Lars Martinson (Fukuoka-ken 2003-2006), author of the graphic novels Tonoharu: Part Two andTonoharu:  Part 1, has  just announced the “Kameoka Diaries“, Lars’ e-comic about his return to teaching English, this time in Kameoka, Kyoto, is now available on iTunes.

More info here and below:  http://larsmartinson.com/my-first-two-e-comics-now-available/

The Kameoka Diaries: Volume One [ Direct iBookstore Link ]
The Kameoka Diaries: Volume One is a humorous (?) account of my experiences living and working in Central Japan, told over eight chapters. It includes an exclusive chapter not available anywhere else!

JETwit Note:  I just downloaded a copy onto my iPhone. 250 pages for only $0.99, and I always love Lars’ work.  Plus, it’s my first time using iBook which it turns out is pretty nifty. :-)

"The word ‘Japonicana’ comes from Japan, America and Spain. The ‘a’ sound is for the females, so my album is a girl. There’s more than one genre—dance, pop, hip-hop, and R&B. It’s like my baby, because I created it from scratch." (Courtesy of PLAN C Agency)

By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Visit his Examiner.com page here for related stories.

In his native Japan, Jin Akanishi is a superstar. Since his early teens, he’s achieved fame as a pop idol, singer-songwriter (with the groups KAT-TUN and LANDS), actor, and radio host. After launching a successful American tour in 2010 to sold out (and screaming) crowds, Jin is back in the U.S. supporting his hotly anticipated English-language debut album, Japonicana. Released earlier this month, the disc features production by Grammy Award-nominated trio the Stereotypes (Far East Movement, Ne-Yo) and platinum hit maker Static Revenger (Madonna, Shakira).

Jin takes Manhattan at New York’s Best Buy Theater tonight (March 15) and hits San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom on March 17. In this exclusive interview, I spoke with the 27-year-old about the tour, the making of the album, his love for hip-hop, and hanging out with Justin Bieber.

Click here to read the Kameoka Diaries #5.

http://larsmartinson.com/kameoka-diaries-5/

Cornilles will next face the Democratic primary winner Suzanne Bonamici, an Oregon state senator.

Here’s a link to the full article:  http://www.katu.com/news/local/133507753.html

Here’s a link to Rob’s campaign website:  http://www.cornillesforcongress.com/

BTW, if anyone knows Rob’s prefecture and years on JET, please post here or e-mail to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.  Yoroshiku!

Suzanne Bonamici (D) (left) and JET alum Rob Cornilles (R) (right)

"I think I have a lot of Japanese culture ingrained in me. Just from being from a Japanese family, living in Japan. The whole 'respect your elders,' that, to me, is the main thing that’s different between America and Japan."

By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his page here for related stories.

The winner of five AVN Awards (like the Oscars, but without Cuba Gooding, Jr.), Asa Akira returned to the East Coast last weekend for a rare promotional trip. In the spirit of intensifying relations between our nation and Japan, I spoke with the scintillating 25-year-old superstar/native New Yorker about her Japanese roots, her favorite anime films, and the deeper cultural points that America and Japan can swap with each other.

Regarding your Japanese heritage, where is your family originally from?

My mother’s side of the family is from Osaka and my father’s side is from Tokyo, but they live in Yokohama.

You went to an American school growing up.

I did, a very prestigious American private school. It was nice.

When Japanese students relocate to America, it can be difficult adjusting. How was it for you relearning the way of life here?

I was born in New York City and I moved to Japan when I was six, so I already had a little America experience, but it was definitely a huge culture shock. Kids in Japan are really good, even American ones. So coming to New York was like, “Oh my God, these kids are 12 years old and they’re doing drugs!” It was definitely a huge culture shock, and I totally bought into it for a little bit (laughs).

You’ve got an incredible personality…

Thank you.

What do you attribute this to?

I grew up around boys; I think that has a lot to do with my sense of humor. Me and this other girl were always the only two girls in this group of boys, so I think we grew up with a really good sense of humor, you know?

So are you kind of like an otemba (tomboy)?

Yeah (laughs).

That’s my type, by the way.

Oh, good (laughs).

Regarding Japanese culture, what things do you like the most about it? Are there any films or other things that you point to as an inspiration?

I think I have a lot of Japanese culture ingrained in me. Just from being from a Japanese family, living in Japan. The whole “respect your elders,” that, to me, is the main thing that’s different between America and Japan. People in America treat old people like [expletive].

I love my grandmother, but I know what you’re talking about.

(Laughs) And they just don’t listen to older people. I think that’s weird. So that would be the main thing.

For the rest of the interview, click here.

George Rose with Hideki Irabu

JET alum George Rose (Fukushima-ken, 1989-91), former interpreter for Hideki Irabu as well as former JETAA NY President, is quoted in a Sunday, October 9 feature article “Irabu Got Lost on the Way Back“) in the New York Times about Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu who recently committed suicide.  The article gives the impression that George was one of the few U.S. baseball colleagues who actually got to know Irabu personally.

Below is a link to the full article along with the quotes by George:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/sports/baseball/hideki-irabu-got-lost-on-the-road-back.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=hideki%20irabu&st=cse

“When I saw him last summer, he told me he was having a midlife crisis,” said George Rose, who befriended Irabu when he worked for two years as his interpreter on the Yankees. Rose then repeated what had been a kind of conventional wisdom about the Irabu: he had a big heart, but could be his own worst enemy.

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JET alum George Rose with Derek Jeter at the 1998 World Series.

“He was kind of searching for what to do next,” said George Rose, his old interpreter, “and he never did.”

For additional background on George, here’s a link to a 2008 JETAANY Newsletter interview with George Rose (“Pride of the Yankees:  Far East Edition“) by Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2002-03).

September 23, 2011

By BRUCE FEILER

I RECENTLY attended a chaotic, kid-friendly gathering at the home of a friend. On my way to the bathroom to seek some solace, I decided to indulge in one of my favorite antisocial activities: scrutinizing someone else’s bookshelf. For a veteran sleuth, a bookshelf can offer a trove of insights worthy of any Freudian’s couch. Does a person alphabetize the books or clump them? Do they arrange their books by genre, order in which they were purchased, or color? Are these books unopened hardcovers or dog-eared paperbacks?

I was several minutes into my investigation (Bill Clinton’s memoir; “The DaVinci Code”), when I had a heart-sinking realization: My friend hadn’t bought an actual, dead-tree book in years. He’d switched entirely to e-readers. Desperate, I turned to his record collection. There the problem was even greater (Simon & Garfunkel, Hootie & the Blowfish). My friend hadn’t purchased a physical CD since college!

My heart sank. I suddenly felt trapped with an obsolete skill, like being a virtuoso manuscript illuminator in the era of Gutenberg. Even worse, I was facing an alarming predicament. How do I nose around friends’ houses when their bookshelves are freeze-dried in 2007. How do I snoop in the age of e-book?

Snooping is more than just an avocation, I quickly discovered; it’s a burgeoning academic field. Its Edison is Sam Gosling, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You.” Dr. Gosling explained that far from frivolous (or intrusive), a bit of gumshoe in someone’s cupboard or closet can reveal far more about them than an entire evening’s worth of chitchat.

“Places reflect long series of behavior,” he told me during a recent visit to my home. “If I have a conversation with you, I just get snippets of behavior. Your books, your chairs, your wall hangings represent an accumulation over many years. A space distills repeated acts. That’s why it’s hard to fake.”

Of the five major personality traits, three – openness, conscientiousness and extroversion – are clearly revealed in people’s spaces, he said. (The other two, agreeableness and neuroticism, are more internal.) By looking at just the bookshelf by my front door, for instance, he quickly formed a number of impressions about me and my wife. The fact that our books on this shelf are on a broad range of subjects suggested openness. The fact that they are all written by friends suggests extroversion. The fact that they are broadly alphabetized (but not precisely so) suggests we aspire to conscientiousness but often fall short of our own goals.

This perfect storm of clues is what makes bookshelf sleuthing so appealing – and so difficult to replicate elsewhere in a home. “The kitchen and pantry are pretty good,” said Anne Fadiman, an unabashed bookshelf snooper and the author of “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader.” “I learn things about that person, and they are things I’m interested in.” Is that person neat or messy? she mentioned. Is that person more interested in show – expensive, untouched cookware hung from the ceiling – or is every pot and pan nicely dented with a few things burned at the bottom? Are the spices arranged in alphabetical order? Do they have lots of frozen food?

“But they don’t interest me as much as a person’s bookshelf,” she continued, “because the kitchen and pantry are reflection of how the person eats, whereas the bookcase is reflection of how he thinks.”

Others have no problem looking beyond books. “I like art,” said Eric Abrahamson, a professor at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University and the author of “A Perfect Mess,” a book about the benefits of disorder. “I gravitate very quickly to whatever artwork is hanging on the walls. Do they have stuff that turns your stomach, or a piece from a not-very-well-known artist that’s absolutely beautiful?”

People tend to form impressions instantaneously, Dr. Abrahamson said. “You walk in the door and see a towel on the dinner table, boom that person’s a mess,” he said. “You walk in and see toothpicks, boom that person is orderly.” We then seek out evidence that confirms our initial impressions. In other words, peering in the fridge might not be necessary; you already know what you’d think before you get there.

For his part, Dr. Gosling recommended seeking out three places in a home if the bookshelf was not revealing. First, any space where a person retreats to be alone. “That might be a potting shed, a home office or sewing corner,” he said. Second, bedrooms. He recommended paying particular attention to headboards, pillows and what people keep at their bedside. Finally, photographs. Dr. Gosling was struck, for instance, that my wife and I have no photos at all in our living room, suggesting we use the space for “down-regulating” or retreating from others. In my home office, meanwhile, I have numerous photos, all featuring people, from my children, to my family, to me with friends around the world. Alone in my office, he concluded, I seek contact with others in what he called “social snacking.”

For all the benefits of snooping, the activity does present certain ethical quandaries. Is it O.K. to look in someone’s closet? Their medicine cabinet? Their iPad?

Ms. Fadiman strongly rejects trespassing in private spaces. “I don’t have a lot of interest in snooping in places my host doesn’t want me to snoop,” she said. That includes smart phones, computers and e-reading devices, she said. And if, by chance, she was invited to use a friend’s bathroom and accidentally came across a wholesale supply of Prozac or Viagra? “That would be an unpleasant experience,” she said. “I would feel intensely guilty.”

But such unintended discoveries do occur, of course. Years ago, while bunking with a friend, I opened a drawer next to the bed where I was sleeping and found a pair of handcuffs. What was I supposed to do with this information? “Such findings trigger strong, discomfiting feelings,” said Dr. Abrahamson. “The person collects their toenails? They have a knife with blood on it?” And it’s impossible to forget, he added. “Every time you see this person and they say, ‘Hey, nice to see you. How are the kids?’ you’d be thinking, ‘They’re great, Mrs. Handcuffs.’ ”

Partly because of challenges like these, Dr. Gosling draws a strict line at any place thought to be private. When you breach certain boundaries, he said, it can actually harm the relationship. You think about the person more accurately, but in the process you lose trust. And the real purpose of looking around someone’s house, he said, is to bring you closer to the other person.

“When I first walked into your home,” he said, “I noticed that you had a Japanese kimono on the wall. Even though I didn’t know what it meant to you, it directed me to a conversation with you that was more informative. That’s when I learned you had lived in Japan.”

Snooping, in other words, instead of being an antisocial activity, is actually prosocial. Our spaces are telling others what we’re like even when we’re not. These days, we need such boosts to communication, because as the demise of the bookshelf shows, our true selves are increasingly retreating from public display and disappearing inside our devices. We are becoming, as Ms. Fadiman lamented, more invisible. “Our obsession with privacy is somehow reflected in the fact that our taste is now locked up invisibly inside all of these little boxes.”

But perhaps, she suggested, that’s not so bad after all. “Maybe the fact that my host didn’t have an active bookshelf would send me back to the actual people. I would have to walk back to the cocktail party and ask my friend, ‘Hey, what do you like to read?’ ”

Members of Monkey Majik with Deputy Minister Len Edwards

Here’s info on a charity concert (“charity live”) by JET alum Maynard Plant’s (Aomori-ken, 1997-2000) hit band Monkey Majik in Sendai on October 16th, as part of their ongoing effort to support rebuilding and recovery in Tohoku, in their capacity as Tohoku Tourism Ambassadors.

東北観光親善大使「モンキーマジック」がチャリティライブを開催します！

2011年9月12日

震災から６ヶ月が経過してもなお、復興までのプロセスには数多くの方の継続的なご支援が必要であるとあらためて実感すると同時に、活動を通じて人間一人一人の助け合いの力強さ、素晴らしさに日々感動を憶えてきました。

そしてこの出来事を全国の皆様に伝え続けて行かなくてはならないという強い想いから、プロジェクト第３弾となるチャリティライブを故郷 被災地 仙台で開催することを決断しました。

「音楽」の力を通じて、参加してくれた方々、さらに被災地の方々の一歩前へ踏み出す気持ちへの後押しとなり、心の早期復興への一助となるような１日を共に作り上げたいと強く願っております。

本公演に於ける売上金の一部を義援金、寄付金として、再び公的機関を通じて被災地へ送ります。

〈公演概要〉
東日本大震災復興支援プロジェクト
ＭＯＮＫＥＹ　ＭＡＪＩＫチャリティライブ「ＳＥＮＤ愛」
～ＭＯＮＫＥＹ　ＭＡＪＩＫがゲストを迎えてのチャリティライブ～
日程：２０１１年１０月１６日（日）開場１３：００開演１４：００
会場：セキスイハイムスーパーアリーナ（グランディ２１）
出演：ＭＯＮＫＥＹ ＭＡＪＩＫ/ＬＯＶＥ ＰＳＹＣＨＥＤＥＬＩＣＯ/Ｒａｋｅ and more・・・

チケット一般発売：９月１７日（土）１０：００～
チケット料金：前売り５，０００円（税込）

お問い合わせ：
ＴＢＣ事業部　ＴＥＬ０２２－２２７－２７１５
ニュース・プロモーション　ＴＥＬ０２２－２６６－７５５５
詳しくは　こちら　へアクセス願います。

Here’s the newest newsletter from JET alum and Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi (Aichi-ken, Inuyama-shi, 1988-89):

***Page 1***

***Page 2***

CLICK HERE for more JETwit posts about Anthony Bianchi.

Show off your translating skills! An English translation or summary of some or all of the above would be great if any readers are up for it.  Full credit will be given!

JETAA Ottawa President Lisa Mallin (Chiba-ken, 2006-08) does a great job on Ottawa’s Channel A morning show of promoting “JETAA dogs” (Japan-inspired hotdogs) along with the entire Ottawa Japanese Summer Festival.  Make sure to watch to the end where Lisa also helpfully informs the host that Sendai-based band Monkey Majik was started by JET alum  Maynard Plant (Aomori-ken, 1997-2000) and his brother.

JET alum George Rose (left) in his role as translator for Hideki Irabu (right).

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Former star pitcher Hideki Irabu was apparently found dead in his apartment by friends.

Notably, former JETAA New York President George Rose had served as Irabu’s translator during his time with the Yankees when they won the World Series.

Rest in peace, Irabu-san.  Thanks for the memories and for doing your part to bridge the culture gap.

http://www.beavertonvalleytimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=131181238478965800

The panel featured Bianchi along with fellow JET alums Laurel Lukaszewski (Kagoshima-ken, 1990-92) (sculptor artist and former Executive Director of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C. as well as former President of Pacific Northwest JETAA) and Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94), Executive Director of the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA), and was moderated by JETwit publisher Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, Kariya-shi, 1992-94).

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Notably, the position was previously held for 16 years by JET alum Paige Cottingham-Streater who recently was appointed Executive Director of the Japan-US Friendship Commission, a federal agency that provides grants for research, training and exchange with Japan.  Paige, who was one of the founders of the JET Alumni Association in 1989, also recently spoke at the JETAA USA National Conference in Washington, D.C. on a panel moderated by former Monbusho English Fellow (i.e., pre-JET) Michael Green who previously served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) from January 2004 to December 2005.

Here’s the announcement:

Dear Friends

First, I want to tell you how much I appreciate your support for my race for Congress in 2010. Your friendship and trust is something I treasure. I truly love Arkansas and want to do all that I can to serve the great people of Arkansas.

As you know I have been considering another run for U.S. Congress in 2012. It would have been a difficult race, but I believe that I could have won. I believe that the Second District is winnable for the Democratic Party in 2012.  Another opportunity, however, has been offered to me that I feel is right for me and my family at this time.

Today I am excited to tell you that I have accepted a position with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation as Deputy Executive Director.  The Foundation, based in Washington DC, is a nonprofit organization that promotes understanding and cooperation among the nations and peoples of Asia and the U.S.  One of my responsibilities will be to oversee the Mansfield Fellows.  You may remember that I was a Mansfield Fellow earlier in my career.

During my campaign for Congress at one of the candidate debates I was asked to name my political hero.  I responded that two people are my political heroes:  Vic Snyder and Mike Mansfield.  Everyone knew Vic Snyder.  Fewer knew Mike Mansfield.

Mike Mansfield was a miner from Montana who after serving in World War II finished high school and then college.  With the support of his wonderful wife,
Maureen, he went on to serve in the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate.  He was the Senate Majority Leader from 1961-1977 and was U.S. Ambassador to Japan for both Presidents Carter and Reagan.  He died in 2001 at the age of 98.

I had the good fortune to work for Vic Snyder for nearly three years and now I am delighted to have the chance to work for the foundation that honors Maureen and Mike Mansfield’s legacy.

My family and I are embarking on a new adventure in our lives.  We promise to stay in touch and we ask that you do the same.

Thank you again for everything.

All the best,

David

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.  

REMEMBER TO DO-SI-DO At some point, every dinner party faces a fork in the table: one giant conversation or lots of smaller ones. While each route poses its own risks, the fact that there’s always a bailout option can prove helpful.   Daniel Menaker, a former editor at The New Yorker and Random House and the author of “A Good Talk,” said he has long viewed a dinner party invitation as a prison sentence. “You’ll be there for at least three hours,” he said. “It will not be up to you where you sit. It is like being in a small, windowless cell.” His tips for surviving one-on-one exchanges: Compliments are nice, as are open-ended questions like “How do you spend your day?” or “What’s new in your world?” He particularly likes talking about what he calls third things, “not me, not them, but something else.” When all else fails, he said, try to engage the table at large. “A dinner party is a bit like a do-si-do,” he said. “Everybody joins hands and meets in the middle, then goes back to their own partners.”  

DON’T BE AFRAID OF CONFLICT I, for one, like pushing a dinner conversation to the edge. I’ve been known to ask dining companions to describe their relationship with fire, or confess what they’ve done in their lives to prevent them from being nominated to the Supreme Court. Politics and religion are welcome at my table. Ms. Bates also adheres to this high-risk approach. “I don’t think there should be any no-fly zones,” she said.   But others recoil at the thought. “A lot of people confuse dinner parties with seminars,” said Rocco DiSpirito, the host of “Rocco’s Dinner Party” on Bravo. He compares conversations that put people on the spot to watching gladiators fight in ancient Rome. “I fiercely protect my guests’ right to be happy.” He surely wouldn’t be happy with my friend who distributes what he calls “The List,” a tally of prepared questions on both domestic and foreign affairs, from TMZ to NPR. When I asked my friend for a question he might use this summer, he said, “How many of Michele Bachmann’s 23 foster children will vote for her for president?”

GO PERSONAL Mr. Menaker said the goal of any conversation should be to make a connection, which he said can be enhanced when one participant offers up an uncertainty or insecurity – “not deep, not embarrassing, just a move in the direction of intimacy.” Kathy Freston, the healthy living enthusiast, Hollywood hostess and author of “Veganist,” said she, too, favors questions that elicit personal revelations. “I can’t stand small talk,” she said, “so I’ll turn to a table and say: ‘Let’s talk about something that we can all learn about from one another. What do you think is the driving force in your life?’ ” Other questions that prompt revealing conversations, she said: “What do you think is the biggest obstacle you’ve not been able to overcome?” and “Is food a purely taste experience for you, or is it a health or ethical issue?”

THE BIG SHIFT But what if none of these work and you’re still trapped next to a narcissist or a drunk? My panel proposed a number of suggestions, from strategically helping clear the table to offering to pour wine. Ms. Freston said she preferred to step away for a few minutes. “As an introvert, I take a little time to myself, go to the powder room, jot something down in my notebook or take a walk outside.”

Ms. Bates takes a more-direct approach. “You know, it’s been really nice talking to you, but there’s somebody I really want to talk to over there,” before going to squeeze in between others.

Is this really O.K.? “If you’ve told your circus story,” said Mr. DiSpirito, “you’re an hour in, and you’re not feeling the love, there’s nothing wrong with saying you want to catch up with someone.”

AN ALPHA SITUATION There’s one final scenario I had to confront. What if more than one guest has honed these techniques and tries to choreograph the conversation. Or as one friend put it, what if there’s more than one Bruce Feiler?

“Such people can actually rescue a situation and often do,” Mr. Menaker said.

Ms. Bates said: “If it looks like it’s going to be really great theater, you just go with it. If not, say ‘You two talk among yourselves.’ ” One tip I heard: If you know you’re inviting two alphas to a party, sit them in the middle, across from each other, so they draw the conversation toward the center of the table instead of diffusing it toward the poles.

Good conversation is as central to a successful dinner party as good food, wine and flowers. Yet it’s the area that gets the least planning and thought. Whatever style you prefer, a successful conversation requires multiple parties – a shifting alliance of talkers and listeners, performers and audience members, alphas and betas. If you’ve spent more than one course playing only one of these roles, odds are you’re upsetting the harmony. Get the balance right, you’ll dine free for life. Get it wrong, you’ll be confined to the last refuge of the insufferable: You’ll be dining alone.

From the Harper Collins website:

At a time when the world is asking how the Arab Spring and the death of Osama bin Laden will reshape our times, Bruce Feiler, bestselling author of Walking the Bible and Abraham, offers a vivid behind-the-scenes portrait of history in the making. He marches with the daring young organizers in Liberation Square, confronts the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, and witnesses the dramatic rebuilding of a church at exactly the moment sectarian violence threatens the peaceful movement. Drawing on fifteen years of travels across the region, from Egypt to Israel, Iraq to Iran, Feiler brings his unprecedented experience to the most pressing questions: how the rise of freedom will affect terrorism; Middle East peace; and relations among Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide. Eloquent and thoughtful, Generation Freedom offers a hopeful vision of how this unrivaled upheaval will transform the world.

Brief English summary of Japanese article below:

Canada’s Ambassador to Japan Jonathan T. Fried delivered a load of Canadian beef to Tagajo City, Miyagi Prefecture along with Maynard Plant (Aomori-ken, 1997-2000) and one other member of Monkey Majik (a four-person Canadian-Japanese band based in Sendai and Tagajo). The beef  was served atop locally grown Hitomebore rice to make steeki-don for 1,000 people living in shelters in Tagajo.  The Ambassador’s aim was to help residents get their strength back after everything they’ve been through, and it appears to have been the first meat many had enjoyed for quite awhile.

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(Japanese article)

宮城〕

The June 2011 issue of the Sake World e-newsletter

Go to John’s Sake World website for more information as well:  www.sake-world.com

Mike Maher-King (Fukui)

Here’s some background on Mike from the TEDxTokyo website which does a nice job summarizing some of the good work he’s been doing since the Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami:

Mike Maher-King
Network Organizer, Fundraiser and Catalyst

Channeling good intentions is tougher than it looks, but Michael Maher King seems to possess the knack. The young British founder and CEO of Smile Kids Japan—which has now joined Living Dreams—was a teacher in Fukui when his wife informed him that some of their students were orphans. In May 2008, they started up Smile Kids to lend their time, skills and care to Fukui’s orphanages.

The March 11 Tohoku disaster broadened the group’s focus and ambitions. Working alongside the Living Dreams NPO, Michael is now taking their network concept to 18 orphanages in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima through the Smiles and Dreams: Tohoku Kids’ Project. They plan to set up regular fun and interactive volunteer visits, distribute donated items, and spark long-term projects that cover everything from computers to mentoring to scholarships. Michael hopes to go nationwide and help Japan’s other orphans shape their own destinies.

And here’s the event description from the TEDxTokyo website:

Join us
The entire event will be streamed live here on:

• May 21st from 9am JST
• May 20th from 8pm EDT

Join us for all of the talks as they happen, and exclusive backstage interviews.

On Saturday May 21st from 9am JST (Friday May 20th from 8pm EDT) the curtain will rise on our third annual event, Entering the Unknown, which is set to be bigger and better than ever as we bring together an even wider range of speakers and participants to share ideas and inspiration.

In the wake of the devastating March 11th earthquake and subsequent tsunami & radiation menace, we abruptly altered our focus to explore practical and inventive ways of rebuilding and renewing Japan, and uplifting the spirits of its people.

Over 30 speakers and 300 participants will be joining us at Tokyo’s iconic Miraikan, with thousands more around the world watching on the day via our bilingual live streams, whilst taking part through our social media channels.

We invite you to be a part of this special event – put the date in your diary, follow our latest updates on Twitter, and join us here live from Tokyo on the day as we Enter the Unknown.

View the full program here »

Last night was Japan Society of New York’s Anual Sake Tasting:  Back to Basics event with a lecture by JET alum John Gauntner (Kanagawa-ken) (aka “The Sake Guy”), now the leading sake educator in the world, followed by a sake tasting (and mingling) with about 20 sake exporters from all over Japan.  I attended with professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) (who writes the WIT Life posts on JETwit) and we had a terrific time, learning the basics of sake, running into Tomoko Okuno of Japan Society as well as Alma Jennings (Fukushima-ken, 2008-10) who was volunteering at the event, and of course finally getting to meet John in person.

John will be lecturing at similar events over the next few days in Boston, Toronto and several other cities in North America.  So keep your eyes out and, if you attend, make sure to say hi and let him know you’re a JET alum as well.

Thanks to Japan Society for putting on a great event!

Stacy Smith (CIR Kumamoto, 2000-03) and John Gauntner (Kanagawa)

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Sake tasting: JET alums Stacy Smith, Alma Jennings and Steven Horowitz sample sake with Kensuke Shichida, President of Saga Prefecture-based Tenzan Sake Brewery