Thanks to Rocky Mountain JETAA for hosting a wonderful and extremely productive Regional Tech Conference.

Honto ni otsukare sama deshita.

 

 

Just a quick post to say hi from the JETAA Regional Tech Conference being hosted by Rocky Mountain JETAA in Estes Park, Colorado.

-Steven

Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) takes us on a walk around the JET Alumni community for another edition of JETAA Chapter Beat.

JETAA New York

• JET Alumni Survey – JETAANY is asking members and friends of JET to fill out a brief survey requested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as part of the “Return of JET-vestment.” The survey asked about what people have been doing following their time on JET and the data will be kept confidential, so take 5 minutes and help out. The survey can be found here
• Carnegie Hall Flower Exhibit – Thursday, January 26th, 8:00 at Carnegie Hall. JETAANY is headed to a Japanese style bouquet arrangement exhibit at Carnegie Hall.
• Shinnenkai - Saturday, January 28th, 1:00 at Restaurant Riki. Celebrate 2012 Year of the Dragon with your fellow JET Alumni at this year’s shinnenkai. Izakaya style dishes and all you can drink fun.

 

New JETAA Minnesota Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JETAAMN

And accompanying message from JETAA MN’s Liz Brailford:

Hi all!

Some exciting news is going on for JETAA Minnesota early this 2012 – we’ve got a new Facebook page! The link for it is: https://www.facebook.com/JETAAMN ……COME JOIN US!

We will be closing our previous JETAAMN Facebook group page in a few weeks, so be sure to join the new page to get all the latest and greatest news, job listings, event links, and all other things JETAAMN.

Also, please look out for the JETAAMN February 1 Newsletter…..we’ve had some reorganization and are pumped up and meeting 2012 with a POW! All the exciting details to come soon……

See you on the new Facebook page!

Warm regards,

Liz Brailsford

Thanks to JETAA BC Newsletter Editor Thomas Law for sharing the latest issue of the JETAA BC Newsletter.  If you haven’t seen their newsletter, they do a really nice one so take a look.

• PDF:  http://www.jetaabc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/NewsletterV16N3.pdf
• Online viewer version on Issuu.com at http://issuu.com/jetaabc/docs/newsletterv16n3

JETAANY Secretary Pam Kavalam just set up an informal “Queens JET Alums” Facebook group for anyone living in the Borough of Queens, with a connection to Queens or perhaps even just aspiring to live there.  With a gazillion cultures and ethnic groups in Queens (along with gazillion types of great food), it’s fair to say that Queens is indeed the new Brooklyn.  (FYI, here’s the informal Brooklyn JET Alums Facebook group.)  And with a large population of young Japanese ex-pats and more and more JET alums, there are even parts of Queens (e.g., Astoria) that are starting to look like Harajuku!

Ok, JETAANYers, whose going to get the Bronx and Staten Island JET alum Facebook groups going?  Oh, and Manhattan.  (Does anyone still live there anymore?)

Via the JETAA UK mailshot:

 

Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) takes us on a walk around the JET Alumni community for another edition of JETAA Chapter Beat.

Announcing the return of JETAA Chapter Beat! After a long hiatus, Chapter Beat returns to regular bi-monthly updates about what’s happening in JET Alumni chapters around the world. Check it out to see what events are taking place near you in the JETAA community.

JETAA Chicago

• Shinnenkai Culture Festival – Saturday, January 21st, 4-7 P.M. at the Japan Information Center. Celebrate Japanese culture and the new year with snacks, games, and trivia. Fun for all ages.
• Indoor Volleyball League – Starts today, Tuesday, January 10th, 7:15-10:15 at St. Andrews Gym.
• 2012-13 JET Program Interview Volunteers – The next round of JET Program interviews is coming up and the Japan Information Center is looking for JET Alumni to help out with the interview process in February and March.

JETAA Pacific Northwest

• Shinnenkai – Saturday, February 4th, 6:00 at the Nagomi Tea House. Eat, drink, and celebrate the arrival of 2012 with your friends at PNWJETAA

JETAA Northern California

• Volunteer to Staff a Japanese Craft Table – Saturday, February 4th, 11-4 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s Lunar New Year Festival. Come out and share some Japanese culture by helping organize activities related to Japan like origami, janken-pon contests, and more.
• Kabuki Club – Sunday, January 22nd, 2:00 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. This month’s selection is a special screening of Ranpei Goes Insane (Ranpei Monogurui), a mix of action, comedy and historical drama.

JETAA Hawaii

• 2012-13 JET Program Interview Volunteers needed – February 21-24, JETAA Hawaii is looking for JET Alumni interested in helping out with upcoming interviews for the next group of potential JETs. Help out, share your experience, and be a part of the future of the JET Program

JETAA Southern California

• Shinnenkai and Winery Tour – Saturday, January 14th. Tour begins at 4:00, dinner at 5:00 at the San Antonio Winery. Celebrate the new year over a glass of wine with your friends and fellow alumni.
• 2012-13 JET Program Interview Volunteers needed – February 21-24, JETAASC is looking for volunteers interested in helping out with upcoming interviews for this year’s JET hopefuls.

JETAA Sydney

• Beach BBQ – Sunday, January 29th, 1:00 at Shelley Beach in Manly. Get outside for some sun and good eats, including yakisoba and suikawari.

JETAA Portland

• Shinnenkai – Saturday, January 14th, 6-8 at D.J.K. in Beaverton.  Celebrate 2012 with new and old friends alike with the group at JETAA Portland.

What happened at your chapter’s event? If you attend(ed) any of these exciting events, JetWit would love to hear about them. Just contact Jonathan Trace with any info, stories or comments.

 

Thanks to Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) for forwarding the below photos of the  ”Youth Empowerment Iwate“ Rikuzentakata tutoring project that received $25,000 in support from the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund. These photos are from a November 10 visit to one of the several middle schools in town where the project is operating three times a week. These photos are of three rooms, one where individual students can study quietly on their own, a second dedicated to group study (and relaxing, too…which is important), and a third that is tutoring for the entire group. The tutors you see are university student volunteers, who are the ones running things.

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Christmas Party and Photo Competition Do you like taking pictures? Whether your weapon of choice is a point-and-shoot or a DSLR, why not share your photos with us? This year we are running a photo competition as part of the JETAA Christmas party on 10 December. Interested? Keep on reading.Photo Competition The theme is “My Japan”. What picture best captures your experience of, or feelings about Japan? Entries are limited to three photos per person. Photos should be between 800Kb – 1Mb in file size, and saved as a JPEG. Email your photos to sydney@jetalumni.org, with ‘JETAA Photo Comp’ in the subject heading. Include in the body of the message: your name, the title of each of your photos, your JET town or prefecture, and the years you were on JET. You can also include a brief description of the images, including where they were taken. Photos will be judged on the night, by people at the Christmas party. You must be at the party to collect your prize! By entering a photo, you agree to give Sydney JETAA the rights to use the image to promote Japan in Australia. Competition closes 1 December. We’re sure you have many pictures in your collection, so start sorting and start sending them in! Good luck! Christmas Party In addition to the photo competition and general Christmas party fun, we will also have a giant raffle, with a great range of prizes. All raffle proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross Japan Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Appeal. There will also be a donation box for anyone wanting to make further contributions. When: Saturday, 10 December from 7:00pm until late. Where: Parkview Hotel, 178-170 Mitchell Road Alexandria (closest station is Erskineville). Cost: Only $25 per person includes food and drinks for 2 hours (get there early to get the full drinks package). RSVP: Email sydney@jetalumni.org by Wednesday 7 December to confirm your attendance.

JETAANY has announced a new subchapter in Long Island, and Carolyn Brooks (Ishikawa-ken, Kanazawa, 2006-11) will be the Long Island Subchapter Representative.  You can contact her at longislandrep [at] jetaany.org.

 

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JETAANY held its annual Career Forum/Welcome Back Reception on Saturday at the Nippon Club in NYC.  And in addition to the usual combination of useful advice, networking, natsukashii talk and reconnecting in general, this year’s Welcome Back Reception was notable for one other reason:  It was attended by approximately 25 participants in Japan’s new Japan-U.S. Training Training and Exchange Program for English Language Teachers (JUSTE) program, sometimes referred to as the “Reverse JET” program.

The program selected 96 Japanese teachers of English to spend 6 months in the U.S. studying ESL teaching methodology–in English–at 6 different universities across the U.S.:  Rutgers University (NJ), University of Delaware, University of Michigan, University of Texas, University of Iowa, UC Irvine and UC Davis.  The teachers are in turn supposed to bring back their learning and share it with their respective school systems as part of an effort to improve English ability of Japanese students.

The Reverse JETs attending on Saturday came up from Rutgers and the University of Delaware.  It was a terrific opportunity to get to know them and learn more about the program.  Following a brief intro by all of the returning JETs, the Reverse JETs were asked to do the same.  And as they said their names and prefectures, there was an almost instant connection as JET alums from various prefectures cheered when the Reverse JETs called out their own home prefecture.

It was also apparent that these were top rate teachers–the really genki, creative and engaged teachers you remember from your JET days.  (We all were fortunate to have had at least one of these if not more.)  This was made rather apparent when the Delaware contingency decided to forego the traditional introduction style and instead go with a teaching game they had all learned in class the day before.  (See video below.)

Throughout the reception and the nijikai at Faces & Names, JET alumni found the Reverse JETs extremely friendly and easy to talk to.  And it was interesting to hear about their situations and the parallels with our own first time experiences in Japan.  For example:

• While the Rutgers participants are all living on campus in a dormitory for foreign students, the Delaware participants are all living with homestay families and generally need to rely on them for transportation to and from the campus (as they’re not permitted to drive while in the U.S.)
• Most participants were surprised to have been selected for the program.  That’s because most of them hadn’t even known of the program’s existence until their principals called them into their offices and asked them if they’d like to go to the U.S. for 6 months.  In same cases, participants only had hours to contact their spouse and decide whether to say yes.  Though in everyone’s eyes, this was too good an opportunity to pass up, not to mention a terrific honor.  They realized they had been 1 of 96 selected out of a total pool of 50,000 English teachers in Japan.  It sounds like each prefecture is permitted to select a few school systems, and then the Board of Ed in those school systems chooses the teacher.  Interestingly, some schools apparently passed on the opportunity because they didn’t feel they could afford to be without one of their top teachers for 6 months.  And in some prefectures, the selection process is different and teachers can actually apply to be a participant.
• The teachers seemed to be aware of the costs involved in sending them to the U.S. and expressed a strong sense of obligation to study hard and share their learning upon return.  Though one confessed to worrying about maintaining a delicate balance of sharing knowledge while also not wanting to be the nail that sticks up.
• And perhaps most interesting of all, in talking with one of the participants from Aichi (my JET prefecture), I learned that she grew up in Inuyama City and had JET alum and Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi (Aichi-ken, Inuyama-shi, 1988-89) as her ALT when she was a student!  Now that’s full circle.  (If anyone knows a good Japanese kotowaza for that idea, please share.)

Hopefully, the Reverse JETs through the U.S. will be able to find JET alumni in their area.  And it would be really terrific if JETAA chapters as well as the JET alumni community in general could do its best to reach out to the participants wherever they are.  They truly appreciate getting to spend time with the New York JET alumni on Saturday.  Imagine how great it must feel to be from Tottori-ken and find an American who is also familiar with Tottori.

Unfortunately, they’re only here through January.  So now is the time to reach out.  In addition to meeting some great people, you’ll also be helping to support a very unique Japanese education program that we hope will continue in the future and grow to meet the English learning needs of Japan’s society.

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Thanks to JETAA USA Country Representative (and JETAA USA Fund Committee member) Megan Miller (Hyogo-ken) for the following summary of the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund’s disbursements.  It was originally an e-mail sent to the JETAA USA chapter officers Google Group which has been modified slightly for posting here:

Dear US Chapters,

The fund committee has been hard at work and has finalized the donations for the $76,000+ we have raised so far. I’d like to thank the committee as well as the folks at JETAANY for all of their hard work during the past 8 months, and I’d also like to thank all of you for your amazing fundraising efforts. News of JETAA’s collective, world wide fundraising efforts as JET Alumni is very much on the radar screen in Japan. It is great that we can support the people of Japan and also demonstrate the value of our network and our commitment to Japan at the same time.

To recap the fund committee’s decision, here is where we are allocating the funds raised to date:

1. Hope for Tomorrow – $25,000 (http://hope-tomorrow.jp/)

A major challenge that high school students from the Tohoku region will face is to keep from falling behind students from elsewhere in the country who are studying for their college entrance exams. The students in Tohoku graduating this March had completed their exams by the time of the earthquake, but the ones who will graduate next year are liable to fall behind due to the length of time schools have been shut down, the absence of cram schools and other supplementary educational activities during their senior year, and the trauma and family tragedies that many have to face. On top of this, they need sufficient resources to even take the university exams, which tend to require travel to Tokyo, Sendai or Hokkaido. The exam fees are likely to be waived for many students, but there is no system to support their personal travel, lodging, meals, etc. when they leave their hometowns to take the entrance exams. In many cases, these expenses can easily exceed US$1,000, which will be difficult for families who have lost their homes and businesses to muster.

In response, a group of Tokyo volunteers has launched a new NPO called “Hope for Tomorrow” that plans to help support students by covering these expenses. They have been in touch with the main high schools in Kessennuma and Ishinomaki about this initiative. Kessennnuma had the greatest need, so they have come to an agreement with the high school to start supporting their students, and they hope to expand to other schools, including Ishinomaki’s high school. They are also interested in expanding to Rikuzentakata and open to other suggestions from us about other places. (In May, they tried to speak with the Rikuzentakata authorities as well as those in the neighboring town, Ofunato, where students were attending high school since Rikuzentakata’s high school was badly damaged, but were unable to have discussions due to the overwhelming challenges school officials were facing. However, they hope to try again soon.) In addition to the helping with the exam fees, they also wish to provide mentoring services to the students and other support that can aid them before and after their exams.

Update:  They have expanded to Takata High School (the Rikuzentakata HS, although temporarily being operated in an empty school in Ofunato), because of our funds. Takata High School is delighted, and things are all firmed up now. They are also operating in Kessennuma, and might expand into Ishinomaki or elsewhere if there is additional funding.

2. E.Pa+Ch – $25,000 (http://soup1993.com/epatch.html)

E.Pa+Ch stands for Youth Empowerment Iwate (direct translation:  Empowerment through Participation and Challenge). This group was created by a professor at Iwate Prefectural University (IPU) who has been active in mobilizing college volunteers to work in the disaster zone through a project called “GingaNet.”  The group is planning to launch a major initiative throughout the prefecture to provide tutoring to and study rooms for middle school students who have fallen behind in their studies, with IPU students acting as volunteer tutors. (This may be expanded to high school students taking university entrance exams, in which case professional juku teachers will need to be employed). The board of education expressed support for this, and the IPU professor, Yamamoto-sensei, is going to continue developing the program in consultation with the board. This innovative program was launched on Nov 1, and it possibly will be a model for other programs around Tohoku. CR Jess Wilcox and Fund Committee member Jim Gannon were interviewed regarding our involvement. Read the article here: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111104005277.htm

3. Rikuzentakata Board of Education – $10,000

This direct contribution to the BoE will help alleviate some immediate needs of the schools, possibly including the hiring of a second JET for the area. There is currently a JET in RT who replaced Monty Dickson and the BoE would like to hire a second.

4. Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund – $5,000 (http://www.st.catherines.org/tayloranderson )

Many of you are already familiar with the work that the Anderson Family has been conducting. We have made a $5,000 donation to their fund to demonstrate our collective support.

5. Grants for 2-3 JET-related orgs – $10,000+ (To Be Finalized)

We are working with Paul Yoo of volunteerAKITA and Living Dreams who worked with Mike Maher King (Smile Kids Japan). Our grants will help support their grass roots efforts of volunteering in the area, bringing in needed supplies, and ‘filling in the cracks’ where other NGO’s are unable to assist.

TOTAL = $76,000+

Also, many of you might be aware that the JETAA international meeting was held in Tokyo from Oct 21-22. The meeting was covered and televised by NHK news. We also met with various government ministers who thanked us for our efforts to support Japan and asked us for advice on improving the JET program.

After the meeting we volunteered alongside current JETs in Rikuzentakata. We are doing a write up of that emotional experience and will send it to you in the coming days. Being in Rikuzentakata really drove home how important our efforts are. We have the power to get our funds directly in the hands of the people making decisions on the reconstruction effort.

To that end we would like to encourage JETAA chapters to continue fundraising. We now have connections on the ground and can help deploy funds efficiently and effectively. We have been notified that JETAANY will not be able to host the fund next year due to tax reasons, but we will work to find another nonprofit chapter that can help support us. Thank you again JETAANY for all the extra work you took on this year to make the fund a reality!

Lastly, it is always helpful when the JET alumni community is able to remind others of the ongoing needs in Tohoku and share news of JETAA’s accomplishments with others. I strongly encourage each of you and your chapter members to reach out to local news publications, church newsletters, your college and HS alumni magazines, work newsletters, chapter newsletters, etc. A great deal of information can be found on JETwit and the JETAA USA website.  You can also contact members of the JETAA USA Fund Committee or local chapter officers if you need additional information or an official representative or spokesperson.

Stay tuned for more detailed information to follow.

 

Thanks to JETAA Chicago’s Elizabeth Gordon (Iwate-ken 2003-05) for sharing this info:

JETAA Chicago will host its annual Job and Networking Fair on Saturday, November 5th from 1pm to 5pm at the Japan Information Center in downtown Chicago.

This is a great opportunity for JETs that have recently returned from Japan, current JET Alumni, friends of JETs as well as professionals looking for new networking and career opportunities.

A lot of JETs return from Japan looking for ways to maintain and even build upon the experiences they made while living abroad and we hope to provide support in helping you reach those goals. This is also a wonderful opportunity for individuals that are interested in pursuing a new career and would like some guidance from current Alumni or other established professionals.

There will be an open table top session with booths from various Chicagoland companies and organizations as well as a wine and cheese reception. We are also planning on having a speaker to kick off the event so please stay tuned as there will be more specific information to follow!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email our Social Activities Officer, Daniel Martin: social@jetaachicago.com

Location: Consulate General of Japan at Chicago (JIC – Japan Information Center), 737. North Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL (map it)

 

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/annai/honsho/fuku/yamane/jetaa1110.html

 

JETAA（元JET参加者の会）国際委員会の山根副大臣表敬（概要）

山根副大臣は10月21日，JETAA（元JET参加者の会）国際委員会に参加するために訪日中の国際委員会メンバーの表敬を受けました。その概要は以下の通りです。
1.        山根隆治外務副大臣は10月21日，ジェームス・ギャノンJETAA国際委員会顧問,シュリー＝クレカーJETAA国際委員会執行委員長及び他15名のJETAA（元JET参加者の会）国際委員会の表敬を受けました。
2.        山根副大臣は，委員会メンバーの訪日を歓迎するとともに，JETAAが震災後，世界各地で活発な草の根復興支援活動を展開していることに深い感謝の意を伝えました。また復興への決意を表明するとともに、委員会のメンバーが日本の現状に関して草の根レベルで情報発信することに期待していると述べました。
3.        JETAAよりは、これまでのJETプログラムやJETAAに対する日本政府の支援に対し感謝が表明され、引き続き復興支援に協力したいとの決意が伝えられました。
（参考）JETAA（元JET参加者の会）
（1）　JET参加者が帰国後に各国・地域で自発的に発足させた同窓会組織（平成元年設立）。日本と母国との友好関係促進のために草の根レベルで様々な活動を実施。東日本大震災後も世界各地で草の根レベルの支援活動の中心的役割を果たす。2011年7月現在，全世界に計51支部あり会員数は約2万3千人。
（2）　国際委員会は，国境を越えたJETAA支部間の横のネットワーク構築を目的に毎年1回開催（2009年はキングストン，2010年はエジンバラで開催）。
（3）　今年はJET創設25周年及び東日本大震災を受けて，10月21日～22日に東京で開催。同会議においては，「日本の復興への貢献：具体例の紹介」「JETプログラムの改善」等について議論。参加者は米国，豪州，NZ，伯，仏，ジャマイカ，英，加，アイルランド，南ア10か国のJETAA各国代表及びJETAA国際委員会の役員等16名。
（4）　10月23日には，現役JET参加者であったモンゴメリー・ディクソン氏が犠牲となった陸前高田市にて，戸羽同市市長を表敬訪問するとともに，ボランティア活動を実施した。また，後日，陸前高田市の教育支援プロジェクトを対象に，全米JETAAが，米国各地での支援活動を通じて集めた「米国JET同窓会震災復興支援基金（米国JETAA基金）」約76，000米ドル（約580万円）の寄付も行う予定。