JET alum Richard Fontaine featured in NY Times article on foreign policy of Republican candidates
JETs in the News, LifeAfterJET, Notable JET Alums, Return on JET-vestment 
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JET alum Richard Fontaine (1997-98), President at the Center for New American Security, outside advisor to Jeb Bush, and former security advisor to Sen. John McCain
A great article on the foreign policy advisors to several Republican candidates, including JET alum Richard Fontaine–outsider foreign policy advisor to Jeb Bush and former security advisor to Sen. John McCain–who is featured and quoted extensively in the article.
“Between Iraq and a Hawk Base”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/magazine/between-iraq-and-a-hawk-base.html?_r=0
Photography Package Tours to Tohoku, Japan
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Posted by Eden Law, 2010-2011 ALT Fukushima-ken, President of JETAANSW.
As part of the drive to promote tourism to Japan (not to mention combining a long-held passion and dream), ex-JET Julius Pang introduced a Tohoku photography tour to showcase the beauty of Japan in autumn, in an area that sadly has become known for other things in recent years. Americans are especially well-suited to taking advantage of this tour package, considering how strong the US dollar is against the Australian (yes, Julius’s Australia-based company, Incredible Photo Tours, welcomes overseas clients), travel will be especially cheap, with accommodation, transport and food taken care of.
Starting from Tokyo, the tour goes to various places throughout Tohoku such as Zao Onsen, Sendai, Hiraizumi, Akita, Bandai, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Nikko, Naruko Gorge, Shirakami Sanchi, Hirosaki, Nyuto Onsen and Lake Towada. With the advantage of the inside knowledge of an ex-JET, and the expertise of a tour guide who has won awards for his photography, it’s a great tour package to consider for your next trip to Japan. Julius also has other tours, such as the Japan Classic Autumn tour, that does the classic route of Tokyo, Hakone, Himeji, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Okayama, Takamatsu, Mt Koya and Osaka.
For more information, check out the Tohoku Autumn Tour, or the Classic Autumn Tour at Incredible Photo Tours.
Life After JET: Going Your Own Way
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Striking out on your own, especially in pursuing a long-held dream, is always going to be a terrifying and highly stressful experience. Julius Pang (Fukuoka-ken, 2004-2007, ALT) made that journey this year when he launched his own company (Incredible Photo Tours), a travel company focused on (the taking of, and teaching of) photography. He is a multi-award winning photographer and world traveller, either shooting in exotic locales or being backstage at a conference made up of international heads of state. Obviously he’s been somewhat busy after JET, so I (Eden Law, Fukushima-ken, 2010-2011 ALT) had a chat with Julius about how he got to where he is.
Congratulations on your new company – how did the idea for this come about?
Thanks Eden! The idea for my company has come about because I wanted to combine 3 things I’ve really enjoyed doing in my work life: photography, travel, and teaching photography. I’ve been aware of photo tours being run by various photographers and companies for several years and even considered doing one myself several years ago. I think in the back of my head I always wanted to lead photo tours every time I visited a new country or region over the past 12 years.
In Nov 2013 I visited India and I encountered at least 2 photo workshops being run at the Pushkar Camel Fair, and I asked myself why wasn’t I doing that? From there, I decided I wanted to make my idea work. I had the photography skills and travel experience, I just needed the business skills to put everything together.
From Mar-Jun 2014, I undertook a major scouting trip to Japan and also visited Vietnam. During this trip I revisited many places in Japan I had been to and new ones in order to devise tour itineraries. I went to Vietnam to complete my coverage of the major SE Asian countries and also do some location scouting. Interestingly enough, when I was in Japan I encountered a Chinese photo tour group at Kawaguchiko!
When I returned to Perth in June 2014 after my scouting trip, I began planning my photo tour company. I’m so pleased it’s now up and running!
Starting up a new company must have been a complicated process – what sort of hurdles did you encounter?
The main hurdle would have been my getting over my own self-doubt and ignoring the opinion of various naysayers. It’s difficult enough making a living from photography particularly if you don’t do wedding photography (as in my case), let alone moving into a specialised area like travel photography and also moving into the tourism industry at the same time. When you then have people who chime in with their opinion about how your idea isn’t going to work or questioning if the business is realistic, this really chips away at your confidence. I’ve learnt it’s so much better to listen to very successful business people and entrepreneurs who can look at your idea objectively and provide critical feedback based on their own experiences. These kind of people also have a great energy you can feed off and be inspired by.
I was fortunate enough to come across a government programme called the New Enterprise Initiative Scheme (NEIS) which provides business training and financial support for people build new businesses. The NEIS provider I am with have been instrumental in helping me learn new business skills, implementing a solid business plan, addressing OHS and legal issues, mentoring, and most of all, develop my self-belief and confidence as they’ve helped many small businesses get off the ground and sustain themselves. They encouraged my idea but tempered it with a good dose of the realities of doing business.
I strongly believed in my idea and the feasibility of it but I felt that I needed to establish myself as a travel photographer first; I wanted to know where my work stood at a professional level. I began entering various prominent photography competitions from 2013 but it’s only been the past year when I won several awards that I knew I had the photography credentials. The problem was then learning new business skills – being on the NEIS programme has enabled me to learn those key business skills and bring my idea to life with Incredible Photo Tours.
So the process has been very involved but extremely rewarding at the same time.
How did you JET experience help or influence you when you went about setting up your company?
I decided to visit Japan in 2003 from late January to late February to take a long-desired first solo travel experience as an adult (this was my substitute for a gap year break), and also to visit two friends who were on the JET Programme and in rural placements.
I wanted to see typical touristy Japan as well as the unseen Japan out in the sticks. I also chose to visit during winter as I wanted to see snow for the first time (I ended up being obsessed with it – visiting the Sapporo Snow Festival and learning snowboarding from a random group of friendly Japanese uni students!), and because the timing worked with my uni summer break.
When I got back from that trip, I had to complete my final year of Design studies, but I applied for the JET Programme straight away when the applications came out that year. Then it was a long wait until I found out I got into the interview round and thankfully enough I did well and got onto the JET Programme.
I promote Japan as my company’s main international photo tour destination so while I hadn’t thought of the idea for my photo tour company until after I left the JET Programme, my JET experience is now proving really important to distinguish myself from other companies. For example, the JET Programme has provided me with extensive local knowledge, cultural understanding, Japanese language skills, local friends and contacts.
In addition, my involvement with JETAA ever since returning from Japan has continued to strengthen my expertise and connection with Japan. The JETAA community is amazing and I’m really lucky to be able to have met and become friends with so many great people through JETAAWA and the other Oceania chapters.
So you were finishing up on university before JET, much like a lot of people. Was it difficult to get back into the workforce after JET?
In my case it wasn’t too bad. It took me 4 months to get back into full-time work once I got back. I looked on Seek and applied to several companies for a job as a web designer. The only company that asked me to come in for an interview was the Royal Automobile Club of WA (RAC WA).
During the interview I was asked about my work experience. I was honest in saying I didn’t have much of a portfolio of web and graphic design work given I had just spent three years teaching. The main portfolio piece I had was the Fukuoka JET website. While I was on JET I volunteered my time to work with the Fukuoka JET chapter committee and was their webmaster. I redesigned the Fukuoka JET website and stayed in the role for 2 years until I left JET. I was able to discuss this bit of work, my website management experience, and experience in using a Content Management System (CMS) in my job interview.
So the job interview went reasonably smoothly but I was still surprised when they called me back to formally offer me the job. When that happened I was really thankful that I had gotten myself more involved in work and activities outside of teaching while on JET. That one website for Fukuoka JET was critical in me getting that first job after JET. I also think that the soft skills I gained working as a teacher really helped in terms of my presentation and expression of ideas, not only in the interview, but with my job too.
I subsequently stayed in that job for 3 years, becoming a Senior Web Designer, then embarked on a change of career to become a professional photographer. I still did some further work with RAC on a contract basis and feel very fortunate to have worked with them.
Hope for everyone! Any other advice?
What can be drawn from my experience is that it’s important for JETs to keep busy outside of their teaching work life and consider the bigger picture of life after JET while they are still on JET. You have plenty of time while on JET to develop your other skills or knowledge outside of teaching, and this is really important to compensate for the lack of real world work experience (unless you are becoming a teacher) once you get back home. Being on the JET Programme helps you to develop key soft skills which any employer values, while the ability to understand and work within a Japanese working environment means you can handle office politics in a Western environment.
In short, the more you put in, the more you get out of the JET Programme.
Julius Pang is all over the internet. You can check out his company Incredible Photo Tours. Anyone can sign up for a spot with Incredible Photo tours even if they don’t live in Australia, which not only runs international trips but also locally in Western Australia.
Life After JET: Setting Up Shop in Japan
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Benjamin Stock (Hyogo-ken 2005-2007) is International Development Manager at Access Corporation, a Hyogo-based study abroad agency. He and his wife, Rebecca Stock (Hyogo-ken 2011-2013), run Fresh Stock, a Japanese stationery web shop, from their home in Kobe.
After living in Japan for over six years, I’m excited to announce a long-time desire of mine has finally become a reality: my wife and I recently launched a web shop. Our business is called Fresh Stock, and we opened with a small selection of modern, made-in-Japan stationery products. Stationery is our starting point, but we are planning to eventually carry all sorts of modern, made-in-Japan items. Please read on to learn about the behind the scenes process of launching a side business in Japan.
The first thing we had to do was make sure our business would be legal. I learned that my ‘Specialist In Humanities/International Services’ visa does not technically allow one to run a side business without receiving the very long-winded ‘Permission to Engage in Activity other than that Permitted under the Status of Residence Previously Granted.’ My wife has a dependent visa and had already received this permission, so we decided the business would be hers on paper. As a dependent, she can receive a fixed amount of monthly income without needing to pay income taxes, so her income from the shop should be tax free until things really take off. Selling products to overseas customers also negates the need to charge consumption tax. If the business does start generating significant income, the next step would be to consider registering it as a sole proprietorship (個人事業) at our local tax office. We sought many opinions, including contacting JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, and the consensus was to just try things out for a while before going through the trouble of registering. he main benefit is being able to write off business expenses, which will not benefit us until the shop’s sales exceeds my wife’s income tax exemption.
Contacting Japanese stationery companies was quite an adventure. The emails that I sent (written in Japanese) were mostly ignored, but I generally received good service after following up on the phone. All the large companies I contacted said selling their products to overseas customers would come in conflict with their overseas subsidiaries. I tried to explain how I was only interested in their Japan-limited products, but unsurprising, the lowly customer service reps I spoke to didn’t have the power to change company policy.
The older, smaller companies were happy to sell product to us with few stipulations. The medium-sized companies were willing to work with us, bu
t some had a vetting process. A few wanted to see our website (I scrambled to create some mockups since it wasn’t ready at the time), and a couple that were in Kansai wanted to meet in person before we could do business. In the end, there were some disappointments, but we got enough of the brands we had wanted to come up with our starting product lineup.
We chose to use the popular website platform Weebly to create our shop. It offered most of the features we needed for the cheapest price. We’re also dabbling on the Amazon Sellers Market, but that’s mostly to get more exposure for our brand. There are other obvious options like eBay and Etsy, which we may pursue in the future.
No matter how you choose to sell, having decent product photographs is a must. Many of our brands, the ones with good photography, prohibit their retailers from using their photos. Knowing that I would have to photograph a substantial portion of our products, I just decided to do all of them for the sake of continuity. Taking suitable pictures required a halfway decent camera, a cheap, pop-up photo box, and some basic photo-editing skills. Overall, I’m happy with the results of my photos, but it took three to four times longer than I expected. If you put in enough time you could surprise yourself, but you might also do just as well to outsource this work.
Getting a web shop off the ground can actually be done fairly cheaply but will definitely be a huge investment in time. We already have a long list of stationery products we want to add and a lot of ideas about non-stationery products and where things will go next. For now, we need to get the word out, and we have mostly been working on getting some Facebook followers. I hope you check out our site and check back from time to time to see our blog, where I plan to write stories about life in Japan in addition to shop news.
Nathaniel Simmons (Nara-ken, 2007-2009) is currently a communication faculty member at Western Governors University and lives in Columbus, OH, USA. He teaches a variety of intercultural, interpersonal, and health communication courses. He has researched and published several scholarly articles regarding privacy management between foreign English teachers and Japanese co-workers in Japan.
I admit it.
I was “one of those” JETs who lucked out and ended up as an ALT knowing next to nothing about Japan.
No language skills. Very little cultural knowledge.
Yes, I did my homework once I knew I was going to Japan, but even that was “too little, too late.” The cultural books I read a month prior to departure ended up lying to me, as once I arrived everything I read was thrown out the window. Nothing quite captured or described the nuanced life I was about to live in rural Nara-ken.
So how did someone like me survive for two years in rural Japan? I hurriedly found Read More
Life After JET: The creation of MoshiMosh
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Lucy Gibson (Fukuoka, 2007-10) is a co-founder of MoshiMosh, an exciting new language exchange website. Lucy and her husband Kenzo live and run MoshiMosh in London, UK. Any spare time they have, outside of juggling work, study, and entrepreneurial ventures, is spent spoiling their dog Maggie, playing taiko, volunteering, and getting out and about in London.The Creation of MoshiMosh
JET Alumni pop up in the most unexpected of places. In 2010, my husband Kenzo started work in a London-based NGO providing health services to developing countries in Africa and Asia. Though the
work and the organization had nothing at all to do with Japan, he soon discov ered that the colleague sitting next to him had spent three years on JET and, by complete coincidence, so had his new boss, and a friend in another department.
Lucy taking taiko to the streets of London
Little did he realize that the JET coincidences were far from over. Within a few months of having returned to London, he would attend a charity karaoke event, organized by, yes you guessed it, another JET. At this lovely and slightly raucous ‘charioke’ event, he would meet me – a Kiwi girl newly arrived in London, his soon-to-be-wife and another ex-JET.
Although JETs come in all shapes and sizes, and from all walks of life, what links JETs together is Read More
Life After JET: Of Legal Discourse and Family Ties
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Re-published after its first appearance from the JETAA NSW site: Our next Life After JET alumni is Shino Hamada (CIR Fukuoka-shi 2006-2011), a legal practitioner for a Sydney-based subsidiary for a major Japanese trading firm, whose life experiences show that you should always grab opportunities as they come by.
There is a tiny coastal town in the Southern part of Nagasaki Prefecture called Kazusa-machi. Besides a few holiday makers who visit its somewhat white sandy beaches in the summer, Kazusa-machi is usually a town which people merely drive through on their way from Nagasaki City to Shimabara City or vice versa. I was born there and spent the first eight years of my life running around on the beach behind our house with my three older siblings and speaking in the thickest Nagasaki dialect, until my hippie parents decided to uproot the whole family to live in New Zealand.
We continued to speak Japanese at home in West Auckland for four years, until my parents divorced and mum left us and returned to Japan. In order for us to overcome this incident, my dad forbade us to speak Japanese to each other and ordered us to discard everything that was Japanese, including our beloved Doraemon comic books and anything that reminded us of mum. My dad often spoke of his negative feelings towards Japan which rubbed off on me to the extent that I refused to speak Japanese at all for the next six years.
Still, Japan was always in the back of my mind and I was always a tiny bit curious about it. I also had not seen mum since she left us, so when I finished high school, I decided that I might as well go live with her in Nagasaki for a year. I arrived in Japan with a very low expectation and an extremely rusty tongue for the language, but what I found there was something beautiful, what I can only describe as ‘comfortable’ and I quickly fell in love with the culture and the people. I worked at a local supermarket fulltime and also taught English to primary school children in the evenings and weekends and loved every minute of it. At the supermarket, there would be regular customers who would always come and happily chat with me about their grandchildren or their pet dog and give me pumpkins from their garden. At the English school, the kids were always happy to see me and eager to learn.
Once the year was over, I returned to New Zealand to start university and decided to study Linguistics and Language Teaching. In my second year, a friend suggested that a Bachelor Arts would merely make me employable at McDonalds, which I gullibly believed and decided that I would study law to complement my Bachelor of Arts. In my last year, I decided to apply for the JET Programme as a CIR so that I could spend a couple of years living near mum and gain some experience working in a Japanese office. I did not really intend on becoming a lawyer after I graduated, but since I had eight months between the end of university and my departure for Japan on the JET Programme, I thought I might as well complete my professional legal studies course and I became admitted as a lawyer in New Zealand a couple of month before I left for Fukuoka.
In Fukuoka, I worked for the International Affairs Department in the city hall along with two CIR’s from non-English speaking countries. At first, people were curious about my background but they soon accepted that I was just a New Zealander who happens to look Japanese and speaks Japanese with an odd mix of a Nagasaki – New Zealand accent. My duties included translating and proofreading documents, interpreting for visitors from abroad, acting as a liaison between Fukuoka and a few of our sister cities, conducting monthly lectures for volunteer interpreters, judging speech contests, and conducting job interviews in English. I loved my job and I loved Fukuoka even more, to the extent that my initial intention to stay a maximum of two years was quickly disregarded and I ended up staying the JET maximum of five years.
At the returners’ conference in Tokyo in my fifth year, I still had not yet decided what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be after Fukuoka. I had vaguely toyed with the idea of combining my Japanese language skills with law in Japan previously, but when I spoke with a recruiter in my fourth year on JET, he advised that there are no opportunities for an inexperienced lawyer in Tokyo and that I should return to New Zealand and practice law for at least a couple of years before exploring the legal market in Tokyo. Nevertheless, by chance, I met a legal recruiter at the returners’ conference career fair, who heard of my law qualifications and my experience in a Japanese office and arranged an interview for the next day with the Tokyo office of a British law firm who was looking for a bilingual paralegal. I thought it would be a good practice job interview and thought I might as well try it. I went to an internet café that night and abruptly typed up my CV both in English and Japanese and I was lucky enough to be hired as a paralegal with a possibility of being promoted to a lawyer down the line.
I moved to Tokyo a couple of weeks after I bid farewell to my sweet home for five years and to my coworkers at the city hall who had become my beloved extended family. Once in Tokyo, I worked the hardest I had ever worked in my life, logged in long hours and hardly refused any work that came my way. The five year gap between my law degree and this job was somewhat filled by my experience working in a Japanese office and my understanding of the Japanese business culture which I shared with the foreign lawyers in the office. An Australian partner at my firm liked my work, took me under his wing and I had the privilege to be one of the core team members for a major acquisition of a multinational coal joint venture. It was a laborious few months and at times it felt as though I hardly slept, but the sense of satisfaction I felt once it was over was well worth it. I decided then that I quite liked law, continued to work hard and I was made an associate lawyer a year after I joined the firm.
However, after a year as an associate lawyer, I started to become restless in Tokyo. I had been in Japan for seven years at that point and was ready for something new. I also felt that I had been immersed in the Japanese culture for a bit too long and even starting to forget some English words. Luckily, the Australian partner who pushed me to become a lawyer had returned to Sydney and was keen for me to join him in Sydney and had an interesting secondment opportunity at the Australian subsidiary of a major Japanese trading house.
I joined the Sydney office a year ago, and have ever since been seconded to the infrastructure team of the Japanese trading house where I like to think I am maximising my Japanese language skills, understanding of Japanese business culture and my legal knowledge. I assist the company on its investments in infrastructure public-private partnerships in Australia from the pre-bid consortium discussion stage through to the actual bid or financial close, as well as identifying and analysing new opportunities for our counterparts in the Tokyo head office.
I do not think anyone is ever sure if the path they have taken is the right one, but if I had not had an open, ‘might as well’ attitude towards learning more about Japan after high school, studying law, obtaining my legal qualifications, staying five years in Fukuoka immersing myself in the Japanese office culture, taking the opportunity to interview at the Tokyo office of my law firm and taking the secondment opportunity in Sydney, I would never have experienced all the things I was able to experience, been able to come to terms with my bicultural upbringing or found a way to combine all my skills.
If you are a returning JET and you do not yet know what you want to do or where you want to be and an opportunity which slightly piques your interest pops up your way, why not shrug your shoulders and think ‘might as well’? It might take you down a route you had never dreamt of, but which may end up being one of the right paths for you.
Job: Travel Agent – InsideJapan Tours (Nagoya)
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Posted by Eden Law (Fukushima-ken 2010-2011), member of JETAA NSW and just a totally awesome rad guy. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
[Excerpt from InsideTours Job page – click here to read for more details! The company is made up of ex-JETs, so it’s perfect!]
Passionate about Japan? Want to help people from around the world experience quite how amazing Japan is? A job with Inside Japan Tours could be just what you are looking for.
InsideJapan Tours is part of InsideAsia Tours Ltd a small team of dedicated people all with a passion for travel that ‘gets beneath the surface’. Our offices are located in the UK, Japan and the US with a team of 34 full time staff ensuring we provide the very best experience for every one of our thousands of clients annually.
Current Vacancies
We are currently recruiting for Japan Specialist Travel Consultants in our UK, Japan and US branches. Our sister brand, InsideVietnam Tours, is recruiting for Southeast Asia Specialist Travel Consultants.
Tennessee JET alum wins non-profit award for “ESL to Go” program
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Thanks to JET alum Jennifer Butler, who works for the Consulate in Nashville and also is a former JETAA USA Country Rep, for passing on the link to this news about JET alum Leah Hashinger who created a mobile ESL program – http://www.lipscomb.edu/news/archive/detail/101/28681:
JET alum Leah Hashinger, a student in the Master of Arts in Civic Leadership program at the Nelson & Sue Andrews Institute for Civic Leadership at Lipscomb University, was recently awarded a Salute to Excellence Award from the Center for Nonprofit Management for her coordination of the ESL to Go program at the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute.
TFLI won first place, receiving a $25,000 prize in the Frist Foundation’s Innovation in Action category at the Center for Nonprofit Management’s awards ceremony. Hashinger, ESL to Go program manager, and Angela Harris, director of ESL/TESL at the institute, accepted the award.
Responding to the repeated identification of transportation as the number one barrier for refugees and immigrants in accessing English classes, ESL to Go offers a unique model of service delivery and access. The classroom-on-wheels (a truck outfitted as a classroom) brings English as a second language classes to refugees and immigrants in Davidson County.
“In 2011, I had the unique opportunity to transform an innovative idea into a reality,” said Hashinger. As a volunteer at TFLI, I began working with my supervisor on developing a mobile classroom that would bring English classes to the apartments where refugees live. The challenge allowed me to step into a leadership role where I learned to gather support from the community, build partnerships, gain trust and continue to respond to the dynamic needs of our students.”
Each year, CNM hosts Salute to Excellence, the “Academy Awards” of the Middle Tennessee nonprofit community, with a dinner and awards presentation that honors area nonprofits for their commitment to management excellence. The ceremony featured 12 awards and $210,000 in prize money for this year’s finalists. More than 1,000 guests and 35 of Nashville’s nonprofit organizations attended.
Hashinger is also the 2014 recipient of the Center for Nonprofit Management Award for Andrews Institute students. The award provides students a discounted tuition rate to earn their master’s degree in civic leadership.
“Watching Nashville become a leader in embracing cultural and ethnic diversity has inspired me to pursue a path of leadership as well,” said Hashinger. “As a civic leader, I will continually work to highlight the positive impact that immigration has on Nashville’s culture and economy, while developing innovative ways to fund nonprofit programs and rethink service delivery.”
Yvonne Thurman-Dogruer (Kagoshima-ken, 1994-95) is a former JETAANY President and Treasurer. She has a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University, had a ten-year career at its Center on Japanese Economy and Business, and ran her own business for a number of years. Yvonne currently consults for small businesses and start-ups while continuing the full-time job-search.
I haven’t read Spencer Johnson’s best-selling book, but I love the title. It seems “Who Moved My Cheese” advises on how to deal with changes in one’s life (anecdotally, mice in a maze sniff around to find their cheese, they do, then somehow the cheese is moved, and the mice have to start all over and sniff their way to find it again)…something we can all relate to. I’m looking for my cheese right now, evaluating the decisions I’ve made up until this point in my professional life, and trying to see where I’m headed. Often, I’ve decided to move my own cheese. Change is good. Well, when you are the one to initiate the change, it’s usually good. When something else moves your cheese it’s downright unsettling.
When I was a young twenty-something I felt very much in control of my professional development (didn’t we all?). The JET Program started a great journey and unsurprisingly set my career path for more than a decade following. I applied for it on a whim after college, and started to move my cheese. What an exciting year that was! The time immediately following my return home from Japan was also one of fun professional discovery, as it is for most JET alums. In 1995 I finished my JET contract in Kagoshima and dabbled in the fields of international education and international relations. The non-profit world drew me in, and my career path started to take shape. Over the course of the next few years I worked at Japan Society for a bit, set my sights on graduate studies at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and then became a program officer at Columbia’s Center on Japanese Economy and Business. I found a very active JET alumni community working and studying at Columbia, which was great, because that meant I was with people who sincerely understood and valued the depth of experience I had while working and living in Japan. Grad school was the very logical next step for me to take, and in 1999, I was accepted into the program at SIPA after two arduous rounds of applications. Then the real work started. I surprised myself and chose an international finance and business concentration (you see, as an English major in college I somehow skated through four years without having one accounting or economics class). Perhaps I was overly-confident of my ability to take on new challenges after living in Japan, or, I was being practical — I knew if I wanted to be an effective organizational leader when I grew up, I’d need strong quantitative and finance skills. The next big journey started, and for three years I held on to my full-time job while doing my graduate work. I moved on up to the east side into a shoebox of an apartment on 88th Street and cried through every Accounting 101 assignment in the wee hours of the morning, with text books and papers scattered across my very stylish black pleather futon. Painful, but good years. In retrospect, no matter how challenging the work, life in general had order to it. I was on the path to one clear, undeniable goal of getting that degree. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of it all!
Working as a program officer at an international research center in a top academic institution may sound truly awesome, and it was. However, I did plan to move my cheese once I finished my degree to explore other opportunities. Well, life is what happens between making plans. September 11th happened…during my final year at SIPA. On-campus recruiting came to a halt. The job market froze. The world turned upside down and we all seemed to function at a bare minimum — or at best, on autopilot for a while, trying to cope with the shock of it all. Not so good times.
Grateful to have a very good job in a very good place, I stayed on at the Center. I was promoted up to a Director position, took part in some groundbreaking research and programs, and managed two major book projects with leading Japan scholars around the globe. I had a great team, an awesome sempai, a nurturing and encouraging environment, and I learned volumes about management. Then, it came time again for me to break out and explore. But wait– it’s 2008. The economy is tanking. I had a stable job at a good place (something I covet now). What do I do? I choose to leave it and become an entrepreneur. Read More
JET alum publishes book on getting unstuck: “Dream in Color, Think in Black & White”
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Jonathan Bissell (Chiba-ken, 1995-2000) has written a “how-to” guide to getting unstuck and pursuing your life or career dreams. A timely topic as many JETAA chapters are hosting career forums over the next few weeks. His book, entitled “Dream in Color, Think in Black & White: How to Get Unstuck and Fulfill Your Dreams” is now available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback. For complete details visit amazon.com/author/jonathanbissell.
Description:
The world is filled with dreamers, but it’s owned by people who do. Yet too many dreamers are stuck, unhappy and unfulfilled in their life or career. They don’t know how to move forward or what to do next. Dream in Color, Think in Black & White is a focused and powerful book that provides practical and encouraging step-by-step guidance for dreamers everywhere who want to get unstuck and fulfill their dreams, but don’t know how.
Introduction:
Admit it. You’re stuck. Somewhere along the way, you had a dream that you let go of. But it hasn’t let go of you. You’re the reason this book was written. Because dreams matter. Dreams are powerful. And sometimes dreams just won’t go away – no matter how impractical, ill-timed or financially risky they are.
This is a book about getting unstuck in your life or career. It’s about learning to Dream in Color and Think in Black & White. There are three parts to this book: Dreaming in Color, Thinking in Black & White, and Fulfilling Your Dreams. Each part contains practical “how to” steps and examples explaining how to get unstuck and move toward your dream. The rest is up to you. Let’s get started.
Early Responses to Dream in Color, Think in Black & White:
“a superb must-read…a roadmap of balance and success”
Chaya Abelsky, Master Certified Coach, Principal at Triumphant Journeys LLC and Director of the NonProfit HelpDesk.
“powerfully written…compels you into creating a plan”
Jane A Creswell, Master Certified Coach, founder of IBM Coaches’ Network, CEO of iNTERNAL iMPACT, LLC, and the author of two books.
“a how-to guide for anyone seeking career and personal fulfillment”
Luther Jackson, Board Member, American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley.
Yvonne Thurman-Dogruer (Kagoshima-ken, 1994-95) is a former JETAANY President and Treasurer. She has a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University, had a ten-year career at its Center on Japanese Economy and Business, and ran her own business for a number of years. Yvonne currently consults for small businesses and start-ups while continuing the full-time job-search, and is an avid sailor.
JETAA NY President in 1999. Columbia grad in 2002. Director at Columbia Business School in 2005. Entrepreneur and business owner in 2008. Now? Unemploy
ed.
Rarely do I say that I’m unemployed. That’s never my response when someone asks what I do. I’m consulting. I’m job-searching. I work from home. All true. I don’t know how to relate to ‘unemployed’ as a status. It’s easier on the ego to instead talk about what I’ve done up until this point. But after a year and a half with no steady paycheck, there is no doubt I am one of the many unemployed in this country, regardless of how the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics might choose to define me. I do consulting work when I can get it, and I continue to look for a full-time, salaried position. I am unemployed.
This summer marked a couple of milestones in my life; 25 years since graduating high school, and 20 years since I was on the JET program. I’ve attended really great reunions — hours full of fun and therapeutic reminiscing about the past. I would come home from them feeling good about reconnecting with those who had played an important role in my personal and professional growth, and proud of the many things I’ve accomplished in life so far. And then comes the question, “where am I now?”. That has me stumped. What are these invisible barriers holding me back from moving forward? This all feels so foreign to me, as I had always felt grounded in my professional life. Every day is a challenge to keep steady, strong, and navigate myself through such an unpredictable environment. And every day, I seem to get through, and continue to look for that thing called a job to give me some sense of stability.
So I chatted with Steven Horowitz a few months back and with his encouragement decided to write for JETwit and reflect on this past year-and-a-half of my professional life, and make some observations about this job market. It’s my hope that while I continue zig-zagging through the murky waters of the New York job hunt and share my experiences, it might help my fellow JET alumni who are going through the same thing. Whether you’ve returned from your Japan stint some decades ago like me, or have come back more recently, if you are job searching now – you will have a voice to contribute here. I do not aim to give advice, only to encourage discussion. Let’s start talking, continue to keep our heads about us, and our humor. Stay tuned…
Life After JET: A Teacher’s Edge Now Known
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The transition back home after Japan… isn’t the easiest. Several of us have had our share of reverse culture shock, and the career adjustment is some of the nastiest frosting to top off some “What Am I Doing With Me Life?” cake.
Recently on JETwit, we’ve started the Job Hunter Project series. And we hope with the expansive JET Alum networks, someone just might know someone who might know someone.
Frequent job poster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken 2009-12) decided to address this issue head on in KCRW’s 2nd Annual 24-Hour Radio Race. In this contest, entrants are tasked to create, edit, and promote a short 4 minute audio piece within a day.
This year’s topic was “You Should Know”.
In the aftermath, here’s what Jon had to say:
“Usually I’m pretty keen in interpreting things to my advantage, but I really struggled with this topic. It turns out the only thing I found myself able to draw from was this job switch. With the time constraint, I didn’t really do it justice. I think the clincher should ring true with a lot of people though… and who knows? Maybe it’ll open up the eyes of at least one company out there.”
CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” Series: Laurel Stevens Lukaszewski (Kagoshima)
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Each month, current and former JET participants are featured in the “JET Plaza” section of the CLAIR Forum magazine. The July 2014 edition includes an article by JET alumnus Laurel Stevens Lukaszewski. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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Laurel Stevens Lukaszewski (Kagoshima-ken, Minamitane-cho, 1990-92), is a professional artist who has shown her work throughout the US and in the UK. She is also the former executive director of the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC and is currently project director for the United-States Japan Bridging Foundation’s JETAA Initiative. Since 2002 she has been a member of the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Board of Directors. Raised on both the east and west coasts of the US, Ms. Lukaszewski holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and a master’s degree in Asian Studies from Florida State University. She lives in the DC metro area with her husband and two rambunctious cats. To view her artwork, please visit www.laurellukaszewski.com
My JET experience taught me I could live in a world where I did not necessarily understand everything, but could still cope and thrive.
Enduring Connections
Twenty-four years ago I interviewed for the JET Programme in Atlanta, on my birthday. I felt this was a good omen, so I was not nervous even though this was my first professional interview. Despite spending the last two years of college studying all things Japanese, from language to religion, I had no personal connection with the country and had never been there. What was merely acting on a brief comment by a Japanese politics professor about an opportunity to teach in Japan led me down a path that has guided me over the past two decades.
I spent my two years on JET as the first Assistant English Teacher to be assigned to the town of Minamitane-cho, on Tanegashima, an island off of the southern tip of Kyushu in Kagoshima-ken. I taught at five junior high schools and visited eight elementary schools, usually the first foreigner any of the students had ever met. My role in class varied depending on the school, but every teacher I worked with was eager to include me in activities ranging from PTA BBQs to harvesting sugar cane with students.
During my first weeks I experienced two homestays before moving into my own apartment. In Kirishima, a beautiful mountain town overlooking the Sakurajima volcano, I stayed with a family with three school-age daughters. I did not know at the time that they would become my Japanese family, that their home would become mine whenever I returned to Japan, even decades later. Arriving in Minamitane-cho, I had a second homestay. And, once again, I had no idea that this young couple with three-year-old twins would end up being lifelong friends, attending my wedding, sending seasonal messages as the twins grew into young adults, and hosting my husband and me years later when we were stranded in Kagoshima by a typhoon.
One of the wonderful things about JET is it allows you to become part of the community. Whether anticipated or not, you become involved in the lives of your neighbors, teachers and students. When an art teacher learned my hobby was pottery, she invited me to visit her studio even though she did not speak English. Every week I would join another teacher and my neighbor and spend the evenings working with clay and chatting—an immersion experience in neighborhood news and gossip. When I returned to the US, it was these memories of Japan that endured. My experience taught me I could live in a world where I did not necessarily understand everything, but could still cope and thrive. Read More
JET-alum owned Chin Music Press opens in Seattle’s Pike Place Market
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Thanks to JET alum David Jacobson, who works for Chin Music Press, for sharing this press release. Chin Music Press is a Seattle-based publisher owned and run by Bruce Rutledge (Monbusho English Fellow, Chiba-ken, 1985-87) with a reputation for noteworthy cover art.
Indie Book Publisher Opens Office/Retail Space in Seattle’s Pike Place Market
Press Release
July 16, 2014
Local independent book publisher Chin Music Press today opened a new office and retail/exhibit space in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market. The retail space, open from 11am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday, will feature all Chin Music titles as well as related posters, zines, chapbooks, stationery, broadsides and other artwork.
“It’s a great privilege for a small publisher like us to be able to obtain space at Pike Place Market,” said Chin Music Press Publisher Bruce Rutledge. “We now have room to give all of our titles the shelf space and attention they deserve. But more importantly, we can add to the literary ecosystem in Seattle. We look forward to connecting with other presses, bookstores, artists and lovers of literature to make our space a vibrant part of the community.”
“The Pike Place Market is very pleased to have Chin Music Press join the market community,” said Kelly Lindsay, director of programs and marketing for the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority. “We believe the Seattle community, as well as visitors from around the world, will enjoy Chin Music’s first retail store and the opportunity to directly engage with featured artists, writers and photographers. Now home to five independent bookstores, the Pike Place Market is a destination for people who love to read. ”
Chin Music Press is best known in Seattle for such titles asShiro: Wit, Wisdom and Recipes from a Sushi Pioneer,Yokohama Yankee and A Commonplace Book of Pie. It has won awards and accolades for its books, with one NPR reviewer saying the press provided “a triumphant kick in the pants for anyone who doubts the future of paper-and-ink books.” Read More
