Layoffs
Anecdote Article, Career, Networking 
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I just heard from a JET alum who lost their relatively senior level job with a non-profit that has funding issues. I also heard from a JET alum who seems to be keeping their job but at the expense of a colleague who is being let go.
How are you doing with your job situation or your job search? E-mail jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com with your story (which will be posted anonymously).
Favorite translator – update
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On December 12 JetWit asked the question: Do you have a favorite translator?
Here are two responses received so far. Feel free to post additional comments or e-mail them to jetwit /att/ jetwit /dotto/ com:
Cheleen, Kia (CIR, Aichi-ken 1996-98, ALT 1998-1999) says:
Linda Hoaglund is one of my favorites. She is famous for doing subtitles for Japanese movies (like Kurosawa films) and she is an AMAZING interpreter as well. She has a massive vocabulary and everything she does sounds so natural. Linda doesn’t just do big-name projects — she does a lot of translation & interpreting for the arts/artists as well. Even though she grew up in Japan (to which some would say, “of COURSE she can read/write/speak Japanese”), I still think that her interpreting and translation skills are extremely polished and give the rest of us translators/ interpreters something to strive for.
Joel Dechant (CIR Kagoshima-ken, 2001-04) says:
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). In her recent posts, she’s been watching the news in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.
While watching the Japanese news this morning, the story that headlined hit a bit close to home. It profiled a recent scandal regarding takenoko (bamboo shoots) that took place in Kumamoto City, where I served as CIR for three years.
This vegetable was being marked as “Made in Kumamoto,” when in fact supplies had come from China. Even worse, when representatives of the parent company came to visit the local supplier, Kumamoto Cannery, they made three employees pose as farmers and had them take a commemorative photo in a bamboo grove. This picture was then used on the packaging with the caption “Kumamoto Prefecture Bamboo Grove Farmers,” creating a wholesome image for a product that was different than what was being advertised. They claim that their bamboo shoots were selling so well that they had to resort to other sources as their own production couldn’t keep pace.
Food safety is a topic of immense concern in Japan, though in the beginning of the year the threat was largely from abroad. Now that the scandals are domestic in origin it will be interesting Read More
Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06), JETAA NY’s webmaster and a grad student in NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, will be presenting his interactive music interface, the head(banger)
phones, at the Interactive Telecommunications Winter Show at NYU this
Wednesday and Thursday nights (tonight and tomorrow night). So drop in to take a look. (721 Broadway, 4th Fl – just east of Washington Sq Park)
The show features a variety of interactive sights, sounds and physical
objects created by student artists. The show is FREE and open to the
public. No need to RSVP. Just show up any time during the 2 nights.
http://itp.nyu.edu/shows/winter2008/
Dec. 17th & 18th from 5pm to 9pm
@ 721 Broadway, 4th Fl
Lee-Sean AKA JETAANY.org Webmaster
http://leesean.net
JETAA Pacific Northwest Career Day Notes
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From Shun Endo, PNW’s Treasurer & Web Guy, who posted the notes on the JETAA PNW website:
Career Day was a very successful event, bringing in many motivated participants, solid speakers, and even vendors from several companies. Many people stayed until the end, and went afterwards for drinks and comradery. The content of the speeches was very helpful, and it covered a broad range of topics. As promised, we have the notes to the speeches, as well as resources to the information given!
Thanks again to Steven Pascal-Joiner of Idealist.org , and Rob Uy from Microsoft HR, and the panel speakers for their respective insights. They were: Amy Fenning , Amanda Wolfman , Keith Nitta , David Sandler , Megan Bernard , Rob Uy , Matt Austin , Steven Pascal-Joiner. Thanks to Ben for moderating the discussion.
Here are the links:
Rob Uy Speech Notes
Steven Pascal Joiner Speech Notes
Idealist.org Presentation by Steven (PDF of E-book, and links to different topics covered by Steven)
WITLife #8 – Christmas Cakes and Monolingual Nobel Prize Winners
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
My posts from last week were largely doom and gloom about the current economic woes, so I thought I’d start this week with something lighter from recent Japanese TV news—the topic of Christmas cake! Definitely a big deal in Japan.
(For those unfamiliar, Japanese Christmas focused primarily on Christmas Eve. The actual holiday is a regular workday, to the dismay of many an English teacher. It is a secular celebration where couples and families get together to eat typical Christmas fare such as Kentucky fried chicken and strawberry shortcake.)
The TV news this past Friday profiled the major department store Matsuya in Ginza, which sells 25 million cakes during the three day period from the 23rd until Christmas. The cakes that are selected to be featured in its seasonal catalog basically determine how the year’s profits will turn out.
An essential part of the selection process are the taste-testers who decide on certain ingredients. This year’s hot commodity was Read More
Elizabeth Bass (Kochi 2002-2004) reports that she finally got a job (YEAH!). However, that means that she is now looking for a replacement intern at the literary agency where she works. The position is unpaid, but because it’s a small office there is a ton of opportunity to get some invaluable hands-on experience in the industry. We are looking for someone to fill the position ASAP, if possible.
We are currently accepting applications for an intern at a small literary agency.
The intern will read and recommend submissions, answer the telephone, draft emails and help in various ways around the office, including filing and restocking office supplies. Because it is a small office (myself and an assistant) the intern will have an opportunity to see close up how a literary agency works and become familiar with the book publishing industry.
QUALIFICATIONS: I am looking for someone with computer skills and some office experience to work 5-6 hours per week. (The days are flexible.) I would hope that the intern was fairly well-read and interested in books.
Please submit a short cover letter and your resume to:
Regina Ryan reginaryanbooks @ rcn . com
DURATION: 5-6 hours per week
COMPENSATION: None
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
Not to continue the doom and gloom of yesterday’s post, but a good portion of today’s news was again devoted to Toyota Shock. For this company itself, out of 9,200 temporary workers, 3,000 of them will be laid off. In regard to next year’s sales forecast for the whole Toyota group, an estimated 9.5 million cars were anticipated to be sold to the American market, but this forecast has been reduced to 8 million.
The car company Isuzu fired 1,400 workers from its factory in Kanazawa, and those affected took it upon themselves to fight back. Footage was shown of these workers handing out pamphlets to co-workers asking them to join their union and asking executives to retract their dismissal. Evidently these cuts came without notice, causing Read More
Career advice from the WSJ’s Elizabeth Garone (Saga-ken, 1993-95)
Advice, Article/Journalism, Career, Interview/Profile, Writers Comments Off on Career advice from the WSJ’s Elizabeth Garone (Saga-ken, 1993-95)
It turns out there’s a JET alum writing a career advice column for the Wall Street Journal. Check out the latest column from Elizabeth Garone (Saga-ken, Omachi-cho, 1993-95) at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122874945537188153.html#articleTabs_comments.
It also turns out that she is a freelance journalist with more than a decade of writing for publications that have included Business Week, The Washington Post, Money Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. Her specialties are technology, education (specifically SAT and test prep), human interest and children.
You can learn more about Elizabeth through her website at www.garone.com or through her LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lizgarone
From a JETAA Pacific Northwest email about Kevin Kajitani (Hyogo-ken, 2006-07) who has created Japanese Accelerator, a new online Japanese study method for keeping your Japanese skills up. He’s offering a special discount to JET alums who want to try it out.
Research Proven Japanese Conversation Training System
Japanese Accelerator, presented by Speekit, is a unique Japanese language education tool specifically designed for Japanese. It’s method has been proven through University research to significantly improve your overall conversational fluency by putting you inside real, everyday conversations.
Japanese Accelerator will take you beyond simply “learning” the Japanese language and help you to truly *acquire* it. To learn more about Japanese Accelerator, visit us as www.JapaneseAcceler ator.com
If you are a JETAA members, you can save more than 50% off the normal price of Japanese Accelerator. Get full, unlimited access to Japanese Accelerator and it’s growing library of content for a one-time fee of just $29.
To get in on this great deal, go to: www.JapaneseAcceler ator.com/ jetaa-sign- up Read More
I just found about a blog by JET alum Aaron Madlon-Kay (CIR Ehime-ken, 2006-08) that seems to do a good job of addressing translation issues. (e.g., this post on Romanizing Japanese Addresses, this one on Translating Place Names, and this one on an attempt to translate into Japanese from English.)
Definitely a resource that other JET alums, especially other translators and those of you interested in getting into translation, might want to check out. Wish I had found it sooner, but glad to have it the JetWit orbit now.
WITLife #5 – Keeping up on the Japanese news
Career, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WITLife #5 – Keeping up on the Japanese news
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
Starting with this post I thought I’d introduce a more behind the scenes aspect of WIT life, that being the preparation and work that takes place when I am not traveling or working on an assignment.
In order to keep my Japanese skills sharp, besides conversing with native speakers (don’t be afraid to ask to be corrected!) I enjoy the daily programming of Fujisankei. In particular, the news airing at 7 a.m. (rebroadcast at 10) every weekday morning is especially insightful for keeping up to date on what’s going on in Japan and beyond, and how certain concepts would be expressed in Japanese.
An essential part of being a translator/interpreter is knowing the correct vocabulary for recent phenomenon, as these are words that change with the times and require constant updating of your brain. For example, in Japan the collapse of our economic institutions is referred to as Read More
WIT Life #4 – Airport security and death row
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WITLife is a series by Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
My most recent assignment with the State Department had me doing simultaneous interpreting for a group of six officials from Japan’s central government.
They all came from different ministries ranging from Justice to Finance to Health (one of whose former officials was just murdered along with his wife in a recent high profile case). It was neat to talk to the participant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (aka MEXT), who met his wife in the workplace (when she was a tantousha for the JET Programme) and to hear stories from her experience traveling to promote it.
The trip was a success but was book-ended by two harrowing experiences. When the group arrived the day Read More
Tadaima #4 – Put it all on Black!
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My name is Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08). And whether readjusting to post-JET life is something you’re facing now, will deal with in the future or if you just enjoy reconnecting with that awkwardly uncertain feeling you had when you got back from Japan, come along with me as I look for a new job, a new apartment, and yes, mow the lawn of my parent’s house. Tadaima!
“WHEEL…. OF…… FORTUNE!!!!” I yelled in a haze of alcohol and bright flashing lights. A small crowd gathered around my cousin and I as we played “The Wheel of Fortune” slot machine.
We were in Atlantic City for my cousin’s girlfriend’s birthday, and since mine was a couple days away, sure, mine too. I know I know, here I am, unemployed, in a place people go to burn money, when I could be sending out more resumes and following more leads, but instead I’m down 60 bucks, four drinks in the hole, and hitting on my cousin’s girlfriend’s sister. I suppose I really should be… WHEEL….. OF….. FORTUNE!!!! Okay, down 48 bucks now.
It’s sort of funny when I try to draw parallels between gambling in America and the Pachinko parlors of Read More
Staffing/Recruiting Companies Directory now on JetWit.com
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I’ve created a directory for staffing/recruiting firms that are popular with JET alumni, organized by city. So far it has New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Did I miss any good ones? E-mail me at jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com.
Note to staffing/recruiting firms: If you would like your company to have a link, website address, larger font, an image and/or other information listed below, please contact Steven at jetwit /atto/ jetwit /dotto/ com for pricing information.
