Takae Kawabe, a member of the all-female New York City-based taiko group COBU. (Courtesy of Takae Kawabe)

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-2008) for JQ magazine. Kirsten is a native New Yorker and currently works as a teacher for the New York Board of Education.

Sakura matsuri season is upon us. For JET returnees, this time of year hearkens back to picnics with friends or students. Copious amounts of alcohol under the pink shower of blossoms and maneuvering through crowded lines of vendors celebrating the coming of spring. Sakura season also brings out the finest Japanese talent in New York and no event worth mentioning would be whole without the beating heart of COBU.

You haven’t been following COBU around like a bloodhound? Shame on you. Don’t even know what a COBU is? Double shame on you. Fortunately, oneesan is here to clue you in.

Spearheaded by artist and visionary Yako Miyamoto, COBU is more of a statement in taiko than a collaboration. We are heard. We are seen. We are felt. We are here. A handful of iron women play tirelessly in perfect sync. A little humor, an appropriate smattering of sexy and a metric ton of showmanship make COBU a delight for audiences across the tri-state area.

This year’s Branch Brook Park performance in New Jersey was a staggering hit by COBU, showcasing the talent of their following, or deshi. Upstage, COBU performing members Micro Fukuyama and Haruna Hisada kept time and loudly cheered on the fledgling members as they demonstrated some of COBU’S trademark choreography and pulsing patterns. If you have ever witnessed a COBU show before, it’s easy to become dazzled by the performing members, but this showcase invited audiences to the notion that, hey, they can be a part of this rhythm, too.

Taiko in Japan is not just an art form. To some, it may even be called a form of worship. All of one’s energy, passion and soul manifest in the relentless rhythm of the drum. You need dependable guns to play taiko well. Good arms, strong blood, a clear mind and a tireless heart.

COBU member Takae Kawabe was kind enough to answer some burning questions in this exclusive interview.

***

JQ: Watching a COBU performance is breathtaking! About how long does it take to become a performing member?

Kawabe: If you have discipline, you are the one! It really depends how hard you practice.

JQ: How often do you guys practice?

Kawabe: Usually we have three rehearsals a week. But when a performance comes up, the members contact each other, get together, and practice extra. If necessary, we meet every day.

JQ: Please give me a little information about the COBU tap/drum classes. Does it go by level? Are the classes taught in English? Japanese? Both? What age range are the students? What is the atmosphere like in the COBU training class?

Kawabe: We have drum class on Tuesdays and Saturdays. On Tuesday, since it’s a weekday, we usually have smaller classes, and it’s more like a semi-private class atmosphere. Most of the time, we teach more details and what the students want to learn individually. On Saturday, we have more students, so we divide into groups. The students take turns and keep playing! We speak both English and Japanese, but more Japanese, I guess. The age range….Now we have a lot of kids. I guess the youngest is five or six years old and the oldest, I do not know. But anybody can join us and have fun together! The atmosphere is very energetic as people know if they know COBU. We try to make every class interesting.

JQ: Do any of the members have a preferred piece they like to perform especially and could you please tell, briefly, why?

Kawabe: Yes, I have some pieces I would love to perform. That is simply because I love them—the rhythms or the choreography. And also we would like to perform because it’s the audience favorite.

COBU performs through the rest of sakura matsuri season. For upcoming events through the summer, visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/COBUNY.

For JQ’s 2009 interview with COBU founder Yako Miyamoto, click here.

Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi, center, poses with fellow JET alums at the Japan Friendship Festival, Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza, May 2013. (Photo courtesy of Ann Chow)

By Ann Chow (Hyogo-ken, 2007-09) for JQ magazine. Ann is a native New Yorker and serves as the Membership Development Chair for the JET Alumni Association of New York.

On April 17, members of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) were invited to attend a reception at the Nippon Club for the Governor of Tokyo, Naoki Inose, who was in New York to drum up support for his city’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Among the guests at the reception included Willie Banks, the three-time track and field Olympian, and world record holder from 1985-95 in Men’s Triple Jump. (Cool trivia: Banks speaks fluent Japanese.)

And on May 3, several JETAANY members, along with employees of CLAIR and the Japanese consulate, were on site to help Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi (Aichi-ken, 1987-91) and B. Bridges participants at the Japan Friendship Festival at Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza. The B. Bridges program (short for “Brooklyn Bridge” as well as “Building Bridges” and “Be Bridges”) was created as a cultural exchange program by Bianchi and the administration of Xaverian High School, of which Bianchi is an alumnus.

“The idea for the B. Bridges exchange program was born 10 years ago at an event the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, held for me at Borough Hall after my first election, so it was great to be able to hold this, our Japan Friendship Festival: Inuyama Day at Borough Hall,” Bianchi said.

The program has sent close to 500 people from Brooklyn to Inuyama City and vice versa. This year, 40 participants came from Inuyama City to stay with families of students attending the school. On a beautiful sunny day, JETAANY members were able to help the group out at various booths which showcased tea ceremony, Japanese calligraphy, and traditional Japanese toys and wares.

“The cooperation of the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, the Japanese Consulate of New York, the Japan Local Government Center, and the JET Alumni Association of New York were crucial to making this event successful,” explained Bianchi.

He added: “I was also proud of our B. Bridges members, as well as our exchange partners at Xaverian High School, who made great use of the opportunity. This, I believe, made the event a great experience for all those in attendance.”

For additional photos from the events, click here and here.

Under the Peace Pagoda at the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival, San Francisco, April 2013. (Preston Hatfield)

By Preston Hatfield (Yamanashi-ken, 2009-10) for JQ magazine. Preston received a B.A. in English literature with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in Japanese at the University of California, Davis. After spending an amazing year on JET in Yamanashi, he spent a year writing and interning with book publishing companies in New York. He currently lives in Marin County, where he continues to cover local Japan-related stories for JQ, and teaches English as a second language at an international school in San Francisco.

This April marks the forty-sixth time that San Francisco has hosted the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival. As one of the world’s top annual festivals of its kind and one of the largest Japanese American events in the country, the festival has made quite a reputation for itself, and each year it’s bigger and better. Whether you’ve been to Japan before and need a fix of your favorite street food, or you’re a newbie interested in exploring the culture, the NCCBF offers a comprehensive and top-notch Japan experience that includes traditional and modern elements.

If you’ve been to other festivals, you already know to expect tea ceremony demonstrations, doll exhibits, taiko performances, and cosplay competitions, but pay attention and you’ll also notice a powerful sense of community in every act and exhibit. Excepting a handful of wonderful guests from Japan (including this year’s Grand Marshal, renowned singer and actor Teruhiko Saigo), the NCCBF is put on wholly by the Bay Area’s Japanese American community, including some 300 volunteers, 50 organizations, schools, and groups, and is sponsored by a number of local businesses. In some respects, it’s their way of making a statement, as Allen Okamoto, co-chairman of the NCCBF, explains:

“One of the reasons I continue to volunteer with the festival is that Japantown is rapidly changing. The demographics of the community are changing with the intermarriage and lack of migration from Japan. I consider the festival as an institution the same as the Japanese language schools, the churches and other community organizations like the Japanese Community Youth Council, Kimochi, Inc. and the Japanese Cultural & Community Center. We are all continuing the culture and heritage of things Japanese.”

The festival has become something of a culture treasure here, and it’s no wonder. San Francisco, with a formidable but recently declining Japanese American population, is home to one of the last “true” Japantowns in the U.S., but some locals think that’s debatable. “I saw [at the festival] a hardworking community [bringing] culture and fun to Japantown, which for the rest of the year is slowly being eaten by non-Japanese businesses. Koreatown sometimes feels more appropriate,” said Bay Area resident and JET alum Mikeal Gibson.

Ironically, the festival’s success and massive crowds (around 200,000 annually) belies Japantown’s need for preservation. To the once a year visitor, the hordes that gather would appear evidence that the community is booming. What they don’t see is longtime neighborhood installments closing their doors (most notably in 2011 when the Uoki Sakai Market closed after serving the community for 105 years).

San Francisco Taiko Dojo draws a crowd in Japantown. (Preston Hatfield)

As the festival continues to diversify and expand, its influence and prominence in the city is further solidified—Okamoto reflected that one of the positive changes taking place in the festival in recent years has been the increase of gay Asian groups and anime groups. This year, the neighborhood appears somewhat rejuvenated thanks in part to new cherry trees, which were planted by volunteers from the Japantown Youth Leaders organization along Laguna and Sutter Streets.

With only a scant few blocks around Peace Plaza, the neighborhood is drafting a document called the Japantown Cultural Heritage and Economic Sustainability Strategy, which is designed to help maintain Japantown’s cultural integrity and boost its tenuous economic stability. Participants from the Rosa Parks Elementary School’s Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program have also been working to have Japantown included in District 5 for city redistricting in order to keep the community united.

“We’ve helped the community ‘rediscover’ its link to Rosa Parks and are building new connections through our JBBP program and activities,” said program co-chair Deborah Hamilton. “We feel that it is important for us to actively [help] sustain the authentic cultural character of the community.”

The JBBP, whose founding principles according to Hamilton were to “help the Japanese American community retain the Japanese language and cultural heritage that was in danger of being lost after the internment and the dispersal of the community by redevelopment,” has been involved in the festival for the last 30 years, participating in the parade and selling Sakura Popcorn.

While numerous groups like the JBBP are staples of the scene, there are always a host of new artists and performers representing different facets of Japan’s identity. Enter American J-rock band and first-time festival participant, akai SKY. This edgy foursome treated a Saturday afternoon crowd to a unique sound born out of the American and Japanese rock traditions and proved unequivocally that J-rock isn’t a plant for just one kind of garden.

Asked about the band’s direction and approach, Hayashi, the band’s guitarist, explained, “We don’t write [our] music because want to reach a specific type of person. I think we write the music because that’s who we are.” Who they are are Americans from multicultural backgrounds who play songs with Japanese lyrics and leverage music’s power to overcome cultural barriers. They are, in many ways, indicative of what cherry blossom festivals are all about—celebrating identity and uniting cultures. Indeed, even as the local Japanese American population ebbs, the number of Americans taking part in Japanese culture has been steadily rising. And as Umi, the band’s bassist points out, you don’t have to be Japanese to celebrate the culture:

“We’re not a Japanese band…but I think our fusion of American and Japanese rock and the fact that we’re San Francisco-based made perfect sense for the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival. We’re a band that could have only been born here.”

There’s certainly something to be said for local color. San Francisco has its own immutable identity and progressive values that have, for better or worse, shaped us as individuals into a greater community that is every bit as iconic as any of the city’s landmarks or fashion trends. In another city, maybe akai SKY never exists, the JBBP is decommissioned, and Japantown doesn’t endure the test of time. As San Francisco goes, so too does the festival.

akai SKY performing at the festival. (Preston Hatfield)

Although Japantown’s fate remains to be seen, the 46^th annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival was a smashing success, a celebratory extravaganza fit for a shogun’s court. Bay Area residents can rest assured that they can look forward to another festival next spring. Until then, they can sustain themselves on the wonderful afterglow of this fantastic event—the amazing food, the party atmosphere, and of course, the community that shared their culture with them; or better yet, they can hop on down to that lively little nook next to the Western Addition (look for the pagoda on the skyline) and treat yourself to whatever Japanese indulgence you desire.

Special thanks Allen Okamoto, Jeffery Kimoto, Steven Hirabayashi, Deborah Hamilton and the JBBP, and the members of akai SKY for helping with this piece. Click here for a list of akai SKY’s upcoming shows, and for anyone interested in participating in next year’s festival, here is akai SKY’s vocalist, Ryuusei, sharing his impressions as a performer: “The crowd was enthusiastic and I particularly appreciated the audience members who started dancing during our set.”

“Laced with emotional reflections, vivid photos and jovial home movies, the film walks the viewer through Taylor’s 24 years on earth and untimely end caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011.” (Global Film Network Inc.)

By Renay Loper (Iwate-ken, 2006-07) for JQ magazine. Renay is a freelance writer and associate program officer at the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. Visit her blog at Atlas in Her Hand.

Directed by renowned filmmaker and founder of Global Film Network Regge Life, Live Your Dream: The Taylor Anderson Story is Life’s first documentary about a loss.

Best known for his features like Doubles (about Japan and America’s intercultural children), After America…After Japan (about the migration of Americans to Japan and Japanese to America) and Struggle and Success: The African American Experience in Japan, Life opens the window for the viewer to glimpse the life of Taylor Anderson (Miyagi-ken, 2008-11) through personal accounts from her loved ones. Laced with emotional reflections, vivid photos and jovial home movies, the film walks the viewer through Taylor’s 24 years on earth and untimely end caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011. In light of the tragedy, the film sends a message of hope, optimism and encouragement for all to follow their hearts.

The film is divided into chapters, beginning with the first, “She Took Her Time.” Jean Anderson, Taylor’s mother, reveals how in everything Taylor did, she did it at her own pace, including her birth: she was 11 days late. According to her father, Andy Anderson, Taylor grew up inquisitive, interested and easygoing, never letting anyone influence her decisions. Julia Anderson-Kerr and Jeffrey Anderson (Taylor’s sister and brother, respectively) shared what it was like to grow up with such a peaceful and patient sibling.

From as early as they could remember, Taylor was into reading, exploring and having fun. Growing up near Richmond, VA, she was first introduced to Japanese at Millwood Elementary School. Her teacher exposed her to the language, artifacts and clothing of Japan at an early age, and from that point on she was hooked. Unfortunately, when she moved on to St. Catherine’s High School, Japanese was not an option, so she continued to study on her own.

It wasn’t until her college years at Randolph-Macon College in nearby Ashland that Taylor had the opportunity to visit Japan. She traveled to Tokyo for a January course designed to expose students to the history of the city. Later that summer, Taylor taught at a Japanese language academy, where she was adored by all. It was because of Taylor’s contagious zeal for Japan that her childhood friends and classmates became interested in the country and culture as well. She exposed them to anime, manga and the films of Hayao Miyazaki, inspiring some of them to travel to Japan and explore it for themselves.

Upon graduating from college, Taylor knew that she was moving to Japan: the JET Program was the only job she applied for. Her parents reticently supported her, knowing that because of her passion for Japan, she would succeed. Much to Taylor’s chagrin, she wasn’t immediately selected, but instead placed on a wait list. She was extremely disappointed and discouraged only to be surprised a week later, learning that she was accepted.

In chapter three, “I’m a JET,” teachers from Ishinomaki in Miyagi as well as fellow JET participants reflect on Taylor’s soft personality; some even likened her mild mannered disposition to that of a Japanese. However, the consensus was that once she opened up, she was a silly and fun ball of joy, often going to karaoke and singing with friends.

During Taylor’s second year on JET, there was a particular event that seemed to definie her personality. It was a sticky, hot summer day and Taylor and her friends had just participated in a citywide scavenger hunt by bike, which took hours to complete. Thinking that they would go home, shower and relax for the rest of the day, her friends began making plans, but Taylor had something else in mind. There was a festival happening at one of the elementary schools Taylor taught at, so rather than take the afternoon off, Taylor motivated her friends to get dressed in yukata and attend the festival with her. For her friends, this was one of the fondest memories of Taylor, causing them to remark that she was a “model JET participant.”

Chapter seven begins with the morning of March 11 starting as a normal day. It was only the night before that Taylor wrote handwritten cards with personalized notes for all of her students who were graduating that day. When the unthinkable happened, panic and fear consumed the Tohoku region as evidenced through actual footage taken during the disaster. The viewer is exposed to ceilings crashing down and waves infiltrating the town, washing away boats, cars and homes. Children are screaming everywhere and sirens are screaming, and only for a moment can the viewer begin to imagine what it may have been like to be there on that day.

After things settled down, all of Taylor’s friends accounted for each other…except her. JET alum Matthew Fuller (Aichi-ken, 1997-99) of the U.S. Department of State knew within 24 hours that Taylor was missing. At first, the U.S. Embassy believed Taylor was alive, only to later learn that they were mistaken. Taylor’s friends went to Mongokuura Elementary School in Ishinomaki, where Taylor was teaching that day, and spoke with the principal, who explained that after ensuring the safety of 80 children who remained at the school, Taylor was last seen heading to her bike to go home. It was only sometime later that the Ishinomaki police department called her friends to say they found someone fitting Taylor’s description.

It was also around the same time that Monty Dickson (Iwate-ken, 2009-11), a JET from Rikuzentakata, was discovered as well. As remembered by his friends, Monty was excellent at speaking Japanese and had a great sense of humor. In a reflection from one of his team teachers, Monty wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to do after JET, but only knew that he was there to serve as a bridge between people. Unfortunately, the devastation was so bad in Monty’s area that even those who knew him couldn’t be reached for comment.

After finding her, Mr. Anderson and Taylor’s boyfriend, James Kenney (also a childhood friend) went to Japan to take care of her affairs. While there, they were able to visit a school she taught at to pass out candy to her students. Not only did this act honor her memory, but it helped bring closure to the family.

To continue her legacy, The Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund has been established. It has several initiatives, including a JET micro grant, which provides financial support to enhance English language and foreign culture programs initiated by Miyagi/Sendai JET (MAJET) Program participants. This encourages JETs to go beyond the classroom on order to become active participants and leaders in their schools and communities.

The one thing that Mr. Anderson would like all who view the film or who knew Taylor to walk away with is: it’s not about what you experience in life, but about how you approach and handle it. This film is a reminder to chase your dream, and live it. Just like Taylor did.

Live Your Dream premieres in Los Angeles March 9, Ishinomaki March 10, and Boston March 11-12. For more information and upcoming screenings, visit www.thetaylorandersonstory.com.

For JQ’s 2012 interview with Regge Life on the making of the film, click here.

“In Minamisanriku, the local government wanted to keep the shiyakusho (city hall) as a memorial for the tsunami, but people who lost family there disagreed. Finally, the building was demolished recently. It reminded us of sad stories and memories of people who escaped to city hall during the tsunami.”

By Fernando Rojas (Fukui-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, Fernando was JHS ALT in Fukui prefecture, home of the echizen-gani, a city named Obama, the Fukuisaurus, and nuclear power plants. While in Japan, he picked up shuji (Japanese calligraphy) as his hobby and continues to practice today. He is currently a fellowships associate for the Social Science Research Council’s Abe Fellowship Program in Brooklyn and co-representative for the JETAA New Jersey subchapter.

Hailing from Tome City in Miyagi Prefecture, Saiko Goto was a recent JUSTE Program participant at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Informally called the “Reverse JET Program,” the Japan–U.S. Training and Exchange Program for Language Teachers allows Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs) from all over Japan to take courses in ESL teaching at U.S. universities.

Goto received her teaching license from Gunma Prefecture Women’s University, where she majored in English. She currently teaches at Sakuma Junior High School and has taught English for eight years. Before returning to Japan in January, Goto spoke with JQ about JUSTE and the ongoing impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami on her school.

How are teachers selected to participate in the JUSTE program?

Teachers are selected according to their prefectures. In some prefectures, teachers have to apply for the program. In other prefectures, teachers are picked by the board of education. In my case, I was recommended by my principal to the Tome City Board of Education and selected by the Miyagi Prefecture Board of Education.

Have you found the JUSTE program beneficial? In what ways has the program helped you?

Being on JUSTE has been very beneficial. I have met and talked with many people from different countries, as well as learned a lot from them through English. I have also thought more about my teaching and the importance of learning English. The program has also helped me to create more effective activities. I made many activities with other JUSTE members and we will use them in my classes.

Would you recommend the program to other JTEs in Japan?

Definitely. By participating in the program, you can have many chances for meeting people and learn a lot. I visited a former ALT during the winter vacation and experienced life in Arkansas with her and her family. I also became friends with other JUSTE participants. We will share our list of activities with each other online and keep in touch.

Your city, Tome, is located near Minamisanriku, a town that was heavily damaged by the tsunami. What sort of damage did your town and school experience?

Tome is located west of Minamisanriku. We were not hit by the tsunami because Tome is separated from the coast by mountains. Even though the tsunami didn’t hit us, our town suffered damage. We still had downed houses, traffic signals that stopped working, and broken roads. A week after the disaster, trucks brought water and food to gyms and other emergency evacuation centers. My school had no electricity, no water, and no food for a week.

When did teachers go back to work?

Teachers went back to school a couple of days after the earthquake. Classes were cancelled and teachers started to check on students by visiting their homes and evacuation centers. Because there was no gas for cars, most teachers couldn’t drive to school. Some teachers walked, others rode their bikes to school for long distances. Some teachers started carpooling together.

Did your school receive students from towns on the coast? How did the students adjust?

Students from Minamisanriku arrived at Sakuma JHS in April. My school received five to six students per grade. Some students were okay, but others didn’t fit in and wanted to go back home. They often looked lonely or sad. Eventually, some students went back even though they had lost their homes.

When did things start to feel “normal”?

The start of school was delayed until the third week of April. We didn’t get school lunch for the first two weeks. When lunch started three weeks later, we had only bread and milk. Normal lunch didn’t start until the end of May. Although things were back to normal by then, the san-nensei school trip to Tokyo was delayed until September because the Shinkansen didn’t work.

Things were slower for my friend in Minamisanriku. Before I came here, my friend took me to where his house was. I was shocked by how big and horrible the tsunami was. People lost everything. They lost friends, family, memories, books, and photographs. Although we had different situations, Minamisanriku and Tome are in the same prefecture. How could this be? I was very confused and felt totemo fukuzatsu. I can’t express my feelings with words.

In Minamisanriku, the local government wanted to keep the shiyakusho (city hall) as a memorial for the tsunami, but people who lost family there disagreed. Finally, the building was demolished recently. It reminded us of sad stories and memories of people who escaped to city hall during the tsunami. Many places have been demolished and some are preserved as a symbol of disaster. You can see some places that were damaged with Google Street View.

What do you think is needed now?

The problems are different each day but the government should realize what people need and their problems. We still have a housing problem. There is no place to build. Some areas are restricted to live in. People who lost their homes want to go back. We are still worried about people from Minamisanriku, such as fishermen. They are in Tome now, living in houses built by the government, but they have no jobs. They walk around all day. Some go to pachinko parlors. They really need jobs.

Would you like to give us a personal message?

I appreciate the many people and countries that helped and donated to Japan. Now, Japan is recovering, but it’s still not enough. It will take a lot of time. I’d like many people to remember that Japan, especially Tohoku, still has many problems concerning this. If you have a chance, search the Internet for Tohoku and see what’s going on. Don’t forget us.

For JQ‘s January 2012 interview with JUSTE Program participant Kazumoto Takechi, click here.

JET alum Eliot Honda: “With my year coming to a close, I wanted to create a set of videos that would not only explain what to expect as an ALT, but also what to expect as an Uwajima ALT. I had truly come to love this city, and I wanted to show off some of its beauty and history.”

By Eliot Honda (Ehime-ken, 2009-2012) for JQ magazine. Born and raised in Honolulu, Eliot was an ALT placed in Uwajima City of Ehime Prefecture. Prior to JET, Eliot worked as a freelance video editor mainly in the commercial and corporate world in San Francisco. Following JET, he returned to Honolulu and joined his mother in real estate. He currently has made a JET Introduction video, and has a YouTube series in the works called Sister City Ties, showing the beauty of the friendship between Honolulu and Uwajima.

My father always preached that “everything happens for a reason.” My being placed in Uwajima was no exception. Uwajima, as I would come to find out, had strong ties to my home of Hawaii. King Kalakaua of Hawaii and Date Munenari of Uwajima had met in 1881, becoming Japan’s first contact with a head of state. Uwajima and Hawaii would meet again in 2001 when the Ehime Maru, a high school fishing vessel, would be struck by a U.S. submarine. Nine lives would be tragically lost, including four high school students.

News of the tragedy spread quickly through Hawaii, causing the people to do everything they could to help the Uwajima families. Whole those families could have shown hate and anger toward the people of Hawaii, they instead embraced the people of the Aloha State with open arms. Through this tragedy, a friendship between Honolulu and Uwajima was born, giving way to the creation of a sister city relationship. To help strengthen the ties between the two cities, the mayor of Uwajima requested ALTs who were born in Hawaii. I found myself to be one of the lucky few chosen to represent Hawaii there as my time on the JET Program began.

I came to Uwajima with all these grand ideas of using video in my lessons. A month into my first year as an Uwajima ALT, I came to the realization that utilizing video in the classroom or in school for that matter would be an impossible task. If finding students willing to speak English in front of the class was difficult, finding students to speak English in front of a camera would be like moving the Hawaiian Islands with a fish hook. (I think only Hawaii people will get that reference.)

Feeling a bit defeated, I sat in my apartment and contemplated how I could put everything I’d learned in the multimedia world to good use. As fate would have, it I was asked by one of the Ehime Maru family members to join the Ehime Maru memorial service, and create a documentary not about the tragedy, but about the friendship between Honolulu and Uwajima. The documentary was for the schools in Ehime, and upon completion, DVDs were given to a large number of schools. This single video became the start of several videos for both the sister city exchange and the promotion of Uwajima.

It wasn’t until my final year on JET that the idea of a JET introduction video came to mind. I had seen an introduction to JET in San Francisco, but nothing that really explained just what one might experience on JET. With my year coming to a close, I wanted to create a set of videos that would not only explain what to expect as an ALT, but also what to expect as an Uwajima ALT. I had truly come to love this city, and I wanted to show off some of its beauty and history. So through experience and research, I crafted a series of YouTube videos about the life of an ALT and the life of an Uwajima ALT.

The response I received was incredible. Many JET alumni commented on how they had wished they had something like this when they were on JET. It made me feel extremely happy to know that I was able to help promote both Uwajima and the JET Program. I had received an email about doing a new video, one that was a more general overview of what the JET Program is, rather than focus solely on one city.  Having returned to Hawaii and starting a new job, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to put one together, but the idea of a new project—and one that would help promote JET—was something I couldn’t turn down.

So I sat down and re-watched all four Uwajima ALT videos, re-read portions of the JET handbook, re-watched interviews I had done with ALTs based in Ehime, and just gathered information on how I could better the video, and what the difference between the Uwajima video and a general video would be. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between my experience and many other JETs. With that in mind, I started working on a new script, and followed that up with creating new graphics, a new opener, and gathering photos. Once that was done, I went to work shooting the introduction and recording the voiceover. I had a green screen, lights, a camera, and a set of mics so I was set to do this all on my own.

Having spoken to PAs and RAs, I had found that one of the biggest things that first year JETs mis-plan for is money. So I really wanted to stress the importance of preparing enough funds prior to coming on JET.  I also wanted to stress the idea of the “cultural ambassador”; it’s funny how you can be told that you are under a magnifying glass a hundred times, but it’s not until you get there and see just how serious it is that you realize what everyone was warning you about.

There are just so many things to keep in mind, and to prepare yourself for. I know that I wouldn’t have made it through my first year had it not been for the prep work that was done by the San Francisco consulate. They prepared me for everything, they made me aware of exactly what I was there for, and what to expect from my day to day life. To be honest, because of the San Francisco consulate I had no real surprises (other than just how hot and cold it gets in Japan). I really wanted to do what I could to help, or at least attempt to help, new JETs.

This is such an incredible program and I wish that everyone could have the same incredible experiences that I have had.

Visit Eliot’s YouTube channel here.

Visit JQ magazine online at http://jetaany.org/magazine

As we slide into spring, JETAA New York’s JQ magazine continues to provide content with an ever-expanding array of articles, interviews and features (see our recent stories here). We’re now looking for new writers, including recent returnees and JET vets, from all JETAA chapters worldwide for posting stories via our host at the global JET alumni resource site JETwit.com. (Scribes are also encouraged to join the JET Alumni Writers group on LinkedIn.)

Below are story ideas grouped by JET participants and alumni (JET World) and those more on Japanese culture (Japan World). And if you’re a JET or JETWit contributor from anywhere in the world with a story idea of your own, let us know!

Click “Read More” below for our spring 2013 ideas pitch package, and contact JQ editor Justin Tedaldi (magazine [at] jetaany [dot] org) to sign up for stories.

***JET WORLD***

JETAA USA EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND FEATURE

With the second anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami upon us, JETAA USA has procured more than $50,000 in grants so far for its ambitious Earthquake Relief Fund, with five grantees designated including Hope for Tomorrow (which assists area high school students with applying to university), Kodomo no Empowerment (which provides extracurricular tutoring and support to middle school students), and the Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund. Help spread the word about this special fund by speaking with the top JET alumni in charge of it.

JETS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

The official JETAANY Facebook page has been firing on all cylinders, serving as an additional alumni news outlet and upcoming event bulletin board. Talk to the people in charge for a profile on the impact of JET chapters, social media style! Also includes former JETAANY VP Rose de Fremery, managing editor for The Social Media Monthly magazine, the world’s first and only print devoted exclusively to the world of social media.

JET ALUMNA LEADS THE DIGITAL MANGA GUILD

Joanna Yuka Metoki (Wakayama-ken, 2008-09) is the PR & Localizer Community Liaison for Digital Manga Guild, a project of the company Digital Manga where manga fans collaborate in bringing thousands of titles to the American manga fandom. The mission of DMG is not only to bring the fans the products they desire but offer the localizers (translators, editors, and letterers) the opportunity to become part of the process of publishing these titles and gaining invaluable experience within the industry. Joanna is available for a Q&A or profile.

PRE-JET PROGRAM ALUM PROFILED IN THE JAPAN TIMES

British writer, historian and journalist Lesley Downer has been visiting Japan and writing about it for nearly 35 years — beginning in 1978, when she was part of the first-ever intake of the English Teaching Recruitment Program, which evolved into the famous JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program) scheme. This noted author and documentary filmmaker was recently interviewed for The Japan Times, and writers are invited to contact her for a story about her experiences on the ETR Program.

BOOK REVIEW: PACIFIC COSMOPOLITANS

Decades before Americans cheered on Ichiro Suzuki, Japanese baseball fans swooned over Babe Ruth. And a century prior to the craze for anime and manga, American art collectors hoarded Japanese woodblock prints. Few relationships can match the depth, or importance, of the cultural ties between America and Japan over the past two hundred years. In Pacific Cosmopolitans, JET alum/Director of Japan Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research Michael Auslin tells this absorbing history in full for the first time. http://goo.gl/yl4Ns

‘THE RICE COOKER CHRONICLES’ SERIES

We are running a new series on JETwit about solo cooking experiences while on JET (read previous entries here). Did you discover a new favorite comfort food in Japan, learn to cook a mouthwatering meal that you still serve today or accidentally buy something really weird only to discover (and reluctantly) eat it in your mansion? We want to hear about it!

‘SPRING IN JAPAN’ ANECDOTES WANTED!

Our quarterly anecdote topic is spring in Japan from JET alumni around the world! If you have a strange, delightful (or both—we all do) short story to share about harus past in Japan, we’d love to publish it. Whether you won a hanami karaoke contest or just got hilariously drunk visiting a World Heritage Site, we want to know!

JQ&A WITH AUTHOR DANIEL STURGEON

Daniel has been working at the Consulate in Atlanta but is leaving soon to start working with the Foreign Service, has written a book about the controversial Yasukuni Shrine based on a thesis he wrote. Even though the book was published in 2006, it might be interesting to have someone do an interview with this JET alum who has interviewed a lot of people connected with the shrine and done extensive research on the issue.

‘JET INSTANT NOODLE’ COMICS

Profile of JET alum artist Shun Endo and his “JET Instant Noodle Comics.” Read samples here.

ISSHONI LONDON – JET ALUM BLOG

London JET alum Vanessa Villalobos writes about Japan-related events, news, review and interviews. This would be a good Q&A piece for any JETs wanting to learn more about how our alumni groups operate overseas. Learn more at:

www.isshonilondon.co.uk

www.facebook.com/pages/Isshoni-London/119415767689

www.twitter.com/IsshoniVanessa

TEAMTEACHERS.COM

An innovative telecommunications site for Team Teaching, founded by a JET. www.teamteachers.com

JETSET – CANADIAN JETS IN JAPAN

Melissa C. runs JETset, a site for Canadian JETs in Japan and a well-known resource center for JET participants. See more for a profile at www.jetsetjapan.com.

 ***JAPAN WORLD***

NYC EVENTS

We are accepting coverage of the following, and can provide free tickets! This includes perennial events like Sakura Matsuri at Brooklyn Botanic Garden in April, Japan Day @ Central Park in May, and the new Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints exhibit at Japan Society now through June 9.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

Now offering show reviews or Q&A opportunities for the following:

Sunday, March 3 / Yoko Reikano Kimura (shamisen) @ Still Mind Zendo

Sunday, March 24 / Kodo Taiko @ New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Wednesday, March 27 / Aki Yashiro with Special Guests @ Birdland Jazz Club

Sunday, March 31 / Bella Gaia: Origin Stories of Japan @ NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts

Sunday, April 7 / Keiko Matsui @ B.B. King Blues Club and Grill

Sunday, April 14 / Kyary Pamyu Pamyu @ Best Buy Theater

April 16-21 / Hiromi: The Trio Project @ Blue Note Jazz Club

MOVIE/BOOK/RESTAURANT REVIEWS

Write a review on anything you’d like to spread the word about. Current review copies of books available include the The Soul of Anime by MIT professor Ian Condry and A Guru is Born by Takeshi Kitano. For films, how about From Up on Poppy Hill, the latest from Studio Ghibli?

PROFILE AN ICE SCULPTOR IN LONG ISLAND CITY

Check out the story of Shintaro Okamoto of Okamoto Studio, an LIC/Astoria-based ice sculpting business. He was recently profiled by the Huffington Post. He grew up in Fukuoka, spent time in Alaska, and learned the art of ice sculpting while being a sushi chef. Now he is in LIC making beautiful art from ice, and has had his works shown throughout NYC

PROFILE A BOSTON SAKE PROPRIETOR

Todd Bellomy is the founder and proprietor of Boston Sake, which he started out of frustration with the lack of Sake education and fun in the Boston market. So far he has driven roughly 1,000 people a month to his blog, and recently had his first event, which is one of the largest sake events ever in Boston. Todd is now expanding with his sake/beer hybrid, Banryu-Ichi, which is starting to introduce beer people to sake…something that no one else is doing!

SHUUKAN NY SEIKATSU PROFILE

This New York-based Japanese-language free paper has big plans for its English-language “Cool Japan” page, which runs every Saturday. JET alum and associate editor Paul Benson has recruited some writers from JETAA New York to report on the newest Japan-related happenings, and JQ would like to help spread the message! Read more at www.nyseikatsu.com.

SACHIYO ITO DANCE COMPANY ARTICLE

Sachiyo Ito and Company is the only dance group in New York City to perform Japanese classical dance, Okinawan dance, and contemporary works based on these traditions. They had their 30th Anniversary Concert in New York’s Lincoln Center in October 2011, taking the audience from medieval Japan to present day through dance and live music. Takers are invited to write about Ito-sensei herself or review an upcoming concert. Learn more at www.dancejapan.com.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR JAPAN FIX?

In an effort to revive the “Japan Fix” posts, we’d like to share a recent discoveries to help readers find a little piece of Japan close to home.  How do you get your Japan fix wherever you live?

ROBIN SAKAI OF GAIJIN POT

Gaijin Pot is a site that offers jobs, apartments and classifieds in Japan. Run by Robin Sakai, it strives to bring the Japanese and expat community together.

REVIEW OF JAPANESE LANGUAGE STUDY OPTIONS IN THE NYC AREA

We would like to add a listing as well as a possible review of Japanese language study options in the New York area. One of these is Hills Learning, founded by Jon Hills, who works with JETs in New York to promote his learning center, which teaches four languages to children and adults and offers annual Japanese Language Proficiency Test courses! Jon also co-presents monthly Asian networking events. Jon is open to a profile. Learn more at www.hillslearning.com.

CONSULATE GENERAL SCHOOL CARAVAN

This is a decade-plus program run by New York’s Consulate General of Japan that sends consulate staff (American and Japanese) to New York high schools and junior high schools to introduce students to Japanese culture, and JET alums have even served as presenters! The purpose of this article will be to increase awareness of the program so more JETAA members can get involved.

KEIO ACADEMY OF NEW YORK

Based in Purchase, NY, Keio Academy is a school for bilingual and bicultural education established by its Tokyo namesake.  Besides the various activities the school offers, it also seeks to recruit JET alums for potential work opportunities.  We can put you in touch with their business officer, who is happy ro speak with more JETs about the subject.

ASIA SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

Recently, NYC’s Asia Society held its New York Japan CineFest short film program. We’ve never profiled Asia Society, so this would be a great time to find out more about how they select their Japanese attractions and exhibitions.

JAPAN INFORMATION CENTER OF NEW YORK

Profile. Take advantage of Japan Information Center to promote Japan! The Japan Information Center (JIC) is the cultural and public affairs section of the Consulate General of Japan in New York. The JIC distributes educational materials, posters and pamphlets on Japan, provides speakers on various aspects of Japan to the schools throughout this region, Provides information on the Japanese Government Scholarships & the JET Program, distributes the e-newsletter Japan Info, and loans videos/DVDs and cultural artifacts.

Visit JQ magazine online at http://jetaany.org/magazine.

“The book’s release is timed to coincide with Ono’s 80th birthday on February 18, and provides readers snippets of info on some tumultuous periods during her lifetime.” (Amulet Books)

By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-2010) for JQ magazine. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro.

“Everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does.”

That line—uttered by the most famous of her three husbands—could accurately sum up Yoko Ono for a long time. But that shouldn’t be the case. Fortunately, thanks to a new book co-written by Nell Beram and Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky, readers have insight into this remarkable woman’s life.

Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies—so titled because Ono has always looked to the sky for inspiration—delves into the life of the famous avant-garde artist and musician, from her childhood in Japan and the U.S. to her chart-topping success in her seventies. The book’s release is timed to coincide with Ono’s 80th birthday on February 18, and provides readers snippets of info on some tumultuous periods during her lifetime.

Ono’s journey is presented in an easy-to-read format geared toward young adults. Unlike many other biographies, where all the photographs tend to be lumped together in a couple of sections, the photos in Collector of Skies are spread throughout the book, and they range from one in which Ono is wearing a kimono at the age of two to another taken at the inaugural lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik in 2007. The authors also use quotes from Ono to expound upon certain periods and moments of her life.

Of course, any story about Yoko Ono has to make heavy mention of her relationship with John Lennon, and the middle of the book is largely devoted to her life with the former Beatle. While Collector of Skies might not reveal anything earth shattering for hardcore Lennon and Beatles fans, younger readers (or those unfamiliar with the Beatles) will learn not just the real story of the group’s breakup, but more importantly, the duo’s activism.

Although the book may be seemingly dominated by her relationship with Lennon, Beram and Boriss-Krimsky devote plenty of time to Ono’s accomplishments in music and art (detailed by a timeline in the appendix) and events that have outlined her individualist streak—such as when, as a toddler, she belted out Japanese children’s songs, behavior that horrified her affluent mother as she viewed those songs as those of commoners.

However, a couple of things are missing from the book—mainly, mentions of how Japan has influenced her work. As Ono seems very westernized (having lived most of her life in the United States), there is really just one mention of Japanese influence on her work: her 1996 work Wish Tree, in which viewers could write their wishes on cards similar to the Japanese customs at temples. A teacher once described Ono as someone who would be “a bridge between the United States and Europe,” so it would have been interesting to learn about other Japanese influences in her work. In addition, Collector of Skies would have been enhanced by a few more quotes from others about her work. There are some, such one from art critic Arthur C. Danto, who described Ono as “one of the most original artists of the last half-century,” but it would have been great to read about how others have viewed her work.

Overall, Collector of Skies does an outstanding job of bringing to life the story of an amazingly talented artist; one who certainly doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

For more JQ magazine book reviews, click here.

“One big idea in my book is that families should adapt all the time. The single best thing we’ve done is to add a weekly family meeting. We ask three questions, based on a popular program called ‘agile families.’ And no surprise: that idea was born in Japan in the culture of real-time change.” (Courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers)

By Sharona Moskowitz (Fukuoka-ken, 2000-01) for JQ magazine. Sharona is interested in fresh, new voices in fiction and creative nonfiction.

New York Times bestselling author and columnist Bruce Feiler (Tochigi-ken, 1987-88) has written a range of books dealing with topics as varied as life in Japan (depicted in 1991’s Learning to Bow), religion, and his own diagnosis with cancer.

His latest book, The Secrets of Happy Families, is a playbook for today’s family with tips and advice for increasing overall happiness and strengthening the family unit. Unlike other family-related books, Feiler does not advocate one particular method or philosophy over another; rather, he has done a thorough investigation of what happy families have in common and offers readers a slice of the pie.

In this exclusive interview, Feiler shares how his experience in Japan has given him insight into family life across cultures, as well as his take on the modern family’s  trials and tribulations.

It seems the book market is already glutted with all sorts of self-help books about families. What sets your book apart and why do you feel that it is particularly timely?

In many ways, I was motivated by the deluge of self-help books. They’re boring, tried, and out of fresh ideas. As a parent, I was completely frustrated and had tons of questions about how to make my family function more effectively, and the only books out there were from “family experts.” Meanwhile, in every other arena of contemporary life—from Silicon Valley to elite peace negotiators, from championship sports teams to the Green Berets—there are proven new ways to make teams and groups run more smoothly. I wanted to know what those people were doing with their own families, then test their ideas with mine. Not every idea worked. That’s why I put over 200 new ones in the book, because what clicks with your family may be different from what clicked with mine. But my hope is that if you take three ideas, you’ll have a happier family in a week.

In the chapter about the agile manifesto, you talk about the importance of “being part of the family team.” In writing about the importance of teamwork within the family, were you inspired at all by your experience in Japan, a culture which valorizes the group above all else?

I think it may be more the other way around, in that I was attracted to Japan because I’ve always been interested in tight groups and well-run teams. At the time I lived in Japan, in the late 1980s, Americans still believed that the individual mattered above all else. But one thing we’ve learned from the Internet is that we all have a natural inclination toward groups, social networks, and other gatherings of people. The first generation of happiness research has shown us that relationships matter above all else. Happiness is other people. And the people who matter most to us are our family. Yet there have been almost no books that tell us how to do that.

Are there other cultural practices you observed in your time in Japan which you believe could benefit American families?

One I learned while in Japan is that being part of a group doesn’t just happen. Japanese schools, in particular, work on it. I remember a school trip I went on where classes were divided into small groups. The number one rule was, don’t be late. The number two rule was, only one person in each group was allowed to have a watch. Guess what! You better stick together. Having a close family doesn’t just happen, either—you have to work on it. Fortunately, there are lots of new ideas out there to do that, which I’ve tried to gather.

Throughout the book you cite examples from your own family, including marital spats with your wife and arguments between your two daughters. Did you ever have second thoughts about letting the reader in on your own personal life and the effects it might have on your children down the road?

A motto of mine is that the way to tell a big story is to tell a small story in great detail. I wasn’t interested in writing about happy families because I had one, but because I wanted one! I’m not trying to wag my finger and play the expert. I’m trying to say I’m just like you: frustrated and desperate for new ideas. This book captures our search for answers, including spats along the way.

You talk a lot about the importance of adaptability for a family. Do you think your time in Japan and the adaptability it must have required of you helped develop a sense of flexibility that has benefited your family life?

One big idea in my book is that families should adapt all the time. The single best thing we’ve done is to add a weekly family meeting. We ask three questions, based on a popular program called “agile families.” And no surprise: that idea was born in Japan in the culture of real-time change. The three questions are: 1) What went well in our family this week? 2) What didn’t go well? 3) What will we agree to work on this week. The key is to have your kids pick their own rewards and punishments. Research shows that children who plan their own time, set weekly goals, and evaluate their own work build up their frontal cortex, take greater control over their lives, and become more internally motivated.

According to the so-called “Law of Two Women,” a group is stronger for having several women among its members. I can’t help but think of your own family. Have you seen evidence of this law firsthand?

Yes! This is one my favorite ideas. It’s been proven on corporate boards, among judges, and in executive suites at Google. It also works in extended families. We used it recently when deciding whether my mother should buy a certain kind of insurance. We gathered everyone together, even those who didn’t know anything, as I had been advised, and the conversation went much better.

William Morrow

I interviewed countless families, and one thing I learned is we’re all frustrated to one degree or another. As Bill Ury, the author of Getting to Yes, told me, “No one knows the new rules! There’s a lot more fluidity, agility, and reinvention going on.” He was giving me some great tips about cutting down on fighting (my wife and I even changed when and where you do it!), but he said we should realize that all parents are pioneers these days.

At the end of three years of research, I found that happy families have three things in common: They adapt all the time; they talk—a lot; they go out and play. And they do one more thing: they make the decision to keep working on their family. In effect, they choose happiness. In the end, this may be the most enduring lesson of all. What’s the secret to a happy family? Try.

The Secrets of Happy Families is available Feb. 19. Bruce will discuss the book in New York City Feb. 20 at a special author event at Barnes and Noble, 150 East 86th Street, at 7:00 p.m. For more information and appearances, visit Bruce’s homepage at http://brucefeiler.com.

For JQ magazine’s 2010 interview with Bruce, click here.

“We don’t want art to be only for wealthy people, but instead want to target as wide an audience as possible for the purpose of disseminating Japanese culture. This is actually the reason why we chose to be located in Queens, as it is said to be the most diverse part of the city.” (Stacy Smith)

By Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) for JQ magazine. Stacy is a professional writer/interpreter/translator. She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observation in the periodic series WITLife.

In recent years, Long Island City has experienced a rapid gentrification, being converted from an abandoned, industrial wasteland to a hotspot of waterfront apartments and art institutions. Of course it has big hitters like the Noguchi Museum that are well known to Japanophiles, but there are also Japan-related galleries flying under the radar just waiting to be discovered. One such place is Resobox, a short walk from the Queensboro Plaza subway stop whose location is marked by only a small, overhanging sign and a signboard that sits on the sidewalk reading: “The place where people who are conversant with, dedicated to and influenced by Japanese art can gather, create innovative arts through the collaborative process and disseminate them to the world.”  Interest piqued? So was mine, and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Resobox co-owner Takashi Ikezawa to learn more about this unique endeavor.

Can you share with JQ readers Resobox’s back story and the origin of your name?

Resobox was a name created from the words “resonate” and “box,” and it refers to a space where artists can meet and collaborate to create new and innovative art. It initially referred to a project begun by my partner Fumio Tashiro, a jazz musician who became interested in experimental music and music as art performance. He would collaborate with dancers, painters, and musicians to put together performances. I had a business background as I worked at a talent agency representing Japanese artists in NYC, and I knew Fumio casually. However, we started meeting up monthly to brainstorm, and our discussions always focused on the breadth and depth of Japanese culture and arts. In order for a solid collaboration to take place, you need to have a strong foundation. Since we are both Japanese, we found the culture of our native country to be a foundation substantial enough to build on. Our brainstorming sessions yielded the idea of artists, both Japanese and non-Japanese, coming to our box and resonating off each other to create new Japanese art. This is how Resobox was launched in its gallery form in June of 2011.

Can you give an example of some successful collaborations?

One of the artists who was featured until early January, Mary Burton Wheeler, became involved by taking a Japanese ink painting (sumi-e) class at Resobox. It happened to be taught by Ayakoh Furukawa, the artist we currently have on display, and collaboration began in this class environment. Wheeler learned not just about Japanese painting itself but about Japanese sense and ideas, and she incorporated this into the new pottery she produced as a result. On first glance you wouldn’t say that her work is particularly “Japanese,” but on closer look there is definitely a Japanese sensibility that she encountered via her collaboration with Ayakoh.

Resobox offers an eclectic café menu. (Stacy Smith)

I see you have a great café with some Japanese offerings.

Yes, we just want to get people in the gallery, and we welcome everyone regardless of whether they have an interest in Japan and art or not. They might just be coming in for coffee or to get out of the cold, but we hope that they stay for a while. We know that everyone in NYC is busy, but if we can have a few minutes of their time where they walk around the gallery, we are happy. We serve Japanese treats like coffee and matcha flavored jelly, yuzu, matcha and sesame shakes, as well as standard Japanese teas.

What types of classes do you offer and are they open to everyone?

Our classes are open to the public and we want to have many local participants. Our goal is to have collaborations between students or between instructor and students that leads to the cultivation of new artists among the attendees. Class topics range from drawing of anime and manga to traditional martial arts to dance, and priced at $15-$20 they are very accessible. We don’t want art to be only for wealthy people, but instead want to target as wide an audience as possible for the purpose of disseminating Japanese culture. This is actually the reason why we chose to be located in Queens, as it is said to be the most diverse part of the city.

How do you find the artists you feature? 

If someone is interested in exhibiting at Resobox, we will first screen their portfolio and if we see potential we will then visit their studio to exchange ideas. We are open to artists of any age, race or nationality; the only condition is that they somehow incorporate Japanese culture into their work through the creation of something new that didn’t exist before. For this purpose, we will introduce them to someone of Japanese background who they can interact with and learn from and vice versa. Via this influence, the artists will then be able to give birth to new Japanese-influenced creations. Ideally, we would like to do group exhibitions where participating artists make works together. They would have a synergy that allows them to create things they wouldn’t be able to on their own.

What can JQ readers look forward to from Resobox in the near future?

We usually hold about four to five Japanese cultural events per month, and they run the gamut from live music to Okinawan dance. We plan to continue at this pace, and also add additional aspects such as tea culture exchange. In February we are scheduled to have a tea demonstration given by Chinese and Japanese tea masters, who will compare and contrast their countries’ respective tea ceremony styles.  We also hope to continue our involvement with the neighborhood, because the more we are accepted by the locals, the better chance we have of promoting Japanese culture.

Resobox is located at 41-26 27th Street in Long Island City. Upcoming exhibitions include Vintage Kimono and Doll – An Elegant Rustling of Silk (opens Feb. 4) and RGB – Solo Exhibition by Satoshi Tsuchiyama (opening reception Feb. 22 at 7:00 p.m.). For more information, visit http://resobox.com.

“J-Boys is a historical lesson for readers of all ages. Although the story takes place 20 years after World War II, Japan is still very much scarred by the war and Oketani mentions how it affected the mindsets of the country’s people.” (Stone Bridge Press)

By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-2010) for JQ magazine. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro.

The 1960s were a decade of enormous change around the world. Although Japan didn’t experience the upheaval some other countries did during that period, for one teenager, the mid-1960s were shaping up to be a different era.

Shogo Oketani’s novel J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965 takes readers into the lives of young Kazuo Nakamoto and, to a lesser extent, his friends—younger brother Yasuo, his friend Nobuo, Nobuo’s older brother Haruo, and Kazuo’s classmate Minoru. As steeped in tradition as Japan is (and continues to be), Oketani paints a picture of a society beginning to be seriously touched by foreign influences. Inspired by the 1964 Olympics in their hometown, Kazuo and Haruo usually head to an empty lot after school to emulate 100-meter champion Bob Hayes (It was Kazuo’s dream to be an Olympic sprinter). And like many young people across the world, Haruo went crazy for a quartet from Liverpool, often singing “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Essentially, J-Boys (which was based on Oketani’s childhood)serves a journey through the ups-and-downs of adolescence while introducing younger readers to Japanese culture and the changing landscape of the country. Kazuo’s father speaks about the rise in TV’s popularity with an air of sadness, blaming it for the loss of a nearby cinema. Likewise, Kazuo feels the new Tokyo (much of it fueled by Olympic-related construction) he sees during his Saturday afternoon walks is not necessary an improved one. Kazuo develops a crush on a girl he’s known for quite a while, but sees a couple of close friends move just prior to the start of a new school year. So he realizes he’s about to embark on an unpredictable journey.

Because the protagonist of J-Boys is a teenager, the book is not surprisingly geared toward younger readers. To familiarize them with Japan, the book includes sidebars with information about Japanese terms and other items readers may be unaware of. While some may wonder why the publisher felt the need to include sidebars with information about rock n’ roll, the Beatles and sumo, many (if not most) readers will appreciate the information in the sidebars. Even readers who have spent time in Japan might be unaware of the cultural references Oketani uses in the book, such as kamishibai and Sarutobi Sasuke.

J-Boys is also a historical lesson for readers of all ages. Although the story takes place 20 years after World War II, Japan is still very much scarred by the war and Oketani mentions how it affected the mindsets of the country’s people. When Kazuo’s class refuses to drink the disgusting miruku served during lunchtime, their teacher from the previous year, Mr. Tanaka, lashed out at the students, stating they were privileged to drink milk considering that soldiers during the war had to drink mud. And Kazuo is annoyed whenever he hears adults say “during the war,” a way of reminding Japan’s youth to be grateful for what they have, considering that during the mid-1940s people couldn’t do certain things (such as study or be choosy about their food).

If you don’t feel like Oketani is talking down to you, you’ll enjoy J-Boys a lot. While it certainly isn’t the most informational text about Japan in the 1960s, you’ll definitely learn something from it.

For more JQ magazine book reviews, click here.

“We’re gonna need a bigger shopping cart.” (Leah Zoller)

By Leah Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, 2009-11) for JQ magazine. Leah lives in Kanazawa, where she works as a writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel. In her spare time, she writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles on JETwit.com.

I live and work not too far from Omicho Market, and as a result, I see a lot of “Kanazawa’s Kitchen” and its back alleys in all seasons. I particularly like passing through in winter when the crabs are set outside the fish sellers’ stalls in the morning, the steam rising off their Styrofoam crates like a cloud in the cold air.

According to my coworkers, Omicho Market was once narrow and dirty, the way one expects a fish market to be. Since being renovated, Omicho, with its wide paths, incense to cover up the scent of fish, and ice blocks to relieve the summer heat, really fits with the tone and charm of our little city on the sea. Of course, the site is popular with tourists, but locals—myself included—actually shop there, since the variety and price of produce and seafood is often better than it is at the supermarkets. Every visit there is like a culinary adventure to me: What will be on sale today? Will the price of persimmons have dropped? What new squash varieties are the farms in the Noto growing?

Even Omicho, whose weaving roads I know like the back of my hand, has its surprises. One weekend in early winter (and winter comes early to Kanazawa), my husband and I were walking past one of the market’s side entrances when something caught my eye. I couldn’t quite process what I was seeing at first—was that a person was lying on the ground in front of one of the restaurants?

The figure on the ground was about my height, but slowly the realization that it wasn’t a person sank in. No, it wasn’t a person at all—it was a dead shark.

Not only was it a shark, it was a shark that had apparently been dragged off a truck and left in front of the restaurant, the rope still tied around its fins. No tarp, no boxes, just lying on the concrete. I yelped, part of my subconscious screaming, Predator, run!, and the people waiting outside the restaurant stared back as if there were something wrong with me. As if a dead shark as tall as I am deposited on the ground in front of a restaurant were perfectly normal.

I honestly would have thought I had hallucinated the whole thing if I hadn’t had a witness with me—and photographic evidence, of course.

I continue to pass through the market almost every day. I see crates full of crabs in winter and buckets full of eels in summer, but never again have I seen a shark waiting with the patrons outside a restaurant as if it had crawled there and given up in the cold. At least, not this year.

For more JQ magazine articles, click here.

“Ultimately, Samurai Awakening is a fun read that makes you think you’re watching a movie.” (Tuttle)

By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-2010) for JQ magazine. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro.

For those who have lived in Japan, there were probably times when nothing seemed to be going right while struggling to get adjusted to a new culture. But eventually—or maybe miraculously—things take a 180 degree turn.

Well, that happened in Samurai Awakening, Benjamin Martin‘s work of fiction for young adults. Martin—currently a fifth year Okinawa Prefecture JET—tells the story of David Matthews, an exchange student spending the year in Japan. David is frustrated and unhappy due to the fact he can’t speak Japanese well and hasn’t made any close friends. Fittingly, very early in the story, he is bloodied in a fight with students at Nakano Junior High School.

But after attending a local temple ceremony, David learns a new god has created special powers in him. He is now able to speak Japanese fluently, fight incredibly well and  turn into a cat.  However, those are not the only surprises in the book. His host family the Matsumotos, who are famous sword makers, are also keeping a secret handed down to their ancestors by the Emperor of Japan. And it is with the Matsumotos that he must work to save his host sister Rie, as wolves have taken up residence in her body.

Perhaps because David has become a skilled fighter, the battles in Samurai Awakening are the best parts of the book. David and his family must defeat wolves and other monsters to save Rie, so there is a sense the end of the story will be exciting. And it is, as Martin does an excellent job of describing how skilled David is with swords. Because of all the ghosts and goblins lurking to do damage, you get the sense that Samurai Awakening would make a very good horror movie. Martin does do a good job of describing life at a Japanese junior high school, such as mentioning cliques, rivalries and after school activities (David played badminton) while giving readers a sense of Japan’s rich history regarding swords.

However, the first third of the novel seemed slow. While reading about swords and the importance of swords to the Matsumoto family was interesting, it didn’t seem like it was adding anything to the story at times. Samurai Awakening is supposedly geared towards young adults, but those a bit unfamiliar with Japan and the culture might find it a bit challenging as there are no footnotes explaining things readers might be unaware of.

Ultimately, Samurai Awakening is a fun read that makes you think you’re watching a movie.

For more JQ magazine book reviews, click here.

A pair of this year’s releases from Haikasoru.

 Belka, Why Don’t You Bark?

“As a writer, Furukawa is possessed of a kinetic voice that seems to teeter on the edge of insanity. The hyperactive prose is sometimes poetic, sometimes sharp like a stinging slap in the face. Often, it’s both.” (Haikasoru)

By Sharona Moskowitz (Fukuoka-ken, 2000-01) for JQ magazine. Sharona is interested in fresh, new voices in fiction and creative nonfiction.

War: It’s a Dog’s Life. Battle Is a Bitch. War and Fleas.

These were just a few of the potential titles I had streaming through my mind as I sat down to write the review of Belka, Why Don’t you Bark?, the newly translated novel by Hideo Furukawa. But the truth is, love it or hate it (and you very well may hate it, but more on that later), Belka is far too original to be reduced to silly catchphrases or bromides.

At the very start of the novel, readers are met with a detailed canine family tree complete with the dogs’ names and nationalities. In looking back, this might as well have been a de facto warning: if anthropomorphism is not your thing, put this book down immediately.

The story begins in 1943 on the Aleutian Island of Kiska where four military dogs are left by the Japanese and then claimed by U.S. troops after the Japanese retreat. One dog dies and the other three go on to produce the offspring that populate the novel and occupy the branches of the family tree. Belka chronicles the lives of the military dogs who trace their roots back to Kiska, intertwined with the story of the young daughter of a yakuza boss who is kidnapped in the USSR and has a psychic connection to dogs. Belka is a book about history through canine eyes, namely the wars of the 20th century, as Furukawa tells us “history is moved, rolled this way and that, so simply. The twentieth century was a pawn, as were the dogs.”

As a writer, Furukawa is possessed of a kinetic voice that seems to teeter on the edge of insanity. Nobody would deny that Belka is well paced and action packed, but the writing can be distracting as his style has a tendency to overwhelm the text. The hyperactive prose is sometimes poetic, sometimes sharp like a stinging slap in the face. Often, it’s both:

“…one more dog, number 47, came running. Thirty-eight miles an hour. He leapt. Bared his fangs. Sank them into the soft fleshy throat. Twisted. Took him. Finished him.”

While Belka was not my cup of tea (or bowl of water, as it were), there is much to be said about Furukawa’s attention to historical detail and reverence for his four legged subjects. The dogs of Belka function as an interesting social mirror, reflecting the trainer’s sense of nationalism and even their personal characteristics. You might also say they serve as a clever analogy for foot soldiers (“Depression. Once it hits, a dog loses all will to live.”). You could, I suppose, even go so far as to read them as symbols of life’s crazy wayward destinies.

At the end of the day though, they’re just dogs. Unfortunately, it was difficult for me to suspend disbelief enough to fully enjoy the book, try as I might. Because Belka is so distinctive, it doesn’t lend itself to neutral feelings: you either like it or you don’t.

The Future Is Japanese

“The anthology (and December JETAANY Book Club selection) The Future Is Japanese offers 13 science fiction stories set in Japan that imagine different versions of this country’s future.” (Haikasoru)

By Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) for JQ magazine. Stacy is a professional writer/interpreter/translator. She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observation in the periodic series WITLife.

For some in Western society, Japan is viewed as the land of the future due to its technological gadgets, electronic toilets and ubiquitous vending machines. However, those of us who have lived or spent time there know that it is not the place of flying cars and omniscient robots that these people envision. In fact, at times it is downright low-tech. But the Haikasoru anthology (and December JETAANY Book Club selection) The Future Is Japanese offers 13 science fiction stories set in Japan that imagine different versions of this country’s future.

The collection opens with “Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu, a story about a man named Hiroto who is trying to evacuate into space due to a meteor that is on a collision course with the Earth (mono no aware refers to the transience of all things in life). Hiroto keeps flashing back to when he was young and the Japanese values his father instilled in him. When they played go (chess) he imparted the importance of the group mentality to Hiroto by saying, “Individual stones are not heroes, but all the stones together are heroic.” In the midst of the global crisis, Hiroto is largely influenced by his father’s advice and ends up taking heroic action of his own.

The selection I found to be the most emotionally absorbing was “The Sea of Trees” by Rachel Swirsky. This is a ghost story that tells the tale of a lost romance and a teenager searching for her roots. We are introduced to Nao, a young woman who has spent the last seven years with the yurei (ghosts) who inhabit a place called Aokigahara, or the Sea of Trees. This is where people go to commit suicide, and where their yurei stay afterward. Nao makes a living by looting from newly arrived yurei. The reason she originally came to Aokigahara was that her lover Sayomi committed suicide there while Nao was studying abroad in the States. The teenager is an American named Melon whose estranged father was Japanese and came to the Sea of Trees to die. The reader is left wondering whether Nao and Melon will be able to reach closure with their loved ones and safely escape from Aokigahara.

“Golden Bread” by Issui Ogawa struck me as a story that could have been a Twilight Zone episode. It features 18-year-old Yutaka, who is rescued by the Kalif inhabitants of an asteroid village called Lakeview that the fighter he was flying crashed into. He is from the aggressive nation of Yamato, whose strategy is expansion throughout the universe. The more Yutaka spends with the Kalifornians, the more he becomes accustomed to their ways despite his resistance. For example, he insists that he will never get used to their strange food like rice and fish when he is really craving meat and bread. Ogawa cleverly flips Asian and Western cultures, but Yutaka is in for a surprise at the end, which makes him realize that maybe they are less different than he believes. (On second thought, this could also be seen as an allegory for the JET experience…)

Despite the surreal nature of many of these stories, many of their details are surprisingly relatable to everyday life. For example, I laughed when one of the characters asked to get her point card stamped at a restaurant. I have to admit that some of the more esoteric stories forced me to suspend disbelief to the extent that I wasn’t able to or no longer wanted to follow, but for the most part they took me to extraordinary worlds and offered an interesting commentary on current Japanese society via their fantastical visions of the future. As Hiroto’s father tells him in “Mono no Aware, “[We are defined] by the web of relationships in which we’re enmeshed. The individual is small and powerless, but bound tightly together, as a whole, the Japanese nation is invincible.”

For more JQ magazine book reviews, click here.

“Murakami’s previous books were like delicious sandwiches that left you wanting more. 1Q84 is like a two-foot long sub that filled you to bursting, but you’re still not totally satisfied.” (Vintage International)

Roland Kelts, don’t kick me in the balls—

One man’s attempt to review a book honestly while still keeping friends

By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) for JQ magazine. A staple of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) community, Rick manages their Twitter page and is an up-for-anything writer.

My girlfriend wouldn’t shut up about it.

“1Q84 is the best! Ah, when it comes out in English you need to read it!” Just talking about it made her rush to find her old copies (it was broken up into three books in Japan) and start reading them again. She was enthralled, to say the least. I’ve been a Murakami fan for a while: Norwegian Wood was emotional and sexually riveting; Dance Dance Dance was creepy as hell but lots of fun; Kafka on the Shore blew my mind. So I was hungry for 1Q84.

I picked it up shortly after it came out…and put it down for a while…then picked it up again…then down… then up…I think you get the idea. My feelings can kind of be summed up like this: Murakami’s previous books were like delicious sandwiches that left you wanting more. 1Q84 is like a two-foot long sub that filled you to bursting, but you’re still not totally satisfied.

The plot follows two people tied together by fate, love, and inter-dimensional happenstance. Tengo is an author and math teacher who finds himself embroiled in a shady plot to write an award-winning book. Aomame is a fitness instructor with a decidedly darker side job. Both find themselves in an altered version of 1984 called 1Q84 that deviates from the previous reality in specific ways. Those changes seem to revolve around a cult, a beautiful young girl, a book and mysterious “Little People.” Their battle to beat the odds and find each other, discover where they are, and who’s behind the changed world is an epic journey told through alternating perspectives.

1Q84 had all the things I love about Murakami: Super complex, interesting and engaging characters, crazy inter-dimensional sex, lots of mystery, and supernatural elements that bring it right on the cusp of reality, teetering between a fantasy realm and the real 1984. His ability to walk that line (like a cat walking a picket fence for those who love cats not only in Murakami novels, but also in reviews of Murakami novels) is astounding and he does it…for a really long time.

I suppose that’s my only real big complaint about 1Q84: It’s long. Like, really, really long. I get it; you are all about characters, we are getting into their lives, seeing how the world is conspiring against or for our two star-crossed lovers. Here and there we get some really fun stuff. But honestly, I kind of think he could have wrapped it all in a bow with two books.

There are times when I didn’t need to know Aomame worked out again, for the fifth time in a row. Oh, did Tengo talk to the nurses again? Good, great, noted. C’MON!!! The book starts and ends strong, with some really fun cliffhangers, but somewhere between books two and three it just kind of lags. Who is following whom, long seemingly random trips outside Tokyo and extended workout sessions just made me want to hit fast forward.

All these sideshows wouldn’t be so bad if they just made a little more sense, though. In 1,000 pages, you think he’d give in a little and explain what some of the supernatural stuff surrounding the world is. Yes, he goes into what the “Little People” are, but there are a lot of other things going on, a lot of stuff that seems to just “happen” in hindsight. Certain characters, who and why they are, it gets teased for hundreds of pages, all to end with a note from them saying, Hey, I did what I had to do; I’m leaving the plot now.” Granted, these things helped set the mysterious mood, but their lack of cohesion to the superstructure that is the “Little People” and the cultish threat behind them leaves you feeling like they’re those weird tourist traps you waste time at when trying to drive cross country. Is that dude a ghost or real? Who knows. Fifty miles to the world’s largest toenail? Fuck it, let’s go.

I may be nitpicking, but I can only tell Murakami how to be a world renowned writer to a point (I met a guy in JET twice who knows him, so I kinda figure I am two degrees of Murakami; we are totally friends by association, so it’s cool if I give him my feedback). For all its dragging along at some points and lack of mystical cohesion, it’s still very much what you love about Murakami: You feel swallowed up into this alternate 1984 universe. All its characters are perfect in their lack of perfection, the many “can this be connected to this maybe?” questions that come about when characters talk about such inane things like butterflies, figuring out who juuusst missed running into whom, or did they? It’s all these details that make it worth it, even 800 pages in and reading about someone stretching…again.

So if you’re a fan of Murakami and want to go the distance, by all means pick up a copy—now available in a handsome three volume paperback boxed set—and have a blast. It’s going to be a long trip, but it’s full of a lot of the wonderful Murakami-isms that you love/get frustrated with. However, if you’ve yet to be initiated into the cult of Murakami (or as Roland Kelts refers to them in his New Yorker article, “Harukists“), I’d suggest starting elsewhere before going down this more advanced path.

For more JQ magazine book reviews, click here.

“There was so much attention paid to the nuance, so much consideration given to the fans, that the show became a kind of homage to both the franchise’s legacy and to every avid gamer whose collective fealty raised Zelda into one of the highest echelons of video game lore.” (Preston Hatfield)

By Preston Hatfield (Yamanashi-ken, 2009-10) for JQ magazine. Preston moved from San Francisco to New York City in January 2012 and 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.

If life is one ongoing adventure and each day is its own side quest, then on several days ago the already labyrinthine halls beneath Madison Square Garden were not those of a theater but a dungeon, and the spirited host of attendees was nothing short of raiders in pursuit of plunder. Their coveted treasure on this magical evening was The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses from Jason Michael Paul Productions. Wielding the baton like her own personal Master Sword (or, as was the case at the onset of the Wind Waker movement, an actual replica of the Wind Waker), conductor Eimear Noone led the Orchestra of St. Luke’s into an epic musical campaign that toured across Hyrule and the 16 games in Zelda’s renowned platform, which is currently celebrating 25 years since its American debut on the original 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System.

The evening commenced with a rousing overture in the form of “The Legend of Zelda Medley” before embarking a four-part movement that began with the crowd favorite Ocarina of Time, and concluded with A Link to the Past, the game where many of the now iconic Zelda themes first premiered. Each movement in this symphonic journey—this tour de Triforce, if you will—began at the beginning of each game and proceeded to tell the familiar tales of heroism and mystic wonder, transitioning almost fairylike from one key moment to the next, as large screens over the orchestra showed in-game footage for context and intermittently focused on soloists and the choir.

The visuals repeatedly drew boisterous approval from an audience that was all too willing to voice their appreciation, which included tunic-wearing fans with swords and shields, some dressed in gala finery, and a few who were, appropriately enough, an interesting mash-up of the two. If ever there was a video game that welcomed, and indeed, demanded audience participation, Zelda presents a strong case.  Creative lead and show emcee Jeron Moore revealed in a recent YouTube interview that Zelda is one of those franchises where the main character, Link, has no voice, which lends more ownership of his heroics to the player who is, in essence, linked into the game world through the character he or she is directing. Not only that, the absence of spoken dialogue in the game makes the role of music in Zelda games all the more important.

It must be said that this concert transcends a mere performance of video game music, even music as highbrow and technically intricate as Zelda is. Each movement was arranged and fitted together in such a way that the music itself became a wordless narrative for a story, the flow of which was not unlike playing a Zelda game: now adventuresome and whimsical, now dark and dire, now uplifting and celebratory. The Zelda scores, which are an irreplaceable cornerstone and testament to composer Koji Kondo’s musical genius, evoke deep feelings of nostalgia and personal memories from anyone who has played the games. I, for one, remember staying at a friend’s house and gaming until dawn trying to finally beat A Link to the Past. Sitting in my seat, I was suddenly in third grade again and had just sunk that last arrow into Ganon’s big stupid head, and all was right with the world. Looking around at various points in the show, it was apparent that other people were reliving similar moments. Such is the profound effect that great music, great games, and great stories have on us, and their worth should never be undervalued.

Preston Hatfield

Although not all the greatest hits from every game could be included in this modest two-hour performance replete with not two but three encores, the audience’s thirst was slaked, and their expectations for the show seemed to be outright exceeded. This was a concert in which its quality was greater than the sum of its parts. Yes, the musicians performed masterfully, each handling their respective instruments with the same deft skill as Link using his boomerang and grappling hook, and yes, the game footage was engaging and synched with the music to elevate the audience’s enjoyment, but there was also so much attention paid to the nuance, so much consideration given to the fans, that the show became a kind of homage to both the franchise’s legacy and to every avid gamer whose collective fealty raised Zelda into one of the highest echelons of video game lore.

Symphony of the Goddesses has been touring across North America for the past year, and has succeeded brilliantly in fusing gaming culture with high art. The good news is you need not know the first thing about the games or symphonic music to enjoy yourself. The show is amazing in its own right, and your attendance at their upcoming performances is highly recommended. Come prepared to enjoy yourself and let Mr. Moore and Ms. Noone provide all the background information you might need. As someone whose father used to refer to my SNES as the “idiot machine,” it is very heartwarming and vindictively satisfying to see video games increasingly receive due credit for their artistic, educational, and innovative merits. Zelda, for all its puzzles, unique boss fights, and other challenges, is one of our perennial favorites.

For JQ editor Justin Tedaldi’s July 2012 interview with executive producer Jason Michael Paul on the tour, click here.

“Chock-full of illuminating illustrations and gorgeous printed ephemera that would make any contemporary typographer swoon, Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe is a jet-set adventure in pop culture scholarship sure to appeal to anyone interested in Japan’s history on the world stage.” (Stone Bridge Press)

By Jessica Sattell (Fukuoka-ken, 2007-08) for JQ magazine. Jessica is a freelance writer, and was previously the publicist for Japan-focused publishers Stone Bridge Press and Chin Music Press. She is interested in the forgotten histories of culture, and has often considered running away and joining the circus.

We’re still riding the “Cool Japan” wave that crested at the turn of the millennium, but our fascination with the country and its culture didn’t quite stem from just anime, Harajuku fashions, or J-pop. In Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe: How an American Acrobat Introduced Circus to Japan—and Japan to the West, award-winning author Frederik L. Schodt argues that contemporary interest in Japan’s popular culture has its roots in the travels and cross-cultural interactions of a band of 19th century Japanese circus performers and a colorful American impresario.

Published in November by Stone Bridge Press, Professor Risley explores a critical and exciting time in history, when an interest in foreign cultures was rapidly expanding beyond the privileged parlors of the upper class and Americans and Europeans were greatly fascinated by anything Japanese. Schodt offers an intriguing case study of both early Japanese conceptions of the West and the West’s first looks at modern Japan, but it is also a mystery of sorts: Why did a group of acrobats that were incredibly popular with international audiences in the 1860s fade from the annals of performing arts history? How was the life of “Professor” Richard Risley Carlisle, arguably one of the most extraordinarily talented and well-traveled performing artists in history, buried in the folds of time? Schodt suggests that we may never know the answers, but we can sit back and enjoy the show as their histories unfold.

This story begins, fittingly, with the question, “Where Is Risley?” Schodt artfully traces “Professor” Risley’s early travels and performance history like an elusive game of connect-the-dots, piecing together itineraries, publicity notices and press clippings until a clear pattern of a fascinating life emerges. Risley seemed to be everywhere and nowhere, and led a full life of jet-setting and adventure-seeking at a time where transcontinental travel was only beginning to open up to those outside of the diplomatic realm. We follow him on a decades-long journey across the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, China…and finally to Japan.

Risley arrived in Yokohama in early 1864 and immediately went to work setting up a fantastic Western-style circus to delight foreign residents and Japanese locals alike. As the country had re-opened to the world just five years earlier, it was a risky time to be in Japan, and non-Japanese residents lived with underlying worries of Shogunate-dictated expulsion and violence from disgruntled ronin. That didn’t quite stop Risley’s entrepreneurial spirit, but he did eventually run into a series of difficulties with his shows—and a stint in dairy farming, which, in the process, led him to introduce ice cream to Japan. He hadn’t originally intended to stay in Japan for long, but most likely due to the Civil War raging back home in America, he bided his time and explored his options. Thankfully, his stay there—paired with an almost desperate talent for improvisation—would lead to the world’s first taste of Japanese popular culture.

At Risley’s arrival, Japan already had a solid and intricate history of circus acts and exhibitions (misemono), and Japanese performers were all the rage with Yokohama’s foreign community. Eventually, he invited local artists to perform in his theater, and while it’s not exactly known what prompted Risley to take a Japanese troupe of performers on to travel in America and Europe, it’s obvious that the idea stemmed from seeing glowing audience reactions to renditions of the beautiful “butterfly trick” (using a fan to make little origami butterflies appear to flit and flutter), top spinning and juggling. After the necessary arrangements of investors and contracts (as well as securing passports, which had never before been issued to Japanese civilians), Risley left Japan in late 1866 with eighteen acrobats, magicians, top-spinners, musicians, costumers and administrators, also known as the “Imperial Japanese Troupe.”

In the latter half of the book, Schodt painstakingly retells the intricate details, scandalous trials and wild successes of the troupe’s world travels with a detective’s logic and the help of a wellspring of primary material: the diary of Hirohachi (Hamaikari Iwakichi), the group’s manager. We follow the artists across the metropolises of America and to the grand 1867 Paris Exposition, to the rural towns of England and eager audiences in Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal. We fall in love with the star of the show, “Little All Right” (Hamaikari Umekichi), a charming and fearless preadolescent boy who took to confidently shouting “all right!” and “you bet!” after nailing his death-defying acrobatic acts. And most of all, we are easily transported across time, space and place to worlds of Victorian intrigue and remarkable creativity.

The Imperial Japanese Troupe captured the hearts of thousands, spawned a wide array of imitators, and inspired artists, poets and musicians with their talent and professionalism (as a Wisconsin native, I would have loved to have heard the “All Right Polka”). Schodt’s study argues that the group and their performances in the U.S. and Europe have effects that ripple today; their travels triggered the West’s first wave of interest in Japanese popular culture, and for the first time, Japan was seeing the West. The echoes of a craze for all things Japanese would soon find new footing in the aesthetic movement of Japonisme, and Western technologies and philosophies streaming into Japan at the dawn of the Meiji era helped position the country as a major player in the modern world. The seeds of cross-cultural interaction spread by this small band of traveling performers are still flowering today.

The book is indeed a history of the Imperials, but at the core, it is a portrait of Risley as an extraordinary cultural game changer and a puzzling man. Perhaps Schodt’s greatest successes here are resurrecting both Risley’s larger-than-life persona and recreating the engaging world of 19th century international circus through limited primary source material scattered across the globe. His passion and fascination with his subject is clear from the very start, and the book’s inspiring preface and afterword add warm personal context to the project. Chock-full of illuminating illustrations and gorgeous printed ephemera that would make any contemporary typographer swoon, Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe is a jet-set adventure in pop culture scholarship sure to appeal to anyone interested in Japan’s history on the world stage.

For JQ editor Justin Tedaldi’s October 2012 interview with Frederik L. Schodt on Professor Risley and his 30-year writing career, click here.

“When you come back from Japan, people say, ‘You know Japanese, you’ve been abroad, you should be able to get a job anywhere.’ You soon realize that it doesn’t work that way. Alumni coming back should look at things you did in different light: what did you fundamentally do, and take away from that?”

By Adam Lobel (Nagano-ken, 2000-02) for JQ magazine. Last year, Adam returned to New York after 10 years in Japan, where he researched satoyama (traditional landscape of Japan) as a master’s student, and collaborated with Japanese policymakers in science and technology while working at a think tank. Adam currently helps manage his family’s business, a land use law firm in Manhattan, and looks forward to contributing to New York’s green building movement.

Born and raised in Marshalltown, Iowa, Matthew Gillam was hooked on Japan after visiting when he was 17. After college, he lived in Japan for eight years, and then returned to the U.S., where he completed a master’s at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Matt has spent the past 14 years as a researcher at the Japan Local Government Center (JLGC), discovering and sharing best practices from local governments in North America with his colleagues in New York and Japan.

By encouraging organizational discipline and providing tools to build strong networks, Matt has helped strengthen the JET Alumni Association, thus helping thousands of JET participants smoothly transition to life back home. He promotes JETAA’s role an important stakeholder in productive business and cultural relationships with Japanese localities, helping broaden the JET Program’s mission long after participants return home.

In this thought-provoking interview, JQ spoke with Gillam about what it was like to study Japanese at the University of Iowa in the 1980s, life in Japan before the existence of JET, and the kindness and hard work JET families displayed in the aftermath of 3/11. He emphasizes that JET—an experiment in grassroots internationalization—has changed how the world thinks about Japan. Matt gave this interview before heading to Japan, where he spent four days with It’s Not Just Mud (INJM), a non-profit volunteer organization based in Ishinomaki.

How did you become interested in Japan?

I was exposed to Japan when I was seven: my sister spent the summer of 1969 as an exchange student in Yamanashi. She fell in love with Japan, and told us about it after returning home. Eventually she went to live in Japan, teaching English at Sony Language Labs. In 1979, just before my senior year of high school, my mother and I went to visit. Before that trip, I never liked to travel. Suddenly, I was in a completely new place. I realized there was a bigger world, and it was interesting. That’s when I fell in love with Japan, its people, food, art and architecture.

After my sister returned to the U.S., she placed a Japanese student in a nearby town. I fell in love with that student, who eventually became my wife. In college I flunked out of forestry, my first major and, looking for something new, got into Japanese language. I did a year abroad at Kansai Gaidai in Osaka, and spent eight more years in Japan after graduating.

How did people react to your decision to study Japanese? What was Japanese study like at the University of Iowa in the 1980s?

Some people did not understand my decision to study Japanese, especially because it was a small Midwestern town. Their reaction was, “Why Japanese?” This was 1982: Japan was just beginning to emerge as a major economic rival, and Japanese culture hadn’t permeated the Midwest yet. It was a strange thing to do.

My sister understood, and my mom understood, but other family members and friends did not. In those days, some people’s reaction to Japan was still influenced by the Second World War: “These people were enemies; I am not comfortable with them.” That only got worse through the eighties with trade friction.

Study materials were primitive by today’s standards: Japanese textbooks by Prof. Eleanor Jorden, a kanji dictionary, and language lab with cassette tapes. Our professor, Thomas Rohlich (now at Smith College) started the same day I did. We had a Japanese teaching assistant from Tokyo, but most of the teachers were white men.

There were no Japanese restaurants or pop culture. Fisher Control, a company in my hometown, employed a Japanese engineer, who had relocated with his wife. At the beginning of my first year of college, there were 30 students, the biggest class they had ever had! That number slowly decreased, until there were only six or eight students by my third year. There were a couple of Japanese students on campus who became casual friends. Prof. Rohlich’s wife was from Kyoto, and she hosted a gyoza party. That was about it.

What were you doing in Japan?

Between 1984 to 1993 I lived mostly in Osaka, with a few months in Kyoto and Kitakyushu mixed in. I taught English and studied Japanese and martial arts (Hakkyokuken); my last two years I worked in an architectural design firm in Kyoto.

How did that lead to your work at JLGC in New York?

After I returned to the U.S., I lived in Chicago for a couple of years, where I got involved in the Council on Foreign Relations (currently the Chicago Council on Global Affairs). At a dinner talk in 1994, I heard Prof. Gerald Curtis from Columbia talk about Japanese politics—and I was smitten. I followed him back to New York, where I studied international security policy at SIPA. In the summer of 1996, between my two years of study, I worked at a local town office in Kagawa Prefecture for two and a half months—an internship run by JLGC. But my plan after graduating was to do intelligence work in D.C. While going through the CIA’s rigorous security clearance process, I read about a full-time position at JLGC through SIPA’s job postings; I sent a very brief cover letter and my resume, and got a call from the executive director a few weeks later with an offer. Right after signing the contract, I found out the CIA rejected me. I am happy I ended up here, because I really enjoy my work, get paid for learning, and contribute to U.S.-Japan relations.

When did you first hear about JET?

In 1987 I heard about JET while I was living in Japan. It was one of many things that seemed to be related to the trade friction going on. Information was limited in those days: it was pre-Internet, so we were lucky if we could get our hands on Time magazine or The Japan Times. At the time, I couldn’t read Japanese well enough to follow current events.

I really learned about JET after joining JLGC in 1998: a SIPA student, who had been a program coordinator in Tokyo, spent a couple of days a week at JLGC working part-time, and was taking care of JET alumni matters. Around 2000, when she was leaving, they gave me those responsibilities. I scrambled to figure out what was going on. Although I wasn’t a JET, I understood the problems encountered trying to transition back to life at home, figuring out what to do with my life, and how to sell my experience. But I had to learn what JET was about, what participants had been doing in Japan, and what alumni needs were.

What work do you do to support JETAA?

When I first took over, I worked hard to strengthen relationships, particularly among CLAIR, MOFA and alumni. Lines of communication were not always good. My predecessor did a good job, but there were things that needed improvement. Once I became familiar with important issues, like the lack of communication among different chapters, poor communication within chapters, and communication issues between chapter officers and our office, I began to ask, “How do you engage members and find activities alumni need and are interested in?” Or, “How do you track your members, build a database, and create lasting alumni association?”

I arranged for a speaker from Columbia’s Alumni Association to talk about these issues, and acted as an advisor for the alumni as they worked to create bylaws for chapters and the national groups. We also worked together to develop the role of JET country representatives as people who (1) facilitate communication to support individual chapters, and (2) take the lead in coordinating relations with the alumni for CLAIR and MOFA. I have also played a role as the institutional memory for JETAA, since it is an all-volunteer organization with high turnover. To foster a sense of continuity, we standardized the process in which current officers groom successors and lead a smooth transition when they step down, including handing over well-kept financial and membership records. Also, we’ve developed awareness that each chapter has a range of members, from new returnees who need career support and events where they can reminisce about Japan, to older alumni with families, who want family-friendly events and opportunities to do volunteer work.

What were some of your career highlights before JLGC? How did working in Japan prepare you for working in the U.S.? What career advice do you have for returning JETs?

Construction work during my gap year of college taught me practical thinking, common sense, and a good work ethic. I worked in restaurants all the way through college. I was an English teacher in Japan, and did architectural design. After coming back, I did sales for Rand McNally, then came out to New York and got this job. I have to say, having been an English teacher in Japan has been an incredible asset. When I was looking for a job it was hard to sell, and I know many people wrestle with this.

I was a poor public speaker, who was bad at interacting with people. My experience as a teacher taught me how to communicate. Understanding how to communicate effectively has helped me work in a Japanese office. Sometimes my colleagues struggle with communicating in English, the way I struggle in Japanese. Abilities I was able to develop as a teacher have been incredibly valuable in my current work.

When you come back from Japan, people say, “You know Japanese, you’ve been abroad, you should be able to get a job anywhere.” You soon realize that it doesn’t work that way. Alumni coming back should look at things you did in different light: what did you fundamentally do, and take away from that? For example, I wasn’t just an English teacher, I did lesson plans, I planned how to teach people, I learned how to communicate clearly, I learned about communication problems, I learned how to hold people’s attention, and present in an interesting way. My top piece of advice: join an alumni chapter, talk to the people, especially the officers, because they have gone through this. Go to jetwit.com, and join the LinkedIn forums. Think about how to package what you’ve done in a way that’s valuable to an employer.

Do you see JET as a vehicle for multiculturalism in Japan? Has JET created a bridge for foreigners to immigrate Japan?

At a talk almost 10 years ago at Middle Tennessee State University, my contention was that JET was a way to internationalize safely. Foreign people come in, impart knowledge and expertise, and go home. JET has been successful in opening up Japan to the world, and getting Japanese used to having foreigners around. This is easier than having to deal with immigration.

I feel JET has been more successful in introducing Japan to the world. You now have people in professional positions around the world that have spent time in Japan, speak the language, and know the people. They can explain Japan, and are sympathetic. Steven Horowitz, founder of JETwit, has elegantly said JET created an expat community for Japan consisting of people who are not Japanese. During the 3/11 disasters, there were 24 JET alums working in the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Ambassador Roos’s right-hand man, Matthew Fuller, is a JET alum. JET alumni were in key positions in Washington, Tokyo, and around the world to help deal with this crisis. This network has played an important role in other areas as well. Japan has been able to get itself out into the world through the JET alumni. It has given itself a buffer, so even when it’s not good at explaining itself, there are people who can do that job for them.

Many alumni have interesting careers and are visible, including artists, writers, playwrights, and performers. At JLGC, we see Mombusho English Fellows (MEFs) and JET alumni who are involved with government: Michael Green, Michael Auslin, etc. We don’t have as much interaction with alumni who are in the private sector, but I suppose in the business world there is a similar effect. I believe JET also created an opening for Japanese pop culture. I have talked with JET alumni who came back, and wanted to translate and sell manga, or expose people to J-pop. My feeling is that the alumni who brought back their love of Japanese culture and found a way of selling it here started many of these booms. The magnifier of Japan’s soft power is incredible.

I met someone a few weeks ago who manages a Japanese portfolio for a hedge fund; JET was a launch pad for him.

I am sure there are many people like that. You pick up the language and learn the culture; it’s a great way to get into Japan-related business. For people like me, we approached it cold. It was hard to know where to start: you jumped in, studied what you could in college, and after that tried to find a job teaching English somewhere—maybe spend a year or two—and came home and went into a regular career. It was hard to transfer that experience out. With JET, we try to make people understand that it’s not just English teaching: it’s a government sponsored, highly-selective, professional teaching position.

3/11 was a major disaster, with recovery efforts still underway. How have you and JLGC supported JET participants during this challenging time?

JLGC was involved from that morning; we became the point of contact between families in the U.S. and CLAIR Tokyo in Japan. Prefectures and local governments would communicate with CLAIR Tokyo, who would then relay information to us. Canada accounted for their missing JETs almost immediately. In the U.S., we had many missing JETs, some for days and weeks. We coordinated information, posted it on our website, and conveyed information to Japan.

My goal for weeks was working with these families. AJET in Japan jumped in: Matthew Cook (former chairman of AJET) was great; Michael Maher-King (Smile Kids Japan) leveraged his program to provide support for orphanages in the affected zone; Paul Yoo helped with The Fruit Tree Project.

Over the course of days and weeks, I developed a network in the U.S. with some of the families: Taylor Anderson’s family has been incredible. Some families of missing JETs, who were eventually found safe, developed networks to gather and trade information. Something struck me: I’ve always known that JETs are fantastic, but I learned that JET families are fantastic. When reports indicated a JET had been found, these families would call me to confirm: “He’s safe, but tell the other families to get a hold of us if they need anything.”

Cameron Peek, prefectural advisor in Miyagi, was a godsend. I had no information on the ground, but Cameron would answer my questions. He was on the ground looking for people, and gave me feedback. Steven Horowitz is always there for JETs. His intelligence gathering through JETwit was indispensable. The country reps here worked to put together the relief fund, and chapters jumped on relief efforts instantly.

We then transitioned out from finding the missing JETs and taking care of the families of Taylor Anderson and Monty Dickson (the two American JETs who died in the disaster) into fundraising and relief work. JETAANY jumped in and offered to run the fund as 501(c)(3) non-profit. Other chapters raised money. Jim Gannon, Executive Director at Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), who has experience with non-profits, helped put together the fund committee. I participated as an advisor: someone who could communicate with the Japanese government, find recipients for the money, help alumni get the information they needed, and frame the big picture based on my past experiences.

Any thoughts on the future of JET?

The future of JET is something we’ve been dealing with the last couple of years. JET came under attack [in 2010] after major political changes—and ensuing central government reforms—rocked Japan. An alumni movement to save JET emerged as a response: people stood up and said, “Think about this, this is a great program, you can’t just cut this.” They got Secretary of State Clinton to declare that the U.S. values JET.

The consensus is that the central government understands the value of JET. However, the primary reason for JET is bring internationalization to local communities and teach English—a dual role and dual burden. It has done well in the international arena; in the local arena, are English skills better than they were? I think they are, but are they as good as they could be? The program has shrunk due to the amalgamation of localities, and budgets being tightened. Some localities take the cheaper option of going with the private sector. JET costs more, so it is incumbent on us to show that it’s worth more: you’re not just getting an English teacher, but access to a network, to highly-selected professionals. The emphasis now is on continued support of local communities, e.g., getting alumni linked up with their former communities, and finding ways to make use of that connection through trade and tourism promotion. The emphasis is on how to get alumni more involved in supporting local governments.

Aside from sister city relations, we’ve been highlighting JET as a tool for local trade delegations that need people who (1) know Japanese, (2) possess a great pool of expertise, and (3) who can help on local level matters—directly benefiting Japanese prefectures, or state governments here. Success depends on communication, and knowing where JET alumni currently reside. We’re trying to improve communication channels, and the ability to track members, so we can get alumni more involved. For JET to survive, it has to show benefit to the people who paid for it.

To find out more about JLGC and the activities it supports, click here. Visit their homepage at www.jlgc.org.

Maynard Plant, second from left: “I really do think it is important to learn more than one language. Not only for the obvious convenience of communication, but for the enrichment of understanding of other cultures as well. Language really is the only gateway into understanding another person’s psyche and culture.” (Courtesy of Edward Entertainment Group)

By Preston Hatfield (Yamanashi-ken, 2009-10) for JQ magazine. Preston moved from San Francisco to New York City in January 2012 and 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.

Multinational pop rockers Monkey Majik are teaming up with shamisen heroes the Yoshida Brothers, the duo known for their traditional sound and pluck, for a three-date North American tour that kicks off Nov. 14 at Manhattan’s Marlin Room at Webster Hall, followed by the Mod Club in Toronto Nov. 18 and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa Nov. 20.

Monkey Majik was founded by Maynard Plant (Aomori-ken, 1997-2000), a native of Ottawa, Canada, while he was teaching English in Sendai on the JET Program. Known for a having a fun and versatile style of music, the band first earned mainstream attention in 2006 for their singles “Fly” and “Around the World,” and have since collaborated with other Japanese groups like SEAMO, m-flo, Bennie K, and the Yoshida Brothers.

In this exclusive JQ interview, the versatile vocalist and guitarist discusses the band’s origins, his own relationship with music, and his sense of home and community in Sendai, which is still recovering from the devastation caused by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami.

Which came first: the love of music or Japanese culture, and how has the one influenced and supported the other since you came to Japan?

I probably first took interest in Japan when I was about 10 years old or so when I visited Expo 86 in Vancouver, Canada. My interest in music also started at an early age. Most of my family is musical, so it always came natural. Certainly since arriving in Japan about 15 years ago, my musical interests have changed. The Japanese music scene is incredibly diverse and different from the Western scene. The sound is very unique and [it] has had a deep effect on our music.

It’s funny, many ALTs in Japan feel like rock stars, but you actually became a rock star. What was it like going from small time notoriety and fame at your school, to becoming famous on a national level for your musicianship?

It didn’t happen overnight, so I suppose I never took notice. It’s a lot like learning Japanese—you don’t just wake up fluent one day. Success is born out of hard work and commitment. Regardless of where you live, the same elements come into play.

How did the current band members come together? Were you friends before you started collaborating professionally? How have each of you influenced Monkey Majik’s sound, style, and group dynamic?

I put the current band together after most of the original members quit in 2000. I first called my younger brother Blaise, and within a couple of months we found Tax (Kikuchi Takuya). It was around 2005 that our original bassist Misao Urushizaka quit. We then recruited Dick (Hideki Mori). It’s difficult to say if the friendship came before membership, but one thing is certain now: we wouldn’t be doing this if we hadn’t become best friends. We have a lot of respect for each other and all [band] decisions are made together.

Monkey Majik’s success is such a great story. Not only are your songs catchy and fun, they also have a unique character and quirkiness. Does the band tend to be conservative on stage, or do you stay loose and interact with your audience and each other?

You’ll have to answer that one yourselves!

I love that the division between Japanese and English lyrics in your songs is about half and half. How much did listening to songs in Japanese help you learn the language, and is one of your goals as artists to inspire Japanese and English speakers to learn the other language?

I could already speak Japanese before I started the band, so singing in both languages was just a natural result of my circumstances. I don’t particularly think of music in terms of goals, but certainly music does inspire, and in our case the inspiration may have multicultural themes. On a personal level, I really do think it is important to learn more than one language. Not only for the obvious convenience of communication, but for the enrichment of understanding of other cultures as well. Language really is the only gateway into understanding another person’s psyche and culture.

When writing new material, how do you decide what will be sung in English and what will be sung in Japanese?

The melody usually comes first. The language is then decided based on “feel.” Some songs sound better in Japanese and vice versa.

Regarding this tour, Monkey Majik x Yoshida Brothers in North America, is this your first time performing in New York? What is the occasion for having the tour now?

We’ve wanted to play in New York for a while. Considering we’ve played in Canada several times you’d think we could have done it, but timing never worked out. It was about a year ago when we started talking about combining an Asian and North American tour with our Japan tour, and naturally, New York was a must. The Yoshida Brothers kindly agreed to join in on the fun in North America and we’re so grateful to them.

You do a lot to develop your relationship with your fans and your community in Sendai, perhaps most notably through the relief work you did in the wake of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Would you mind sharing a bit about how you helped with the SEND愛Project and what you took away from the experience?

SEND愛 is an ongoing project that we started in 2011 in the wake of the Tohoku earthquake. Immediately after the earthquake, we spent several months doing individual volunteer work in the devastated areas and felt that eventually, when most of the cleanup was finished, people may begin to forget. We felt we needed to start something that could continue for years to come. As musicians, we thought that a benefit concert would be a good place to start. In addition to concerts, we’ve also put together auctions and other events to promote awareness and to help those victims who are most in need.  Our next concert will be in Tokyo at NHK Hall on December 21st. With the help of our fans and the community at large, we’ve been able to not only raise awareness but also raise needed funds to support the immediate victims of Japan’s worst natural disaster in history.

Your most recent album, Somewhere Out There, is the first one you’ve released since 3/11. Did you approach this album with a different mindset? What were your personal goals for the album, and what has the response been from your fans and the Japanese people?

Our songs are always written from our daily life experiences. We felt that while everything had changed after 3/11, it would be important to approach Somewhere Out There in the same way that we have always approached songwriting. In this way, you could say that our mindset hasn’t changed. The album, however, was an extremely different and unique one in so many ways. 3/11 is embedded so deeply in us that I don’t think it is possible to write outside its realm of existence. I think the fans really appreciated, and most importantly, enjoyed the album.

Do you think your fans appreciate you more because you never relocated to Tokyo or Osaka to be more connected to the glitz and glam of other pop icons? Were you tempted to leave Sendai?

We’ve never been tempted to leave Sendai. It’s way too awesome up here! I think our fans think it’s cool that we do what we want. Just being here allows us to be ourselves and connect better with the community.

In Japan, everyone from locals and foreigners alike boasts that their region is the best. What are your favorite things about Sendai that you can’t get anywhere else?

Sendai is the ideal city in the ideal larger landscape of Tohoku. It’s where the salt of the earth unite. We’ve got four seasons, and a year-round harvest of various foods. The city population is a comfy one million. Onsens and ski resorts only a 20-minute drive away. The nightlife is bustling and there is a true sense of community. Could you ask for more?

What do you think you’d be doing now if you weren’t making music?

Studying or farming.

Visit Monkey Majik online at www.monkeymajik.com. For more information and to purchase tickets to the band’s Nov. 14 NYC show, click here.

JETAA USA delegates at the residence of Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco, Oct. 26, 2012.

By Pam Kavalam (Shiga-ken, 2007-09) for JQ magazine. Pam is Secretary of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) and a participant at this year’s National Conference.

Thursday, Oct. 25

Hosted by the JETAA Northern California (JETAANC) chapter, the conference kicked off with a “reception” at Off the Grid, a collection of gourmet food trucks inspired by Asian night markets and conceived and run by JET alum Matt Cohen (Saga-ken, 2001-04).

Friday, Oct. 26

The delegates from 18 of the 19 JETAA USA chapters received a welcome from JETAANC President John Dzida, Consul General of Japan in San Francisco Hiroshi Inomata, and Takaaki Ogata from CLAIR New York. Noriko Watanabe from the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C. gave a touching personal farewell from Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, who attended the past two JETAA National Conferences and will be leaving his post this year. Workshops topics included sister city-JETAA cooperation; databases and approaches for chapter membership management; and the utilization of Google apps and websites to publicize programs. There was also an update on the National 3/11 Relief Fund, which raised nearly $90,000 from all 19 chapters for Tohoku recovery efforts. The evening ended with a reception at the Consul General’s Residence and continued networking at Local Edition in the Financial District.

Saturday, Oct. 27

The Country Representatives discussed their visions for JETAA in the coming year and introduced the newly formed JETAA USA Advisory Board, which consists of four seasoned JET alums who will provide guidance to all national and regional leadership. It includes James Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) and Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) of JETAANY; Ryan Hart (Chiba-ken, 1998-99) of Pacific Northwest JETAA; and Jessyca Livingston (Hokkaido, 2003-06) of Rocky Mountain JETAA. Other workshops discussed organizing chapter finances; a JETAANC-run high school scholarship program; facilitating cultural exchange through continuing Japanese traditions such as kabuki; and a panel with members of the Northern California community, including JET alums Ken Wakamatsu (Hiroshima-ken, 1996-1998) at Salesforce and Ryan Kimura (Shizuoka-ken, 2004-06) of JCCC Northern California (and the owner of a purikura shop in San Francisco’s Japantown!). The panel discussed how JETAA chapters can form relationships and collaborate with community groups to engage members. The delegates finished the night with a CLAIR reception at Yoshi’s San Francisco and a cable car sightseeing tour.

Sunday, Oct. 28

The conference came to a close with discussions on Canada’s efforts on a national database project and inter-chapter collaboration. Delegates will continue to work together on subchapter growth, initiating and expanding sister city relationships, cross-chapter programming, and engaging JTEs brought to the U.S. through the Japan-U.S. Teaching Exchange (JUSTE) (a.k.a. the “Reverse JET” program) and other initiatives in the next year. The tentative 2013 National Conference host is the JETAA Minnestota chapter.

Comments

“I came back not only feeling energized about JETAA, but also the great ideas, suggestions and discussions I’m coming back with to share with the membership makes me so proud to be a part of this JET family. I met some very cool people, who will now be lifelong friends. I look forward to continuing to strengthen the bridge between the U.S. and Japan.” –Faye Valtadoros, Great Lakes JETAA President

“JETAA Northern California did a wonderful job hosting all of us. It was a terrific opportunity to start thinking about bigger picture issues for JETAA USA.” –Steven Horowitz, member of the JETAANY Board of Directors and founder of JETwit.com.

“The National Conference was a fantastic opportunity to meet JET alumni from all parts of the country, and the San Francisco crew did a great job hosting. It’s always great to share ideas, topics ranging from running events to utilizing technology for communication, and it was very inspiring to see what other chapters are doing to help our communities.” –Thomas Osugi, JETAA Chicago volunteer coordinator

“The conference was a great success. We had many opportunities to collaborate with delegates from all the chapters, and share success stories and challenges each of our chapters face. I look forward to working together throughout the year to elevate JETAA to the next level.” –Monica Yuki, JETAANY President