WIT Life #170: Super Cool Biz
Earthquake Tsunami, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers 
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Newspaper articles from this week have highlighted Japan’s handling of energy challenges in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami, and subsequently damaged nuclear power plants. The first from the Wall Street Journal talks about the development of a new summer style called “Super Cool Biz” in response to a government decree to conserve electricity (節電 or setsuden) by 15%, or setting workplace temperatures to 82 degrees!
This new effort builds on the previous “cool biz” campaign, but takes it a step further by Read More
Shimane JETs Raise Over $21,000 USD for Tohoku Disaster Relief
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From the JETAA USA website originally posted by JETAA USA Country Rep Jessyca Wilcox:
Shimane JETs Raise Over $21,000 USD for Tohoku Disaster Relief
Shimane AJET gathered their local ALTs, CIRs and Japanese community members to join together for a charity hike. On May 15th over 60 ALTs and CIRs and 50 Japanese people took part in a sponsored “Charity Hike.”
The hike took place on Shimane’s highest mountain: Mt. Sanbe in Oda City, Shimane. It was attended by people from 14 countries: America, Ireland, France, England, Jamaica, Canada, Scotland, Kenya, China, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
In the weeks leading up the event particpants raised $21,023 USD (¥1,715,338) from local and international donations (via the internet). At the summit of Mt. Sanbe, the participants held a photo opportunity and called out a strong message of support for the people of Tohoku and Japan from the international community. Please see the photograph below.
In the week after the event, the money was transferred to the Japanese Red Cross (70%) and “SMILE and Dreams: Tohoku Kids Project” (30%).
Lauren Hale, a Shimane JET from Denver, CO said, “Japan has been such a great home to us all and we were so glad that we could be a part of the relief effort. We raised over twice the amount that we had originally hoped for!”
Check out the project website for video coverage and photos: www.sanbehike.com
*Shimane JET alums (and anyone else), please don’t hesitate to post words of support for the terrific work of Shimane AJET and all involved in the comments section below.
Japan Times: U.S. students invited in memory of JET victims
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Via Japan Times/Kyodo News Service, June 1, 2011:
U.S. students invited in memory of JET victims
Kyodo
Japan will invite 32 U.S. high school students who are studying Japanese to take part in a program in July to study the language and culture in memory of two American teachers killed in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto, during a speech at a symposium in Tokyo on Monday, referred to the program intended to nurture people who will serve as a bridge between Japan and the United States in the future.
The program is in commemoration of Taylor Anderson, 24, and Montgomery Dickson, 26, who were taking part in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.
Anderson of Virginia was found dead in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, and Dickson of Alaska was found dead in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture.
According to the government-linked Japan Foundation, the organizer of the program, the 32 students selected from about 250 applicants in the United States will attend Japanese-language lessons, take part in cultural events, including a drum performance and wearing kimono, and have exchanges with high school students in Osaka.
They will stay at the homes of the Osaka high school students during the two-week program. It will run for five years starting this year, the Japan Foundation said.
Earthquake Recovery News 05.31.11
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Hello, everyone! My name is Emily Duncan (Hyogo-ken, 2005-2008). Currently I live in Atlanta, Georgia and I oversee the Facebook discussion group “Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief Idea Exchange.”
Originally my friend Mellissa Takeuchi (also a former Hyogo-ken ALT) and I established this group to discuss ideas which could help Japan in the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake. In the beginning this was fairly helpful, but as time went on it became increasingly obvious that the recovery story in Japan would not stay on the front pages of newspapers and websites so I decided to share news stories that I thought would be of interest to our discussion group. My hope is that these stories will inspire other people to get involved.
Originally I was at a loss as to how I would start this series of posts for JETwit. But as yesterday was Memorial Day I thought it would be best to acknowledge the hard work of the American military during Operation Tomodachi. All branches of the American military – Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines worked together to help the region affected by the earthquake and tsunami. (See more here with a nice slideshow here).
I was really proud of the initial response and would love to have one of those patches!
JET Prefecture Round-Up 05.30.11
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Emily Lemmon, (Hyogo-ken, Shiso-shi, 2009-present), PSG volunteer, organizer of Hyogo-ken’s PEPY Ride, student of Shorinji Kempo, and editor of the Hyogo Times, gives a little taste of what JETs are doing around Japan. To submit items for future JET Prefecture Round-up posts, e-mail Emily at jetinfogather [at] gmail.com.
Events by Region
Hokkaido
- The Hokkaido Players present The Jungle Book, May 22nd (Sunagawa), 28th (Takinoue), and June 4th (Kutchan).
- Iwamizawa International Mini Festival will be June 18th at Higashiyama Park, (next to the sports centre)
Aomori
- On Saturday, June 5th, Aomori AJET will be holding a double-parter event, a gala dinner and a club event, in Morioka City. These events are being held to bring together JETs from all over Tohoku, and raise money for Earthquake Relief (Japan Red Cross).
- There will be an International Lunch at the Aomori City Chuo Shimin Center on Saturday, June 18th. On the menu is Thai curry! At the same time, Aomori Prefecture’s branch of UNESCO will be presenting sessions on Japanese culture, and providing free tea ceremony sessions for those who would like to try it.
- The 7th annual Akita International Sumo Basho will be held in Akita city on Sunday June 5th.
Iwate
- JETs are invited to attend a tour of Nataya-cho, led by volunteer guides, in Morioka on June 12th.
Kansai Region
- Block 6 and 7 Sayonara Formal will be held in Kobe on June 25th.
Nara
- The International Arts Festival, featuring performances in a wide range of disciplines, will be put on by the JETs of Nara prefecture on June 19th.
- Nara’s farewell to leaving JETs, the Bye Bye Bash,complete with awards, will be held at the Yagi Kintetsu Beer Garden on June 17th.
Hyogo
- 2011 Himeji Prom-stravaganza will be June 4th.
- Hyogo AJET’s Sayonara Party will be June 17th
- Taj Ultimate, the Ultimate Frisbee Tournament, will be held July 9th and 10th, 2011 (start practicing)!
Chugoku Region
Tottori
- Tottori’s Got Talent, in which participants compete to win money for charities of their choice, will be held in Tottori city on June 11th.
Shikoku Region
Ehime
- “There is Hope Through Music” for Tohoku – On July 9th, Ehime JET Dan will gather fellow JETs to the Asakura Kominkan in Imabari to record videos with the fireman brass band. The videos will be combined with videos from the Kurosawa Piano Music Foundation of California and broadcast both online and to the victims in refugee camps in Japan.
- Eight JETs will assist with the Imabari Higashi Secondary School English Camp June 11th and 12th.
- Ehime JET Melanie is planning a fundraising festival event, in conjunction with Imabari City International Exchange Association (ICIEA), to raise funds for Tohoku and Kanto region disaster relief. The event will take place on Sunday, July 24, at Saisai Kiteya in Imabari.
Kochi
- Ladies Day Spa – ladies of Kochi gather for pampering on June 4th.
- Kochi Surf Camp will be at Irino Beach July 16th – 18th.
- JETs Sam and Douglas are now teaching weekly self-defense classes in Kochi.
Kyushu Region
Oita
- A team of Oita JETs will be playing in the Mud Volleyball tournament in Nakatsu City on June 5th.
- JETs and non-JETs will mingle and show their talents at the Rotary Dinner and Talent Show in Oita City on June 18th.
- Oita JETs will assist with rice planting on to Moritas’ Organic Farm in Bungo Ono City on June 18th or 25th.
- Sayonara Party – Oita JETs say farewell on July 9th in Oita City.
- Bad weather forced the cancellation of the Oita camping trip on May 29th, so JETs went bowling instead.
Kumamoto
- Kumamoto’s Got Talent will be performed at Good Time Charlie’s on June 4th.
- KumAJET Sports Day was Saturday, May 21st, in Nimarukoen.
Nagasaki
- ALTernative Nagasaki, the photo art exhibit explores Nagasaki through the eyes of its transient population of ALTs. Opening night is June 11th
Kagoshima
- Bound in Japan is an art project promoting multicultural exchange and diversity awareness, presented by a former Kagoshima JET.
Video: Anti-nuclear protest march in Tokyo – by JET alum Tom Baker
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The meltdown crisis at the tsunami-hit nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture has inspired a number of antinuclear protests in Japan. Journalist and JET alum Tom Baker (Chiba, 1989-1991), who blogs at Tokyo Tom Baker made this video of one that took place in Ginza, Tokyo, last night (May 27):
Japan Relief: “It Won’t Be Long Now” song and video by JET alum Shun Endo and The Liquid Now
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JET alum Shun Endo (Ibaraki Prefecture, 1998-2001) (Treasurer and Webmaster for JETAA Pacific Northwest and creator instantnoodlescomics.com) and his band The Liquid Now have released a music video titled “It Won’t Be Long Now“ intended to draw attention to and help fundraise for Japan relief efforts.
From Shun Endo and The Liquid Now:
IT WON’T BE LONG is about overcoming the tsunami and earthquake in Northern Japan. It was a chance for us to really reflect on their struggle, and beyond. To us, the Japanese festivals encompass the beauty of the culture. We’ve experienced nothing like it. It is a time of strong community, tradition, abandon, and joy. We hope the areas affected will heal enough to enjoy themselves once again soon.
All band sales will be donated, so just donate directly to the Seattlejapanrelief.org who work with Red Cross and Peacewinds.
For a digital copy of the song, visit www.theliquidnow.com and/or email theliquidnow@gmail.com
Thank you for listening. 日本の皆さん、頑張りましょう。
The Liquid Now are a band from Seattle that is influenced by British music and Japanese culture. www.theliquidnow.com
(we hope people don’t mind us using their online photos as this is for a good cause, and we will donate anything that comes our way.)
JetWit Fashion Beat: T-shitsu – The Black Collection
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JetWit Fashion Beat is brought to you by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London as is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields. She is also the former vocalist for the Japanese hardcore punk band DEGRADE.
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I first posted about T-shitsu and their fantastic designs aimed especially for gai-jin in December last year. Since then the response from members of the JET and JET alum community has been very positive, and the base of returning customers is constantly growing.
This is completely down to the unique omoshiroi designs, high-quality shirts and general high standard of service provided by the T-shitsu team. I can’t rave about these shirts enough!
Currently, our friends at T-shitsu.com are half way through revealing their eagerly anticipated Black Collection.
The Black Collection consists of 8 new designs, one of which is revealed every Sunday, May through June, and we have been given an exclusive sneak preview of this week’s new design especially for JETWit readers….
Ta da!!!
To update you on other recent activities, T-shitsu were very active in wake of the Tohoku eathquake/tsunami disaster in terms of fundraising and encouraging donations. They even designed their own t-shirt to raise money and awareness, called Tohoku Tears, a wonderful design that was distributed through their partner website at Sweatshop Union.
The Tokoku Tears shirt was extremely popular and all shirts sold out in A WEEK! In total the shirt raised an outstanding 300,000 yen. Since then all other designs in the ‘rebuild’ collection have also sold out, but if there are plans to re-release them we will be sure to let you know.
There will be further new releases on T-shitsu.com once The Black Collection finishes, and present designs will be made available in a wider selection of colours. There will also be further promotions and competitions, all of which will be advertised through the T-shitsu Facebook site. Make sure you sign up for all the latest info, and it’s also a great way to contact the designers with your feedback and suggestions for shirts.
Please do post any comments/suggestions about the shirts, in particular any JET-related shirt ideas, and please do inform the T-shitsu team that you heard about them through JETWit if you place any orders. Check back for more updates soon!
Have a suggestion for a future JetWit Fashion Beat post? E-mail dipika [at] jetwit.com.
Smile Kids Japan’s Mike Maher-King speaks at TEDxTokyo
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Mike Maher-King (Fukui), founder of Smile Kids Japan, recently spoke at TEDxTokyo: Entering the Unknown on Saturday, May 21 at Miraikan Tokyo.
Here are the English and Japanese videos of Mike’s talk which is titled “Against All Odds” in which he talks about Smile Kids Japan, how he came to start it, how the JET experience and community factored in and SKJ’s involvement in earthquake relief efforts.
Earthquake Relief: Seattle Japan Relief Weekly Highlights for May 23-29th
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Via Pacific Northwest JETAA:
Check out Seattle Japan Relief Weekly Highlights for May 23-29th!
We are looking for volunteers to help out with a June 11th classical concert at UW to fundraise for Japan relief efforts! Interested in being an usher or registration volunteer? Please contact seattlejapanrelief [at] hyogobcc.org.
Domo ne,
Erin Erickson
CIR, Akita 2001-2004
Volunteer, Seattle Japan Relief.org
Hibari-sensei: Southlake, Texas holds benefit concert for sister city, Tome
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Jen Wang (Miyagi, 2008-09) is a lab tech in Dallas and a staff writer for the Japanese music website Purple SKY. Her love of cosplay and her junior high school students inspired the name for her own Japanese pop culture blog, Hibari-sensei’s Classroom.
In response to the Tohoku earthquake, community initiative Southlake Working As a Team (S.W.A.T.) joined forces with Southlake Sister Cities, the City of Southlake, and the Carroll Independent School District to form Southlake 4 Japan. The organization dedicated itself to helping Southlake’s sister city, Tome, which suffered damage to its buildings and roads and struggled to accommodate the evacuees from neighboring cities. Southlake’s relationship with Japan began in 1991, long before Toyoma and neighboring towns merged to form the city of Tome. Since then, the two cities have engaged in cultural and education exchange programs.
Harrison Edwards’ band, Vibe Zoo, plays in the Southlake 4 Japan concert.
Southlake Sister Cities had already set up an earthquake relief fund and collected messages for a scrapbook, but more needed to be done to raise awareness within the community. Carroll Senior High School students Harrison Edwards and Carter Humphrey proposed the idea of a benefit concert.
Edwards felt a connection with Tome as a former student ambassador of the Sister Cities exchange program. He and Humphrey already had experience organizing such an event, having been the masterminds behind last year’s Rock for Haiti earthquake relief concert. Southlake 4 Japan was quick to help with providing a venue, publicity, and volunteers. S.W.A.T. founder and Southlake Baptist Church Lead Pastor Clayton Reed was in charge of the event programming while Edwards and Humphrey sought out bands to fill the line-up.
The concert was held on May 7 in Southlake Town Square. Attendees were encouraged to donate at least $5, which got them a wristband and a cell phone screen protector. There was an origami booth with bumper stickers for sale and food supplied by Qdoba Mexican Grill. Southlake Sister Cities provided information about Tome and collected signatures for a banner being sent to Tome’s mayor.
To read the rest of the post, click here.
Japan Times: JET teacher aids school rebuilding
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“My name is Andras Molnar, an English teacher from Yamamoto Town in Japan, a place recently devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. I am trying to raise funds for the reconstruction of the schools in my town, as well as buying school supplies and uniforms for children who lost everything in the tsunami.”
U.S. teacher aids school rebuilding
SENDAI — An American English teacher at a middle school in Miyagi Prefecture has set up funds to solicit donations for rebuilding elementary schools damaged by the tsunami following the March 11 earthquake.
Pennsylvania native Andras Molnar, 25, said that although he is leaving the prefecture’s town of Yamamoto in August when his teaching contract ends, he is “hoping to stay connected” with the town through the fund.
Molnar said he became interested in Japan through “anime” such as “Gundam” and spent a year in the country as a high school student and again while at university. He came to Yamamoto, a coastal town of around 16,000, in August 2009.
He said he got along well with locals through a drum circle and surfing, a hobby of his.
“Everyone is very open, kind and I like them a lot,” he said in Japanese.
After the town was engulfed by the tsunami, he stayed at the junior high school for a week, busily checking the whereabouts of his students and doing what he could at evacuation sites, he said.
He then moved to Tokyo for around one month at the suggestion of his parents and friends.
But after getting email from friends in Yamamoto inquiring about him, he wondered why he was not giving his best when all the people in the town were doing their utmost, he said.
Molnar said it was this that prompted him to return to his apartment in Yamamoto.
“It was really good that I returned,” he said. “I feel encouraged by the children.”
He set up relief funds in Japan and the United States to help rebuild two elementary schools where buildings were devastated by the tsunami, and is soliciting donations through his blog.
JETAA British Columbia Newsletter – May 2011
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The JETAA British Columbia Newsletter May 2011 issue is now available online. (Really nice look and layout, by the way.)
It also has some very good articles, reactions and perspectives on the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami and subsequent relief efforts and activities by JETs and alumni.
For more info on JETAA BC (which is hosting this year’s JETAA Canada Conference in June), go to their website at www.jetaabc.ca
Volunteer: JETwit seeks help tracking JET disaster relief efforts
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I know there a slew of JETs and alums involved in a variety of volunteer efforts in Japan right now. And I don’t have time to capture and post on JETwit about it.
For example:
- A JET named Paul Yoo in Akita helped organize something called The Fruit Tree Project to bring fresh fruit to affected areas and posted information about that and other volunteer efforts on a website I believe he set up called volunteerAKITA.
- Mike Maher-King (Fukui) of Smile Kids Japan has been doing all kinds of things with orphanages and delivery of supplies and connecting people and groups who are trying to help in various ways.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. These are just two examples I happen to be aware of.
Would someone out there be interested in doing occasional posts on JETwit that simply list recent efforts, activities and updates along with links to the source of the information? Sort of a JET Volunteer Round-up?
Familiarity using WordPress preferred but not absolutely necessary.
Contact Steven at jetwit [at] jetwit.com if interested.
Thanks and yoroshiku.
Tohoku Earthquake benefit: Rock Chicks’ Revenge (Tokyo – June 4)
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JET alum Sarah Cortina is one of the co-organizers of the Rock Chicks’ Revenge (Rock Gods Must Die) which will happen June 4 in Tokyo’s Shibuya Milkyway from 6pm-10pm with a special guest appearance by the Blue Man Group.
See full details at Metropolis Magazine.
