Welcome to the JetWit Haiku Challenge! The challenge is to submit one or more haiku using the designated word. The best haiku submitted wins the prize.
This week’s challenge will be judged by Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), author of Zorgamazoo, a “rhyming, rhythmical tale of Katrina, a girl with a big heart and an even bigger imagination” published this year by Penguin Books and available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powells. You can also follow Robert on his blog wayofthewest.wordpress.com.
Note: The winner of Haiku Challenge #1 will be announced later today. Stay tuned!
Blogs, Books, Cartoon/Illustration, Writers 
Comments Off on JET alum Robert Weston’s “Zorgamazoo” wins New York Bookbinders Guild award
Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04) reports on his blog (wayofthewest.wordpress.com) that his book Zorgamazoo, just published this year, has won “some sort of design award” from the New York Bookbinders Guild.
This means, he explains, that the book will be on diplay at the New York Book Show on March 24, 2009. He goes on to extend “huge congratulations” to Christian Fuenfhausen, who designed the interior pages, Natalie Sousa, who designed the cover art, and the whole design team at Razorbill Books and Penguin USA.
Article/Journalism, Books, Celebrity, Japan Trends, Roland Kelts, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on JET alum Roland Kelts quoted in The New Yorker
Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, was quoted or mentioned this week in articles in:
Books, Events, JETAA Chapters, Writers Comments Off on JETAA NY Book Club Update
JETAA NY Book Club co-reviver Michael Glazer writes:
JETAA NY successfully kicked off its New York book club last Wednesday night, Dec. 10. The group discussed Murakami Ryu’s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel Almost Transparent Blue.
Murakami’s provocative novel fueled an energetic, funny, sometimes tense and stimulating exchange of ideas while we snacked on pizza and drank oolong tea. The two-hour conversation ranged in topic from talking about ethnic stereotypes to bug eating, the US military in Japan, The Doors, Japanese escapism and Admiral Perry’s black ships as the group tried to figure out if Blue is literary genius or pop culture trash.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 21 at 7pm, and we will discuss Miyamoto Teru’s novel Kinshu. You can find the book online at bn.com and amazon.com. Contact Michael Glazer or Jessica Langbein for more information.
From www.fewmets.net
James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish, has reviewed all haiku submissions containing the designated word “fewmets“ for Haiku Challenge #1 and has selected a winner. Read on for his decision and rationale.
I was blown away by the quality of the fewmets haiku I received. I can state with absolute conviction that these are the best haiku about fewmets that I have ever read!
First, the honorable mentions. Meredith Hodges-Boos (Ehime-ken, Yoshida-cho, 2003-05) wrote an appropriately grim, medieval-epic haiku that ends with a wonderfully forbidding promise of violence:
Fewmets steam on bleak
Frost-covered leaves, hunter stoops
Soon blood will melt ice
Chillingly beautiful! Worthy of Beowulf! I can almost imagine Ms. Hodges-Boos is the kind of woman who makes her own chain mail.
Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) put a decidedly modern spin on fewmets:
The fewmets of love;
lipstick wine glass, lost overcoat . . .
painful cotton swab nurse!
Every man who has endured a gonorrhea test will find the last line poignantly evocative. Mr. Ambrosio is clearly a gentleman about town, a chap of wide and varied experiences, a man who almost certainly has chlamydia. He came very close to winning, except that the second and third lines each have one more syllable than a fastidious interpretation of the haiku form allows. As sloppy as a tart’s kiss, Mr. Ambrosio!
Finally, we come to the winner, from the talented Ilya Blokh:
A French truffle, on the
Tongue, melts, but how I was wrong
It was a fewmet
True, the first line might has one more syllable than usual, but Mr. Blokh’s brilliance trumps formal quibbles. The imagination is set giddily free. How did the poet come across this spurious truffle? On what pretext is he eating it? From what beast does this fewmet issue? What does the fewmet taste like? Mr. Blokh creates an entire world for me to inhabit.
And thither shall I now flit, to freely and sportively bombinate among the flowers of his soul.
Click “Read More” to see a couple more haiku submissions.
Welcome to the JetWit Haiku Challenge! The challenge is to submit one or more haiku using the designated word. The best haiku submitted wins the prize.
This week’s challenge will be judged by Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), author of Zorgamazoo, a “rhyming, rhythmical tale of Katrina, a girl with a big heart and an even bigger imagination” published this year by Penguin Books and available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powells. You can also follow Robert on his blog wayofthewest.wordpress.com.
Note: The winner of Haiku Challenge #1 will be announced later today. Stay tuned!
Academic, Article/Journalism, Blogs, Books, Celebrity, Japan Trends, Roland Kelts, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Update: Roland Kelts
Here’s the latest update on JET alum Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica and professor at Tokyo University:
ADBUSTERS: A feature story, co-written with Leo Lewis of the Times of London, about signs of socialism and unrest among Japanese youth and the Kanikosen phenomenon is now online:
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/81/big_in_japan.html (On a related topic, Stacy Smith comments on recent political unrest following the closing of an auto manufacturing plant in Japan in WITLife #7-Totyota Shock (Part 2).)
DAILY YOMIURI: In his latest Soft Power/Hard Truths column in the Daily Yomiuri, Roland revisits Michael Arias, the only American to have directed a feature anime film in Japan–Tekkonkinkreet—(which, incidentally, premiered in the US at MOMA in 2007). Arias’s forthcoming film is the live action Heaven’s Door (opens 2/7/09 in Japan), which Roland attended at a private screening last week. Link to the column: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20081212TDY13004.htm
Seikai University Talk: Roland’s blog (japanamerica.blogspot.com) has a post about his recent talk at Seikei University in western Tokyo about Japanamerica where he introduced both the ideas examined in the book and the latest happenings in the trans-cultural exchange between Japan and the U.S.
Books, Events, JETAA Chapters, Networking Comments Off on JETAA Book Clubs – 3’s a magic number
After some initial research, I’ve so far found three JETAA book clubs out there:
JETAA NY – just being revied by Michael Glazer and Jessica Langbein after a hiatus of a few years. Having its first gathering this Wednesday evening (still time to rsvp!)
JETAA Northern California – same story, but with Melissa Chan playing the role of Michael and Jessica
JETAA Portland – Run by Lynnette Yasuda for the last 2 years, and with lots of success and fun.
I knew about NY and Northern California, but I just learned about Portland after getting a nice e-mail from Lynette who shared the following sentiment:
I think one of the best parts of the JETAA book club is that through the books we read, it sparks such interesting conversations about our own JET experiences in Japan – and I think that is what sets it apart from other book clubs. It’s very “natsukashi” if you know what I mean :)
Any other JETAA book clubs out there? Let us know by posting a comment or by emailing jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com. Yoroshiku!
Art, Article/Journalism, Blogs, Books, Celebrity, Japan Trends, Roland Kelts, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Roland Kelts Update: Studio360 in Japan and Interview in Brooklyn Rail
Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, has a few new things going on since we last checked in with him.
Studio360 – See some photos and read about Roland working with the Studio360 folks in Japan on an upcoming radio program. (Studio360 is a great show that runs on NPR and explores cultures via their artists.)
Brooklyn Rail — Roland has an interview in Brooklyn Rail with David Hadju, A Columbia Journalism School professor and author of Lush Life, Positively 4th Street, and now Ten Cent Plague, a record of America’s pre-code comic book auteurs.
Julie Matysik (Yamanashi-ken, 2006-07) is a freelance copy editor and aspiring in-house editor who recently moved to NYC with her husband (also a JET alum). She has just started an internship in editing/publishing/writing. Editorial Pursuits chronicles her job hunting efforts, experiences and lessons learned.
As part of my internship, I’ve been entrusted with reading what we like to call “slush”-unsolicited manuscripts that, almost 99% of the time, come to find an impersonal rejection letter folder in a neat and hopeful self-addressed stamped envelope. Now, normally I like to consider myself a very fair, open-minded, and kind individual; I especially love being introduced to new books, authors, genres, etc. However, when it comes to reading “slush,” I feel a demonic, elitist monster overtaking my body.
That said, this is not the first time I’ve been asked to read through various query letters, synopses, and sample chapters. At an internship I held at Cream City Review literary magazine in Milwaukee, WI I also read short story manuscripts and about half of the time, I passed the manuscript on to a fiction editor for their feedback. So I don’t know if the frustrations with not being able to find a permanent publishing job in the so-called “Mecca” of publishing (a.k.a. NYC) or my need to assert some pent-up dominance over Read More
Welcome to the first JetWit Haiku Challenge! The challenge is to submit one or more haiku using the designated word. The best haiku submitted wins the prize.
This week’s challenge will be judged by James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish.
Books, Contest, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Haiku Challenge! #1 – “Fewmets”
Welcome to the first JetWit Haiku Challenge! The challenge is to submit one or more haiku using the designated word. The best haiku submitted wins the prize.
This week’s challenge will be judged by James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish.
Article/Journalism, Blogs, Books, Japan Trends, Roland Kelts, Writers Comments Off on Update: Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99)
After chaperoning Pete Townsend and The Who around Japan for a couple weeks, having a press conference with Hayao Miyazaki and interviewing both Murakamis (Haruki and Ryu), Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99) pauses to reflect on the interactions as well as some new perspectives on “pop culture” in his latest SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS column in the Daily Yomiuri.
Update: I just learned from Roland that the radio discussion listed below will actually not air this week.
You can also hear Roland on NPR’s “The World” this Thursday (i.e., tomorrow) for a program about the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in the US.
Books, Celebrity, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Is author David Mitchell a JET alum?
Can anyone confirm whether award-winning author David Mitchell is an alumni of the JET Program? His Wikipedia entry and other info on the web make clear that he lived in Hiroshima for 8 years and taught English at a technical school. Just trying to confirm whether he’s a JET alum.
E-mail any info to jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com.
FYI, he is the author of (among other things) Ghostwritten (1999), number9dream (2001), and CloudAtlas (2004).
I just learned about another JET alum author named Rob Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), currently a resident of Toronto, thanks to JETAA DC newsletter chair Gina Anderson (Nara-ken, 2003-05).
Rob is the author of Zorgamazoo, a “rhyming, rhythmical tale of Katrina, a girl with a big heart and an even bigger imagination” published this year by Penguin Books and available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powells.
If the website for the book (www.zorgamazoo.com) is any indication, then the book seems like an exceedingly fun read for adults as well as children. (Plus, I read the free excerpt and it turns out it is as fun as the website.)
You can also follow Rob’s blog at wayofthewest.wordpress.com
FYI, to see a list of all JET alum authors (of which JetWit is aware), go to jetwit.com/wordpress/library/authorsbooks. And if you know of any others, be a good JET alum and send an e-mail to jetwit /att/ jetwit /dotto/ com.
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