James Kennedy “Librarian” essay sets blogosphere atwitter
Blogs, Books, Career, Celebrity, Humor, Interview/Profile, Roland Kelts, Uncategorized, Writers 
Comments Off on James Kennedy “Librarian” essay sets blogosphere atwitter
Following James Kennedy’s (Nara-ken, 2004-06) recent post of his essay describing the heretofore unpublicized lifestyles and rituals of librarians (a “cult” of which Kennedy’s own wife is admittedly a member) in connection with the American Library Association’s awarding of the “Best Book for Young Adults” to Neil Gaman, author of Coraline, rather than Kennedy’s The Order of Odd-Fish, the blogosphere was atwitter with commentary about Kennedy, who will be appearing in NYC March 22 for the JET Alumni Author Showcase along with Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) and Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04)).
The Handless Poet’s Maria Alexander said:
I’m buying James Kennedy’s book, The Order of Odd-Fish. I’m buying it entirely because of this blog post. James Kennedy could quite possibly be the funniest man in America. http://www.thehandlesspoet.com/blogger/2009/03/james-kennedy-is-all-growed-up.html
School Library Journal’s Elizabeth Bird wrote:
Bad news for my husband. I have just fallen head-over-heels in love with James Kennedy, author of the YA novel The Order of Odd-Fish. Ladies and gentlemen of the liking men variety, I advise you to be very careful in reading this blog post of his which tells (in a fashion) of his experience with the last ALA Media Awards. He had me at “conniving sidelong lope” and now I feel compelled to read every damn word the fellow has ever written, starting from the early scribbles he scrawled out as a toothless mewling babe. Ba-bump goes my little heart. I also feel inclined to give him a bad review with the sole intention of hoping that he will write about me and do complicated things with my name. As I read through it I almost want to dedicate this entire post solely in the purpose of getting you to read this blog. Go. Now. Read. This. Man. I, for my part, am off to read his book. Even if it is YA. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1130041713.html?nid=3713
SWET Workshop: Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In! (Tokyo)
Career, Events, Translating/Interpreting Comments Off on SWET Workshop: Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In! (Tokyo)
Via the e-mail list for the Tokyo-based Society of Writers, Editors and Translators:
Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In!
If you usually work with words, but are wondering how to make the most of your presentation software, this hands-on seminar is for you.
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:15 – 16:00 (lunch break 12:00-13:00)
Place: Sophia University, Library room 524
Price: 10,000 (SWET members), 15,000 (non-members)
Presenters: Hugh Ashton & Shuji Yoshida
Language: English
Participants: Up to 12 Read More
JET alum and Interesse employee Helen Godfrey just shared a new feature that her company offers that makes it easy to look for job listings by city and by language.
Take it for a test ride and see if you find it helpful: http://www.iiicareer.com/applicant/en/jobsearch_america.php
Help JET alum Suzette Simon get into the Caroline’s Comedy Competition
Career, Contest, Humor, Interview/Profile, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Help JET alum Suzette Simon get into the Caroline’s Comedy Competition
********
Click here to vote for Suzette Simon (Tochigi-ken) (aka “The Subway Comic“) to be one of the entrants in Caroline’s “March Madness.” (Here’s the full voting URL address: http://www.like2laugh.com/comics/comedian.php?ent=-%20Suzette%20Simon%20-)
“March Madness” hosted by Caroline’s Comedy Club is one of NYC’s most challenging and fun comedy competitions. It’s 64 comics going head to head for comedy glory! However, to win it, she’s got to get in it. So help Suzette out by voting her in. (You can vote OFTEN but only once a day.)
The deadline is Sunday, March 1.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Learn more about Suzette at her website: http://www.subwaycomic.com/ and by watching this NY1 feature on her.
WIT Life #29: International Recognition to Wipe Away Domestic Woes
Article/Journalism, Blogs, Career, Cartoon/Illustration, Celebrity, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WIT Life #29: International Recognition to Wipe Away Domestic Woes
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
For those of you who didn’t tune in to the Academy Awards last night, Japan cleaned up in all the categories in which it received nominations. Going against heavily favored Waltzing with Bashir from Israel, Director Yojiro Takita’s Okuribito (Departures) took the award for Best Foreign Language Film. Since the establishment of this award in 
1957, Japan Read More
——
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 is the midst of an internship in editing/publishing/writing. Editorial Pursuits chronicles her job hunting efforts, experiences and lessons learned.Well, it’s official: I am in internship junkie!
My inability to land a full-time job in publishing has left me with little options but to continue to pile on the internships. And my newest addition: Skyhorse Publishing.
In mid-January I realized that I wanted to gain experience in an actual publishing company (in addition to my literary agency internship) and so I turned to Craigslist.com for help. Finding an add for Skyhorse Publishing, a company I’d never even heard of before, I wrote my letter of interest and forwarded my resume and heard back a few days later. After a brief phone interview, I was awarded Read More
Request: Seeking self-employed, freelancers, telecommuters, and start-up entrepreneurs who work at home or at coffeeshops for a graduate research project
Career, Graduate School, Writers Comments Off on Request: Seeking self-employed, freelancers, telecommuters, and start-up entrepreneurs who work at home or at coffeeshops for a graduate research project
——-
This request is from Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06), webmaster for both JETAA NY and JetWit. He is currently a masters candidate at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University.
Hi JetWit’ers,
I am working on a research and design project targeting the self-employed, freelancers, entrepreneurs and others who work at home, in coffeeshops, or in a co-working space (basically anywhere that is not a traditional office environment). If any of the above describes the way you do your work, I would love to ask you a few questions about your physical work space and professional networking needs.
Please email me at leesean /atto/ nyu /dotto/ edu if you are interested in helping out. I could meet in person over coffee, schedule a quick interview over the phone or we could just have a conversation over email, whatever works for you. Thanks!
There’s a good discussion on the Honyaku Google Group about why J->E translators seem to be very busy despite the bad economy. I’ve attempted to summarize some of them below, but you can find the full discussion by signing up for the group at http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/. Definitely worth signing up if you work in (or want to work in) the Japanese-English translation field.
Suggested theories for why Japanese-English translation work has increased:
- Companies are cutting costs by outsourcing work to the market that used to be done in house
- A variant on the outsourcing theory: Many jobs were already budgeted and need to get done, but with layoffs there are fewer in-house workers so more is going to the translators. i.e., It’s a short-terms windfall.
- A variant on the short-term windfall: With more layoffs and fewer in-house employees, using a cheaper translator actually becomes more expensive because it requires more work by in-house employees to fix it up. Therefore, it makes more sense to give the work to higher quality translators who will be more accurate the first time around. (Note: I’m paraphrasing but probably could have worded this better.)
- Patent translation tends to be longer term work and is unaffected
- If you’re a good translator, you’ll continue to get work regardless
- As March approaches, departments in Japanese companies need to use up their budgets so that they don’t get shrunk the next time around
- Spring is just usually the busiest season for translation
- More translation work from U.S. (and less from Japan) because yen is stronger than the dollar and this makes U.S.-based translators relatively cheap labor
- Downturn has forced part-time and less-experienced translators out of the business leaving more work for more established translators
- For finance/investor relations work, there’s a short-term increase because the economic crisis has forced companies to disseminate press releases and other communications to all of their investors/consumers.
Feel free to post more theories and other comments for the benefit of the JET/JET Alum/Friend of JET/JetWit community in the comments section of this post.
The question has been raised by a JET alum translator/interpreter:
“Does anybody have an idea what the going rate for telephone interpretation (E<>J) is?”
Please post any responses in the comment section.
Know a Newsletter Editor: Mark Frey – JETAA Northern California
Career, Interview/Profile, JETAA Chapters, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Know a Newsletter Editor: Mark Frey – JETAA Northern California
Mark Frey (Kumamoto-ken, 2002-06) has served as the Newsletter Editor for JETAA Northern California since 2007. But how did he find himself in this position? And what else do we know about this man who has been entrusted not only with JETAA NC’s news needs but with with responsibility for a small child as well? JETAA Chicago’s Elizabeth Friedman (profiled in the previous edition of Know a Newsletter Editor) decided to get to the bottom of things, and this is what she learned.
Residence: Beautiful Lake Merritt neighborhood of Oakland, California
Job: Marketing Manager, MIG, Inc.
What he does all day at work: Write proposals, dream about Japan
How he found his job: Website for the Society for Marketing Professional Services (professional society for my field of work)
Job he would really like to be doing: Teaching!
First job after JET: Marketing Manager, MIG, Inc.
How he ended up as the Newsletter Editor: Was asked at a weak moment after about the 5th kanpai at a JETAA shinnenkai. Read More
Devon Brown (Tokyo-to, 2002-04) is a freelance writer with a focus on food. You can read more of her writing at TravelingTastebuds.blogspot.com.
For about a year I was holed up in my apartment writing articles I would never allow people to read. I only shared my work in large anonymous or protected forums like writing contests or classes. My work needed to be out there, but I wasn’t ready to stand behind it.
But now it’s time for me to take a step out into public as a writer and I feel like I’m stepping in front of a batting machine. On the first anniversary of my writing career, I am jello soft and unprepared for the inevitable criticism that lies ahead. People are actually reading my blog and I write two regular columns accessible to anyone with internet access. On the web, everything is open for comment and I fear the next snide remark or disagreement with my opinions will break me.
I need some quick advice about building backbone from some of you veterans out there because the balls are flying and I can only bob and weave for so long. To all seasoned writers, bloggers, authors and artists did this happen to you and how did you deal with it?
Help out Devon and other JET alum writers by posting your comments below. Yoroshiku!
Black Tokyo: Japan’s Part-timers in Full-time Trouble
Blogs, Career, Japan Trends, Uncategorized Comments Off on Black Tokyo: Japan’s Part-timers in Full-time Trouble
The blog Black Tokyo picked up on an interesting story from the L.A. times about the state of the job market in Japan.
If you do any work that has any connection to Japan, it’s very much worth keeping track of these trends and trying to think about how they may eventually effect all of us. Things are shifting and that means problems in the future (or present), but it also means opportunities.
JetWit would like to extend a big omedetou gozaimashita to professional translator and writer Kia Cheleen (CIR, Aichi-ken 1996-98, ALT 1998-1999) who was recently named Assistant Director at the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia Unviversity. The position was previously held by Miho Walsh, former JET Coordinator at the Consulate General of Japan (NY) who left the Donald Keene Center to become Associate Director at the Asian Cultural Council.
JetWit is happy to see that JET alums are movin’ on up (movin’ on up), to the West Side.
JET Alum Business Beat: Yvonne Thurman starts Dolly Bella Bakery
Advice, Career, Food & Drink, Interview/Profile, Uncategorized, Website Comments Off on JET Alum Business Beat: Yvonne Thurman starts Dolly Bella Bakery
Yvonne Thurman (Kagoshima-ken, 1994-95), former JETAA NY President, recently left her position as Director of the Columbia Business School’s Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) to start her own baked goods business, Dolly Bella Bakery (www.dollybellabakery.com). Read below as she explains what led her down this path and how it’s all going.
I have enjoyed my career at Columbia Business School , directing its Center on Japanese Economy and Business with Professor Hugh Patrick. After 10 years of working there, I was searching in the corporate sector for business development positions but couldn’t find something that really excited me. So I pushed myself to think outside of the box, and really took a good look at my strengths and skills, work experience and education, and analyzed what I really enjoyed doing.
I was fixated on keeping my career in the international organization/international business arena, but I had to explore all options. I had solid management skills, a degree in finance and business, international experience (same as so many…but wait!)…liked boating as a hobby…loved baking. Hmm. I started to put all that together. Read More
Thunderbird Grads?
Advice, Career, Graduate School Comments Off on Thunderbird Grads?
I saw on the JETAA Pacific Northwest e-mail list that a JET alum is looking for perspectives and advice from other JET alums about Thunderbird School of Global Management’s program. If you graduated from Thunderbird, please feel free to get in touch with me if you’d like to talk to the JET alum. Or go ahead and post your comments below.
