn’t go on JET to run for office or start a revolution, but sometimes politics had a way of finding us. Here are some stories from fellow alums.

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GIFT CERTIFICATE WINNERS
Clara Solomon (CIR Tottori-ken, 1999-2001)
Meredith Wutz (Saitama-ken, 2000-02)

One Prize: $25 to Kinokuniya Bookstore, now on 6th Ave. between 40th & 41st Streets in NYC
The Other Prize: Dinner for two at Bao Noodles (2nd Ave. between 22nd & 23rd Streets), owned by Chris Johnson (Oita-ken, 1992-95) (baonoodles.com)

Domo Domo to the panel of independent JET alum judges:  Elizabeth Sharpe (Pacific Northwest), Jennifer Lee (Southern California), Elizabeth White (Southern California), David Kowalsky (Pacific Northwest) and Mark Frey (Northern California)

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Two days before our three-year stint on JET was to end, we had lunch with the mayor of our city, who wanted to thank us for our time and efforts. Nick and I were the only JETs in our relatively 30,000-small Hokkaido city. When the waitress came, we were asked what we’d like to drink and Nick and I both looked at each other and I knew what he was thinking, so I said, “beer nonde mo ii desu ka?” He thought about it for a second and said that he normally wouldn’t drink at lunch, but would make and exception and ordered three beers. Well, it was obvious he “made exceptions” often as he was later forced to resign because Read More

Nov 13

2008 Japanese Ex-pat Election Survey (from JETAA NY Fall 2008 Newsletter)

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Who says Japanese people don’t voice their political opinions? Read on to see what some of our ex-pat friends think about the U.S. presidential candidates.

Voter Turnout LiftUp Bra

The process: An e-mail was sent out to JET alums to ask their Japanese friends and colleagues to tell them for whom they would vote in the upcoming U.S. election and for what reason. Here are their responses:

MCCAIN
Good for Japan’s economy and good for US’s Business.

RON PAUL
I vote neither Obama nor McCain. I think I would vote for Ron Paul. From my understanding, he has specific plans and interesting background (Is he used to be a republic but now a third party?).

OBAMA
I still want Hillary to be the next president but it is not happening, so I would vote for

Obama. The reasons is that I am strong anti-gun and pro-abortion (freedom of choice). So, I don’t Read More