JQ Magazine: JETAA Sakura Sweethearts
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By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) for JQ magazine. A dusty old fixture of the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY) community, Rick manages projects at a software company by day and sends drafts late into the night as a writer for JQ.
Well, folks, it’s that time of year again. Maybe you have a special someone you’re going out with on Valentine’s Day. Perhaps you’re grabbing a bunch of friends and doing a “singles karaoke night” instead (Like some JETAANY folks are). Maybe you forgot and this is a great reminder to get some flowers and make a dinner reservation ASAP. Either way, you can only hope for the best.
But some people seem to luck out in love, and I have to say I’m happy when it’s people I like. And what kind of people do I often like? JETs. That’s right, folks, we are going to interview some Cupid-conquering JET couples and get to know how they met, where they came from, and maybe a little advice on how to spark a little JET romance of your own. So if you find yourself at that next JET alum enkai thinking “what if…?,” this might be for you.
Chau Wing Lam (Gunma-ken, 2005-07) and John Ciocco (Saga-ken, 2006-07)
At Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, Philadelphia, May 2014.
Did you meet on while on JET? Or after JET through an alumni meeting?
We met during a JETAANY alumni event—a boat cruise on August 20, 2008.
How long have you been together?
We’ve been together since 2008, married in 2014.
Was it your mutual love for Japan that brought you together, or something else?
Mutual love for Japan gave us something to start talking about, then the rest of our conversation filled in from there. We actually got married at the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden here in Philadelphia to commemorate what brought us together.
Have you guys ever had to do the “distance” thing? If so, what was that like?
Yes. When we first met, Chau was living in Hoboken and John was living in South Jersey. The commute was about two hours each way, so we only saw each other on weekends. We had some challenges at first being that far away and with the both of us trying to cultivate a new relationship, but we worked through it. Chau moved to Philly in the fall of 2009, shortening the commute to about half an hour—and now we’re married with a four-and-a-half-month-old baby!
Has being on JET made you a “stronger” couple? If so, how?
It’s a shared history that grounds us and helps us remember the many commonalities we have despite our inherent differences. We both learned to be self-deprecating to try and get our students interested in English, and that is definitely a quality that we love about each other and helps us through arguments that arise. Relationships aren’t easy, but we work at it every day—so yes, in some ways, knowing how far out of our comfort zone we’re able to stretch helps us.
What advice do you have for other budding JET couples?
Always remember to have fun with each other as you did in Japan—ALWAYS. And use your commonalities to help bridge the gap when the divide seems too wide!
JQ Magazine: New York Pledges Allegiance to George Takei at Japan Society
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George Takei (right), with moderator Kermit Roosevelt at Japan Society, New York, Jan. 2016. (Ann Chow)
By Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) for JQ magazine. Lyle has completed a master’s program at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and has been writing for the JET Alumni Association of New York since 2004. He is also the goalkeeper for FC Japan, a New York City-based soccer team.
On Jan. 25, George Takei participated in a talk at Japan Society in New York. Best known for playing the role of Sulu on the original Star Trek and its movie incarnations, Takei has embarked on a second career as a social rights activist. Takei’s childhood in a pair United States internment camps for people of Japanese descent during World War II provided the focus for the conversation (entitled From Barbed Wire to Broadway), which was moderated by Kermit Roosevelt, a constitutional law scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (and great-great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt). Takei is also concurrently appearing on Broadway in a musical inspired by his internment experiences called Allegiance (book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione; music and lyrics by Jay Kuo). The show, also starring Lea Salonga and Telly Leung, is playing at the Longacre Theatre through February 14.
There is no doubt that Takei’s childhood experiences formalized his worldview and search for justice. He spoke at length of his memories of being forced out of his Los Angeles home at the age of five and relocated to the Rohwer War Relocation Center for Internment in Arkansas, and later, the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in central California. Takei also put his personal experiences within a historical and political context: After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, anti-Japanese paranoia made all U.S. citizens of Japanese heritage suspect. Due process of law was completely suspended as Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes without charge or evidence. Once in the internment camps, the prisoners had to forswear loyalty to the Emperor of Japan and pledge allegiance to the United States.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Up from the Sea’
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“If you’re interested in new perspectives of March 11, Up from the Sea is an easy read that might open eyes to the perseverance and strength of Tohoku’s residents.” (Crown Books for Young Readers)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
The afternoon of March 11, 2011 brought unprecedented destruction along the Tohoku coast and challenges that many locals have struggled to overcome even up to this day. The survivors’ stories have been told many times since then. Now, young readers get another glimpse into that day and life in the disaster-stricken area.
Inspired by a young boy she met in the disaster zone, Leza Lowitz pieces together the events of that fateful Friday to create Up from the Sea, a fictional story (although based on the events of March 11 and its aftermath) about Kai, a teenager who uses soccer to rally his community. Up from the Sea also includes a trip Kai and others made to New York to commemorate the tenth anniversary of September 11.
Lowitz writes Up from the Sea as a verse novel instead of in prose, which makes the story a much quicker and easier read. It’s divided into three major chapters—each titled after a season of the year—that document the journey from the havoc caused by Mother Nature to an enormously successful soccer game organized in the disaster-stricken community. Kai is the narrator of the story and early on, you get the feel he is setting the stage for a documentary as he provides a brief introduction to his life and the morning of March 11— until 2:46 p.m., when Japan changes forever.
JQ Magazine: NHK World, Your 24-Hour Guide to Japan
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Pop singer and model Yun*chi and DJ Taku Takahashi of m-flo with Domo, NHK’s mascot, at Waku Waku +NYC in Brooklyn, Aug. 2015. The performers are frequent guests of NHK World’s J-MELO, Japan’s only music program recorded entirely in English. (Jason DeCrow/AP Images for NHK WORLD TV)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
You surely watched NHK while you were living in Japan. Whether you understood the content was another story, of course. But with the right cable provider, you might be able to enjoy Japan in a way that you were unable to during your JET days, thanks to NHK World.
NHK World serves as the organization’s international broadcast service and features English-language programming devoted to Japanese news, sports, cuisine and culture. Even if your cable provider doesn’t have NHK World, the network streams all of its programming around the clock on its official website, and you can also download their apps to your smartphone or tablet.
What might you see on NHK World? Here are five programs that could tickle your fancy:
Hosted by Ayako Kisa, Sports Japan has profiled not only sports traditionally associated with Japan, such as sumo and kendo—and those not-so-traditionally associated with Japan, like beach soccer and unicycling. Episodes of Sports Japan broadcast highlights from a certain competition in the featured sport while Kisa interviews a journalist or prominent figure in that sport, such as Alexander Bennett (the coach of New Zealand’s national kendo team and editor-in-chief of Kendo World) in a recent episode devoted to kendo. The program is a fascinating look into what sports are practiced in Japan and who could emerge as the country’s next elite athletes.
JQ Magazine: JQ&A with James Rogers on Smart Smart Language Apps
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“Some in government suggest that the path to citizenship includes learning English. What we intend to do is provide all of our apps to these learners, but entirely for free. It is a big dream of mine to give back to society in such a way.” (Courtesy of James Rogers)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
For many of us, our time teaching Japanese people the finer aspects of English was limited to…well, the JET Program. But that hasn’t been the case for James Rogers (Aichi-ken, 2003-06).
As the president of Kyoto JALT and the founder and editor of the Kyoto JALT Review, Rogers has utilized his comprehensive knowledge of English-language education to develop Smart Smart, a series of apps containing materials geared towards Japanese learners of English and vice versa (as well as other language learners). Among their features, the apps contain more than 100,000 words of content, a textbook using modern music to study English, and pronunciation exercises for native Chinese, Korean and Japanese speakers.
To learn more about how Smart Smart has thrived and what’s ahead, JQ caught up with Rogers, who also happens to be a Ph.D. candidate doing corpus linguistics research.
How did your experience as a JET inspire you to launch Smart Smart?
The JET Program certainly was my first foot in the door in regards to English education in Japan—without it, I do not think any of this would have been possible. So, in that regard, I view my experience on JET as an essential aspect to my current successes with Smart Smart and my career teaching English at the university level. I think the JET Program is a wonderful opportunity for foreign teachers and Japanese students.
What inspired you to create Smart Smart?
Well, we really are still just in the beginning stages of really taking advantage of technology in education, and I just looked at what is currently available and realized that I could totally improve upon it drastically. Also, since I am a real teacher/researcher and do not depend on this to make a living, I could provide it for nearly ten times cheaper than some technology that is currently available. For example, over 30 volunteer researchers and translators helped me to create the content for over five years. Just the apps existing and the papers we’ve all published together helps all of our careers, so that is the benefit for the team. In addition, some team members already have tenure and Ph.D.s and just wanted to be part of something that truly had the potential to improve upon English education. Since I didn’t need to pay anyone to create the resources, the price we can sell them at can be kept at the bare minimum. Originally, I intended to actually release everything for free, but then I had the opportunity to collaborate with Ernie Thomason, the creator of the best-selling Flashcards Deluxe, and realized that not only can I provide the best quality content, but also the most cutting edge technology as well for mere pocket change. Without Ernie, none of this could have been possible.
Your apps contain well over 150,000 words of content. How often is the content updated?
We update the apps themselves—in fact, just last week we added a great new feature to the quiz function in the app. But the content, other than finding typos, is fixed. For example, the app 英語マスター１万/English Master 10,000 itself has over 100,000 words of example sentences. Each sentence highlights how to use one of the chunks it teaches (all chunks and sentences have translations as well). My Ph.D. research looked at years’ worth of corpus data from the Corpus of Contemporary American English to identify these chunks. So, basically, these are the high-frequency chunks of English according to the corpus. That’s a fact that doesn’t change, and thus no updating of content is really necessary. You know, chunks like “along those lines,” or “to make a statement,” or “a big deal”…these chunks aren’t going anywhere.
JQ Magazine: Manga Review — ‘Shigeru Mizuki’s Hitler’
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“Hitler is successful at educating us about the danger posed by people who can ride the waves of pain, fear, and anger in others to bring them crashing down onto the world.” (Drawn and Quarterly)
By Julio Perez Jr. (Kyoto-shi, 2011-13) for JQ magazine. A bibliophile, writer, translator, and graduate from Columbia University, Julio currently keeps the lights on by working at JTB USA while writing freelance in New York. Follow his enthusiasm for Japan, literature, and comic books on his blog and Twitter @brittlejules.
Welcome to the most difficult book review I have ever written. Not only am I challenged to write something meaningful about a great artist’s work on a very complicated and rightfully vilified man, but I also bear a burden on my heart as I address the passing of said great artist, Shigeru Mizuki.
Last week, the world lost a much-loved cartoonist. Mizuki brought comics into the world that celebrated the strange and mysterious with unique humor and style. He brought joy to generations, young and old, with his ever popular series GeGeGe no Kitaro. He also challenged us to face and remember atrocities of war in his own country, and others, by bringing to life the war he survived through his historical manga Showa: A History of Japan, an epic work available now in English in four volumes, and a manga examination of the life of Adolf Hitler, released in English just two weeks before his passing.
We have been able to enjoy more of Mizuki’s work in the West thanks to the publishing company Drawn and Quarterly and the herculean efforts of JET Alum (and JQ interviewee) Zack Davisson (Nara-ken, 2001-04; Osaka-shi, 2004-06), who translated all four parts of Showa as well as Hitler. Davisson, a great fan of Mizuki, maintains a blog on Japanese tales, monsters, and yokai, where you can find his own work and more about the legendary cartoonist.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘The Inland Sea’
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“Richie’s acerbic humor and wit are coupled with lush scenery and descriptions, offering an intoxicating and wry getaway.” (Stone Bridge Press)
By Alexis Agliano Sanborn (Shimane-ken, 2009-11) for JQ magazine. Alexis is a graduate of Harvard University’s Regional Studies-East Asia (RSEA) program, and currently works as a program coordinator at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute of NYU School of Law.
The Inland Sea by the late Donald Richie is a legendary book in the Japan field. For many, it’s their first foray into the culture. Following Richie as he sets sail across the Seto Naikai, the body of water which spans between the islands of Shikoku, Honshu and Kyushu, The Inland Sea chronicles Richie’s quest for authenticity and escape. There, among the hamlets and fishing villages which dot the coastline, he paints for the readers a sun-drenched and hazy seascape; encapsulating his journeys into a memoir, history, and travel book all at once.
Originally written in the early sixties, published in 1971 and subsequently reprinted over the years, the newest edition by Stone Bridge Press deserves a place of honor on your bookshelf—and in your mind. Richie’s acerbic humor and wit are coupled with lush scenery and descriptions, offering an intoxicating and wry getaway. The book is a solid combination of sardonic and sublime. Written as a series of essays, it’s easy to thumb through the pages, find a spot at random, and pick up at a new leg of the journey with Richie—just as he catches a boat with the tide.
This edition also features photographs by Yoichi Midorikawa, the Japanese photographer renowned for his black and white photographs which highlight the scenic, if not austere, beauty of Japan. These images complement the narrative, helping to conjure up a sense of lonely nostalgia. Despite the wonder of the world Richie paints for us, it is one where undercurrents follow mercurial moods as the author mulls on life, Japanese society, and the ever-worshiped god of “progress.” The first sentence to the book sets the tone: “Kobe, from where I have just come, is indication enough of Japan’s sad future.”
JQ Magazine: Manga Review — ‘Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan’
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“Shigeru Mizuki has led a full life of hardship and wonder. At the time of this book’s publication, he is 93 and still bringing laughter to many through his enormous body of award-winning work, which is thankfully becoming more available in English.” (Drawn and Quarterly)
By Julio Perez Jr. (Kyoto-shi, 2011-13) for JQ magazine. A bibliophile, writer, translator, and graduate from Columbia University, Julio currently keeps the lights on by working at JTB USA while writing freelance in New York. Follow his enthusiasm for Japan, literature, and comic books on his blog and Twitter @brittlejules.
Showa 1953-1989: A History of Japan is the fourth and final volume of the English translation of Shigeru Mizuki’s manga history of the Showa period. Translated for the first time into English by JET alum (and JQ interviewee) Zack Davisson (Nara-ken, 2001-04; Osaka-shi, 2004-06), the release of this book marks the end of a long journey for us readers. Mizuki took great pains to detail significant events of the Showa period and Japan’s role in World War II in order to preserve a comprehensive look at the time from the perspective of someone who had lived it. He intended this manga history to be a gift for all the generations born in a time of peace. As a reader born in the first year of the Heisei period, I was not even alive for any single event I read about, but nevertheless was moved by the power of Mizuki’s personal and historical storytelling and art to think about world history in new ways. The best part of reading something by Mizuki is you’re in for plenty of laughs along the way as well.
As a refresher for those of you who have been with us from the start, and an intro for those just tuning in, the first volume of this illustrated history of the Showa period in Japan covered the years 1926-1939 and highlighted a modernizing Japan and Mizuki as a child fascinated by spirits called yokai, and almost as importantly, a child obsessed with food. The book chronicled a number of incidents in Japan and Asia that took Japan down the road to World War II that come to a head in the second book which featured the years 1939-1944. This volume devotes itself to capturing the massive scale and harrowing death tolls of air-, sea-, and land-based conflicts in the war, and as time passes Mizuki’s own autobiographical narrative weaves in as he serves in the army. The third volume covers 1944-1953 and sees the darkest parts of Japanese history in World War II, and Mizuki’s own experiences are spotlighted, but it is not without the hope and admiration for humanity inspired from Mizuki’s encounter with the natives of Rabaul. This book also covers the Allied occupation of Japan and the beginning of what historians call “Postwar Japan” in which Mizuki starts down the path that will lead him to manga success and Japan becomes a booming economic power.
Interestingly, the last volume covers 1953-1989, which is 36 years of history and among the other volumes is the one that tackles the longest period of time. It’s also the most varied in its content. The same historical approach to events from a variety of perspectives narrated by either Nezumi Otoko or Mizuki himself persists through this volume, but as TV, movies, and popular culture take on an increasingly larger significance in society, so do strange events take on a more significant coloring in history. Mizuki devotes many pages to portraying abnormal events both comical and criminal that preoccupy the public mind by way of showing how times have changed since before the war. For this reason, the fourth volume at times can sometimes feel like a series of short historical episodes told in manga form, but of course presented in a chronological and unified way.
“Here Comes the Sun conveys how with persistence, perseverance and patience, seemingly impossible hurdles in Japan can be overcome.” (Stone Bridge Press)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
“Sometimes, you have to travel a very great distance to find a home within yourself.”
That saying could certainly describe the journey of Leza Lowitz, a Californian who has worked extensively in Japan. She chronicles her path through several eventful periods—such as adolescence during the tumultuous early 1970s, her romance with a Japanese man named Shogo (whom she eventually weds), and her attempts to adopt in Japan in Here Comes the Sun: A Journey to Adoption in 8 Chakras, an autobiographical story that captures the ups and downs of Lowitz’s efforts to carve a niche in Japanese society.
As indicated by the subtitle of the book, Lowitz utilizes the influence of another culture to best integrate herself into Japanese society. But first, you might be asking… what’s a chakra? Derived from the Sanskrit root car (“to move”), a chakra represents a major wheel of energy in the human body, and each chakra contains a particular function. Chakras regulate, distribute and balance the energy and nerve functions of their locations.
Lowitz calls the chapters in Here Comes the Sun “chakras” and each one contains a certain theme. For example, the first chapter in the book is titled Muladhara, derived from the Sanskrit word for “root” or “support.” Some chapters in Here Comes the Sun deal directly with the yoga practices that balance a chakra—Lowitz tells us when the aforementioned primary chakra is balanced, you’ll feel stable and secure while being in a better position to succeed.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Kendo: Culture of the Sword’
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“Truly grasping Kendo might feel like learning Japanese—it’s a never-ending journey that feels overwhelming. But with persistence, the content will become easier to understand and quite enjoyable.” (University of California Press)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
At pep rallies for my school’s sports clubs during my time on JET, I occasionally saw students decked in armor and masks while gripping swords. They were obviously members of the kendo club, but I had no idea what they actually did (other than participate in a martial art I knew nothing about). I was excited to start reading Kendo: Culture of the Sword so I could be properly introduced to the sport.
Written by Alexander C. Bennett, a New Zealander who has served as a professor at Kansai University and the coach of his country’s national kendo team, the book illustrates how kendo has evolved throughout the years from, among other things, a form of military training to a sport in which world championships are conducted every three years. More importantly, Kendo would teach me what happens in the sport.
Indeed, my initial expectations for the book were satisfied early when Bennett explained the “complex” rules and methods of kendo (even before mentioning the rules, he does us a gigantic favor by presenting the various names for Japanese swordmanship throughout the years—kenjutsu was actually the term long used to refer to the martial art). He also shines when he includes images of the sport’s equipment as well as a table detailing how you score a point. Bennett also provides fascinating information about the state of women in kendo: although there are references to women doing kendo that date back to early modern Japan, women only largely started practicing the sport after World War II (girls were traditionally taught naginata or kyūdō instead of kendo). In addition, even though women compete nationally and internationally in championship competitions, very few women hold positions of power in kendo education at a regional or national level.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Yurei: The Japanese Ghost’
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“If you like reading about mythology and supernatural horror around the world, or if you enjoy Japan’s unique brand of horror from such films as The Ring and The Grudge, then Yurei: The Japanese Ghost is a must-read.” (Chin Music Press)
By Julio Perez Jr. (Kyoto-shi, 2011-13) for JQ magazine. A bibliophile, writer, translator, and graduate from Columbia University, Julio is currently working at JTB’s New Jersey office while seeking opportunities with publications in New York. Follow his enthusiasm for Japan, literature, and board gaming on his blog and Twitter @brittlejules.
Do not read this review.
If you are foolish enough to read this review to the end…after seven days, you will be followed by a lingering spirit which will slowly, but unrelentingly, press more and more of its weight upon your shoulders. The weight will build to an unbearable breaking point, leaving you weak and overwhelmed by the scent of rotting flesh, driving your mind to unknowable depths of madness and despair. You can avoid this terrible fate by sharing this book review via the social media outlet of your choice or by purchasing Yurei: the Japanese Ghost, a new and excellent nonfiction effort by JET alum Zack Davisson (Nara-ken, 2001-04; Osaka-shi, 2004-06).
No doubt you’ve seen or heard of such films as The Ring and The Grudge, which have served as ambassadors of Japan’s very rich ghost culture (not to mention Halloween staples), but it is likely that there are aspects of these Japanese movies that you may have not been able to appreciate on some level. This book’s purpose is to fill in those gaps and fascinate you with an expertly catalogued evolution of ghost stories in Japan, and how pervasive they remain in pop culture to this day.
What exactly is a yūrei and why is it different from a Western ghost? What’s with the white face and long black hair? Why water? What drives the yūrei to do what it does? These questions and more are answered in this book. In the author’s words, “The goal of this book: to provide this understanding, to allow a clearer insight not only into the popular products of Japan but also the history and culture from which they sprang.” Yurei: The Japanese Ghost is a guided tour of the yūrei, from their appearance, to the rules they obey, to the traditions behind these characteristics. Davisson achieves this goal through the use of highly enjoyable primary choices and sharing the fruits of much academic research.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Mashi’
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“JETs reading Mashi will relate to the story because just as many of us had support systems of friendly faces outside of the workplace, Murakami was fortunate that members of the Japanese American community in both Fresno and San Francisco provided a helping hand when he needed it.” (University of Nebraska Press)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
During your JET experience, you probably heard about Japanese baseball icons such as Ichiro, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Matsui and Yu Darvish excelling in Major League Baseball. However, well before all of them were instilling pride in their countrymen through their feats on American diamonds, one southpaw from rural Yamanashi Prefecture was setting the big leagues on fire.
Baseball historian Robert K. Fitts introduces fans of the sport to Masanori Murakami in Mashi: The Unfulfilled Baseball Dreams of Masanori Murakami, the First Japanese Major Leaguer. The biography documents how Murakami went from a run-of-the mill relief pitcher for the Nankai Hawks to a major contributor to the San Francisco Giants in the mid-1960s that nearly punched a ticket to the World Series—all while being the subject of a fierce tug-of-war between the two organizations.
Piercing together information he obtained from interviews with Murakami, the pitcher’s close friends and experts on Japanese baseball, Kitts explores Murakami’s improbable journey to baseball stardom. Murakami was actually uninterested in baseball as a child and when he did develop a deep love for the sport, his father Kiyoshi objected to his son’s new passion. But Kiyoshi relented when he realized his son could earn a scholarship to an elite Tokyo-area high school.
Despite being a high school starter, a pro career was really not on the cards for Murakami, as his main focus was on attending college (and possibly pitching at that level). However, his success at Hosei II High School made him an attractive pro prospect and representatives from several NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) teams offered him contracts. One of those teams was the Nankai Hawks, and they offered him something more than solely the opportunity to make a lot of money: the possibility of going to the United States to improve his craft, an idea that intrigued him.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Marathon Japan’
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“The running boom in Japan shows no signs of slowing. Marathon Japan explains why as it marvelously highlights a growing and evolving sport.” (University of Hawai’i Press)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad graduated from Leeds Beckett University with a Master’s degree in Responsible Tourism Management (for more on his life in the U.K., visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com). While in Japan, Rashaad completed the 2010 Tokyo Marathon, ran two half marathons in Yamagata Prefecture, was a part of an ekiden club, and finished fourth in the 2009 Ishidan Marathon (a race up the steps of Mount Haguro).
Hopefully, your JET experience included you busting out your running shoes and joining your prefecture (or village) in a road race. It did for me on several occasions. But if you never got around to working up a sweat over 10 kilometers (or maybe even 21), you might remember your school being enthralled by its annual ekiden, or frequently seeing races televised on Sunday mornings.
So why have such events become an integral part of Japanese sporting culture? Thomas R.H. Havens examines why in Marathon Japan, the first comprehensive English-language book about the history of marathons and ekiden in the country.
Long before Kenya emerged as the world’s elite marathon nation, Japan could make a serious claim to producing the world’s best at 42.195 km. Marathon Japan illustrates the periods when Japanese marathoners dished out most of the world’s fastest times—such as the 1930s (In 1934, nine of the world’s ten fastest times were run by Japanese), the 1960s (1965 alone saw the Japanese record fifteen of the world’s top twenty marathon times), and the 1980s (during which Toshihiko Seko won ten of the fifteen marathons he completed in). And to top it off on the women’s side, in 2004, three Japanese finished among the world’s top eight marathoners.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Monkey Business Volume 5’
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“Monkey Business is a magnetic force that attracts writers who can create magical kingdoms in a single page.” (A Public Space)
By Brett Rawson (Akita-ken, 2007-09) for JQ magazine. Brett is a writer, translator, and Ramen Runner. He has an MFA in Creative Writing Non-Fiction from The New School, and his writing has appeared in Narratively and Nowhere magazine. He is also co-founder of the quarterly publication The Seventh Wave and founder of Handwritten, a place in space for pen and paper.
After reading Monkey Business Volume 5, the image of a blender might pop into your mind. Perhaps this is because it is almost summer and you have recently begun making smoothies in the early morning. Or perhaps this is because you came across the description Monkey Business as genre-defying, which made you think of cross-genre, blending boundaries, and thereafter, the physical image of the object itself: the blender.
But most likely, this is because you read the opening vignette to Monkey Business, “Photographs Are Images,” by rising Japanese writer Aoko Matsuda, which ends as such:
Everything you’ve read up to this point has been images. […] These strings of letters are images. These chains of words are images. Stories are images. The story you’re reading this very minute is an image.
Carefully selected as the opener to Volume 5, this year’s Monkey Business is all about ways of seeing, and perceiving, images and the imagination, and objects and subjects.
JQ Magazine: JQ&A with Merry White on ‘Kissaten: Japanese Cafes Past and Present’
Article/Journalism, Events, Food & Drink, JQ Magazine Comments Off on JQ Magazine: JQ&A with Merry White on ‘Kissaten: Japanese Cafes Past and Present’
“Japanese coffee standards are the highest—when there is a new varietal on the market, it is often sent to Japan for testing. If a bean can make it in Japan, it can make it anywhere. The quality tasters are very keen, and there are fewer defective beans permitted than anywhere in the world.” (Courtesy of Merry White)
Brewing Up Something at Japan Society
By Alexis Agliano Sanborn (Shimane-ken, 2009-11) for JQ magazine. Alexis is a graduate of Harvard University’s Regional Studies-East Asia (RSEA) program, and currently works as an executive associate at Asia Society in New York City.
When it comes to notable food and drink of Japan, for many “coffee” is not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, on May 21, Merry (Corky) White, Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, will teach audiences at Japan Society in New York City just how robust their coffee culture is, and how exacting their measurements are. Get ready for something good at Kissaten: Japanese Cafes, Past and Present.
White’s no newbie to food and Japan—it’s been much of the foundation of her professional work. If you look her up on Amazon, you’ll see that she’s been publishing food-related books since the mid-1970s, and regularly offers contributions to publications the world over. Definitely a foodie—and someone who knows her stuff. When not researching coffee and cafes, she’s active teaching about Japanese society, women in Asia, food and culture, and the anthropology of travel and tourism. Check her out on Twitter, where she regularly posts food- and culture-related content.
To whet your appetite for this program, JQ recently caught up with White to learn more about the coffee world in Japan, and what we can expect to hear from this rich presentation.
At your lecture at Japan Society, what do you hope to teach the audience about Japanese coffee culture?
I hope to surprise at least a few people, who may not yet know that Japanese coffee is a well-rooted, well-developed cultural product with a deep history. The coffee experience is also about cafes, koohii hausu, and kissaten, places with a special meaning that have developed over time in Japan. These places have offered people various distinctive experiences, depending on the era. The first ones, in the Meiji period (1868-1912), gave people a window on Europe, decor, clothing, foods—which continued into the Taisho period (1912-1926) when the flappers and lounge lizards demonstrated a new modernity, and the urban cultures were changing to, for example, give women a place in public, too. It was fine for a young woman of good family in the daytime, anyway, to go to a cafe, though probably she might have a chaperone…
Can you describe an iconic Japanese-style kissaten?
Courtesy of Merry White
Kissaten are now places of memory, as well as ordinary community life. Brown kissa are the “sepia-toned” places where especially middle-aged people (I would say over 60s) like to go for a nice place to sit and get good service and maybe see friends. Young people like them, too, as they often share a love of the past (one they wouldn’t have had themselves) as a retro experience. Kissaten, though, also have more contemporary styles.
