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This editorial in support of the JET Programme by Hitoshi Tanaka appeared originally in Japanese in The Mainichi Daily News. Thanks to Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94), Executive Director of the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA), for sharing the article. And special thanks to Laura Kamutaka (CIR Miyagi-ken, Shiogama-shi, 2005-07) for translating it into English.
Don’t Cut Funding of Grassroots Exchange: Earthquake reveals and affirms overseas bond
http://www.jri.co.jp/MediaLibrary/file/report/tanaka/pdf/5570.pdf
Tanaka Hitoshi, Chairman, Institute for International Strategy, Japan Research Institute
The Tohoku earthquake swallowed many lives and left many missing. The unimaginable hardship of the disaster victims weighs heavily on our hearts, and many of us have a strong desire to help with this tragic situation. People who want to take action beyond making a charitable donation. People who want to work together with the disaster victims in any capacity, no matter how small the achievement. Some of those around me set up a nonprofit called Hope for Tomorrow to assist high school students affected by the earthquake, of which I’ve become a representative.
”Hope for Tomorrow” is designed to not only assist the students advancement but to help develop their language skills as well. There’s a reason for this. One of the tsunami victims was Taylor Anderson, an Assistant Language Teacher in Ishinomaki City of Miyagi Prefecture who taught English at both elementary and junior high schools. After the earthquake, the 24-year-old Virginia, US native worked to ensure her students’ safety and, in doing so, lost her life. In honor of her memory, Anderson’s parents have been collecting US donations with the intention of sending them to Japan to help restore school in Ishinomaki.
Anderson was in Japan through the JET Program, a Japanese government program that invites international youth to help Japanese students with foreign language instruction. After 24 years of existence, the program currently boasts over 4,000 participants from 36 countries, with over half coming from the United States. Most participants stay in Japan from two to three years, teach elementary to high school-level Japanese students, and maintain a strong bond with Japan even after returning to their home countries.
Ten years ago when I served as the Consulate General in San Francisco, I spoke with both JET participants who were about to leave for Japan and those that had recently returned. I remember those that returned all spoke passionately of their experiences and had great affection for Japan.
Even the JET participants’ response to the earthquake is remarkable. The JET Alumni Association has chapters across the country working to fundraise for relief efforts. There are those such as Stuart Harris, a JET participant in Iwate prefecture in 1989 who assembled a team of doctors right after the earthquake to provide relief to Japan. JET participants currently in Japan have also collected donations and vigorously volunteered to the relief effort.
Of course, it isn’t only the JET participants that have shown compassion towards Japan. A friend of mine who married an American found a network of people on Facebook, leading them to New York’s Union Square to collect donations less than a week after the earthquake. Passersby would donate cash and in no time more than $10,000 had been raised. We need to protect these precious bonds that transcend national lines.
Unfortunately, this kind of grassroots exchange has been decreasing each year. The number of JET participants has gone from 6,000 participants 10 years ago to 4,000. The Democratic Party of Japan has included the JET program in its budget cuts. From a financial standpoint alone, it seems counterintuitive to shrink a program that yields such positive results.
It is easy to see the Japan-US ties mainly through the relationship between the two governments. But that’s not true. Grassroots exchange is what sustains the important bond between the two countries and is something we must never forget.
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘The Beautiful One Has Come,’ short stories by JET alum author Suzanne Kamata
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“The stories in The Beautiful One Has Come have a universal appeal but will strike a familiar note in particular with those who have spent considerable time outside their comfort zones.” (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing)
By Sharona Moskowitz (Fukuoka-ken, 2000-01) for JQ magazine. Sharona works at a literary agency in New York City. She is interested in fresh, new voices in fiction and creative nonfiction.
I began reading Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-1990)’s new collection of short stories with no idea what to expect and a sense of up-for-anything enthusiasm. Luckily, that feeling stayed with me throughout the collection and renewed itself automatically as I approached each new story.
There’s an enjoyably uncomfortable tension contained within the pages of The Beautiful One Has Come and it’s precisely that tension, paired with Kamata’s ability to glide between narrative points of view, that makes this collection so strong. The characters who inhabit the pages feel so true I could practically hear their pulses.
The physical settings of the stories vary from Cuba to Egypt to France to Japan among other countries, but the characters seem to inhabit spaces all their own: their minds are the true sites of conflict. The stories deal mostly with women in various states of transition; feeling like outsiders while negotiating their own identities, striving for something just out of reach, or trying to come to terms with loss. There is the foreign housewife who longs for the comforts of her native land, the elderly artist whose husband wrongfully gets the credit for the paintings she has created and the Japanese girl who is obsessed with studying abroad in Egypt.
Though these profiles might sound familiar, each story is buoyed by unique and unexpected details which keep the characters from sinking into stereotypes.
Justin’s Japan: Interview with Billy Sheehan of Mr. Big on Touring Tohoku
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Billy Sheehan, right, with Mr. Big: "We had raised about $100,000 for the earthquake relief, and there’s still more to be raised, too. In the end, we raised a bunch of money, and we got a special letter from the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. thanking us for being there." (William Hames)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his page here for related stories.
One of the most respected bassists and gentlemen in the music world, Billy Sheehan is back with Mr. Big, the Los Angeles-based rock band he formed in 1988 best known for the hit ballad “To Be with You,” which shot to number one in 15 countries, including the U.S., in 1992. After splitting a decade later, in 2009 the original lineup reformed, followed by the release of What If…, the first album in 15 years from the original lineup.
Now, American fans are finally going to get a chance to see Billy, Paul Gilbert, Eric Martin and Pat Torpey together on stage since their ’90s heyday for a month-long American tour beginning Saturday (July 30) at San Diego’s 4th & B. In this exclusive interview, I spoke with Billy on Mr. Big’s current jaunt around the world, their triumphant return to Japan (where the band is revered), and the possibility of another album from the guys.
So far this year Mr. Big has played all over Europe, Asia and South America. What have your highlights been?
Japan is always amazing. The most difficult thing about touring is getting to and from the gigs…once we’re onstage, there’s no trouble at all, and in Japan, it’s just a breeze. We don’t fly in much, and take a lot of bullet trains, which are super convenient and easy and clean and safe and fast and everything. So Japan is always easy. The rest of Southeast Asia was actually pretty cool, too. We were supposed to do two shows in China, but the Shanghai show got cancelled because the promoters had the wrong visa for us. The shows in Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines were unbelievable, and in Taiwan we actually had to speed away from the venue in a van with literally crowds of people chasing after us (laughs). It was hilarious.
Mr. Big toured Japan less than one month after the earthquake and tsunami, and even did gigs in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures, the areas most affected by the devastation. What was that experience like?
Really touching. There was a [camera] crew meeting us at the airport and then following us around, and we didn’t know, but they went out in the crowd and interviewed a lot of people, so later on we saw that they had interviewed a guy…I think he was from Sendai. They interviewed him for television, and we didn’t see it until we saw the show. He’d lost everything, and a couple of friends and family, and he’d lost his entire Mr. Big collection, so he actually came to the show to start his collection over again. And I’m telling you, it was so touching, this poor guy, that in his life, the important thing was to come and get his music back together again, really amazing. We had raised about $100,000 for the earthquake relief, and there’s still more to be raised, too—I just saw another $22,000, and I have to see what the figures are for the downloads of the special song we did [“The World Is on the Way”], also, so there’s a bunch more, too.
In the end, we raised a bunch of money, and we got a special letter from the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. [signed by Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki] thanking us for being there. We didn’t know how it would go when we went there, was it too soon or not, but [remember] after 9/11, where after the dust cleared, all the playhouses and restaurants were going out of business because nobody was going to New York City, so what helped was that going to see a show and having dinner to help the economy rolling again, so we were hoping to get that idea happening. We heard from saké dealers that were going out of business because nobody was drinking because they were all in mourning, you know? It’s a shame that so many lives were lost, but one of the most important things after anything like that is to get back up on your feet again. So I think we helped a bit—I’m cautiously optimistic to say I think we helped a bit. And from the tone of the e-mails and speaking with people after the show, we’re very pleased. So it all ended good.
Was there any hesitation at all about playing those gigs because of the radiation?
For me, no. A couple of the guys in the band were a little concerned about it. I fly transoceanic all the time [across] the Pacific, and you get a dose of radiation every time you do that. I think it’s equivalent to—I forget the figure—one, two or three chest X-rays just by flying over the ocean. And I do know that radiation, to incite fear in people, is almost second to none, you know? It’s invisible, and you don’t know it’s there and the next thing you know, you’ve got a problem. So I knew that there was probably some elevated degree of danger, but I also know that most things of that nature are over-exaggerated, in my experience with my own personal catastrophes of earthquakes and whatever else. They really do overblow it.
So I wasn’t worried personally, but we were more concerned for the fans, and I know that the Japanese government is very conscientious with their safety and rules. I remember I was in Tokyo one time, and there was a typhoon warning for everyone to stay inside. This was years ago, and I was out with a friend of mine, we were walking around, and the streets were deserted; there was nobody anywhere…the people in Japan are really in tune with the warnings and such. And I found out the government wouldn’t have allowed [us] to go on if we were to put a crowd of people in danger, so there was that factor, as well. So a couple of the guys in the band were a little worried about it, but I was okay with it, and in the end, all of us are glad we did it.
For the complete interview, click here.
For Justin’s February 2011 interview with Billy, click here.
JQ Magazine: Four Cups of Sake, ‘Three☆Points,’ Two Beers, and One Night with Sora Aoi
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Sora Aoi at New York's Japan Society for the ‘Three☆Points’ premiere, July 15, 2011. (Justin Tedaldi)
By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) for JQ magazine. Rick manages the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY)’s Twitter page and is the creator of the JETwit column Tadaima!
So I’m here to give you my Three☆Points review. I’m sure you’ll find it somewhere down there. I mean I could just write you about the movie. but that would be unfair, it would be out of context, it would be devoid of what makes this process fun. You see, New York’s Japan Society once again pulled out all the stops for their JAPAN CUTS film festival, and tonight was its apex; the American Premiere of Three☆Points, with a Q&A from actress Sora Aoi and director Blah Blah something Japanese. Not to mention an after party with a DJ, food, and all the beer you can drink. Reviewing things has its perks. If for some reason you don’t know who Sora Aoi is, please, by all means, look her up, Google her. Try doing it at work, under unfiltered pictures. Have your boss and co-workers gather around. It’ll be totally appropriate.
But anyways, there I am at Megu, the uber-fancy restaurant in the Trump World Tower next door to Japan Society. It was Restaurant Week in NYC, so two friends of mine and my girlfriend accompanied me there for a pre-show meal. Little did I know the dinner would be so light on “meal” and heavy on sake-tasting. It was supposed to only be three sakes but they messed up and gave us four. Not so much a problem, but at a place where a single person can easily drop $200 on a meal, going for Restaurant Week and only paying $35 a person results in a curtailed dining experience, no matter how delicious.
So after demolishing a breaded asparagus, a smattering of fresh sushi and a fantastic green tea crepe, I stumbled over to Japan Society ready for my date with destiny. Of course, that would need a moment, since four sakes meant I needed to use the men’s room. The line was out the door, though. People had come out en masse to see Ms. Aoi. I waved to a couple of the volunteers I knew as I jogged down the stairs towards the bathroom. My girlfriend was along for the fun as well, and she darted into the women’s room.
On exiting I lingered, waiting for my girlfriend. I watched where the serpentine line ended; at the opening to the 300-plus seat, meticulously clean theater in Japan Society. I knew both the ticket takers. I debated in my head as to if I should attempt to cut all the eager people in line with a high five to score good seats and impress my girlfriend. My “don’t be a douche” motto rendered this plan a bad idea, and instead just patiently, drunkenly waited for the poor girl who got stuck dating me.
JQ Magazine: Theatre Review – Amon Miyamoto’s ‘The Temple of the Golden Pavilion’
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Go Morita in a scene from 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' at New York's Lincoln Center Festival. (Stephanie Berger)
By Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) for JQ magazine. Lyle is entering a master’s program at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University (MIA 2013) and has been writing for the JET Alumni Association since 2004. He is also the goalkeeper for FC Japan, a NYC-based soccer team.
In 1950, a young Buddhist monk committed a notorious act of arson and destroyed the ancient Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. Yukio Mishima, Japan’s preeminent novelist at the time, fictionalized the events in Kinkakuji, published in 1956 and translated into English as The Temple of the Golden Pavilion in 1959. While the actual arsonist was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Mishima presented an elaborately detailed psychological study of a disturbed man, incorporating elements of Buddhist and ancient Greek philosophical reflections on the impermanence of beauty and the conflicts between idealism and reality. The novel helped cement Mishima’s worldwide literary reputation and inspired numerous adaptations, including an opera, a modern dance ballet and two film versions.
Now, the director Amon Miyamoto, previously represented in New York by his production of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, has adapted the story into a full-fledged theatrical production. Having premiered last year at Miyamoto’s Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in Yokohama, the production was presented intact by the annual Lincoln Center Festival in New York from July 21-24 with its original cast, led by J-pop star Go Morita of the boy band V6.
In presenting his version of the story, Miyamoto (who co-wrote the script with Chihiro Ito) relies on an arsenal of visual conventions, from multimedia projections to Western theatrical blocking to Japanese austerity. Most of the play is presented on a wooden stage suggestive of an old classroom, a fitting visual component of the temple grounds’ claustrophobic enclave. Mizoguchi, the monk’s name in Mishima’s version, is played by Morita as an awkward stutterer who creates a vibrant interior world at odds with his disappointing reality.
JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi talks Hatsune Miku on FCI's "Today's Eye" segment. (Courtesy Fujisankei Communications International)
JQ magazine editor/Japanese Culture Examiner Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) was recently interviewed by Fujisankei (FCI) News on Japan’s virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku for their “Today’s Eye” segment broadcast this week on Japanese TV!
Miku is the star of Toyota’s summer Corolla ad campaign in the U.S., and earlier this month performed to massive crowds at L.A.’s Nokia Theatre and the San Diego Comic-Con! Check out the video here or click on the image for Justin’s comments.
Direct link: www.fujisankei.com/video_library/event/hatsunemiku.html
Justin’s Japan: Lincoln Center Festival Premieres ‘Temple of the Golden Pavilion’
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J-pop singer Go Morita stars in director Amon Miyamoto's stage adaptation of 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' for the Lincoln Center Festival July 21-24. (Miow Hirota)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his page here for related stories.
On Thursday (July 21), this year’s edition of the Lincoln Center Festival will present the U.S. theatrical premiere of director Amon Miyamoto’s The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, based on Kinkakuji, the celebrated 1956 novel by Japan’s storied 20th century writer Yukio Mishima.
With a script co-written by Miyamoto and playwright Chihiro Ito, the play will run through July 24 at Columbus Center’s elegant Rose Theater.The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is a stunning tale of the power of beauty and its corruption of the mind of a young monk, Mizoguchi, who becomes obsessed with beauty’s destruction. This groundbreaking work paints an intensely personal picture of Japan in the crucible of the Second World War.
A native of Tokyo and the artistic director of the new Kanagawa Arts Theatre in Yokohama, Miyamoto hosted a special lecture last month at New York’s Japan Society. He made his Lincoln Center Festivaldebut in 2002 with a memorable production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Pacific Overtures at Avery Fisher Hall, which moved on to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a Broadway revival from 2004 to 2005.
For the complete story, click here.
JQ Magazine: Film Review – ‘Sword of Desperation’ and ‘The Last Ronin’ at JAPAN CUTS 2011
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A scene from 'Sword of Desperation,' screened in New York last week as part of the JAPAN CUTS film festival. (Courtesy of Japan Society)
By Paul Benson (Fukui-ken, 2006-08) for JQ magazine. Paul is a New York-based freelance translator who has handled assignments ranging from securities law to cookbooks.
This past week I had the pleasure of seeing two films in Japan Society’s annual JAPAN CUTS film festival. The festival runs from July 7-21, with 32 films (nearly all of them premieres). I was instantly drawn to JAPAN CUTS’ only two jidaigeki 時代劇 samurai films in the series, Sword of Desperation 「必死剣鳥刺し」 and The Last Ronin 「最後の忠臣蔵」. The films were wonderful, and I encourage you to seek them out.
Sword of Desperation (2010, dir. Hideyuki Hirayama) is a poised and powerful film of feudal intrigues and expert swordsmen, a fine addition to the chanbara チャンバラ (“sword-fighting”) genre. Set in the Edo Period (1600-1868), Sword of Desperation has all the genre’s usual devices: a gradual build-up to an outburst of action, an alienated master swordsman, and conflicts of duty and heart.
The film’s first half beautifully establishes the circumstances, characters and their relationships. Etsushi Toyokawa plays the character Sanzaemon Kanemi, a master swordsman, who serves the daimyo Tabu Ukyō (Jun Murakami). At the start of the film (set three years ago), Kanemi murders his master’s favorite concubine, Lady Renko (Megumi Seki), just after the annual spring Noh performance. It soon becomes clear that Kanemi acted to stop Lady Renko from further manipulating the daimyo and damaging the domain’s administration. Kanemi is given a light sentence—a year of house arrest and a meager pay decrease—and he is allowed to return to service afterward. Yet, he soon finds himself losing his wife Mutsue (Naho Toda), faced with the affections of his niece, and lost in the intrigues of others, a situation to which blood is the only way out.
While the pacing of the film might feel disjointed and sluggish to the unfamiliar, anyone acquainted with the chanbara genre is in for a treat. The previous two chanbara films I’ve seen are When the Last Sword Is Drawn 「壬生義士伝」 (2003, dir. Yōjirō Takita) and Sword of Doom 「大菩薩峠」 (1966, dir. Kihachi Okamoto). These didn’t disappoint, and neither does Sword of Desperation. The film has beautiful sets and scenery, a simple but moving plot, and a great twist at the end.
Justin’s Japan: Superstar Sora Aoi Appears This Week at Japan Society’s JAPAN CUTS 2011
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'Three☆Points' star Sora Aoi will appear at New York's Japan Society July 15 with the film's director Masashi Yamamoto. (Courtesy of Japan Society)
After doing boffo box office last week with sold-out screenings of Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha, Battle Royale and the Gantz duology, Japan Society’s JAPAN CUTS 2011 will reach the boiling point this Friday (July 15) with a very special guest: international cause célèbre Sora Aoi. With a career spanning nearly a decade in Japan’s adult video (AV) industry, Aoi (whose stage name translates to “blue sky”) has also moonlighted in television dramas, film and mainstream entertainment, even enjoying success in China as a pop singer.
The actress will appear at Japan Society supporting her latest drama, Three☆Points, with its director Masashi Yamamoto helming a Q&A. The pair will also join a special after party after the screening to meet fans personally. Other Special guests slated for the rest of JAPAN CUTS include The Seaside Motel director Kentaro Moriya, A Liar and a Broken Girl director Natsuki Seta (both July 16), and Haru’s Journey director Masahiro Kobayashi (July 20).
All films—most of them New York premieres–are primarily shown in Japanese with English subtitles, some with actor/director intros and Q&As and after parties.
For more on the remaining cuts, click here.
New Bruce Feiler column in the New York Times
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Attached is a new New York Times column (“The Life (and Death) of the Party: Mastering the Art of Dinner Party Conversation“) by JET alum Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90), author of Learning to Bow, The Council of Dads, and several books on the Middle East including Walking the Bible, Abraham and Where God Was Born.
To read prior columns, please click here.
Bruce’s new book GENERATION FREEDOM: The Middle East Uprisings and the Remaking of the Modern World has just been published. You can see some of his recent media appearances by visiting www.brucefeiler.com.
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This Life
The Life (and Death) of the Party
By BRUCE FEILER
Published: July 8, 2011
I CALL it my insufferability test. It came about like this: A number of years ago, I was seated at a dinner party next to the celebrated C.E.O. of an American brewery. I was the lesser player here, so I began asking him questions about his beer. Fifteen minutes passed, then 30. He didn’t ask me a single question.
As dessert approached, I began slumping in my chair from trying to come up with query after query about organic hops and fluctuating wheat futures. Finally, I started dropping in teasers from the year I spent as a circus clown. “My friend the human cannonball …”; “That reminds me of the time I once got into a cage with nine tigers.” Surely these would pique his curiosity. Needless to say, I never told a story about the circus that night.
To me that encounter was a warning shot. I was like a rookie pitcher being plastered in his opening outing in the big leagues. If I hoped to avoid similar dinner party fiascoes in the future, I had to raise my game. So what is the best formula for handling a loudmouth, know-it-all, bore or clam?
With summer entertaining season upon us, it seemed like a good time to brush up on my techniques, and perhaps pick up some new tricks. So with the help of some veterans of the tablecloth trenches, here are some tips for navigating dinner party pitfalls.
EAT AND GREET In ancient Rome, senators hired nomenclatorsto follow them around and introduce them to people. These days, each of us has to be his own nomenclator. A good host often performs this role. “A lot of dinners I throw often have a specific point to them,” said Sunny Bates, a former Silicon Alley headhunter turned networking guru. “I make everyone go around and say who they are, where they’re from and what they most need.” Other starter questions I’ve seen work: “If you could change one thing about the human body, what would it be?” and “What about you, physically, is perfect?” Knowing something about all the other guests is more than good manners; it can also come in handy if you’re seated next to a dud and need to seek relief in someone a few seats away. If I’m at an event with no host at the table, I’ll go so far as to walk around and briefly introduce myself to the other guests. Think of a dinner party as being like a crime scene: plan your escape route. Read More
Japan Fix London: Hyper Japan – Interview with Mary Moreton
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Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London as is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, writing and translation.
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It’s not surprising that London has changed a lot during the years I’ve been away in Japan. Being the “most populous municipality in the European Union”, rapid development, modernization and globalization are to be expected. However, it still throws me of guard when my British friends now drop ‘katsu-don’, ‘kirin beer’, and ‘kawaii’ into everyday conversation. I know those words weren’t part of my vocabulary before I took off for my life as an ALT!
For a recently returned expat like me, it is a huge comfort to see Japanese culture so widely embraced in my home city. Which is why I was particularly excited to hear about HYPER JAPAN, a three day event promoting all the different aspects of Japanese culture that make it so appealing to us in the west. Determined to get my ‘Japan-fix’ to fight off the homesickness, I applied for a volunteer position and was delighted to discover one of the Hyper Japan team, Mary Moreton, was a fellow ex-JET. Not one to miss a chance to share JET stories, Mary kindly agreed to meet me one soggy London afternoon.
Hi Mary, sorry for dragging you out in this! Could you start by telling me a bit about your time on JET – why you applied, where you were based?
I was a CIR in Aomori City CIR from 2002 – 2005. I studied Classical Japanese Literature at University, which was a really interesting course that I enjoyed a lot, but not necessarily a degree that could lead straight to a clear career path. I wasn’t interested in working in say finance in the city like many of my friends, and I had spent time in Japan before (I did a year out in Osaka), so I decided to apply for JET.
How did you find Aomori compared to your experience of living in Osaka? I would imagine it to be quite different!
Yes, it was completely different to my previous experience of living in the city. I remember in my first week, there was another girl from UK who was based at the kencho, and we decided to meet up and explore one day. We walked around for about 10 minutes until we realised there really wasn’t much to see! It was totally different from my experiences of urban areas such as Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe.
What did you do after JET?
After returning from JET, my first job was as a PA for the European director of a Japanese electronics company where I was working in a mainly Japanese environment. Even though I had left Japan, during my working day, things weren’t too different. Although I felt that my unique point was my Japanese ability, I did not necessarily want to restrict myself to working for Japanese companies. I then went on to work for a British based Insurance broker. I worked in their Japanese department, so I was still using Japanese but not working in a completely Japanese environment as I had been used to. I had always been interested in translation, so in addition to working, I decided to do a part-time MA in translation. In the end I had to quit my job to focus on my dissertation in the last term.
With my MA finished I then decided to do freelance translation and signed up with several Japanese agencies. Not all of them gave regular work, and there were certain areas of translation (technical) that I couldn’t do, but after settling into a good relationship with a few coordinators, I managed to find my niche. Through that I did some work for the Sushi Awards, which led to my current position with Cross Media. Once again I am working as the only native English speaker in a Japanese company, but I enjoy it a lot as I get to promote all the things I love about Japanese culture and cuisine, and share it with a whole new audience.
Could you tell us a bit about the background of Hyper Japan?
The Eat-Japan Sushi Awards have been around for a few years. Japanese food is a lot more popular now in the UK than when I left in 2002 to go to Japan. Now there are so many places around where you can try Japanese food, and there is a lot more scope to promote it – which is where the idea for the sushi awards came from.
Japanese anime, manga and games have always had a fanbase in the UK and the rest of Europe, and there is a large Japan Expo held in Paris which mainly focuses on these aspects of Japanese culture.
I think most people think that Japan is cool, but not necessarily for just one thing. There are separate events to cater for cosplay, anime, and sushi fans, however there wasn’t anything that brought all these together – which what Hyper Japan attempts to do. In the same way that people who live in Japan experience the old and the modern co-existing harmoniously (you could find a Shinto shrine next door to a pachinko parlor), Hyper Japan aims to showcase both the contemporary and classic sides of Japanese culture under one roof.
To read the rest of the interview, click ‘Read More’.
Read More
JET ROI: “The JET Program’s Finest Hour”
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David Jacobson, a former Monbusho Scholar who now works for Seattle-based Chin Music Press (founded by former Monbusho English Fellow Bruce Rutledge), has just posted a really terrific piece titled “The JET Program’s Finest Hour“ about the role of JET and JET alumni in response to the Tohoku Earthquake Disaster. David did a particularly effective job of documenting the topic and pulling information together in a way that had not been done to date. And it demonstrates a very clear “Return on JET-vestment.”
Here’s the link: http://chinmusicpress.com/blog.php?action=display&entryID=13
David comments that the JET Program’s “support this spring, in the aftermath of the devastating March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, may have marked the program’s finest hour.” And his research helps document information such as:
“Within hours after the disaster, Eric Butler, a former JET who lives in Calgary, Alberta, created a Facebook page, Foreigners from Miyagi. He intended it as a place to discuss how to help the quake victims, but within days it attracted nearly 700 users, many in Japan, and morphed into a forum for those seeking the whereabouts of JETs or others in disaster areas.”
The article also acknowledged and put JETwit’s role in perspective in the larger context:
“Editor (and JET alumnus) Steven Horowitz began a similar effort providing up-to-the minute updates on JETwit, a blog that has evolved into the de facto central information source for the JET alumni community. But he also saw his role as helping JET alums become involved in the relief effort, listing opportunities for volunteers, translators, even offering practical advice for those in Japan. And he recommended that JETs get the word out: “Make yourself available to talk to schools, churches, companies, other organizations. Engage your grad school or college alumni offices. Wear a button that says, ‘Ask Me About Japan.’”
Justin’s Japan: Japan Society’s First Week of JAPAN CUTS 2011 Offers ‘Buddha,’ ‘Battle Royale’
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Japan Society of New York's JAPAN CUTS 2011 film festival kicks off with 'Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha: The Great Departure' July 7. (© 2011 Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha Production Committee)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his page here for related stories.
Seeking summer movie asylum from Autobots and aging boy wizards? Head to Japan Society.
Now in its fifth consecutive year, the JAPAN CUTS 2011 film festival includes 32 new titles—the biggest lineup in the festival’s history with (almost) nothing but premieres and one-off shows—running from July 7 to 22, including ten co-presentations with the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF).
“Arguably North America’s premier showcase for Japanese film” (Firefox News), JAPAN CUTS screens the cutting edge of contemporary Japanese fare, caroming between elegant drama to anything-goes comedy to uncanny experimentalism.
All films—most of them New York premieres–are primarily shown in Japanese with English subtitles, some with actor/director intros and Q&As and after parties.
For the complete list of this week’s cuts, click here.
JQ Magazine: JET Alum Ashley Thompson’s ‘Surviving in Japan’
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Ashley Thompson is "Surviving in Japan (Without Much Japanese)"
By Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) for JQ magazine. Ashley is the founder of Surviving in Japan (Without Much Japanese) and Lifelines columnist for the Japan Times.
Six years ago, Japan was nowhere on my radar. If someone had told me then that Japan would become my second home, I would have laughed. Japan was foreign, unknown, and I had no interest in it other than its traditional art and history. Plus, I was a homebody—living overseas became a potential option only a few years ago.
After graduating high school in the town I spent most of my life, I moved two hours away (via car) to Seattle for school and work. During that time I met David—a senior at the university I attended for a year while volunteering—who became one of my closest friends. I came to learn that David was born in Japan and spent his childhood there, after which his family moved back to the U.S.
Through David, I learned more about Japan and what I heard piqued my interest. Our volunteer work involved kids, and sometimes they asked David about Japan or he would mention something about it. I visited his family a few times also, and it was obvious that Japan played a significant role in their lives. Occasionally the conversation turned to Japan or good-natured teasing was exchanged in Japanese among their six-member family.
David left for Japan in 2007 as part of the JET Program. At the time, I was finishing my bachelor’s degree in social sciences, taking Japanese for my degree’s foreign language requirement and still working. With my closest friend gone and my time in Seattle then five years and counting, I realized how comfortable I had become. So comfortable, that I realized I was in a rut and decided it was time for a change—a big change.
Over the course of the summer and fall in 2007, Japan and JET were brought to my attention multiple times through random conversations and events, which all started with my dad. I was considering studying abroad in Europe or finding a job overseas, but he said, “Why don’t you try JET?” I laughed it off, assuring him that going to Japan was a ridiculous idea for me—except the idea remained firmly planted in my mind.
JET alums involved in yoga benefit for Japan quake victims (NY)
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The below article mentions JETAA U.S.A. Country Rep and former JETAANY President Megan Miller-Yoo (Hyogo-ken). And the reporter, Seana Magee (Okayama-ken, Niimi-shi, 1988-90) also happens to be a JET alum.
FEATURE: New Yorkers turn on heat, use yoga to benefit Japan quake victims
By Seana K. Magee
NEW YORK, June 28, Kyodo
Drenched in sweat, Megan Miller Yoo and about a dozen other students were pushing themselves to new limits during a special Sunday yoga session held at a Manhattan studio.
Stretching their muscles and testing their flexibility, they intently followed the instructor moving through 26 prescribed poses at Bikram Yoga Grand Central in a humid, 40 C room.
From the outside it looked like an ordinary 90-minute Bikram class, but it was not.
The hot yoga devotees were part of a so-called donation class specifically designed to raise money to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11.
Yoo explained to Kyodo News how taking part in the special class took her practice to a new level, particularly because of her close ties to the country, where she lived for two years.
”One instructor always says, ‘If you breathe through Bikram, you can breathe through anything,’ so I often think of that when I am in a tough situation, and it makes me realize I can get through anything if I just hang in there and don’t give up,” said the 33-year-old former Japan Exchange and Teaching Program participant who taught English in Hyogo Prefecture.
”I think that is the perfect message for the people in the affected regions of Japan.”
Before the March disaster wreaked havoc in her country, Kyoko Katsura, one of the two studio owners, and her business partner were mulling over ways to motivate students. So they hit upon the idea of offering the weekly donation class to highlight various charities. Read More
