Geneva Marie (Niigata-ken, 2008-09) grew up all over the U.S. but if asked will tell you she’s from Minneapolis, MN .  JET Lag will recount Geneva’s experiences and thoughts as she prepares to leave the comfortable womb of her JET life and figure out her next move.

It’s been an entire month since my last JETLag post! I had an entire week of birthday activities, I did some much-needed traveling, and soon after I was…sickety, sick, SICK! Needless to say -I’m playing catch-up.

It’s no surprise. I was getting off too easy. Nearly two months with nary a cough, sniffle, or sneeze. I knew it wouldn’t last, especially given my bill of health in Japan.

I had spent nearly all winter ill. Like, totally illin’, but not in that Beastie Boys kind of way. I was told that it was probably due to the fact that I was teaching little kids for the first time. Either that, or because the whole “no heat situation” in indoor places OR the worst case scenario: there was killer mold hiding in the apartment somewhere. Whatever the case, I was sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. I got the flu which is pretty normal for the winter season just about anywhere, but I had gone out of my way to get a flu shot every winter in America for about the last five years or so. I had forgotten how freaky the flu really is: the sweating, the puking, the hallucinations. All experienced alone, in a cold apartment without a kind hand to wipe the sweat from my brow.

In any case, at least it wasn’t Read More

Just learned about a terrific blog and resource for UK-oriented JET alums called Isshoni London (http://www.isshonilondon.co.uk/), “the Gateway to Japanese London.”  And the best part is it’s written by JET alum Vanessa Villalobos who is also the Communications Officer for JETAA UK.

The site include:

• How to Visit Japan Without Leaving London
• Interviews
• Product Reviews
• Restaurant Reviews
• Surveys

As well as listing of evens covering everything from a Japanese/English meetup picnic in Greenwich to an Okinawa festival to a manga signing event.

You can also follow Isshoni London on Twitter (http://twitter.com/IsshoniVanessa), and Vanessa helpfully includes a list of the “Top Japan-related people to follow on Twitter.”

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Miguel Gervais (Saitama-ken, Fukaya City, 2000-03) founded and runs the M.L.C.英会話 (eikaiwa) school in Fukaya City, Saitama-ken which currently teaches approximately 45-50 students.  He is originally from Canada and was kind enough to write this article in response to a JetWit request to share his career experience.

Any other JET alums interested in sharing their own career advice, experience and perspectives are encouraged to e-mail your article idea to Steven at jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.

Having a Job is Irresponsible

My friend Jack is a fine, upstanding person and a great teacher. He’s been in Japan for untold years, had a job that he liked well enough and is blessed with a wonderful family. Unfortunately, the college that had hired him for the past 10 years or so suddenly refused to renew his yearly contract. In their magnanimity, they told him this one month before he was due to start the new school year. Obviously, this was much too late to find another job.

Jack is a great teacher. He is a valuable asset… and yet he is now unemployed and in rather desperate straits. But things could have been even worse… he could have been forced to leave Japan, just like untold numbers of other teachers after the NOVA debacle. Luckily, he is on a spousal visa and was spared this final humiliation.

Don’t let this happen to you! Life-time employment has never been in the cards for foreign teachers in Japan. Unless you are Read More

Elizabeth White (Toyama-ken, 1995-98), the Media Coordinator for JETAA Southern California, has been helping Sushi & Sake magazine collect writing from JET alums for the last few years.

Here’s a link to the JET alum writing on their site, including the latest column by Devon Brown (Tokyo-ken, 2002-04) titled “Taking One for the Team.”

And here are links to columns from past issues:

BACK ISSUES – JET Alumni Association
2008 Issues: December • June • May • April • March • February • January
2007 Issues: December • November • October • September • August • July • June • May • April • March

For anyone interested in contributing to future issues of Sushi & Sake, please feel free to contact Elizabeth via e-mail.

Just came across this interesting blog called Frugalista Japan (http://www.frugalistajapan.com):  Money saving tips and ideas for foreigners in Japan! They have a post on something I’d never even considered before but which sounds pretty useful:  How to Check Your Credit Score in Japan.

Has anyone else come across this blog before?  I know there are a number of similar kinds of useful sites in the U.S. such as Bargain Babe.  But this is the first I’ve heard of an English-language one in Japan.  Are there others out there?

JETAA NY Webmaster Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06) is settling into his summer internship at Creative Commons in San Francisco and is working on a site called OpenEd that will act as a kind of portal for the open education community.

Lee-Sean suggested that the JET community, which already does a lot to share their lesson plans and ESL games, might be a good group to engage on OpenEd site.

Lee-Sean has started a a preliminary Wiki page and says he would welcome any input as well as more links to relevant resources.  Since the site is a wiki, anyone can create an account and edit the site.

http://opened.creativecommons.org/OER_for_JET_Programme_Participants

The Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators presents:

The SWET Summer Party!

Event: SWET Summer Party
What: Club Party
Host: Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators (SWET)
Start Time: Sunday, July 26 at 1:00pm
End Time: Sunday, July 26 at 4:00pm
Where: Koishikawa Korakuen Garden, Kantokutei Hiroma
Click here to see more details and to RSVP.

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Author Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90) who also serves as the Publicity Assistant for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, shared the following:

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents

Creative Exchange: The Bologna Experience with Ayano Imai, Kiyo Tanaka and Shimako Okamura

Come join illustrators Ayano Imai and Kiyo Tanaka plus designer/illustrator Shimako Okamura as they share their experiences at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the most important global event in the children’s publishing industry. Included in the topics shared at this exchange of ideas and information will be first-hand experiences of being selected for the Illustrators Exhibition, opportunities that resulted from attending the fair, and more. Visit the Bologna Book Fair site (www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it) before this event, and bring along all your questions and ideas about submitting to the exhibition and promoting your work at the book fair.

Time: Saturday, July 11, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Place: Tokyo Women’s Plaza, Conference Room 1

5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (by the Children’s Castle and United Nations University) For a map see www.scbwi.jp/map.htm

Fee: SCBWI members 1,000 yen; non-members 1,500 yen

This event will be in English and Japanese.

Hello!  I’m Kelly – RSS feed fiend and fellow former Iwate ALT (indeed, just like the Blog Beat’s own Crystal Wong!).  Fret not, Crystal has not forsaken the JET blogosphere.  There are just so many blogs to keep up with that I have offered to lend her a hand on occasion.

Now to get on to the goods – more new blogs than you can shake a stick at!

* A favorite blog of mine and one that I personally recommended for the blog roll is Japandra.  This little treasure-trove of a blog is brought to you by Sandra, a NY expat and JET alum currently living in Tokyo, who has keen eye for those little irregular hilarities which sneak into the Japanese landscape.  What are you waiting for?  That fuzzy natsukashii “Haha, only in Japan!” feeling is just a click away…

* Sean Sakamoto of I’d Rather Be in Japan lives it up in the wild and wondrous beauty of Gifu.  In one of his most recent posts he brings the forest to us in an excellent home-made video series on how to harvest, prepare, and enjoy eating…bamboo!

* Next up is Jason’s Adventures in Rural Japan (aka Shimane).  Although Jason is currently packing up to return to the U.S., his blog is a great place to peruse his selection of the past year’s omoshiroi Japanese YouTube videos.

* Are you a prospective JET itching to find more information about the JET teaching experience in rural areas?  If so (or even if not!), check out Mel’s Adventures in Japan.

* Take some time to enjoy the comedic writing style of Steve Rogers, a lover of all things list-worthy (he even writes lists… about lists!), who does very well keeping his sense of humor while enduring Northern Tohoku Exposure.

* D. Freeman – photographer, web guru, and writer – takes his readers on a myriad of viral-worthy adventures.  Check his site to find out what is the What-What on the interweb today.

* Finally, we would like to introduce another successful JET writer Christy Burne (Hyogo-ken) who has just been given the first Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices book award, an award that aims to celebrate cultural diversity in children’s literature.  Her book, Takeshita Demons, will be published next year and is based on the adventures of a Japanese schoolgirl named Miku.  Be sure to keep up with all the exciting developments for Christy!

Is there anyone out there in the JETAA-sphere facing financial difficulties, considering bankruptcy, worrying about foreclosure?

If so, feel free to e-mail your questions to me at jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.

I’m no longer a practicing bankruptcy lawyer, but I work in the bankruptcy world (see, e.g., the Bankruptcy Bill cartoon) and figured I could at least try to help out and get answers to any questions JET alums and Friends of JET out there might have.  I might even be able to recommend a good lawyer for you, depending where you live.

I’ll keep all of your information confidential.  However, if you give me permission, I would like to anonymously post your question and the eventual response on JetWit for the benefit of other readers.

Lastly, for your entertainment, here’s a post about an engaging blog titled “Love in the Time of Foreclosure” by a writer who is going through foreclosure with her husband.  In a lot of ways, it’s more about love than about foreclosure, and kind of captures the zeitgeist of the times in which we’re living.

Note: This is the second in what JetWit hopes will grow into a series of “Japan Fix” articles.  How do you get your Japan fix wherever you live?  Write it down and send it to JetWit for the entertainment and benefit of the JET alum community.

Japan Fix: South Carolina

By Daniel J. Stone (Saitama-ken, 2004-07), JETAA South Carolina Subchapter Rep

After spending seven years In San Diego and Los Angeles followed by three years in the metro Tokyo area, the decision to return to my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina with my wife who hails from Tokyo was a bit naïve when I look back to when we first returned to “America’s Bible Belt” in 2007.

Despite the geographic location, demographics and the overall facts that South Carolina is a small and rural state, one can get their “Japan Fix”, if they know where to look.

CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS
The International Center of the Upstate (ICU), located at the Greenville City Hall building, is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting cross-cultural understanding among local and international residents of Upstate South Carolina. It was here where my wife and I went to learn of where to go and what to do in the area’s international community. One of the first things I did was volunteer at ICU’s English conversation group where a group of Japanese spouses attended the weekly session.

Another group which was helpful was the Japan America Association of South Carolina based in Greenville. Through this group I was able to network with Japanese expatriates working at various companies in the area and like-minded Americans.

Lastly, there is the good ‘ol JETAA group based in Atlanta. It was through here that I met other JET alums in the area.

GROCERY & FOOD SHOPPING
The Tanpopo, aka “Dandelion”, located at the corner of Pelham Road and Highway 14 is a Read More

Another good post from Greg at TheDigitalists.com, this one on why Twitter and Facebook are effective for small businesses, but not yet for large companies.  And what they might want to do about it.

http://thedigitalists.com/2009/06/12/social-networks-missed-opportunity/#comment-205

(Also references the really yummy Salted Caramel Pretzel ice cream at General Greene’s in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn.)

Gail Cetnar Meadows says there are some great new stories now posted on the Wide Island View… Takarazuka theater, Traveling to South Korea, Nikujaga recipe. Check it out!

The Wide Island View is the kakkouii online newsletter for AJET Hiroshima-ken, started by current JETs Gail Cetnar Meadows and Joshua Zimmerman.

Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, has a short “JapanamericanEyes” column posted on Trannet.co.jp titled “Surfacing with Strength:  Haruki Murakami at 60.”

Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:

Japan-U.S. business consultant and blogger Yvonne Burton (also a good friend of JetWit) has a good recent post on the likely new U.S. ambassador to Japan–John V. Roos:

There is to be a new kind of ambassador in Tokyo!  I just read in the Japan Times that John V. Roos, a Silicon Valley attorney, has been designated as ambassador by President Obama and in my opinion, he is just what Japan-US business needs.  But many seem to disagree. Why?

The nay-sayers say he isn’t the usual politico. I say that is a good thing. They say that his appointment means the new presidency is treating Japan as less than important. I say not so.

New conditions call for new solutions

In times like these when the old standards are not working (and that is putting it mildly), it is time to create something new.

How can a successful lawyer who (CLICK HERE to read the rest of the article.)

Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, has been keeping busy.  JetWit just hasn’t been able to keep up.  So here are some recent highlights:

• A recent Daily Yomiuri SOFT POWER/HARD TRUTHS column about a symposium on the state of the anime/manga industry and some of the challenges it faces, which you can see on 3:00 A.M. Magazine.  The column touches on the shifting market as well as the unsustainable nature of the way anime/manga workers are compensated.
• Giving a speech at book-signing event in Kyoto next weekend as part of a Creative Writing Lecture Series.  (A good event for any JETs or JET alums in the area!  If you go, say hi to Roland and feel free to report back to JetWit on the event.)
• Japanamerica is now available on Kindle!

Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall.  To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.us.

This just off the Facebook status update wire:

Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), the Toronto-based author of the rhyming children’s novel Zorgamazoo, has confessed to caving in to Twitter.  To follow him, go to:  http://twitter.com/rpweston

Hikaru Utada: The Complete JQ Interview

By Justin Tedaldi, Editor (Kobe-shi CIR, 2001-02)

(Originally Published May 2009 in JQ (JETAA NY Quarterly) Magazine, the official quarterly publication of JETAA NY (http://jetaany.org/magazine))

It was perfect timing. Back in January, Hikaru Utada, the New York-born recording phenomenon who before she was out of her teens notched three of Japan’s top ten bestselling albums (including number one), was back in town working on a new album for the U.S., and JQ spent a full hour with Hikki to talk of many things, including her new disc This is the One, which hit stores in May.

I know you want to talk about the new album and the single.

The song…

I heard it about two and half weeks ago, as I think I was already on the e-mail list from when your last English album came out.

Oh, right, right, right.

So we go way back. Ten years ago I found out about First Love when I studying Japanese as an undergraduate…

Oh, wow.

It’s amazing to be here now talking about it.

I’m humbled [laughs]. Read More

JET alum and SC Subchapter Rep Daniel Stone’s blog The Divine Wind Vault has been featured in an article on the Japanese website Searchina.  It profiled his recent post about the excellence of Japanese convenience stores and fast food restaurants, especially in comparison to the poor level of service and goods offered at the same places here in the States.  Omedetou for this Japanese media coverage!

The June 2009 issue of the Sake World E-mail Newsletter by JET alum and leading sake expert John Gauntner (aka “The Sake Guy”) is now available online.  In this issue:

• The Kome Khronicles
• moto-i in Minneapolis
• Did you Know?
• Sake Professional Course
• Sake Events
• Learn More About Sake eBooks
• Odds-n-Ends

For more information about John and about sake, go to his website at:  http://www.sake-world.com

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This just in from JETAA USA Country Reps Ryan Hart, Randall Crowder and Shreek Kurlekar:

Hello JETAAers,   On behalf of US-7 JETAA Chicago and JETAA USA, we are pleased to officially announce that the 2009 US National Conference will be held in Chicago over August 21-23. Emi Fukuda, President of US-7, and the rest of the Chicago chapter are working very hard to make the preparations for a wonderful conference. We all owe Chicago our gratitude and a big collective otsukare sama de gozaimasu on behalf of JETAA USA!

• Here’s the link for conference info on the JETAA Wiki site (Betcha didn’t know there was a JETAA Wiki site, deshou.):  http://jetaa.wikidot.com/2009-national-conference
• To read the latest version of the JETAA Chicago Newsletter put out by Editor Elizabeth Friedman (Shimane-ken, 2003-04), go here:  http://www.chicago.jetalumni.org/files/8fc7cc5351c8126b6bc4dd416e79939d-12.html
• Notably, Chicago is the home chapter of some great JET alum writers, including James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish, and poet James Shea, author of Star in the Eye.

Hiroshima-ken’s Gail Cetnar Meadows and Joshua Zimmerman have announced the launch of Wide Island View, their super-sweet online prefectural newsletter (though “newsletter” doesn’t really do justice to what they’ve put together).

Featured articles include:

• Diving with Sharks in Palau
• JetWit.com: Bringing the JET alumni community together
• Fukuyama Let’s Film Festival 2009
• Homemade Sanuki Udon Recipe
• A Night of Pachinko
• And much much more.

To put it in perspective, when A.J. the JetWit mascot goes to bed at night, this is what he dreams about. :-)

Keep up the good work, Hiroshimites (or whatever the proper term is)!

Perhaps not directly JET-relevant, but this NYTimes article about Zach Brooks and his blog Midtown Lunch (http://midtownlunch.com/) is a great model for how to use a blog to create your own job.

He used to write reviews of restaurants in NY.  Then he realized there was a different kind of need–shared by people in a concentrated area who tend to have disposable income–and he filled it, using just a camera and a blog.

The Spring 2009 Issue of JQ (JETAA NY Quarterly) Magazine is now available online at http://jetaany.org/magazine/.

O-tsuakare sama deshita to Editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for all his hard work in putting out another outstanding issue, this one featuring a one-on-one interview he did with Hikaru Utada in New York.

Tanjo!!  JQ’s Spring 2009 Utada Issue is Here!

• What do an Oscar-winner, a celebrated ambassador-turned-president, an international author summit and one of the best-selling singer-songwriters the Eastern Hemisphere’s ever seen have in common? That’s right! They all (I heard) turned down Conan O’Brien to appear in the new issue of JETAANY’s quarterly magazine JQ!
• Months in the making but well worth the wait, our new issue also features our newly elected officers, Sakura Matsuri at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a you-are-there piece on the Tokyo Marathon that you’re guaranteed to learn a thing or to from, and interviews with an Off-Broadway star, community honchos, noted authors and local JETs-made-good in both Japan and beyond.
• And how’s this for a main course: for the first time ever our feature interview was too long for the print issue, so we’ve posted the complete 13-page interview with Hikaru Utada at the handy link below. Whether you’re a Hikki-mania or just want to read what might be the most in-depth interview she’s ever done in English, we’ve got you covered.   It all happens in the new issue of JQ. Dozo and enjoy!

SPRING 2009 ISSUE – click to download PDF

(Click Here to Read the Complete Hikaru Utada Interview)

Editor: Justin Tedaldi – magazine@jetaany.org

SPRING 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Page 3…..Letter From the Editor / Letter From the Country Rep
• Page 4…..Nippon News Blotter / JQ National Photo Contest Winners
• Page 5…..Comings & Goings – New Officers and JLGC Changes
• Page 6…..JETAANY Author Showcase by Gina Anderson and Justin Tedaldi
• Page 6…..TAIKOPROJECT in Philly by Renay Loper
• Page 7…..Japan Society’s New President Motoatsu Sakurai by Justin Tedaldi
• Page 8…..JETlog featuring Ed Thompson (Chiba-shi CIR, 1994-97)
• Page 9…..STOMP New York’s Yako Miyamoto by Liz Wanic
• Page 10…Running the Tokyo Marathon by Stacy Smith
• Page 11…Nihonjin in NY – Featuring Noriko Furuhata of the CGJ by Rick Ambrosio
• Page 11…Sakura Matsuri at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
• Page 13…Hikaru Utada: The JQ Interview by Justin Tedaldi
• Page 14…Adren Hart’s ConnectForce Productions Jazzes Up NY by Matt Matysik
• Page 15…JETAActivity Photos
• Page 16…An Animated Talk with Japanamerica Author Roland Kelts By Larry Heiman
• Page 17…Destination Nippon: JNTO and Kintetsu International by Sylvia Pertzborn
• Page 18…New York-Tokyo Founder Taeko Baba by Marea Pariser
• Page 19…Film Review: Departures by Lyle Sylvander
• Page 19…Book Corner: Shutting Out the Sun by David Kowalsky
• Page 20…Shutting Out the Sun Author Michael Zielenziger Q&A by Kelly Nixon
• Page 21…Awaji Puppet Theater at Japan Society by Beata Wilk
• Page 23…Top 14 List / Life After the B.O.E. / Let’s Make Chirashi!
• Major domo to (from left) Anson Mau, Kayoko & Rob Werner, Marea Pariser, Louie Reyes, Joe Marucheck, Justin Tedaldi, Steven Horowitz, Laura Pollak, Stacy Smith, and (off camera) Nancy Ikehara and Peter Mallik for pitching in to mail out the Utada Issue.

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)

Don’t be such an Aso.

I should really fucking stop reading the articles on Japan Today. Simply because the comments crack me up. A majority of them are incredibly hateful, but the vapid self-righteous immaturity just makes me lose my shit.

So Aso, with superhuman speed, rescinded his statement about having kids as an “obligation” he has fulfilled. Smooth, Aso. Could you imagine Obama stumbling over that pitfall? There’d be rioting in the streets and then the Dixie Chicks would get involved…

Admittedly, using such terms to describe reproduction is a bit harsh, especially for a politician.  No woman wants to hear about her uterus placed under any guideline, especially by their supreme leader. This is not the Third Reich, after all. Politicians are icons and the populace look to icons as shining paragons who watch their mouths– or at least have their mouths watched for them. Bless Koizumi for being a politician divorced with scattered spawn– a hipster, long-haired, Elvis-loving fuck. I miss him and have a crush on him in the same way any normal person might yearn for Jean-Luc (Picard, that is.)

Sorry, I digress… Read More

Author Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90) who also serves as the Publicity Assistant for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, shared the following:

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents

SCBWI Tokyo Authors & Illustrators Networking Night

Time: Thursday, June 11, 2009, 7:00 pm onward
Place: The Pink Cow, Villa Moderuna B1, 1-3-18 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0002 (Tel. 03-3406-5597 www.thepinkcow.com)
Fee: Entry is free to SCBWI members and non-members.  Drinks and food are charged individually.
RSVP: RSVP to info@scbwi.jp by June 9.

This event will be in English and Japanese.

Come and join fellow writers, illustrators and publishing professionals at the fourth annual SCBWI Authors & Illustrators Networking Night at The Pink Cow in Shibuya. SCBWI members and non-members are welcome. Mix and mingle, talk shop or just get to know each other. Feel free to bring along copies of your books, portfolios and other materials to share. Great Pink Cow food and drinks available to order at the bar! Please see www.thepinkcow.com for a map.

For more info: info@scbwi.jp / www.scbwi.jp

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)

As I have mentioned before, I am not well traveled in Japan. Hence, I have very little basis for comparison as far as varieties go. Whether or not a specific food was particular to my region or even just my town remains a mystery to me. A prime example of this is 新潟お米。 Known by the fancy name of Koshi Hikari. Is it the most delicious rice in all of Japan? I could not tell you with any certainty. I do not know what rice tastes like in other parts of Japan. The rice was certainly of a noticeable quality and texture and I was always happy to eat it but filled with rapture? Not so much.

I’ll tell you what did fill me with rapture, though. マーポーめん

Has no one else heard of this? Really? No one thought to do this?

Just across the bridge and right next to National Highway Route 8 was a tiny pink ramen-ya called Kuishinbo. Read More

Geneva Marie (Niigata-ken, 2008-09) grew up all over the U.S. but if asked will tell you she’s from Minneapolis, MN .  JET Lag will recount Geneva’s experiences and thoughts as she prepares to leave the comfortable womb of her JET life and figure out her next move.

So you’re going to die.

I mean, HOME…So you’re going home!

I decided. I did it. I made that final, definitive decision to resign from the JET program as of this coming July. Yikes!

After a winter of deliberating whether or not another year in my isolated country town would be a good move for me, I chose carefully between a sure and steady means of employment with little hassle as far as re-contracting goes and the “mystery box” of future uncertainty: returning to the shaky job market in the US.

I can’t help but wish that after I had signed my final re-contracting papers with a “nay” back in February that I would have been given a pamphlet that said “So you’re going home…” -something like that scene in The Simpsons episode, One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish, in which Homer is handed a pamphlet stating “So you’re going to to die…”after eating some poisonous fugu. I mean, at least he had some instructions…

(What the heck am I going to do NOW?) Read More

Are you a freelance translator or writer?  Do you while away the days in solitary confinement while thinking it might be interesting to meet like minds, have someone to turn around and confirm a sentence with, or just add some more beating hearts to the room?

If so, then get in touch if you’re interested in being a part of the first ever JET alum co-working group in NYC.  The goal behind this is to create a community of people who can share space, support, information, and experience. Timing could be every day, once a week or even once a month. It will depend on the level of response and interest.

There’s a nice mention of JetWit in a recent post on The Wide Island View–The JET Programme Newsletter of Hiroshima Prefecture.  (www.wideislandview.com)  Glad to see that word awareness of JetWit is on the rise among current JETs.  Especially since it’s intended to be a helpful resource with the transition, and due to Japanese privacy laws it’s relatively difficult to get contact information to reach out to current JETs.

JetWit is also thrilled to find out that such a beautiful website of a prefectural newsletter even exists.  It’s definitely worth a visit for the articles as well as for the easy-on-the-eyes layout.  And they even pay tribute to the past, posting links to the PDF versions of newsletters past, before everything moved to the web.

By the way, if there are any other prefectural newsletter websites out there, please contact JetWit and let us know so we can post links to you guys.

“Can’t find a full-time writing job?  Join the swelling ranks of freelancers” – http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=130597

A good article from Medill Reports (a publication by students at the Medill School for Journalism at Northwestern University) that cites the somewhat involuntary trend of more and more writers going freelance (and also includes a quote from my brother Greg in his capacity as the Director of Membership Services at mediabistro).

The article’s perspective merges nicely with the JetWit theme of helping freelancers in the JET alum community and also conveying to everyone in the JET alum community that the era of full-time jobs (say nothing of lifetime employment) is changing–particularly in the writing field, but also increasingly in other fields–as more and more people essentially deconstruct their jobs and create new ones for themselves, whether out of necessity or foresight.

There ‘n Back Again shares the cultural re-adjustment reflections of Brendan Share (Niigata-shi 2006-07), the program director for Japan America Learning Centerhttp://www.japanamericacenter.com. in Scarsdale, NY.  In addition to writing, Brendan also enjoys depicting idioms in cartoon format which can be seen at

So I’m at work this morning flipping through heaps of student lesson plans when a shrieking cat masquerading as my colleague’s voice leaps at me from the front office.  After pulling out my trusty Japanese to English dictionary I was able to paste together an interesting semblance of terms, the majority of which were not that flowery in retrospect.  It panned out as follows:

“Who forgot to order **** toner for the **** copy machine??!!”

しまった。。

Seriously, she’s sweet, but the cursing…

Anyway, toner tends to fall by the wayside when the task of getting 45 kids to pass the STEP Eiken test in June looms overhead.  Even still I blinked and found myself cast back into the shadowy halls of Maki Nishi Junior High School.  I started to get the feeling that I had not learned some valuable lesson…

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Cristy Burne (Hyogo-ken, Kawanishi-shi, 1998-2000), author of the soon-to-be-released children’s book Takeshita Demons, has a really nice interview on her blog with Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90), who lives in Japan and is the editor of LiteraryMama as well as the author of books such as Losing Kei and Call Me Okaasan:  Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (which recently won several prizes in the 2009 Indie Book Awards including the Grand Prize for non-fiction overall).

(For all you translators out there lookng for an interesting project, you may notice Suzanne’s comment that none of her books have been translated into Japanese yet.  Perhaps a future JET alum collaboration to come?)

Go here for the full interview:  http://cristyburne.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/american-writer-in-japan-suzanne-kamata-

on-diversity-writing-and-winning-the-indie-book-awards/

• Also, another JET alum writer, Liz Sheffield (Hokkaio-ken, Sapporo-shi, 1993-95), has an interview with Suzanne about the book on her blog motherlogue.wordpress.com.

• To learn more about Suzanne you can visit her website at http://www.suzannekamata.com or her blog at http://gaijinmama.wordpress.com (RSS feed here).

• Read an interview with Suzanne Kamata on children’s books and diversity by the blog Kabiliana.

• Go to the Authors/Books section of the JetWit Library to see a complete list of JET alum authors (at least to JetWit’s knowledge).

Great interview with James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish, by Elizabeth Bird of the School Library Journal.  JET-riffic bonus:  They use Zorgamazoo author Rob Weston’s (Nara-ken, 2002-04) blurb in the opening paragraph of the interview, and they’ve included the video clip of James from the JET Alumni Author Showcase.)

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1160044516.html

According to a news item on the Anime News Network (which was first reported by Publishers Weekly journalist Kai-Ming Cha in her personal blog), Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, will host a talk with Hayao Miyazaki (director of Spirited Away among other animated films) on July 25 in Berekely, CA.  Miyazaki will be making a rare U.S. appearance to receive the second annual Berkeley Japan Prize for lifetime achievement, presented by the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

This is familiar territory for Roland, who hosted a talk with novelist Haruki Murakami last October when Murakami was presented with the first Berekely Japan award.

JET alum John Gauntner (a/k/a “The Sake Guy”) has just announced the publication of his new e-book, Sake’s Hidden Stories:  The Personalities, Philosophies & Tricks of the Trade Behind the Brew.

From John’s Sake World Newsletter:

Sake’s Hidden Stories will give you a view to what goes on in the sake industry behind the brew we all love so much. The book goes into stories much deeper than the information we most commonly encounter; way beyond simply what ginjo-shu is, what junmai-shu is, or what the role of koji is. You will learn about the personalities behind the sake. You will see in just how much detail some brewers make sake, and how each is different in where importance is placed. And most significantly, something that has not been written about in any book on sake in English, you will meet more than a dozen brewers, and encounter their personalities. You’ll see what makes them tick, what drives them in their work, and how their histories and idiosyncrasies affect the sake they brew.

John, by the way, was the featured speaker in last night’s Annual Sake Tasting and Lecture at Japan Society in New York.

For all the journalists and aspiring journalists out there, and heck, for all the writers too, Greg from TheDigitalists.com addresses a relevant question in the larger quest to figure out how newspapers are going to make money on the internet:  What would micropayments mean for journalists?

In his latest Daily Yomiuri column, “Soft Power/Hard Truths,” Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, sits down with “Redline” director Takeshi Koike to discuss his latest work and delve further into the heart of manga and anime.

JetWit Blog Beat by Crystal Wong (Iwate-ken, 2002-04) is a recurring item featuring posts from the blogs of various JET alumni.  Crystal is a formerEnglish-language writer for Kyodo News. She now works as a media planner in Chelsea and sorely misses all her favorite midtown ramen joints.

We’re well into spring, the flowers and trees are blossoming and likewise the JET blogosphere is busier than ever! Check it:

We have an awesome new addition to the blog roll, from JET alum Toby Weymiller, currently residing in lovely Hokkaido with his wife Maiko and cat Bomber. He has some amazing photos up of his new house to be, and is also organizing workshops around each phase of the house build. Check it out if you’re lucky enough to be in the neighborhood.

Writer Kelly Luce (Kawasaki, 2002-2003) is another recent addition to the blogroll. Follow her literary adventures here.

Author Suzanne Kamata, (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90) shares news of her winning weekend in Tokyo, where she found out that both her books, Call Me Okaasan and Losing Kei were nominees in the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards  right on the heels of the launch party for her new book.

Also, if you’re thinking ahead to August, Robert Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-2004) will be at the Kidspark Festival in Kitchener, Ontario in August.

We just did the third JETAA NY Learning to Blog Workshop on Tuesday night, again at the Cosi cafe on 31st & Park Ave. and again it was successful and a lot of fun.

JET alum attendees included a financial journalist, a music producer, an editor in the publishing world, a junior high school art teacher, and a scholarship program director.  We even had a cameo from my younger brother Greg, who has his own blog called TheDigitialists.com that I occasionally post from on JetWit.

By 8:00 p.m., everyone had their own blog and knew things like:

• the difference between Wordpress, Blogspot, Blogger and Typepad
• the difference between a post and a page
• how to change themes
• how to add widgets, like RSS feeds
• what an RSS feed is and how to take advantage of it
• how to create pages and sub-pages

and lots of other useful things for getting their blogs set up for career development and other purposes.

Adren Hart, the guy behind JETAA Ongaku Connection, e-mailed afterwards to say:

I feel like I have a better sense of the basics of Wordpress and would be able to create and manage my own blog. I found the background info on the differences between WP and Blogspot, etc. quite useful as well as how to use widgets for specific tasks (e.g., embedding rss feeds from other sites).

Stay tuned for future workshop dates.  If interested, e-mail me at jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.

Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall.  To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.wordpress.com.

Here’s the latest from JET alum Michael Auslin, a professor of Japanese history and politics and currently the Director of Japanese Studies for the American Enterprise Institute in D.C.

• The Rise of China: Essays on the Future Competition – Edited by Gary J. Schmitt, with contributions from Michael Auslin, Dan Blumenthal, Ellen Bork, Nicholas Eberstadt, Robert Kagan, Schmitt, and Ashley J. Tellis; April 2009;  Contributors to this volume challenge the prevailing benign view of China’s rise and analyze what the United States and its allies might do in the arenas of foreign and defense affairs to meet the challenges posed by China’s increased political, economic, and military power.

• Obama’s Hundred-Day Scorecard on Asia Policy

Japan
Grade: B

One step forward, two steps back. Secretary Clinton’s trip to Japan as the first stop on her diplomatic voyage was an important symbolic gesture to reassure Tokyo that Washington still values it as its key Asian ally and a proactive attempt to reengage Japan. However, the U.S. failure to make clear its commitment to defending Japanese territory prior to North Korea’s missile launch, compounded by its inability or unwillingness to secure a new resolution punishing Pyongyang’s provocation–the United States ultimately codrafted a presidential statement with the Chinese–left Japan feeling isolated. Furthermore, Tokyo and Washington face potentially troublesome days ahead fulfilling long-standing alliance agreements to restructure forces. Symbolic gestures will be no substitute for a firm working relationship built on shared interests.

–Michael Auslin

Thanks to JET Liason Noriko Furuhata and JET alum Eric Campbell, both of whom work at the Consulate General of Japan in New York, for sharing the link to this Japan Times article about JET alum John Gauntner who has established himself as the leading non-Japanese sake expert in the world.  And this on the heels of a recent JETAA NY sake tasting event at Bao Noodles, a restaurant owned by JET alum and sake sommelier Chris Johnson (Oita-ken, 1992-95).

Great stuff.  Then again, is anyone really that surprised that JET alums would know sake so well? :-)

For more info, here are links to:

• the Japan Times article: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090404a1.html
• John’s website:  http://www.sake-world.com/ (filled with lots of good stuff)
  
• The five books he’s written on sake:  http://www.sake-world.com/html/books.html (Yet another published JET alum author!)
• His Nihonshu columns that he wrote for the Japan Times for 8 years:  http://www.sake-world.com/html/jt-archives.html

Perhaps going forward it’s time for JetWit to start keeping its eyes peeled for JET alum shouju sommeliers.

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)

I would pay a ton of money to be a Japanese-comprehending fly on the wall of a Glico marketing conference. Summer approaches and Japan requires a new gum.

Eureka! I’ve got it! Monkey gum!

No one’s gonna buy monkey gum, idiot.

I tell you some folk can’t resist the idea of monkey gum! It’ll be a sensation! The people will embrace it by storm!

3 people will embrace it by storm–the guy in the strait jacket and the two men in white chasing him with a net.

You just don’t see my vision, man!

Ok. What exactly does monkey gum taste like?

I believe we may have found an appropriate vehicle for our as yet unlaunched gobo-yuzu series.

In what blanking universe does gobo OR yuzu have anything whatsoever to do with primates?

Who fucking cares??? It’s monkey blast! Simmianrific! Sarutastic! My mojo’s on the yen, baby! Tart it up, get Kamenashi in a chimp suit to whore it out and it’ll sell like スルメ in a Nursing Home!

The ironic thing is, ladies and gents? It likely will. In fact, it might even launch an American remake.

Such a fickle lot the Japanese are. Just when I’d start developing a bitching jones for キャラメル 味 Kit-Kats, I’d find them cruelly yanked come Winter and Read More

Professional translator Joel Dechant (CIR Kagoshima-ken, 2001-04) is now guest blogging for Fukuoka Now

Before moving my humble abode to the heart of Hakata, I had the esteemed pleasure of living in Beppu—the hot spring capital of the world—for 3 years. I worked at a university, did some volunteer guided tours and even got on TV several times  One of my most memorable odysseys in Spa Land was taking my son all over the city in a quest to become Hot Spring Masters.

Hot Spring Master?

Yes, I can proudly say that I am a Hot Spring Master. Here’s how it works. You go to the tourism bureau or train station and pay 50 yen for a hot spring passport, the Spaport. Then, you pick up a copy of the Onsenbon (Hot Spring Book) which lists all of the participating hot springs and comes chock full of coupons. After enjoying each hot spring (in whatever order you choose), you show your Spaport to the onsen staff and get it stamped. Every 8 hot springs, you advance to the next level, and you have the option of paying 500 yen to the tourism bureau to get a nifty certificate and colored towel, a la the different colored belts in karate. Once you reach 88 hot springs, you pay the final fee of 1500 yen to get the granddaddy of all towels, the black and gold Hot Spring Master towel. You get another cool certificate, and your photo goes on the Wall of Fame at Hyotan Onsen. Then you can tell everyone, “You know what? I’m a Hot Spring Master!” It makes for great party conversation, and it’s a great way to get to know Beppu.

So what does this have to do with Fukuoka?

Continue reading “Masters of the Noodleverse” at the FukuokaNOW blog!

For the benefit of all the JET alum journalists, aspiring journalists and writers of all stripes out in the JET-osphere, I thought I’d share a recent post from my bookworm brother Greg, who works in online marketing and is in the process of digesting the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s extensive report:

Good overview from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. I’m still working through the complete report (which apparently tops out at 700 pages), so for now I’ll just focus on some of the major trends they identify:

The growing public debate over how to finance the news industry may well be focusing on the wrong remedies while other ideas go largely unexplored.

Forget about micropayments and changing to non-profit status. And forget about a single revenue source being the magic bullet that will save the news business. Most likely, it will take a combination of new ideas, including “online retail malls” and “subscription-based niche products for elite professional audiences.” That last point is an important one; while it’s nearly impossible to get an audience to start paying for a service they’ve been receiving for free, there are always opportunities to upsell premium offerings to segments of your audience.

Power is shifting to the individual journalist and away, by degrees, from journalistic institutions.

This sounds like a good thing for journalists, but as Spider-man would say, with greater power comes greater responsibility; specifically, the responsibilities journalists used to depend on organizations to take care of such as editing, marketing and publicity.

On the Web, news organizations are focusing somewhat less on bringing audiences in and more on pushing content out.

This is another trend that’s potentially liberating, but also scary. When publishers bring users to their content, they also control the options for monetizing it. Even if (…continue reading)

Happy Okaasan’s Day from JetWit to all the JET alum moms, moms of JET alums and homestay moms too!

On the theme of JET alums and moms, you may want to get your mom a copy of author Suzanne Kamata’s (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90) new book — Call Me Okaasan:  Adventures in Multicultural Mothering, a collection of essays from 20 mothers around the world.

For some nice background on Suzanne, take a look at writer (and mother) Liz Sheffield’s (Hokkaio-ken, Sapporo-shi, 1993-95) interview with Suzanne about the book on Liz’s blog motherlogue.wordpress.com.

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)

Loving Japanese music from afar is hard.

If it sucks this bad in the red, white, and blue I can only imagine what my poor J-music loving kindred in Yugoslavia must be enduring. Living in Japan was my oyster! For years I had to pay massive amounts every time Shiina coughed out a single or assisted someone else in coughing one out (I am dedicated, if broke…) In addition, much of the Japanese music that gets any play whatsoever on these shores doesn’t usually cater to my taste. Sure, I love Cibo Matto and Shonen Knife but they are practically unheard of in Nippon. That’s because by now they’ve worked themselves so firmly into the American indie diaspora, they are never to return. They didn’t so much make it over there, they left and began over here.

And truly no offense? But PuffyAmiYumi can kiss my ass. No, no, I don’t hate them? But I’m also not 12, thank you. Read More