A Book About JETs in Japanese?
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Thanks to Ken Haraguchi, a NY-based reporter for Japanese weekly newspaper Frontline, I recently learned that there’s actually a book called どうしてYesも言えないの-アメリカ人が見た日本の学校現場 (Why Can’t You Say “Yes”?) in Japanese written by Yoshio Hotta, a Japanese journalist who interviewed a number of JET alumni in the Washington, DC area. The title dervies from one of the stories in the book about a JET’s frustration with Japanese people’s tendency to keep things vague, resulting in awkwardness for the gaijin.
JETAA NY Newsletter: JET Alumni 2008 Election Survey
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Welcome to the second-ever JET Alumni Election Survey! Forty-five people from around the U.S. and representing over 30 prefectures responded to “vote” and share their thoughts.
The survey was conducted anonymously using SurveyMonkey, all responses were received between 9/10 and 10/6 (i.e., before the economy started imploding) and an effort was made to make the survey available to as many chapters as possible. In other words, it’s completely un-scientific. That said, it’s still fun to do, so see the results below.
VOTE TOTALS
- McCain – 3
- Obama – 37
- Ron Paul – 1
- Undecided – 4
COMMENTS
Ron Paul
***Ron Paul…real change. My experiences in Japan have provided me with a much different perspective since “return,” made me more receptive to initially intimidating political and economic ideas. I left the American Matrix for a while, and now there is no falling back to sleep.
Undecided
***I’m torn on the issue. At this point I could see myself voting for either party. Originally I planned on voting for Obama, but recently I do not like how his camp has been handling the issue of McCain choosing Palin as VP. I really could see the Republicans winning again. Since I live in California the state will go Democrat, so either way I guess it doesn’t matter all that much. Read More
How’s the Economy Treating You? JET Alums Share Their Perspectives
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Marc Carroll (Gifu-ken, 2001-03)
Senior localization engineer, translation company, New York, NY
As for the economy and me? Hmm, well, I was reassured, unofficially :-), that I am safe, but it could be a mixed blessing if my group was ever reduced in size. A ton more work for fewer people = longer hours. It’s really hard to say what’s going to happen.
And as for the economy and my company? I’d guess we may see a slight shift in our focus. While projects for domestic advertising and marketing materials my decrease, there could be opportunities for companies who are looking overseas to jump the USS Titanic. With all the fanfare, we’ve been contracted to translate a tsunami of internal memos and press releases. It’s not the meat and potatoes of our business, but it seems a bit ironic that some U.S. institutions are basically paying us tell to their foreign investors and constituencies it’s gonna be a’ight and not to panic about their financial situations.
All and all, we’re just following the money and providing a voice for businesses on whatever shores they choose to operate, foreign or domestic. It’d be naive to say we are recession-proof, but hey, we’ve roughed the dotcom bubble burst,Y2K and the cancellation of Baywatch.
**************
Anonymous
Finance, New York, NY
I work at a major financial institution that has suffered billions of dollars of losses over the past year. Thousands of employees at my company, including many friends of mine, have been laid off, and it seems Read More
JETAA NY Quarterly: Fall 2008 “Politics” Issue
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JETAA NY has just published its Fall 2008 “Politics” Issue of its quarterly publications. Click the image below to read.
FALL 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Page 1…..JET Alumni Election Survey
- Page 2…..Letter from the President
- Page 3…..Comings & Goings
- Page 4…..Translators Challenge
- Page 5…..JETAANY Society Page by Yoku Shitteiru
- Page 6…..Interview with Inuyama City Councilman Anthony Bianchi by Michael Glazer
- Page 7…..Political Animals: Political Anecdotes from JET Alums
- Page 8…..Stopping Political Robocalls: Interview with Shaun Dakin by Stacy Smith
- Page 9…..How’s the Economy Treating You?
- Page 10…A Trip to Mitsuwa Marketplace by Kirsten Phillips
- Page 11…Interview with Novelist James Kennedy by Gina Anderson
- Pages 12-13…Photos from Softball Tournament and Career Forum/Welcome Back Reception
- Page 19…Concert Review: Akiko Wada at the Apollo Theater by Justin Tedaldi
- Page 20…Film Review: Passing Poston & Yasukuni by Justin Tedaldi
- Page 21…Book Review: Kenneth Pyle’s Japan Rising by Lyle Sylvander
- Page 22…Top 14 Ways JETAA Would be Different if Obama or McCain Were Your JETAA Chapter President
- Page 23…Index of Sponsors
Blaine Harden on Japan’s Convenience Stores
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Blaine Harden has another interesting article in the Washington Post, this time on Japan’s convenience stores. He’s not a JET alum, but his articles are generally good reading, so we’ll continue to keep track of his writing and justify its inclusion on the basis that it’s a good model for aspiring writers and journalists in the JET alumni community.
And, if you’re feeling natsukashii for a good ol’ Japanese convenience store, here’s the video from the story:
Roger Ebert – Alone in the Kitchen with a Rice Cooker?
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A reminder to contact me if you’re interested in writing an essay on the “Alone in the Kitchen with a Rice Cooker” theme about cooking for yourself (or eating by yourself) in Japan.
And an interesting (and unsolicited) take on the theme in a recent blog from, of all people, film critic Roger Ebert. (Includes a reference to Zojirushi, the current employer of Fukuoka-ken JET alum and previous “Translator’s Challenge” winner Sharon Tatro.)
Writing Opportunity – Man discovers his samurai roots through old family photos
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This is an article idea suggested by Bobby Okinaka (Wakayama-ken, 1992-95) who works for the Japanese American National Museum. If interested in writing about this, email stevenwaseda atto jetwit dotto com for contact info.
Story pitch – Man discovers his samurai roots through old family photos
Mitch Homma still has thousands of family photos to sort through, but he has already done an incredible job documenting his family’s history. He discovered that two of his great-grandparents came from important samurai families in northern Japan.
Reverend Masahiko Wada (1880-1957)
Born to a high-ranking samurai family serving the Date clan of Sendai.
Mrs. Kuni Anazawa Wada (1887-1967)
related to Inazo Nitobe, man on the 5000 yen note (cousin)
Rev. Wada, a Christian, came to southern California in 1928 to minister to Japanese immigrants in the United States. His wife and family joined him in 1931. During WWII, they were arrested as potential threats to the security of the U.S. and later sent to a relocation camp. After the war, they went on to live normal American lives and their samurai roots were forgotten until Mr. Homma started digging into his family’s past.
What makes this story interesting is that Mr. Homma has thousands of photos, documents and family heirlooms that belonged to his great-grandparents. This is rare because for many immigrants, family possessions were lost or destroyed because of World War II. Also, most Japanese immigrants to the United States were poor laborers and farmers.
He has contacted the family of Masahiko Wada in Japan and returned a copy of the koseki that was destroyed by American firebombs. Mr. Homma has compiled his family’s history into a picture book of 89 pages.
Mr. Homma has done extensive research and he has many stories about his family. This would make for a good piece on a man discovering his Japanese family’s history as well as pre-war Christianity in Japan or the Japanese American wartime experience.
Mitch lives in San Diego, CA.
WITLife – Episode #2
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WITLife is a periodic post by Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
I have now begun my second assignment for the International Visitor Leadership Program, and this time around the person I am interpreting for is a female entrepreneur from the northern island of Hokkaido. We will be traveling around the country together for the next 3 weeks to study issues relating to women and work such as telecommuting, returning to the workplace after an extended absence and work flexibility. Not only that, but she is lucky enough to be here during this monumental presidential election!
In this spirit, our program coordinator arranged for us to visit a polling station in Arlington, Virginia that Read More
Bankruptcy Bill in the WSJ Law Blog
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“Bankruptcy Bill to the Rescue” – The Wall Street Journal‘s Dionne Searcey yesterday wrote a nice item in the WSJ Law Blog about Bankruptcy Bill, the cartoon written by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and illustrated by Gideon Kendall.
From a Japanese perspective, the article is also notable in that it mentioned Bill’s bankruptcy haiku. :-)
NPR Talks to Roland Kelts About Haruki Murakami
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Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99) just got back to Tokyo and shared this NPR clip about Haruki Murakami which includes some comments from Roland. Have a listen.
WITLife – Episode #1
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WITLife is a periodic post by Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
Since becoming a freelance translator/interpreter/writer, one of the new opportunities that I have enjoyed the most has been interpreting for the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP: http://exchanges.state.gov/ivlp/ivlp.html).
The IVLP is an exchange program designed to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries through carefully designed visits that reflect the participants’ professional interests and support U.S. foreign policy goals. For participants, it involves meeting and conferring with professional counterparts and gaining an appreciation of the ethnic, cultural, political and socio-economic diversity of the U.S.
Participants are established or potential foreign opinion makers in government, public policy, media, education, labor, the arts and other key fields, and they are selected by American embassies abroad. Since its inception in 1940, over 135,000 people have participated in the program, and in 2007 over 4000 IVs came over on 900 projects of various themes. 65 IVLP alumni are current Chiefs of State/Heads of Government, including Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou. However, while they are here all IVs are considered “honorary Americans.” This means that no matter how highly ranked they are back home, during this program in our egalitarian country everyone is of equal status. This certainly takes a bit of pressure off the lowly interpreter!
My first assignment was in September for two Japanese men studying the theme of Planning for Crises: Disasters and Pandemics. Read More
Daily Yomiuri Column by Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99)
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There’s a new Daily Yomiuri column out today by Japanamerica author Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99). In his periodic column (“Soft Power/Hard Truths”), he comments on American perceptions of Japan and of foreigners, touching on his recent on-stage interview with Haruki Murakami in San Francisco as well as the recent matchup of the Rays’ Akinori Iwamura against the Red Sox Hideki Okajima.
Japan’s Newspapers
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Interesting article from the Washington Post by Blaine Harden (with contributions from Akiko Yamato) on the newspaper business in Japan, for anyone interested or working in journalism in Japan. The gist of it is that while the newspaper business has been undermined by the internet, it’s been supported by the large number of older folks who all prefer newspapers to the internet and therefore there aren’t that many young readers to lose.
Essay Request: Alone in the Kitchen with a Rice Cooker
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I’m looking for people interested in writing essays on the theme: Alone in the Kitchen with a Rice Cooker
The idea is to write an essay (any length or “shortness” is ok) about cooking for yourself (or could be eating by yourself) when you lived in Japan. The focus, however, is intended to be on the theme of being alone in Japan viewed through the prism of cooking/eating. It’s just about whatever you liked to do (or found yourself doing) cooking-wise when you were alone and how that ties into the rest of your experience in Japan. Feel free to focus exclusively on the food, or feel free to use the food as a jumping-off point for other things. If you want to include a recipe for whatever food you describe, that would be a nice touch as well.
The idea is derived from book of published essays entitled Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant (a good read in itself). I think the essays on this topic will offer some very interesting and readable perspectives on the JET Program, on Japan, on cooking and on the theme of being alone.
Deadline is open. Just send an email to express your intent to write an essay.
Contact: Steven Horowitz at stevenwaseda ,at, jetwit , com
Writing opportunity: How’s the economy treating you?
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I’d like to put together an article about how the current economic situation is affecting or will affect JET alumni. So please feel free to email me one paragraph (long or short) about how you think the current economic situation will affect you and why. Include your prefecture and years on JET, or feel free to request anonymity.
Email responses to: Steven Horowitz at stevenwaseda [at] jetwit [dot-] com
