JQ Magazine: Annual Japanese Summer Festival Heats Up Tampa
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New JETs, JET alumni, and Consul Hayato Nakamura and family at Natsu Matsuri, Tampa, June 2013. (Amanda Bailey)
By Bahia Simons-Lane (Gunma-ken, 2005-07) for JQ magazine. Bahia is the president of the Florida JET Alumni Association.
Summer is a time when those of us who lived in Japan begin to feel nostalgic for the matsuri of our adopted home. In spite of the heat, the summer festivals of Japan were perfect little Japanese moments—just thinking about them brings the taste of yakisoba and takoyaki to your tongue. Sadly, these memories are fleeting.
It’s right around this time of year that the annual Tampa Natsu Matsuri is scheduled, which is why for the past three years I have packed up my car in Miami and embarked on the four hour drive north to help out. Tampa’s Natsu Matsuri provides a chance for newly recruited JETs, JET alumni, friends of JET, and members of the Japanese community in Florida to get together and enjoy the traditional Japanese summer festival experience, while also sharing Japanese culture with Florida residents who may not know much about Japan.
As the brainchild of Florida JETAA’s Tampa regional representative John McGee (Nagano-ken, 2004-05), the festival launched in 2006. Now attracting hundreds of people, Tampa Natsu Matsuri grows annually, with more booths and attendees each year. For this summer’s event, which was held on June 15, I was very excited about our new location at Christ the King Catholic Church, which gives the festival more space to grow, and provides an outdoor area with covering and lights in case of inclement weather. The festival itself features Japanese games for kids, such as kingyo sukui (goldfish scoop), Japanese culture demonstrations, and sales of Japanese food and goods. The okonomiyaki is always a hit, and this year a few food trucks even joined us for the event.
The festival is usually held in June or July. If you’re in Tampa next summer, I hope you’ll come relive your memories of Japanese summers.
To participate in or receive emails about Tampa Natsu Matsui, please email tampa@floridajetaa.org. For John McGee’s June 2012 JQ article about the history of the festival, click here.
JQ Magazine: JETerations — How Alumni Touch New Generations of JETs
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Clare Grady and William Collazo representing fifteen years of JET at the Pre-Departure Orientation, Florida, 2012. (Courtesy of William Collazo)
By Bahia Simons-Lane (Gunma-ken, 2005-07) for JQ magazine. Bahia is the president of the Florida JET Alumni Association.
As a high school Japanese teacher in Deerfield Beach, Florida, WIlliam Collazo teaches his students about his time on JET along with his language lessons. Little did he know he would inspire a student to pursue JET years after she left his classroom.
Collazo said that JET was instrumental in deciding to become a Japanese teacher. He has a BA in Asian studies and religious studies, and he also studied Japanese language at Cornell University in New York. After JET, Collazo earned an MA in East Asian studies from Washington University in St. Louis, where he turned his academic interests to studying language pedagogy.
When he applied to the JET Program, he thought he would enjoy the work since he had some high school teaching experience, but mostly he was hoping to enhance his understanding of Japanese culture by living and working there. Instead, his two years on JET from 1997-99 in Hiroshima Prefecture were life-changing. “I didn’t think I would actually become a teacher of Japanese before going,” Collazo explained, “but my experience was so profound that I felt compelled to come home to Florida and share what I had learned in public education.”
His former student Clare Grady graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in Chinese and departed to Northern Gifu on the JET Program last year. It was Collazo’s stories of JET that inspired Grady to apply for the JET Program. It might seem surprising that Grady majored in Chinese and not Japanese, but by the time Grady entered university she already had considerable Japanese capability under her belt due to the Deerfield Beach International Baccalaureate (IB) program. She started studying Japanese when she entered high school, but after completing all the Japanese classes offered at her school she began teaching herself Chinese—earning her the nickname “Kanji Master.”
CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” series: Mark Flanigan (Nagasaki)
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Each month, current and former JET participants are featured in the “JET Plaza” section of the CLAIR Forum magazine. The July 2013 edition includes an article by JET alumn Mark Flanigan. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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“It was a wonderful feeling to be able to walk the same pathways, both physical and metaphorical, that I had first walked a decade before. Much has changed since then, in Japan and in my own life, but I will always remain incredibly thankful to CLAIR and the JET Programme for this “Twice in a Lifetime” chance.”
A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Mark Flanigan (Nagasaki-ken, Hirado-shi, 2000-04) spent four years in Nagasaki Prefecture as an ALT and PA . He applied for JET as part of his long record of work, study and travel abroad, which has given him a deeper understanding of global affairs and insight into different languages, people and cultures. Mark Flanigan currently serves as Program Director with the Japan ICU Foundation (日本国際基督教大学財団) in New York City and is a first-year Resident of International House of New York. He came to New York after two years in Tokyo, where he earned his MA in Peace Studies as a Rotary International Peace Fellow at International Christian University (ICU). Mark has also been a US Army Officer, Presidential Management Fellow (PMF), and CSIS Young Leader.
Twice in a Lifetime
Like the great majority of JET programme participants, I look back with fond recollections on my time in Japan. Unlike most of them, however, I also had a second chance to come back and live in Japan once again. It was an amazing experience, and one which I never planned on, which allowed me to compare my two very different “Japans.” Although I lived in that same country twice, the differences in time, location and purpose made for a very insightful analysis of how both Japan and I had changed in the intervening years.
My first years in Japan were spent as a new ALT who had never been to Asia, much less lived there. While I had some experience teaching English in the U.S. and Mexico, I was not an Asian Studies major and was not at all familiar with the Japanese language. Nonetheless, I grew to love my new life in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture. I immersed myself in the community, getting involved in the local karate dojo as well as participating in the various seasonal festivals and extracurricular activities like speech contests, international days and so on. My original plan to stay just one year changed into multiple re-contracting, and I actually ended up spending a total of four years on JET (teaching both in Hirado as a municipal ALT and then as a Teacher-Trainer at the Prefectural Education Center in Omura City.)
Returning to the U.S. after four years in Japan, I became busily focused on other areas and gradually lost touch with my various connections to JET and Nagasaki. I went to graduate school for Public Policy at George Mason University in the Washington, DC area and started serving with the U.S. Government after graduation. My life continued to progress in this new direction, which was successful enough and still internationally focused, but less-connected to Japan with each passing year. I found myself forgetting more and more nihongo and generally feeling like my JET experience, while a wonderful time, was becoming a kind of closed chapter in my life. Read More
JQ Magazine: Kyushu Battenkai – Sharing a Common Love of Japan with the JETAANY Community
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At right, Governor Hodo Nakamura of Nagasaki Prefecture with JET alumna Christy Jones and Kyushu Battenkai members, New York, September 2012. (Mark Flanigan)
By Mark Flanigan (Nagasaki-ken, 2000-04) for JQ magazine. Mark is a program director with The Japan ICU Foundation in New York. Prior to his current position, he was a Rotary Peace Fellow at International Christian University in Tokyo.
The JET Alumni Association of New York is fortunate to benefit from the diversity of such a major metropolitan area like greater NYC. As JET alumni, the members also have the pleasure of joining in with various events and activities with other Japan-related organizations. One of the most active of these organizations over the past few years is the Kyushu Battenkai. JETAANY members have been fortunate to be able to enjoy many get-togethers with them here in the city.
What is Kyushu Battenkai? It’s a very friendly and casual New York civic-based organization that was founded in 1997. Unlike many more formal Japanese organizations, they have no membership fee or official application process. They communicate with their approximately 150 members primarily by email as well as with updates on their website, which was launched in 2007.
The organization was started by a small group of New York-based Japanese people primarily from Nagasaki and Saga Prefectures. They later expanded to include people from all over Kyushu, and have added more activities over the years. They used to celebrate with just the Bonnenkai and Shinnenkai events, but now include about five events throughout the year, including festive spring and summer festival parties and, more recently, exciting jointly planned events with JETAANY.
JET alum Roland Kelts column in Time Magazine on Japan’s Identity Crisis and Right-Wing Rhetoric
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A thought provoking article by JET alum author and writer Roland Kelts(Osaka-shi, 1998-99) from the current issue of Time Magazine.
The Identity Crisis That Lurks Behind Japan’s Right-Wing Rhetoric
Here’s a quote:
“Japan is a country whose identity has been bowdlerized, hollowed out by a dream of Western dominance that no longer exists. It may make sense to see its recent surge in nationalism as a dumbed-down version of Japanese adolescence. This is a country spun around by its own single-minded pursuit of progress, and it has no idea who it’s supposed to be today.”
Here’s a link to the full article: http://world.time.com/2013/05/31/the-identity-crisis-that-lurks-behind-japans-right-wing-rhetoric/
Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
The Public Relations Office of the Government of Japan published an article on the JET Programme in their monthly publication that aims to 
promote a better understanding of Japan in the world. They interviewed Bryan Darr (Saitama-ken, Tokorozawa-shi, 2008-13), current JET participant in Tokorozawa Shogyo High School in Saitama Prefecture. Bryan’s contributions to the JET community include being the Education and Professional Development Coordinator for National AJET in 2011-12, a regular speaker at Saitama Skill Development Conferences and an active member of Peer Support Group (PSG), a listening and referral service administered by AJET.
Click here to see the article “Young Pioneers of the JET Age.”
JQ Magazine: COBU Gives Sakura Matsuri Season a Beat
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Takae Kawabe, a member of the all-female New York City-based taiko group COBU. (Courtesy of Takae Kawabe)
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-2008) for JQ magazine. Kirsten is a native New Yorker and currently works as a teacher for the New York Board of Education.
Sakura matsuri season is upon us. For JET returnees, this time of year hearkens back to picnics with friends or students. Copious amounts of alcohol under the pink shower of blossoms and maneuvering through crowded lines of vendors celebrating the coming of spring. Sakura season also brings out the finest Japanese talent in New York and no event worth mentioning would be whole without the beating heart of COBU.
You haven’t been following COBU around like a bloodhound? Shame on you. Don’t even know what a COBU is? Double shame on you. Fortunately, oneesan is here to clue you in.
Spearheaded by artist and visionary Yako Miyamoto, COBU is more of a statement in taiko than a collaboration. We are heard. We are seen. We are felt. We are here. A handful of iron women play tirelessly in perfect sync. A little humor, an appropriate smattering of sexy and a metric ton of showmanship make COBU a delight for audiences across the tri-state area.
This year’s Branch Brook Park performance in New Jersey was a staggering hit by COBU, showcasing the talent of their following, or deshi. Upstage, COBU performing members Micro Fukuyama and Haruna Hisada kept time and loudly cheered on the fledgling members as they demonstrated some of COBU’S trademark choreography and pulsing patterns. If you have ever witnessed a COBU show before, it’s easy to become dazzled by the performing members, but this showcase invited audiences to the notion that, hey, they can be a part of this rhythm, too.
JET alum journalist Tom Baker presents Yomiuri Shimbun’s “Japan News” videos
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) spent many years on the staff of The Daily Yomiuri. On April 1 this year, The Daily Yomiuri became The Japan News. The paper’s website includes a daily video introducing a few sample headlines from each day’s paper, and Tom is one of the presenters. His latest video appears below, and you can see more at the-japan-news.com or The Japan News’ YouTube page.
JQ Magazine: JETAA New York Greets Distinguished Guests
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Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi, center, poses with fellow JET alums at the Japan Friendship Festival, Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza, May 2013. (Photo courtesy of Ann Chow)
By Ann Chow (Hyogo-ken, 2007-09) for JQ magazine. Ann is a native New Yorker and serves as the Membership Development Chair for the JET Alumni Association of New York.
On April 17, members of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) were invited to attend a reception at the Nippon Club for the Governor of Tokyo, Naoki Inose, who was in New York to drum up support for his city’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Among the guests at the reception included Willie Banks, the three-time track and field Olympian, and world record holder from 1985-95 in Men’s Triple Jump. (Cool trivia: Banks speaks fluent Japanese.)
And on May 3, several JETAANY members, along with employees of CLAIR and the Japanese consulate, were on site to help Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi (Aichi-ken, 1987-91) and B. Bridges participants at the Japan Friendship Festival at Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza. The B. Bridges program (short for “Brooklyn Bridge” as well as “Building Bridges” and “Be Bridges”) was created as a cultural exchange program by Bianchi and the administration of Xaverian High School, of which Bianchi is an alumnus.
“The idea for the B. Bridges exchange program was born 10 years ago at an event the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, held for me at Borough Hall after my first election, so it was great to be able to hold this, our Japan Friendship Festival: Inuyama Day at Borough Hall,” Bianchi said.
The program has sent close to 500 people from Brooklyn to Inuyama City and vice versa. This year, 40 participants came from Inuyama City to stay with families of students attending the school. On a beautiful sunny day, JETAANY members were able to help the group out at various booths which showcased tea ceremony, Japanese calligraphy, and traditional Japanese toys and wares.
“The cooperation of the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, the Japanese Consulate of New York, the Japan Local Government Center, and the JET Alumni Association of New York were crucial to making this event successful,” explained Bianchi.
He added: “I was also proud of our B. Bridges members, as well as our exchange partners at Xaverian High School, who made great use of the opportunity. This, I believe, made the event a great experience for all those in attendance.”
For additional photos from the events, click here and here.
Justin’s Japan: Nippon in New York — Japan Day @ Central Park and a ‘Deadly She-Wolf’
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CNN national correspondent Sandra Endo hosts Japan Day @ Central Park May 12. (Courtesy of @sandraendotv)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
This month’s highlights include:
Sunday, May 12, 10:30 a.m.
Free
Now in its seventh year, Japan Day has won acclaim from New Yorkers from every walk of life, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg calling it an eagerly anticipated cultural event on the city’s calendar. For this year’s event, organizers are planning once again to have both the Japan Run (beginning at 8:00 a.m.) and the Japan Day Festival, emphasizing enjoyable activities for all ages that will deepen participants’ understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture—not to mention the food, drinks and snacks! Hosted by CNN national correspondent Sandra Endo, this year’s guest performers include Taiko Masala, Kylee, Yosakoi Dance Project 10tecomai, Chris Hart, and the Glory Gospel Singers.
May 16-June 2
Deadly She-Wolf Assassin at Armageddon!
La MaMa Experimental Theatre, 74 East 4th Street
$30 adults, $25 students/seniors
Deadly She-Wolf Assassin at Armageddon! is the latest music/theater and martial arts tour de force from collaborators Fred Ho and Ruth Margraff. A daring and imaginative homage to the 1970s Japanese raging cult manga and theatrical hit Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Ookami)—which has inspired many other adaptations and works in comic books and film over the past decades—Deadly She-Wolf explodes with a ferocious stylistic mix of Japanese Noh theater and modern-day anime and manga influences with unique multi-martial arts and sword fighting choreography and a glorious score fusing traditional Japanese music and soul-jazz. Raised as a weapon by a brutal conspirator, a young female assassin discovers that her target has spun the empire of Japan into crisis and ruin–and–is none other than her father. Torn between loyalty to her mission, her nation and her soul, she must face the unimaginable at the twilight of an imperial epoch.
For the complete story, click here.
JQ Magazine: Cultural Heritage Soars in San Francisco’s Japantown
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Under the Peace Pagoda at the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, San Francisco, April 2013. (Preston Hatfield)
By Preston Hatfield (Yamanashi-ken, 2009-10) for JQ magazine. Preston received a B.A. in English literature with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in Japanese at the University of California, Davis. After spending an amazing year on JET in Yamanashi, he spent a year writing and interning with book publishing companies in New York. He currently lives in Marin County, where he continues to cover local Japan-related stories for JQ, and teaches English as a second language at an international school in San Francisco.
This April marks the forty-sixth time that San Francisco has hosted the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival. As one of the world’s top annual festivals of its kind and one of the largest Japanese American events in the country, the festival has made quite a reputation for itself, and each year it’s bigger and better. Whether you’ve been to Japan before and need a fix of your favorite street food, or you’re a newbie interested in exploring the culture, the NCCBF offers a comprehensive and top-notch Japan experience that includes traditional and modern elements.
If you’ve been to other festivals, you already know to expect tea ceremony demonstrations, doll exhibits, taiko performances, and cosplay competitions, but pay attention and you’ll also notice a powerful sense of community in every act and exhibit. Excepting a handful of wonderful guests from Japan (including this year’s Grand Marshal, renowned singer and actor Teruhiko Saigo), the NCCBF is put on wholly by the Bay Area’s Japanese American community, including some 300 volunteers, 50 organizations, schools, and groups, and is sponsored by a number of local businesses. In some respects, it’s their way of making a statement, as Allen Okamoto, co-chairman of the NCCBF, explains:
“One of the reasons I continue to volunteer with the festival is that Japantown is rapidly changing. The demographics of the community are changing with the intermarriage and lack of migration from Japan. I consider the festival as an institution the same as the Japanese language schools, the churches and other community organizations like the Japanese Community Youth Council, Kimochi, Inc. and the Japanese Cultural & Community Center. We are all continuing the culture and heritage of things Japanese.”
The festival has become something of a culture treasure here, and it’s no wonder. San Francisco, with a formidable but recently declining Japanese American population, is home to one of the last “true” Japantowns in the U.S., but some locals think that’s debatable. “I saw [at the festival] a hardworking community [bringing] culture and fun to Japantown, which for the rest of the year is slowly being eaten by non-Japanese businesses. Koreatown sometimes feels more appropriate,” said Bay Area resident and JET alum Mikeal Gibson.
Kyodo News “Rural JET alumni” series: Darryl Wharton-Rigby (Fukushima)
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News agency Kyodo News has recently been publishing monthly articles written by JET alumni who were appointed in rural areas of Japan, as part of promotion for the JET Programme. Below is the English version of the column from April 2013. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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“I do not know how much of an impact I will have on the people I have met while I have been in Japan but I do know they have had a great impact on mine. Had I not applied for the JET Programme, I do not know what my life would be today.”
Writer, director, and professor, Darryl Wharton-Rigby (Fukushima-ken, Kawamata-machi, 2005-07) hails from a family of poets and storytellers in Baltimore, Maryland. He has earned a BA in History from Ithaca College and a MFA in Film Directing from Chapman University. After being hired by MTV Films to write a screenplay based on the Japanese manga TokyoTribe 2, he moved to Japan and taught English in a small town in Fukushima. He shot his latest short film, Obon, in the town of Natori, which is one of the areas of Japan hardest hit by the earthquake and tsunami. He is now working on a documentary, Don Doko Don: The Yamakiya Taiko Club Story, about a group of young drummers who were displaced due to high levels of radiation in their community from the failed nuclear plant. He has earned awards and grants from the Urbanworld Film Festival, the Maryland State Arts Council, The Painted Bride Arts Center, the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, and the Caucus Foundation for his work. He splits his time between Baltimore, Los Angeles and Japan where he currently lives, and credits his wife and three children as his ultimate muse.
A lifetime of happiness
One of the most satisfying and rewarding jobs in my life was working as an ALT in Kawamata in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan from 2005–2007. I have learned over the years that everything happens for a reason and that sometimes in life we are chosen to be at a certain place at a certain time.
I was 37 years old and living in Los Angeles, CA. I was living the life of a struggling filmmaker and needed a change, a break, from my career in film, television, and theatre. Since my first trip to Tokyo on a business trip for MTV I had been longing to return to Japan, because I knew there was more for me to learn and know about Japan. Applying for the JET Programme seemed the perfect opportunity.
From the moment I got accepted, life has moved at a rapid pace. I was placed in Kawamata, in Fukushima Prefecture, a quiet town with rice fields and rivers surrounded by mountains. My life in Kawamata was an adventure every day. I worked in two junior high schools, several elementary schools and kindergartens. It always brought a smile to my face, when I would hear students call my name, “Dariru-sensei!” I did my best to help the Japanese teachers in the classroom with activities and games. I got to know many of the students and could tell the ones who were enthusiastic towards learning English. Read More
Job: Reporter / Researcher – Yomiuri NY
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Thanks to JET alum and journalist Olivia Nilsson for sharing this excellent JET-relevant opportunity. 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: Reporter /Researcher
Posted by: The Yomiuri Shimbun
Type: Full-time
Location: NY
Salary: Approximate $40,000 with health insurance
Start Date: Immediately
Qualifications:
Applicants should have a background in international relations, foreign policy or journalism. Attention to accuracy and the faculty to multitask effectively under daily deadline pressure is required. Ability to develop and maintain good sources, a strong work ethic and ability to take direction well and work collaboratively with others is essential. Japanese language skills are preferred but not necessary. Read More
Justin’s Japan: Nippon in New York – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Sakura Matsuri and More
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J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu makes her Big Apple debut at the Best Buy Theater April 14.
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Spring has sprung in the Big Apple, and that means one thing: a new season of sounds, colors, and spectacular performing arts to match the blossoming sakura trees throughout the city.
This month’s highlights include:
April 5-6
BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center Theatre 2, 199 Chambers Street
$50 general admission, $15 students (use discount code STU at Smarttix page)
A story of courage and personnel sacrifice of an American doctor and the Japanese medical staff who risked their lives following the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, Hikobae is a fictionalized story based on recorded interviews with physicians and nurses from Soma City Hospital, a medical center in the Fukushima evacuation zone. Supported by the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, proceeds from the production will benefit the Momo-Kaki Orphan Fund, which supports children who lost their parents in the disaster. The theater piece will be performed in English and Japanese, with subtitles projected behind the actors.
April 5-14
BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue
$13 adults, $9 children and matinees, $8 members
Part of BAMcinématek. For nearly three decades, the films of Hayao Miyazaki and the company he founded, Studio Ghibli, have revolutionized the art of animation. Miyazaki’s indelible style—which weds the uncanniness of Lewis Carroll and the epic grandeur of Akira Kurosawa—stands as a testament to the beauty and imaginative power of hand-drawn animation, conjuring richly realized worlds replete with mystical spirits and shot through with an abiding concern for the relationship between humans and nature. All films directed by Hayao Miyazaki and in 35mm.
Sunday, April 14, 7:00 p.m.
Best Buy Theater, 1515 Broadway
$25, $100 VIP meet and greet
Born in 1993 in Tokyo, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu attracted attention with her individual blog, and has been active as a model in Japan. A charismatic personality that represents the youth fashion of Harajuku, her smash single “PONPONPON“—released on her debut album shortly after she finished high school—became a big hit around the world, racking up over 46 million views on YouTube to date. Receiving plenty of attention as the symbol of kawaii (or “cuteness” in Japanese), Kyary Pamyu Pamyu makes her New York concert debut as part of her ambitious 10-country “100%KPP” tour.
For the complete story, click here.
CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” series: Dr. Mark Williams (Gunma)
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Each month, current and former JET participants are featured in the “JET Plaza” section of the CLAIR Forum magazine. The May 2012 edition includes an article by Dr. Mark Williams, a former British English Teachers Scheme (BETS), the forerunner to the JET Programme. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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“Think of your JET experience with a long-term view. […] As time passes, you will realize that your experience left you with the desire to accomplish or attain something. Do not rush, but be patient as you seek to do so.”
After graduating from the University of Oxford with a a BA in Japanese Studies, Dr. Mark Williams (Gunma-ken, Maebashi-shi, 1979-81) came to Japan to work as a member of the British English Teachers Scheme (BETS) in Gunma Prefecture. He moved from there to California to pursue a Ph.D. in postwar Japanese literature then joined the University of Leeds, UK, as a Lecturer in Japanese, to become Professor of Japanese Studies a few years later. He has just completed a 4-year term as President of the British Association for Japanese Studies and 5 years as Head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Leeds and is currently on secondment as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Akita International University, Japan.
The Japan I Came to Know
Two Years in Gunma Prefecture
I participated on the British English Teachers Scheme (BETS) Programme for two years from 1979 to 1981. The BETS Programme was proposed by Nicholas MacLean and is also known as the MacLean Scheme. In Gunma Prefecture, I worked four days per week for two years at one base school each year (Maebashi Minami Senior High School my first year and Shibukawa Girl’s Senior High School my second year). The remaining day of the work week I spent visiting senior high schools throughout the prefecture, and I can say I likely visited every senior high school in the prefecture.
At the time, team-teaching classes were not as established as now, and no matter how enthusiastic, attempts to conduct entire classes in English were unfortunately often short-lived. The classes I conducted at the school I visited on Wednesdays were rich in variety resulting in a trial-and-error approach on my behalf. The several hundred-student school body would gather at once, and I would speak to them in English about my home country England, or explain the origin of English vocabulary words or the characteristics of the English language.
I was one of only a handful of foreigner instructors in Gunma Prefecture at the time. As such, I stood out greatly and even made front-page headlines in a local newspaper. My experience began with my arrival in Japan. The principal of my school came to meet me at Narita Airport, and we traveled from there to Maebashi Station. As soon as I exited Maebashi Station, I found myself surrounded by news reporters. One of them asked about my hobbies, and I replied “I enjoy music.” The headlines of the next morning’s newspaper reported, “New foreign instructor likes to sing.”
