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. :-)

"I made the video for Japanese people. It caught on with JETs, but I didn’t make it for them. The older generation can see how the younger generation acts now, and younger generation viewers can see themselves or friends in the characters I made."

By Paul Benson (Fukui-ken, 2006-2008) for JQ magazine. Paul is a freelance Japanese-English translator and writer in New York City. Paul enjoys reading, writing, brewing beer, and e-sports.

Mikine Dezaki is a second generation Japanese American raised in South Florida. After studying in Hiroshima for a year and graduating from the University of Minnesota, Mikine joined the JET Program as an ALT in Yamanashi Prefecture from 2007-2010. He then transferred to Okinawa and is currently serving his fifth year for 2010-2012. He looks forward to meditating on life as a monk in Thailand for a year after JET. You can check out “Sh*t Japanese Students Say” and more on his YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter.

When did you become interested in the JET Program?

It’s kind of interesting, because growing up I actually had no interest in Japan. My brothers and I are really Americanized. Growing up in Florida, there aren’t that many Japanese Americans. So, I didn’t have much interest in it, but I met some great Japanese friends in college and decided to give it a shot. I have two older brothers, but they don’t speak Japanese. I thought it’d be good if one of us was able to speak Japanese. We have relatives in Japan, and I also wanted to be a bridge for them.

You’ve definitely received some popularity with your video. As of today, YouTube shows over 100,000 views! What do you think about that?

It’s very surprising. On the second or third day, I was on Facebook and my friends were telling me that their friends were telling them about my video! “This is your 15 minutes of fame, Miki!” one told me. I guess; I hope not.

Actually, I made the video for Japanese people. It caught on with JETs, but I didn’t make it for them. If you look at the other videos on my YouTube channel, you can see they’re for Japanese people [Dezaki has produced a hearing test for Japanese on the English “l” and “r” sounds and videos reflecting on English education in Japan—Ed.]. I mean, all Japanese people have gone to school, so I thought they’d find it interesting. The older generation can see how the younger generation acts now, and younger generation viewers can see themselves or friends in the characters I made.

I’ve also noticed a couple things about the Japanese audience—they don’t share like Americans do. They don’t share much or use Twitter. They mainly use their mobile phones instead of a laptop or desktop. Also, the Facebook app on smartphones doesn’t have a share button. I asked some friends to share the video (if they liked it), and they told me they couldn’t because they don’t have that button. They’d actually have to copy and paste the link. I think that’s why it hasn’t spread in Japan like it has with the JETs.

Still, I am getting a lot of Japanese viewers. YouTube shows me the sources and a lot of them are “mobile devices.” I just wish they’d share it more! It’s funny—I went to school today and a coworker told me I’m on the front page of the mobile YouTube site in Japan. “You’re number one!” he said.

It really didn’t take long for people to spread the video!

Yeah! I don’t know how it happened. I posted it about a day after I made it [March 5, 2012]. And then, boom, it caught fire. There are websites where I can see what people publicly share on Facebook and when I looked at those, it was mainly JETs. I also got a few views on Gaijin Pot and other places, but not many. JETwit.com and Japan Probe also helped spread the video for me. I posted about it on a few places on Twitter and Facebook, but I really owe it to the JET community for spreading the video.

Why did you make it?

Well, first I thought it’d be funny. And I thought nobody had done it in Japan yet, so I thought it’d be kind of big. I mean, I know there’s “Sh*t Girls Say” in the U.S., but Japanese people haven’t seen that. They didn’t have that “boom” in Japan.

There’s one guy who has a “Sh*t Japanese People Say to Gaijin” video, but that’s in English. I saw an opening and I filled it. Later on, I’m hoping to make more videos to talk about social issues, things that are underground in Japan.

Now on your fifth year as a JET! Not many JETs stay as long as you have. You must be enjoying the Okinawan weather.

Actually, I’ve only been in Okinawa for the past two years. I transferred from Yamanashi Prefecture after three years. Interac is a more like JET now and got the contract for my school. I was teaching junior high before and I’m teaching high school now.

The way it turned out was perfect. My current school had some issues with the ALTs before me and actually wasn’t really looking for another ALT. They said they’d reconsider if they could get someone who speaks Japanese and plays a lot of sports, which I do. I happened to be available and it worked out great. I don’t think I would’ve stayed another year in Yamanashi. It was good for three years, but I felt like I followed the main English teacher and didn’t really feel like I was growing as a teacher. All my friends had already left, too.

I could easily spend another five years in Okinawa. If I could, I probably would. Most JETs love to stay in Okinawa. I think it has the highest number of JETs who stay four to five years. The people are awesome and really laid back.

So you’re coming to the end of your fifth year on JET. What are you thinking of doing afterward?

I think I’ll go back to the United States for a few months to pick up my pension money…but then I’m thinking I’ll go to Thailand to be a monk for a year. When I was in college, I was a premed major, and I thought if I became a doctor I’d have to deal with a lot of stress. So I decided to go to this free “meditation for stress” class, and I got my first taste of enlightenment. I had some amazing experiences.

Wow! This first meditation experience really affected you.

Yeah! Everyone else there was older. We would sit together for 30 minutes or so. After a month or two, I felt like my body had melted away and I wasn’t there anymore. It was an incredibly spiritual experience – it was the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. This experience I had, it blew my mind. One of the meditation teachers says “you stop being a ‘human doing’ and you become a ‘human being’ for once.”

So these were the experiences I had, I didn’t expect to have them at all – I was supposed to be a doctor! My mom flipped out when I told her I decided to not be a doctor and instead go into the JET program and possibly be a monk afterward.

I then created my own club at school called “Mindfulness for Students.” I created the club for students to deal with stress, and the club is still going. For me it’s an experiential thing. The meditation practice is no different than training my body for boxing. Instead it’s training my mind. I chose Thailand because I think they have the best meditation instructors.

Part of my reasons for coming to Japan was to check out Japanese temples, but the Japanese temples, I wouldn’t call them corrupt but I don’t think they’re really clean either. Most people aren’t aware of this, but Japanese monks and temples have a lot of money. It’s sort of funny because in Japan, monks drive better cars and wear nice watches. At the place I’m thinking about going in Thailand, you can’t touch money, you can’t touch women, and you have to go around the neighborhood and collect alms. The food you collect is what you eat. To me, that’s more my style.

Visit Mikine’s Medama Sensei Channel on YouTube here.

Click here to read the Kameoka Diaries #7.

http://larsmartinson.com/kameoka-diaries-7/

Preston with his cool creation.

By Preston Hatfield (Kofu-shi, 2009-10) for JQ magazine. Preston moved to New York in January 2012 from San Francisco and works for Skyhorse Publishing. In addition to fantastic manuscripts, Preston is now accepting submissions from people who want to be his friend. Abduct him from his house in the middle of the night, or find him on Facebook and ask about his JET blog in which he details his exploits and misadventures in that crazy Land of the Rising Sun we all love.

On JET it may be true that everyone’s situation is different, but I’d bet my left dango that each of us, for whatever extenuating circumstance, suffered a few restless nights without heat in our rooms. My bone-chilling tale of refrigery and woe took place when 2010 was newly born, in the sweeping valleys of Yamanashi Prefecture. I lived in Kofu’s International Exchange Center, a westernized building converted from an old motel with all the comforts of home: shower, central heating, high speed Internet, furnished everything—which is to say I’d gotten used to a very comfortable lifestyle. I was overdue for a slice of humble sashimi.

I should mention that Kofu is not a cold place. It usually gets one storm where the snow sticks, and even that only lasts a few days. But that means nothing to a California boy. The moment my room dropped below its usual 72 degrees of moderation I knew I was in for it and got my building supervisor on the phone. He showed up a few minutes later, a shrunken old man who’d apparently won the battle against time, for indeed time had already done its worst and still the man was up and (very gradually) at ’em.

“A couple of days,” he told me after examining the fuses. “You’ll have to hang in there until then.” I looked out my window where the sky was semi-busy dropping the one good bit of snowfall we’d have that year. By now I imagined the temperature inside had dipped into the upper 60s and the first stages of hypothermia couldn’t be far off. Neither could the epic hissy fit I was about to throw.

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed—see what I did there?—and instead survival instinct drove me to clothe myself in every sweater, beanie and extra thick pair of socks I owned. Shorts over jeans over flannel pajamas, and still shivering for good measure. The blizzard of 2010 had come to play.

At 11:30 that night I had just finished a steaming cup of cocoa and was fighting the cold and boredom. The others in the Center were away on vacation, and as cabin fever set in I realized that if I got snowed in and went crazy I’d have no one to eat but myself. With it objectively just as cold in my room as it was outside, I decided to make the most of my plight, donned my snow jacket and gloves, and headed down to the parking lot to engage in what was for me the still very novel enterprise of building a snowman.

Amply keyed up on cocoa and stubbornly determined to beat the elements, I dug into the thin sheet of snow, hurling, rolling and weaving the fresh power into mounds of frozen creation. I felt neither cold nor time as I worked, though passively aware of both. I was working on the torso, at this point a respectable four feet high, when I heard a door open behind me. I spun around and saw Mr. Shibata, the head of the International Association, leaving the Center through the employee entrance. It was 1:30, and we looked at each other with surprised, hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar expressions.

“Good evening, Mr. Shibata,” I said, that seeming the most reasonable thing to say at the time. “Look, I’m making a snowman!” I gestured enthusiastically to my creation, as though its presence was not already self-evident.

“I see that…well, I’m heading home now,” he said, somewhat uncertainly.

I resumed my work and did not stop again until after 3:00 when I attached the head and outfitted it with a carrot nose, a John Deer trucker hat, a pair of sunglasses, and perhaps the only scarf and sweater that I wasn’t already wearing. My snowman was six feet of towering, snowy perfection. I was satisfied, and at long last tired enough to shrug the cold, I went bed and dreamed sweet dreams of my creation coming to life, frolicking blissfully, and then me laughing manically with joy as the sun made its glorious return and melted the poor icy bastard.

The next morning, I bundled myself up and headed down to view my masterpiece in the light of day. The snow was no longer falling and only a scant few inches remained on the ground, most of it easily stamped to slush under boots and car tires. I walked outside and did a double take. Sometime between going to bed and waking up, some Good Samaritans had taken it upon themselves to add something to my snowman that I had overlooked: It was now anatomically correct.  Not only that, he wasn’t minding the cold one bit, that proud, glorious Adonis.

I was torn between a fit of schoolyard giggles and concern. On the one hand, here was the finest example of how men are the same no matter what cultural background we come from. Give us an opportunity and we’re going to add a penis to something. Give us an inch and, well, we’re going to add a few more inches. But on the other hand, there was a well endowed snowman standing at attention in the middle of one of the city’s most respectable establishments, and a witness had me at the scene of the crime. It was clear who the one suspect would be if push came to poke, er, shove.

I did then what anyone would have done: reclaimed my personal effects from the snowman’s indecently exposed body, returned to my room to pretend like nothing had ever happened and laid low for a while. My heating system was mercifully fixed the following day, and the sun took care of melting the snowman’s, um, popsicle.

Nothing was ever mentioned to me about it since then, and I never bothered to broach the subject with the Center employees, either. Much like the snow melting into water, this story now lives on only in memory for those of us who saw and believe. I hear through the grapevine that the kids on Iida Street have come up with some rather colorful new lyrics to the “Frosty the Snowman.”

Visit Yamanashi Prefecture’s homepage at www.yamanashi-kankou.jp/english/index.html.

Wendy enjoying the snow (safely) at World Heritage Site Shirakawa-go, Gifu.

By Wendy Ikemoto (Ehime-ken, 2006-2011). Wendy taught at six crazy but lovable high schools and served as a Prefectural Advisor on JET. Now based in the equally crazy New York City, she is looking for her next challenging career opportunity. Wendy is a fan of reading, writing, and cooking as a form of socialization. Visit her LinkedIn profile here.

I learned the hard way that bicycles and snow don’t mix.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have my suspicions about this, but I: a) Needed to get to the train station, and b) was inexperienced with the fluffy stuff (it was only the second time in years that snow in my country town hadn’t immediately melted away, and as a Hawaii girl, the snow seemed more novelty than threat).

So on a January morning in Ehime, I left my apartment to catch a train into town. I followed the same route to the station that I used hundreds of times. I rode past a small temple on the hill. I enjoyed watching the animals in the river along the road. I took the turn by the bridge and in slow motion, my tire slipped out from under me and I crashed. SMACK–I fell on the back of my head.

I couldn’t move for a moment.

Before I could regain composure, I started to get dragged off. A kind Japanese couple had seen the whole thing and sensibly moved me out of the road. I was very grateful, but hugely mortified. After about a minute, I thanked them profusely, assuring them that I was OK, and managed to get back on my bicycle. Slowly and wobbly, I made it to the station.

I met my friend, we bought our train tickets, and through the gate we went to wait for our train. This was my first moment to relax since the accident. Although I felt fine, I decided to inspect the back on my head. Lightly, my fingers caressed where I crashed until they came upon a bump. Not the hard kind that happens when you knock your head against a shelf, but the soft kind that happens when you have a blister. Crap. Well, maybe I can go to the doctor tomorrow, I thought.

When I brought my hand down into my lap, however, I noticed that it looked funny…there was blood all over it.

Hospital, now!

I hurriedly told my friend I had an emergency and rushed out of the station gate into a taxi.

“Hospital, please!” I shouted in Japanese.
“Which hospital?”
The one near the high school. The big one!,” I exclaimed.
“Where?”

Grrrrrr. I was getting upset.To be fair to the driver, there are many small hospitals in that area, but it was Sunday.This meant only the emergency hospital should be open, and there was only one big hospital in this town. As a cab driver, shouldn’t he know this?

”Anywhere’s OK! Anywhere’s OK!” I started shouting in a panic.

“Sldkjflaskdjfoiweljnlkfs,” replied the driver. (I didn’t understand what he said.)

”Yes, yes, OK, OK, let’s go!” I yelled.

And off we went. One hitch: the hospital I was thinking of required a right turn. He turned left. Where the heck was he taking me? Well, it must be some other open hospital, I thought.

As we started down the road, I also realized I didn’t have much money, having spent most of it on my train ticket. I saw an ATM and we stopped by, but it was closed. Apparently 8:30 a.m. is too early for cash to be needed in Japan. Also, the driver thought I wanted end my ride at the ATM. He didn’t have a clue as to my situation and I spent the rest of the ride trying to impart my urgency upon him using broken Japanese.

“Kyukyu!” I randomly blurted out.
“Atama no kega!” (“Head injury!”)
“Chi ga aru!” (“There’s blood!”)

The taxi driver just looked at me suspiciously.

Let’s take a moment to examine what I said. “Kyukyusha” means “emergency vehicle/ambulance,” but “kyukyu” does not necessarily mean “emergency.” And I probably should have said “chi ga dette iru” (“I’m bleeding”) instead of “there’s blood.”

They never taught me this at orientation.

At this point, I had no idea where we were. Instead of the five minute ride to the big, city hospital, it had been 15 minutes down a road going toward the mountains. I thought about asking him to turn around, but since the ATM had been closed, I only had enough for one ride. I was stuck, but not without my trusty cell phone.

I’d furiously been calling Japanese friends one after the other, but all with the same story: sleeping in. It’s nice to know that although Japanese people are workaholics, they get to sleep in one day a week, but why did that day have to be the day I fell? Unable to make contact, the driver eventually pulled into a quiet, small hospital roundabout and dropped me off. With just enough money to pay him, I hopped out and into the building.

It was quiet.There was not a soul except at the reception desk.Great, they can’t help me here, I thought. The kind receptionist came up to me and kindly asked, “Kokoro ga, daijobu desuka?” “Hai,” I replied as I started to cry.

Riiiiiiiiiiing.

I answered my phone and heard my teacher’s voice. I was saved! After getting directions from the receptionist, my teacher hung up to come and pick me up. Now it was just a waiting game.

So many things ran through my mind as I passed the time.One was how welcoming the place seemed.Slowly and quietly, people had started to roam the area, peeking out from the dark corners with a drink in hand or a phone. Wow, I thought, maybe this is a community center.

I also texted and called friends on my phone.

Friend: Are you OK? Do you feel dizzy or nauseous or sleepy?
Me: I found the cut on my head! But I feel fine, so probably no concussion. Also, let’s hope they don’t shave my head!
Friend: Yes. Let’s hope. But if it comes to that you’ll still be cute!

I love my friends.

After about 40 minutes, my teacher finally rescued me. I had never been so happy to see a car before. As we drove off, she said something that brought the whole experience together.

Teacher: “I don’t understand one thing. Why did he (the taxi driver) bring you to a mental hospital?”
Me: “A what?”
Teacher: “Mental hospital.”
Me: “Oooooooooooooooh.”

The miscommunication with the taxi driver, me blurting out “head injury” and “blood”, the receptionist asking if my “kokoro” (sprit/mental health) was OK, and the seemingly physically healthy people lurking around the hospital. Maybe I should also mention that I’m Japanese-American and kind of Nihonjin-looking.

In the end, I made it safely to the emergency room. I got a CAT scan, no stitches, and learned the following lessons:

#1: Kyukyusha are free in Japan, so use them!
#2: NEVER say “doko demo ii” to a cab driver.
#3: Sometimes the seemingly worst situations turn out to be the best stories later.

Visit the Ehime AJET homepage at www.ehimeajet.com.

1.  The 101 Signs You’ve Been in Japan Too Long

2.  ALT in Japan

Click here to read the Kameoka Diaries #5.

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

Lars Martinson (Fukuoka-ken 2003-2006), author of the graphic novels Tonoharu: Part Two and Tonoharu:  Part 1, has put together a rather unique video that “explains” the Tonoharu series in a marvelously tongue-in-cheek way.  (BTW, does anyone know if there’s a Japanese term for “tongue-in-cheek”?)

Anyway, have a look at the video.  I think it’s fair to say that no one has captured the JET/living in Japan experience in as intricate a way as Lars has:

Here’s the link to the article:  http://heromagazine.org/?p=189

http://englishteachersseries.com

Here’s the first episode.  Click the above link to see more episodes:

"Welcome to Japan": Electronic buttons running down the centre of the garment triggers audio greetings in English, Chinese and Korean. (AFP)

Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald.

As Japan hosts a Asia-Pacific summit this week, a women’s underwear maker on Wednesday unveiled a bra that is meant to lift spirits as well as bust lines and support the country’s tourism sector.

Triumph Japan showcased its bustier-style “Welcome to Japan! Bra” that it said was inspired by a tour guide’s uniform, features a display for images of sightseeing spots and can greet visitors in three languages.

A row of three electronic push buttons running down the centre of the garment triggers audio greetings in English, Chinese and Korean.

“Furthermore, tour guide flags are inserted on each side of the bra,” the company said. “When not used to guide tourists, the flags act as side stays, providing good support and creating an attractive bust line.”

Read the complete story (with video!!) here.

Click the image to see the full comic!

Facebook Boss Filter Comic

Facebook Boss Filter 1/7

Facebook Boss Filter 2/7

Facebook Boss Filter 3/7

Facebook Boss Filter 4/7

Facebook Boss Filter 5/7

Facebook Boss Filter 6/7

Facebook Boss Filter: 7/7 The End

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQrfiJ2WFeQ

And one more cute and fun video by Lena titled “Souljia Boy” which is a compilation of video clips where she taught students the dance that goes with the tune:

http://www.youtube.com/user/francol86

Spring 2004 – THE “POLITICS” ISSUE TOP 14!

It could happen.  One of these days one of our very own from the JET Alumni community could become President of the United States.  What would that be like, ka na…?

THE TOP 14 THINGS THAT WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF A JET ALUM WERE PRESIDENT

14. Fifty-minute self-introduction on first day in office.
13. Press conference with Japanese media to promote internationalization and clear up confusion over ability to use chopsticks.
12. Presidential toilet seat warmer.
11. Future school history books include section on famous “I Have a Pen!” speech.
10. Vending machines with hot corn soup installed throughout White House
9.  Pre-Departure Orientation in the Rose Garden
8.  Curry rice included in public school lunch menus across the U.S.
7.  All Foreign Service language training outsourced to AEON.
6.  Inauguration Karaoke!
5.  All JETAA Chapter Reps appointed to ambassadorships.
4.  President works half days, then goes on vacation.  (Wait a second…)
3.  Spin control involves slapping Vice President on the back of the head to evoke laughter from audience and divert controversy.
2.  All policies explained very clearly, slowly and loudly.
1.  Oval Office Happy Hour!

*(Click here for more Top Ten lists from past Newsletter issues.)

From Gail Cetnar Meadows, current Hiroshima-ken JET:

Per Steven’s request, I am re-posting a comment I made on Facebook about the weirdest TV show I’ve seen in Japan yet. Admittedly, I don’t watch a ton of TV here, and maybe this is par for the course in Japan, but this game show still struck me as so bizarre. It went like this:

There were a bunch of guys sitting in a KFC, and they have to order the top 10 most popular dishes at the restaurant. And if they are correct guessing the 10 dishes, they win 1,000,000 yen. But if they order a wrong thing, they have to eat everything they order. And then order again, and just keep trying til they get all 10. So they are sitting around for hours gorging on KFC. And one of the dudes sitting at the table is humongously fat and he’s dressed like a woman. (Why is there always a cross dressed guy on Japanese TV?) One of the guys ate so much he was trying not to barf on the table. And the show is doing close-ups of these KFC menu items like this is some sort of gourmet feast. Like the biggest commercial ever.

Do you work in bankruptcy or restructuring?  Now you can join the JET Alumni Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group on LinkedIn.

Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post.  Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.

http://godzillahaiku.tumblr.com

Do you work in bankruptcy or restructuring?  Now you can join the JET Alumni Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group on LinkedIn.

Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post.  Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.