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.

 

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):

 

Jen Wang (Miyagi, 2008-09) created the alias “Hibari-sensei” for her Japanese pop culture blog, Gaijin Teacher Otaku, after her students called her by the name of a character she cosplayed. She also writes for J-music website Purple SKY.

Neko Neko Maid and Host Club (originally the Neko Neko Maid and Hostess Club) is a traveling maid troupe that makes appearances at anime conventions across the country. Unlike most anime con maid cafes, which consist of cosplayers serving food, Neko Neko brings the interactive experience integral to Akihabara maid culture to its guests. The girls (and guys) make small talk and play games with guests and sing and dance to J-pop songs.

The club is ready to kick off its 2011 tour with an appearance at Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas this weekend. Then they will be at Dallas’ anime convention, A-kon, from June 10-12. I was introduced to Neko Neko at last year’s A-kon, and I had a chance to sit down with one of its founders and maid leader Kitti Maherin and maid assistant Minami to learn more about the club.

How did Neko Neko get started?

Kitti: We formed on July 4, 2009. It started as four girls who enjoy maid cafes. When I went to Japan, I fell in love with the maid café I visited in Akihabara.

What made you decide to focus on the performance aspect rather than serving food in cosplay like other maid cafes at conventions?

Kitti: I enjoy performing, and it was a low cost option.

Who decides on the music you dance and sing to?

Kitti: The maid leaders and assistants choose the music. Miki, our choreographer and another founder, has a lot of input.

How long do you practice your dances?

Minami: It depends on the dance.

Kitti: I practice every day.

To read the rest of the interview, click here.

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.

Mike Maher-King (Fukui), founder of Smile Kids Japan, will be one of the speakers at TEDxTokyo:  Entering the Unknown on Saturday, May 21 at Miraikan Tokyo.

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 »

Thanks to former JETwit job poster Machiko Yasuda for sharing this interesting listing of jobs which she saw posted on Joi Ito’s blog:

LinkedIn Japan

As many of you know, I’ve been working closely with Reid Hoffman for years now and one of the things that I’ve been working with Reid on from the beginning was thinking about LinkedIn, especially in the context of Japan.

As LinkedIn begins its global expansion, Japan is an important priority and recently I’ve been advising LinkedIn on a more formal basis.

Japan REALLY needs LinkedIn right now. LinkedIn is NOT a social network; it is a professional network. It is a network that allows people to build their professional identity, share business expertise and information, and advance your professional knowledge about subjects important to you. As privacy issues exceedingly become a concern, it’s very important to keep your casual, gaming and social networks separated from your professional network. I think LinkedIn will be an essential tool for professionals in Japan as it is in the rest of the world.

So, this is my last “real job” before I transition over completely to the Media Lab role: helping to launch LinkedIn in Japan. And we’re looking for the best talent out there. We need an awesome, dedicated team to run LinkedIn in Japan. This team will be responsible for the strategy, product roadmap, and growth in Japan – this the chance to be highly entrepreneurial while having the strength of a global brand behind your team.

We’re Hiring!

We’re looking for a variety of roles, and they are listed below. We are particularly looking for product and management leaders who want to take on this chance to manage user growth. LinkedIn is serious about Japan and this team would be working directly with a high-quality senior team in the US. I think it’s a great career opportunity.

If you think you are a fit for for any of the roles we list below (or know someone who is), please apply for the role through the link below or email CPorter@linkedin.com. Please include your resume and/or a link to your LinkedIn profile.

These roles are currently posted regarding our growth in Japan:

1. Product Lead, Japan
2. Design Lead, Japan
3. Engineering, Japan

We are also interested in general management and product marketing candidates.

I’ll be blogging more about LinkedIn in Japan as we get closer to launching the Japanese product, but I wanted to get the word out that LinkedIn is planning to come to Japan in 2011, and we’re hiring. Help me put together the dream team.

Current Mie JET Patrick St. Michel shared the below about his recent “Meat Monster” review in Esquire Magazine, which JETwit believes is very much worth your time to read.

An Unexpected Burger Benefit of Life in Japan

Posted by Patrick St. Michel (Mie-ken, 2009-present).

Having now lived in Japan for nearly two years, I’ve discovered a host of benefits—from convenient public transportation to a copious amount of vending machines—that come with residing in this island nation.  Recently, however, I encountered a completely unexpected benefit—one that involved consuming—in a single sitting—the FDA-recommended caloric intake for a herd of plus-size elephants.

Prior to joining JET, I attended—and graduated from—Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.  My pre-JET life also included working at three newspapers, an online music site, and an online magazine that I co-founded (http://www.northbynorthwestern.com).  One of the friends I made along the way now works at Esquire magazine.  Word had apparently spread stateside that Burger King Japan was launching a medically ill-advised burger aptly dubbed the “Meat Monster.”  Knowing that I live in Japan and generally don’t give much thought to my arteries’ continuing ability to function, my friend asked if I would write a review of the Meat Monster for Esquire.  Fortunately, I had inadvertently prepped for this unexpected assignment, having just reviewed McDonald’s “Mega Teriyaki” in my blog about life in Japan—http://www.japantrick.wordpress.com/.  (I’ve also previously reviewed McDonald’s line of Big America burgers)

Some 1,160 calories and 2,290 milligrams of sodium later, I filed my Esquire story—http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/burger-king-meat-monster-042611

As a postscript, my plan is to pursue a post-JET writing career in Japan.  Toward that end, if anyone has suggestions—or knows of openings at traditional or online publications or public relations/marketing positions—I would love to hear from you!  Reach me at mailto:patrickstmichel@gmail.com.  If you’re still not sure about me, learn more at http://www.patrickstmichel.com, and if you’re interested in the Japanese music scene, follow my blog—http://www.makebelievemelodies.wordpress.com/.

Researchers in Japan have invented a way to kiss over the Internet.  I worked hard to think of a JET angle to make this story JETwit-worthy.  And it finally hit me that it might be extremely helpful to JETs and JET alums involved in long-distance relationships! (Not bad, deshou?)

Here’s the article.

Here’s the video:

The Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA) has been an excellent source of updates via the earthquake section of its website as well as its Facebook page.  The kind of info you’re likely not getting from CNN or network news.  Notably, JET alum James Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) is the Executive Director of JCIE/USA’s New York office.  Here’s the latest update:

4/28 Update: http://www.jcie.org/earthquakeupdate.html

* Peace Winds Japan helps chambers of commerce to get up and running as an important recovery step.

* Another PWJ initiative, the free “Compassion Bus”, takes evacuees to supermarkets in Ofunato and others.

* Association for Aid and Relief also offers transportation services to those on the Oshika Peninsula, which sustained enormous damage to its roads.

4/26-27 Update: http://www.jcie.org/earthquakeupdate.html

* The Japan Association for Refugees (JAR) began offering legal consultations; evacuees have many concerns from lost family, businesses and even the mortgages on homes that were swept away.

* NICCO experts find that functioning batteries from cars that were destroyed can be used to power LED lights, which can then be hooked up to solar panels for all day use.

Thanks to JET alum Emily Metzgar, Assistant Professor at Indiana University’s School of Journalism, for sharing the link to the new publication No. 1 Shimbun, published by leading foreign correspondents in Japan.

CLICK HERE for the April 2011 Special Issue.

There’s a very thoughtful article titled “This is what public diplomacy looks like“ by JET alum Emily Metzgar, Assistant Professor at Indiana University’s School of Journalism, on the Center for Public Diplomacy blog (which is part of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications).  (This is the same Emily Metzgar conducting the Survey of American Alumni of the JET Program.)

Here’s an excerpt that captures the gist of the piece, namely that JET is providing Japan with a significant “return on JET-vestment“:

“But in the aftermath of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, the value of having a large, worldwide network of college-educated foreigners who understand, respect and appreciate Japanese society and culture continues to emerge. A look at a JET alumni networking website, JETwit.com, provides ample evidence of the many ways in which current and former JETs are responding in whatever ways they can to the disaster hitting a country that all of them, at one time or another, have called home.”

CLICK HERE to read the full article.

Fukushima City JET Brent Stirling recently put out word to JETAA chapters about Quakebook, “a book of stories, art and photographs that reflected first person accounts of the disaster” which will soon be available on Amazon.com with all proceeds going to benefit the Japan Red Cross.   Brent contributed his own story and has also offered to help with marketing and spreading the word.  Below Brent provides some insight into the unique process that led to the creation of of the project as well as his own involvement.

I lived in Fukushima City from August 2006 to August 2010 and worked as an ALT there.  The recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Tohoku has had me glued to my computer since it began, as has probably been the case with all JET Alumni.  Keeping in contact with my friends in Fukushima-ken through Facebook and Twitter, I felt helpless as far as how to help and what to do.

With limited access to news in the first days after the quake, I compiled information from friend’s Facebook status updates, Twitter and a variety of news sources.  I sent these updates via Facebook to my friends who didn’t have the time to comb through the news in order to get an accurate picture of what was going on.  Updates included news about transportation, gas, areas with running water, wind directions, reactor conditions and radiation levels.  Facebook became a source of news for everyone in the prefecture.  The current and former Fukushima JET community along with Japanese people worked together in order to get a clear picture of what was going on in Fukushima.

A week after the earthquake, I was sent a link to a blog asking for contributions about the earthquake.  The blogger, OurManInAbiko, hoped to create a book of stories, art and photographs that reflected first person accounts of the disaster.  He vowed to edit all the submissions and donate all of the proceeds to the Japanese Red Cross.  Looking to help anyway I could, I put in a submission about my experience in Canada throughout the ordeal and how proud the JETs and Japanese community had made me throughout the crisis.  My submission discusses sensationalism in the media and how the JET community worked together using social media to overcome adversity and share accurate news on the situation as it unfolded.  I didn’t know that within 15 hours, OurManInAbiko had received 74 eyewitness submissions from all over Japan, as well as reactions from elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America.

Through Twitter, the idea of #Quakebook grew.  Just as the Fukushima-ken JETs had used social networks in order to keep in contact, #Quakebook was using the networks in order to promote and create a book.  People joined in to spread the word and help with the logistics of publishing a book of this magnitude in such a short span of time.  Soon after, writer, William Gibson wrote a piece for the book, then Jake Adelstein contributed, Yoko Ono has recently come on board, offering her own piece in Japanese and English  Through the work of so many on Twitter from all over the world, #Quakebook began to take off.  Articles appeared on the BBC website, the Wall Street Journal and CNN Go to name a few.  Amazon has agreed to publish the book, waiving all of their fees with 100% of the money going to the Japanese Red Cross.  The all-volunteer team of #Quakebook is now working at getting translations of the book into different languages so that it can be a truly worldwide phenomenon.

The group that comprises the Quakebook team is continually growing.  Every person involved is using their skills and their own contacts in order to get the word out to every corner of the globe.  The team, while working closely is completely anonymous as everyone is referred to by their Twitter names.  My role has been very small throughout the Quakebook marketing process, but I believe in the book and I think it has the potential to bring people who are otherwise removed from the situation in Japan closer to it.  In buying the book, not only are people making a donation to the Japanese Red Cross, but they’re also getting the stories of the people involved, the people that this disaster has affected.

I know that all JET Alumni are tied to Japan the same way that I am.  Everyone’s time in Japan had a profound affect on where they are now and what they’ve done with their lives.  I’m hoping that this connection to Japan will get JET Alumni Associations worldwide to support and promote this book as best they can.  By putting a link to the Quakebook website on your blog, printing Quakebook posters for around your neighbourhood or your local library or getting it into the media wherever you are, everyone can make a difference in this project and help with the relief efforts in Japan.

• Pre-order the book at www.quakebook.org
• Excerpts from Quakebook
• Brent’s re-work of his submission

*******

Attention JETAA UK! Join Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, at The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in London on Thursday, April 14 for a talk on “Pop culture from a Multipolar Japan.”  Talk is 4-5 pm followed by drinks reception to 6pm.

Note:  If you plan on attending, please register for the event at http://www.dajf.org.uk/events/booking-form

 

The Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE/USA) has been an excellent source of updates via the earthquake section of its website as well as its Facebook page.  The kind of info you’re likely not getting from CNN or network news.  Notably, JET alum James Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) is the Director of JCIE/USA’s New York office.  Here’s the latest update:

March 30 – 31 Fund Update: http://www.jcie.org/earthquakeupdate.html

• Increasing signs of mental health issues from stress to ‘survivors guilt’.
• Also, Peace Winds through its partner organization – Mercy Corps – reports on the attention and care being provided to children.

New AJET Chair Matthew Cook (Osaka) as well as Beppu City JET May Schlotzhauer are both quoted in a nice Epoch Times article titled “Japanese Elementary Teachers Take On Teaching English.” (Yes, Epoch Times is the paper connected with Falun Gong, but they have a mix of regular reporting together with propaganda.)

While the article includes some cynical, provocative quotes, it’s also nice to see that the JETs quoted are the voice of experience, perspective and reason in thinking about and commenting on the new requirement to have English in 5th and 6th grades in Japan.  This makes sense as JETs are actually working in the schools with teachers and students and positioned to be informed commentators.

Also interesting, toward the end of the article is a description of a proactive attempt by Cook to help prepare the elementary school teachers in his district for the coming requirement.  A good example of a role that JETs can (and likely already do) play in school districts around Japan.

“Hoping to help prepare elementary teachers to teach English, Cook lobbied the board of education to host a training seminar, but was turned down. Later the board agreed to allow his school to offer a voluntary seminar to teachers from three local elementary schools. The seminar will be offered once, lasting no more than two hours.”

Here’s the link to the full article:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/japanese-elementary-teachers-take-on-teaching-english-52528.html