In a rather brilliantly creative move, James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of the acclaimed young adult novel The Order of Odd-Fish, has developed a classroom guide for the novel which is intended to be used by school teachers in class with their students.
In James’ own words:
Some schools have put The Order of Odd-Fish on their reading lists. That’s great!
So I’ve put together a classroom guide for Odd-Fish. It’s 44 pages of discussion questions, lesson plans, and projects. It also features Odd-Fish fan art by enthusiastic readers—art that was featured in our Odd-Fish gallery show in Chicago in April 2010.
This curriculum does the strangeness of the book justice, I think. Aside from the chapter-by-chapter worksheets, there are also activities such as inventing your own Odd-Fish specialty, writing your own articles for the Eldritch Snitch, researching Japanese rituals that inspired the Odd-Fish festivals, baking avant-garde pies, creating urk-ack music, and inventing one’s own Eldritch City mythologies.
It’s also gateway to other fields of study. The knights of the Odd-Fish are, after all, scholars as well as warriors. This curriculum touches on topics as disparate as cockroach anatomy, Shinto and Hindu mythology, the KGB, Wikipedia, foppery, real-life historical eccentrics, and more.
Download the guide for free here. And of course, I always enjoy visiting schools, either in person or by Skype.
Go pester your teachers now! I’m doing this for you, people!
And in JetWit’s opinion, while the novel is in the young adult category, it’s also one of the funniest books you’ll ever read as an adult. To read more JetWit posts about James, click here. And watch the below video to see James doing an extremely dramatic reading from the book at last year’s JET Alumni Author Showcase in New York:
There’s a nice review of JET alum Lars Martinson’s graphic novel Tonoharu: Part 1 on the BoingBoing site written by Mark Frauenfelder titled “Tonoharu: Excellent graphic novel about an English teacher in Japan.” And according to Lars’ blog,
“Thanks to Mark Frauenfelder’s writeup about Tonoharu: Part One on Boing Boing, the book has made it into Amazon.com’s Top Ten Bestselling Graphic Novels today!”
Here’s the link to the review: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/27/tonoharu-excellent-g.html
Here’s a quote from the review:
“Published in 2008, and a winner of the prestigious Xeric Award, Tonoharu is a story of isolation, frustration, and mystery, with just the right amount of black humor to keep it from being depressing.”
For fans awaiting the next installment, Tonoharu: Part 2 is due out in December.
Aaron Woolfolk (Kochi-ken, 1991-93)
Aaron Woolfolk (Kochi-ken, 1991-93), director and writer of the Kochi-based film, “The Harimaya Bridge,” recently won a director’s award at the 2010 Pan African Film Festival.
Click the link below to read the article and learn more about Aaron and his acclaimed film.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/12/18655970.php
JET ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK (JETAA NY)
with support from the Consulate General of Japan in New York
Presents
A Special Play Reading of critically acclaimed Off Broadway Play
SAKE WITH THE HAIKU GEISHA
Graphic by JET alum Amber Liang
The JET Alumni Association of New York is pleased to present a limited one-night reading of the critically acclaimed play “Sake with the Haiku Geisha,” written by JET alumnus and playwright, Randall David Cook (Fukui-ken, 1991-93).
Date: Friday, August 13
Start time: 8:30 p.m.
Location: Tinker Auditorium (between Park & Madison Aves.) 22 E 60th St, New York, NY 10065, (212) 355-6100
Cost:
- $5 in advance ($10 at the door) for JET alumni
- $10 in advance ($15 at the door) for Friends of JET
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS ON-LINE VIA PAYPAL
“Sake with the Haiku Geisha” premiered Off-Broadway in 2006 and was based on the collective experiences of three JETs who were placed in Fukui-ken from 1991-1993: an American from South Carolina, a Canadian from Nova Scotia and an English woman from Devon. The structure of the play is inspired by the classic Noh play: an opening ceremony, five acts (each of which uses a different speaker and a spirit or ghost), and a closing ceremony. The show starts on at a farewell party for the visiting JETS, and first three acts are told from the perspective of the visiting JETs, and then the tables turn, and the final two acts are told from the perspective of two Japanese: the supervisor of the Canadian JET, and the geisha’s story, which closes out the play.
The first act, “Sushi and Scones” was a finalist in five major festivals in the USA and England, won the “Best Play” award at the Southeastern Playwrights Conference and was taped and broadcast by as a BBC radio play in late 2005. See a full review of the play in the New York Times.
This event is being organized in cooperation with the Consulate General of Japan in New York.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. As another example of JET ROI, he is one of at least four former JETS to have been on the newspaper’s staff in recent years. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Recently he interviewed two members of the cast of “The Last Airbender” movie during their promotional visit to Tokyo, asking them for their views on the “racebending” controversy surrounding their film. He also covered an insect show now running at a Tokyo museum, reviewed the manga “Otomen,” and weighed in on a couple of other movies now playing in Japan. Here are some excerpts:
“Last Airbender”
In the United States, some fans of the anime-style cartoon on which the movie is based have protested against the casting of Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, who are white, in roles the fans saw as Asian.
Asked to comment on that, Rathbone said: “I originally was a finalist for Prince Zuko [a Fire Nation role that went to Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel]. Almost a year later, I was brought back in for the character of Sokka…I think what they were really looking for was the qualities that people represent, not so much focusing on race…All these characters [in the cartoon] have so many different features, you can’t really say that they are one race…It’s a shame that people really focus on the race thing and they don’t understand that it’s a story for everyone.”
“And there are over 120 different types of people in the film,” Peltz added.
“In terms of a big-budget film, it’s the most ethnically diverse cast there’s ever been,” Rathbone agreed.
Read the rest of the interview here.
“Insects festival”
Open your window on a hot summer day and you may hear a sound that caught the ear of haiku poet Matsuo Basho in the 17th century: the voices of cicadas, seeping into the rocks. Of course, Japan today is a lot more urbanized than it was in Basho’s time, and cicadas are more likely to sing against a background of asphalt and cement. Yet year after year, the buzzing bugs never fail to show up, even in the heart of Tokyo.
Visitors to Insects Festival, an exhibition now running at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku, Tokyo, are reminded of such persistence right away with a display of six-legged critters that live in three different Tokyo zones: mountains, fields and downtown areas.
While city-dwellers often resent sharing space with the likes of cockroaches and ants, the emphasis of this show is on seasonal outdoor insects whose diverse shapes, bright colors and occasional songs actually enhance city life…
Read the rest of the article here, or visit the exhibition’s site here.
“Otomen”
Anyone writing a graduate thesis on the presentation of gender in Japanese pop culture will find abundant material in the manga series Otomen. Readers looking for laughs will also find what they seek in Otomen, but rather less abundantly.
The main characters are a trio of high school students, with the focus on Asuka (a boy who has a name more common for girls), who is in love with Ryo (a girl who has a name more common for boys). Their would-be romance is complicated by the constant presence of their friend Juta, who tries to play cupid, but is more often a third wheel.
Asuka is the captain of the school kendo team, and is admired by everyone as a “real man.” But he is secretly an “otomen,” a boy who is into girly things, such as cute stuffed animals and delicate pastries. He is at least as skilled at cooking and sewing as he is at sports, but he keeps that side of himself hidden. Ryo is Asuka’s mirror image in that she has been raised by her socially inept father to follow in his footsteps as a martial arts champion, but she strives to put up a feminine front at school. Juta has a secret, too, as he is actually a best-selling manga artist who is using the couple as a model for his stories…
Also playing…
You can read Tom’s review of “Inception” here, and his review of “Zombieland” here.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Recently he reviewed movies, “Crazy Heart” and “Brothers.” He found poetry in both of them. Here are some excerpts:
“Crazy Heart”
Country music singer-songwriter Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, sweats like a pig, and urinates into a plastic jug while driving from town to town. As I watched him perform under hot lights at a variety of small and unglamorous venues in the movie Crazy Heart, I could almost smell him. He didn’t smell very nice.
…
On the bright side, Bad’s personal problems are grist for the mill. One of his most popular songs looks back on a dissipated life with the refrain, “Funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’/for a little while.”
Anyone who doubts that country music is the primary home of modern American poetry should meditate on that line. “Funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’” is alliterative and catchy, but also trenchant. And Bad has flown and fallen quite a way…
Read the rest of the review here.
“Brothers”
In William Shakespeare’s play about his life, King Richard II is forced to surrender his crown to his usurper cousin Henry IV. In doing so, Richard compares himself and Henry to two buckets in a well: “The emptier ever dancing in the air,/The other down, unseen and full of water:/That bucket down and full of tears am I,/Drinking my griefs while you mount up on high.”
The title characters in Brothers, although they dwell in an American suburb rather than an English castle, are not unlike the tragic royal cousins.
Sam (Tobey Maguire) is an upstanding husband, father and U.S. marine who is about to be separated from his family for a tour of duty in Afghanistan. On the eve of Sam’s departure, his surly brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), a ne’er-do-well with a drinking problem, rejoins the extended family after a stint in prison…
Read the rest of the review here.
Laura Popp (Mie-ken, 2009-Present) is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright/film maker. Her short work includes a short story titled “In theShadow Realm” and a documentary she made in Malawi. To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, go to her blog at laurajanepopp.blogspot.com.
Here is a practical list of organizations, market guides, and networking opportunities for jump starting your writing career. My apologies that it is heavy on the America and Speculative Fiction side, but that is who I am and what I write, so that is what I know best. But hopefully everyone can find something useful from this list:
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Laura Popp (Mie-ken, 2009-Present) is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright/film maker. Her short work includes a short story titled “In theShadow Realm” and a documentary she made in Malawi. To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, go to her blog at laurajanepopp.blogspot.com. (And check out the Authors/Books section of the JetWit Library for a list of more writers in the JET-o-sphere.)
Tired of submitting queries to agents and editors and simply getting form rejection letters or worse, NO RESPONSE? Wondering if they`re even bothering to read your stuff? Frustrated by wanting to submit to publishing houses that only receive submissions from agents and “referred” writers? Consider meeting publishers and agents at a conference!
Recently I returned from a writers` conference in my home in Oklahoma and came back with some great success stories to tell. Even better than the wonderful presentations on writing, polishing and marketing were the opportunities for networking and industry contacts. One literary agent asked me for the first fifty pages of my middle grade novel Dargon, another agent requested a proposal for my young adult novel Treasure Traitor, and a publisher from Simon and Shuster asked to see the full manuscripts of BOTH. A travel publisher also requested a proposal for a non-fiction travel-essay book on Japan, and best of all, a Christian magazine publisher accepted one of my stories on the spot! Of course, most of these are just birds in the bush, if you will, but they are certainly a good start.
So how did you do it? you may be wondering. Well, let me tell you…
Do your homework
Many conferences post information about editors and agents who will be attending in advance. Research them and pick the ones that look like they may be interested in your completed fiction projects or non-fiction ideas. Note that most agents and publishers will ONLY consider finished fiction works and proposals for non-fiction articles and books.
Try to make an appointment
If you have the option to make an appointment, Read More
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
He recently interviewed Shane Acker, director of the animated film “9” and Richard Kelly, who most recently directed “The Box,” a thriller starring Cameron Diaz. He also reviewed the manga “Hot Gimmick.” Here are some excerpts:
Shane Acker
[The characters in the movie are all animated dolls with numbers instead of names.] A different personality aspect is dominant in each one. Rigid orthodoxy is represented by leader 1 (voiced by Christopher Plummer), creativity by inventor 2 (Martin Landau), bravery by warrior 7 (Jennifer Connelly) and so on. Elijah Wood does the voice of 9, the truth-seeker of the group, and John C. Reilly voices his timid friend, 5…
The most amusing character is 8 (Fred Tatasciore), who embodies sheer physicality. In one scene, he achieves a moment of strange bliss by stroking his head with a large magnet, an activity that Acker called “degaussing himself.”
“In film school, especially in the days of video, if you had a videotape and you wanted to just wipe it clean, there’s a degaussing machine, which is basically like a supermagnet, and you would wave the videotape over the degausser and it would just take off all the footage that’s on there,” Acker explained. “So that’s the kind of idea, he’s sort of wiping his memory banks. You realize why he’s so dumb.”
Richard Kelly
Imagine that a mysterious stranger has just handed you a wooden box with a red button on top. He explains, rather convincingly, that if you push the button two things will happen: Someone whom you don’t know will die, and you will receive a payment of 1 million dollars…
In writer-director Richard Kelly’s movie The Box, based on a short story by Richard Matheson, the stranger’s name is Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), and he is conducting a high-stakes social experiment by visiting the homes of middle-class American couples and offering them the choice of pushing the button or not.
“Tonally this movie crosses a lot of genres,” Kelly, who previously wrote and directed Donnie Darko (2001) and Southland Tales (2006), told The Daily Yomiuri in a recent phone interview. “It’s a science fiction film, it’s a domestic melodrama, it’s a suspense film, there’s elements of horror in it, and there’s also some black comedy inherent…The conceit of pushing this button on this contraption and someone you don’t know dying is very mischievous. Anyone who would build this contraption and make this offer is smirking when they do it. And Matheson was smirking, I’m sure, when he wrote this short story.”
…[The story is set in the 1970s because] the mysterious stranger is a character type whose day has passed, according to Kelly. “When I set out to write this screenplay, I initially was trying to figure out how to make it work present-day, but when you introduce modern technology and the Internet, social networking sites, Google maps, satellite maps, reality TV, just our media-saturated world that we live in…there is no such thing as a real stranger anymore. Everyone can be found on the Internet. You can find anyone’s house, you can go onto a satellite map with a 360-degree view.”
“Hot Gimmick”
[In this manga, a high school girl’s seriously unhealthy relationships with her would-be boyfriends is presented as perfectly normal.]
For example, the day after one of her suitors is unable to reach her by phone (for reasons that are no one’s fault), he slaps her across the face so hard that bystanders rush to offer first aid. But Hatsumi chases after him to make the following speech, which he receives in stony silence: “I’m sorry. For being so clueless. For…never being able to get your calls…I’m so sorry. I’m really sorry. For not understanding how you feel about me. I’m sorry.”
Later, when one of the boys proposes to her, she thinks, “Maybe if we got married, he’d finally be nice to me.”
She seems unaware of some basic principles of healthy human interaction, such as this simple standard: If a friend arranges for you to be gang-raped, that person is not really your friend.
You may have seen his face on The Colbert Report or his byline in The New York Times, but the bestseller Bruce Feiler got his start after college in JET. His first publication, though, was spurred by his experience in Japan as a JET teacher in the inaka: Learning to Bow: An American Teacher in a Japanese School in 1991.
Many successful titles and even a PBS miniseries later, Feiler is back with another personal account on his experience after he was diagnosed with cancer. The young father of two daughters set off to write to them with the advice of six guiding men in his life. The group of his college roommates and childhood friends, penned “The Council of Dads,” provide the wisdom that he seeks for himself and his family. The rest of his personal battle with chemo therapy and lingering fears for his family unfold in his latest book: The Council of Dads – My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me.
As an early reviewer from United’s Hemispheres Inflight Magazine noted: “The book’s power comes in part from Feiler’s willingness to delve into emotions—including feelings of tenderness not only for our children and spouses but between male friends—that aren’t often spoken of with such candor.” And it’s not surprising, because for much of his career as a writer, he has lead readers through both the clamor of a JET classroom and the Biblical journey through the steps of Abraham.
Check out his extensive speaking event schedule for May and June. He’ll be hitting bookstores and cafes in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in two months!
Follow him on Twitter or Facebook, and here’s a trailer for his book.
An Upstate company is in search of someone who could help out part time translating documents from Japanese to English. The company is partially owned by a Japanese company. The company suggests a student or someone who lives in the area as an ideal candidate.
If you are interested or knows of someone that is capable, contact me for details.
Daniel Stone
danone19(AT)gmail.com
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
His two latest articles are movie reviews, one of “The Wolfman,” and one that discusses “Moon” and “Shutter Island” together. Here are some excerpts:
THE WOLFMAN
In most werewolf movies nowadays, it is standard to show a person’s nose and jaw elongating into a snaggletoothed lupine muzzle when they transform from human to wolf. [Makeup artist Rick] Baker has done that before, but in this film he pays homage to Lon Chaney Jr.’s furry but still humanoid look in the 1941 film The Wolf Man, on which the new film is based. Then and now, the title monster has modest fangs, a woolly forehead, a beard that goes up to his eyes and a nose that darkens at the tip.
Our first glimpse of Baker’s version of this classic face is literally over in a flash, as we see it illuminated by a pistol shot during a nocturnal battle. (In case you missed it the first time, the scene repeats a moment later, with a larger gun.) Later scenes reveal the monster’s face at greater length.
MOON and SHUTTER ISLAND
Teddy Daniels and Sam Bell are men who love their wives. They are also the respective protagonists of two new movies, Shutter Island and Moon, that take us far enough inside the characters’ heads to see each man passionately embracing his wife in a dream.
But when Teddy awakes, he finds himself trapped on his movie’s titular island, unhappily remembering that his wife has been dead for years. And when Sam awakes, he finds himself trapped on his movie’s titular heavenly body, unhappily remembering that his wife is on Earth, and he has not seen her for many months.
Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a U.S. marshall investigating the disappearance of an inmate from a prison hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, Mass., in the 1950s. Sam (Sam Rockwell) is the solitary human staffer of a mining facility on the dark side of the moon, possibly in the 2050s.
The settings are very different, but both are ominous, isolated places in which intense psychological drama will unfold. In both movies, the protagonists have high-stakes confrontations with themselves, and with the powers that be.
Read the rest of the review here. The review is deliberately spoiler-free, but you can read Tom’s further comments about the endings of “Moon” here and “Shutter Island” here.
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Laura is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright/film maker.
Namaskaram! Greetings from India! Ever consider volunteering abroad? With all our JET paid vacation time, there`s lots of opportunities. It looks great on your resume, and it’s a sure way to give you inspiration for your writing! Why stick to the touristy spots you can read about? You can get a feel for “the real thing” by helping out in the rural villages and slums, and see a part of the world you might never see otherwise.
I definitely just got a feel for the “real India” after spending ten days in Andhra Pradesh building houses and teaching the children of Dalits (untouchables) with five other English teachers through Longitude International. What an amazing experience! The moment we entered Chuvuru village we were greeted by drums and dancing. The people welcomed us into their homes and there seemed no end to the smiles, laughter, and chai tea!
We spent our mornings helping build new cement houses that would stand the tempest of the fall monsoons, and our evenings teaching and playing with the children. In the beginning they were shy and called me “madam,” but within a few hours they completely opened up and called me “sister.” “Sister, one more song, one more photo, one more dance!” Boy, did they love to dance! We taught them the hokey pokey, the Macarena, head-shoulders-knees-and-toes, everything we could think of, and in return they showed us their “Bollywood moves.” They also loved my fife and recorder. Whenever I brought them out, they instantly began shouting requests.
During a game of “let`s travel,” one of the kids asked me, “Your village?” I didn`t know how to respond. Temple, Texas, where I was born? Owasso or Tulsa Oklahoma where I was raised and went to school? Nabari, Japan, where I live now? Malawi, Africa, where I left a huge part of my heart with the AIDS orphans? Or right there in Chuvuru where I felt so at home?
It was a bit of an identity crisis. I asked myself if I really “belong” anywhere. For weeks I`ve been nervous about my upcoming visit back to the States and wondering if it has “changed,” or more importantly, if I`ve changed. Will I feel “at home” in the place my friends and family consider to be my “home?”
After puzzling over it I came to a rather relieving, though somewhat clichéd conclusion. The world is my village. Perhaps that sounds cheesy, but I really think so. Not that I would be welcome let alone feel comfortable anywhere in the world, but I think wherever I do go where there are welcoming hearts and warm smiles, that place will be my home, my village for as long as I am there. And the villagers of India really are so welcoming, so loving that you feel like one of them from the very beginning. There is no insider/outsider. Only friend and family.
Of course, the trip wasn`t all fuzzy feelings. It was very difficult to see how some of the people suffered. Thirty years ago in a nearby village, the government gave the Dalits land to farm, but are now taking it back. This forces the villagers to migrate long distances through dangerous roads or hire themselves out as domestic servants where they are physically and sexually abused. Disease is still a major problem, claiming many lives.
So a lot of people have asked me, why did you bother going to India? There`s not much you can do to help anyway; why not just send money? Sending money is great, but if I`m traveling anyway, I might as well make a difference as I do and experience the “real world.” I can already tell you, those kids and that place are already showing up in my fiction!
We were the first volunteer group to visit Chuvuru, but this is only the beginning of their brighter future. Hopefully many more teams will come to help build and teach, continuing the cause of awareness, human rights, and global friendship. Who knows, maybe you`re next? If you`re interested in learning more about longitude and their work, you can visit their website at http://www.golongitude.org/.
For more details, pictures, and videos about Laura`s adventures in Asia, visit her weekly blog at laurajanepopp.blogspot.com.
Hey JETAA New England! Join Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, at Anime Boston this coming weekend for a Japanamerica talk and book-signing session Saturday, April 3, @ 1:30 p.m. in the Hynes Convention Center in downtown Boston.
Bankruptcy Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Do you work in bankruptcy or restructuring? Now you can join the JET Alumni Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group on LinkedIn.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
After a quick jaunt back to Tokyo, Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, is back in the U.S. and on the road this week for a short stint for the Association of Asian Studies’ (AAS) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, where he will appear on Friday, March 26 for a discussion panel called “The Japan Knowledge Industry Outside the Academy“ with fellow author and JET Alum Karl Taro Greenfeld (Kanagawa-ken, 1988-89) (Speed Tribes: Days and Nights With Japan’s Next Generation), author William M. Tsutsui (Godzilla on my Mind), journalist Misako Hida (The Wall Street Journal Japan), and Professor Laura Miller (Bad Girls of Japan).
The discussion takes place this Friday, March 26, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown Hotel. More info can be found under “# 69″ here: http://www.aasianst.org/annual-meeting/2010/Friday.pdf
Philly-area JET alums are encouraged to swing by and say hello.
The latest issue of JQ (JETAA NY Quarterly) Magazine has hit the stands, and now Editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2000-01) working on the next issue and seeking writers. Read on for more info. (It also actually stands on its own as a great list of JET-relevant things and interesting JET alums.)
Hi, Brainstorm Crew!
Hope everyone’s enjoying the start of spring (a link to JQ’s new issue is here in case you haven’t seen it yet).
Thanks always for your contributions and ideas and feel to link the new issue to your own sites/blogs to help promote us.
We are also taking on new writers if you’d like to provide some “local international coverage” of your chapter to appear in our pages. Contact me at magazine@jetaany.org for details.
Some of you have already signed up for stories at our quarterly meeting in February, so the below deadlines are the same (let me know how those stories are coming along). Here are the ideas needing takers for our May/June 2010 issue and beyond. De wa…
Deadlines are as follows:
FRIDAY, APRIL 2: Registering a story assignment with me at magazine@jetaany.org, or pitching an idea of your own for approval. First come, first served, and all suggestions are welcome. We’ve been picking up more new writers with each issue, and I encourage all first-timers whether you consider yourself a seasoned writer or not. (Just mind the deadlines!)
FRIDAY, APRIL 23: Deadline for submitting a final draft of your story. Extensions will be granted on a case-by-case basis, less so for new writers.
I would also greatly appreciate added assistance for the following:
REVIVE THE SOCIETY PAGE!: Are you a superJET who’s up-to-date on what’s happening in the lives of our members here in New York and elsewhere? I’d like to bring back the JETAANY Society Page with your help. I would carry this feature in every issue, to run at least half a page (600 words). E-mail me for more details and we’ll talk.
COPY EDITING/PROOFREADING: For those of you who like reading this thing cover to cover. Multiple times.
AD SALES CALLS: More sales means more JETAANY-sponsored events. It takes under two minutes to get an answer in most cases. Write for more info.
YOUR OWN STORY IDEAS: Anything’s fair game! Some of our most interesting material comes from suggestions from our more dedicated readers.
Now the fun stuff. Below are the story ideas. Thanks for reading and providing your support, and e-mail at magazine@jetaany.org with any other questions/ideas.
Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, has published his latest SOFT POWER/HARD TRUTHS column for The Daily Yomiuri–this one about last month’s sentencing of American Chris Handley for possession of ‘obscene manga’ in Iowa–and this month’s proposal by the Tokyo Government to censor ‘virtual porn’ (read: manga and anime) in Japan.
Is this another example of ‘gaitsu‘–Japan being affected by foreign pressure?
Column is here: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20100319TDY11101.htm
Rock & Roll Jihad
Robert Schroeder (Shizuoka, ’92-’93), a JET alum and journalist based in Maryland, has released a book he co-wrote called Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star’s Revolution (Free Press/Simon & Schuster). After Schroeder wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal profiling the Pakistani musician in 2007, the star asked him to be his writing assistant on his memoir. And now, just a few months after publication, the book has already garnered high praise, both from celebrities like physician Deepak Chopra and Amazon readers.
The memoir follows the life of Salman Ahmad — founder of the “U2 of Asia” Sufi-rock band Junoon, a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, and teacher of South Asian poetry — who is now credited as the first musician to bridge the gap between the West and the Muslim world. He brought chart-topping rock & roll riffs to new ears in his home country of Pakistan, but also reined in listeners from around the world, including those at the UN General Assembly and the Nobel Peace Prize concert.
Ahmad, with the writing assistance of Schroeder, chronicle the cultural and political intricacies of navigating the politically tense Middle East, along with the post-9/11 world as a whole, as he continues to educate through music the true diversity of the Islamic faith and its art to the rest of the globe.
Schroder himself is not new to crossing national borders. A former NHK producer and now reporter at Marketwatch, he has contributed pieces about Japan in numerous American periodicals, including a review in The Washington Post of a Virginia inn with Japanese style ofuro baths and traditional breakfasts. Another first-person piece in The New York Times Magazine recounts the shock of eating whale sashimi in Ayukawa. To read more of his pieces, click here.
To preview the first few pages of the book, read here.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. A big part of his beat is the Pop Culture page, which covers manga, anime and video games. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
He also writes movie reviews. Here is an excerpt from a recent review of “I Love You Phillip Morris,” in which Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor play Steven and Phillip, the lead characters in a gay romantic-comedy/prison-break film that is based on a true story. It opens March 17 in Britain and April 30 in the United States, but is already playing in Japan.
McGregor’s sweet and naive Phillip is totally believable. Harmlessly meek and far too trusting, yet somehow uttering the lion’s share of the laugh lines, he makes you want to protect him, which is also how Steven feels. “You only see the good in people,” marvels Steven, whose own outlook is far more cynical.
Carrey, who does appear in good movies now and then, is not always as believable in his role, but this is appropriate since he plays a chronic fake who is always trying on new identities and tells lies to everyone he meets. Late in the movie, when Steven tries to prove his love by revealing his true self to Phillip, he can’t really do it.
Steven is a criminal who went to prison because he belonged there. But his scams are amusing because his wealthy victims are entertainingly depicted (fairly or not) as crude, pompous fools. And his various prison escapes are amazing. In one, he uses felt-tip markers and toilet water to dye his prison uniform green, enabling him to walk right out in the guise of a visiting doctor…
Read the rest of the article here.
The March 2010 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.
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
Friday, April 2, 2010
Details, Details: The Snap, Crackle, and Pop of Good Writing with author Jane Kurtz
Time: Friday, April 2, 2010, 6:30-8:00 p.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: 1,000 yen SCBWI members; 1,500 yen nonmembers
Reservations: Contact info@scbwi.jp by Thursday, April 1, 2010
This event will be in English.
American novelist John Gardner called details the lifeblood of fiction. Many an editor has said the absolute key to a piece of writing she fell in love with was its voice…but what creates the “voice” of a piece other than its distinct details? Award-winning author Jane Kurtz will give ten keys for coaxing vivid, shimmering, gripping details into our drafts and will show why certain mistakes around details are the kiss of death for any piece of writing. Q&A will follow the talk.
Jane Kurtz spent most of her childhood in Ethiopia—and now travels the world talking about writing, reading, and the magic of books. Her recent speaking has taken her to all but eleven of the U.S. states, Europe, the Persian Gulf, Indonesia, Cambodia, India, Romania, and East and West Africa. School Library Journal called Jane Kurtz a “superb storyteller.” Her books have gathered accolades, starred reviews, and awards. Since 1994, she has published twenty-nine books: nonfiction books, professional books for teachers, picture books, and novels for young readers that draw on her own childhood memories of growing up in Ethiopia as well as surviving the Red River flood of 1997. Jane has taught writing at the elementary, secondary, and university levels and is currently on the faculty of the MFA in children’s and young adult literature out of Vermont College. Her passion for books and reading and her love of Ethiopia came together in Ethiopia Reads, an organization that is establishing the free libraries for children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with Yohannes Gebregeorgis, one of CNN’s Top Ten Heroes (www.ethiopiareads.org). For more on Jane Kurtz visit www.janekurtz.com.
Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, will be speaking at Kinokuniya in NYC as part of “Ponyo Day.” The event is this Saturday from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and Roland will be speaking at 4:00 pm. (This appearance hot on the heels of his Atlanta book signing on March 4!)
All the JETAA Southeast alums will have a chance to meet and hear Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, speak at Keenesaw State University in Atlanta, GA on Thursday, March 4 from 6:30-8:00 pm. If you happen to go and say hi, let him know you heard about the event on JetWit. Also, email JetWit (jetwit [at] jetwit.com) to let us know how the event was so we can share it with the rest of the JET alum community.
Here’s the flyer with all the relevant info for the event:
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I received a wonderful request from author Solmaz Sharif, Managing Director of The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, regarding an event that she thought might be of interest to the JET alumni community:
Matchmaker:
Speed dating hosted by Kavita Ramdya and Jen Kwok
Saturday, March 6, 7-9 PM
- Location: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop16 W 32nd Street, Suite 10A btwn 5th Avenue and Broadway
- Cost: $20 for members / $30 for non-members
- Purchase your tickets here before March 5, 2010 and give us an idea who we should set you up with. For more information you can also visit aaww.org or call 212.494.0061.
Tired of making eyes at readings and not approaching the hottie next to you? Wondering how you can meet people that’ll compliment your bookcase? Interested in hearing more about love in Asian America? Keep it in the family and let the Workshop help you find the one at our first ever speed dating event. The Asian American Writers’ Workshop presents MATCHMAKER, a special event about how we meet, mingle, and marry in Asian America.
Kavita Ramdya, author of Bollywood Weddings: Dating, Engagement, and Marriage in Hindu America, discusses how second-generation Indian Americans get hitched, a tricky negotiation involving arranged meeting, Mom and Dad, and, of course, lots of dancing.
The event will be hosted by stand-up comedian Jen Kwok, the hilarious mastermind behind Date an Asian, her self-described comic ode to “the awesomeness of dating an asian guy.”
You will receive the following premiums:
- A month’s worth of dates squeezed into one night as you move table to table closer to the one
- Finger foods to keep the attention where it counts
- A signature Workshop cocktail
- A horoscope reading to predict your compatibility
Bankruptcy Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Do you work in bankruptcy or restructuring? Now you can join the JET Alumni Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group on LinkedIn.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
Are you living in Japan and looking to get into the translation and editing industry? The Society of Writers, Editors & Translators (SWET), a thirty-year old community of English wordsmiths in Japan, is hosting an event on art translation in March. If you’d like more information about SWET, please click here.
WHEN: Sunday, March, 7 2010 – 3:00~5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Kobe Centre Plaza Nishi-kan, 6F, Room 11 / http://www.kscp.co.jp/map/map.html
FEE: SWET & JAT members 1,000 yen/non-members 1,500 yen
RESERVE: kansai@swet.jp
ABOUT:
Translating literature related to Japanese art presents unique challenges. Not only are there issues of origin, as in the case of Buddhist deities, but
the presentation of traditional Japanese art has been targeted at a specific audience up to now, namely one that is educated and Japanese. Since the
language used to describe art can be difficult to read—as can the exhibition title itself at times—an English translation may be helpful not only to English readers but also to some native Japanese. Seen in this light, English translation in the art field can be invaluable tool to reach
new audiences, both domestic and international. This presentation will focus on technical issues related to translation, as well as the wider social
implications surrounding them.
Eric Luong is a full-time instructor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, teaching English, art, and comparative culture. Originally from
Toronto, Canada, he works as a translator for the Hosomi Museum in Kyoto and as a freelancer specializing in Japanese art history.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. A big part of his beat is the Pop Culture page, which covers manga, anime and video games. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
He also writes about food. Here is a recent article about a food science exhibition currently running at Tokyo’s Miraikan museum. The latter half of the story focuses in on the scientific-culinary concept of umami, often called the“fifth taste”:
How many calories are there in a 500-milliliter bottle of a zero-calorie soft drink? If you guessed zero, you might be right. But the correct answer could be as high as 24. This is one of the many fun facts visitors can learn at “It’s a Tasty World–Food Science Now,” an exhibition running through March 22 at the Miraikan science museum in Odaiba, Tokyo. Under Japanese law, according to a display debunking food myths at the show, a drink is “zero calorie” as long as it has less than five calories per 100 milliliters. (A note on vocabulary: A “calorie” and a “kilocalorie” are the same thing.)
Other displays include sniffable containers of food scents, which you can mix to create new aromas; videos of food processing factories, where plump onions comically pirouette on industrial peelers; and a glowing green tank of euglena, a photosynthetic microorganism seen as a promising future food source. Too bad its Japanese name, midori mushi–green bug–isn’t exactly appetizing….
Read the rest of the article here.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. A big part of his beat is the Pop Culture page, which covers manga, anime and video games. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
He also writes about movies. Here is his interview with stop-motion animator Henry Selick, whose film “Coraline” is a nominee for best animated feature in the Academy Awards to be presented on March 7:
When the nominees for best animated feature film are read out at the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood next month, there will be one computer-graphic animated film (Up), two traditional 2-D animated films (The Princess and the Frog and The Secret of Kells) and two stop-motion films (Fantastic Mr. Fox and Coraline).
“I feel very lucky to have lived long enough to still be making films in this era,” Coraline director Henry Selick told The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo last week. His two previous features, Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and James and the Giant Peach (1996) came out before the Oscars introduced an animated feature category in 2001.
Coraline has already won several other prizes, including an Annie animation award for Japanese production designer Tadahiro Uesugi.
Coraline, based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, is the story of a young girl who discovers a secret passage to an alternate universe where all the things that annoy her in the real world have been changed. But like a gingerbread house in a fairy tale, this seemingly delightful place turns out to be a trap from which she must escape.
Read the rest of the article here.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. A big part of his beat is the Pop Culture page, which covers manga, anime and video games. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Here is his latest video game review, of “Uncharted” and “Uncharted 2” which Sony recently released as a box set in Japan:
My pal Nate is such a great guy that he keeps hanging out with me despite the fact that I’ve gotten him killed hundreds of times, usually by explosions, gunfire or plunges from cliffs. It’s a good thing he’s made out of pixels, or this relationship would be a lot harder on both of us.
Digital though he may be, Nathan Drake, the lead character in the Sony PlayStation 3 video games Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (2007) and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009), is so lifelike and likeable that it is not unusual for players to think of him as someone who really exists.
The two games, re-released Feb. 18 as a 7,980 yen box set, are swashbuckling adventures from the Indiana Jones school in which our hero and a few friends hunt for treasure in exotic locales while fighting off gangsters and pirates who are also after the loot. And also as in Jones’ world, events take a paranormal turn once the treasure is uncovered…
Read the rest of the review here.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. A big part of his beat is the Pop Culture page, which covers manga, anime and video games. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Here is his latest manga review, of Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga:
With its shrinking population, chronically depressed birthrate and rising average age, Japan is fated for major social changes in the fairly near future. How that will play out remains to be seen, but Fumi Yoshinaga’s manga series Ooku: The Inner Chamber is an example of how popular art can tap
into real-world social anxieties.
Ooku is set in an alternate-history Japan that also faces a demographic crisis, but of a different type. In the 1630s, a mysterious epidemic called Redface Pox kills 75 percent of Japan’s men, while leaving women physically unharmed.
The disease lingers, the gender imbalance never rights itself, and Japanese society comes to resemble a colony of bees or ants, in which the large female majority does every kind of work while the male minority are seen as delicate creatures valued only for their “seed.”
With women forced to share the limited supply of men, the institution of marriage largely disappears, as only a rich woman can keep a husband all to herself. The wealthiest and most powerful woman of all is the shogun, who keeps a crowded male harem in the innermost chambers–the Ooku–of Edo Castle…
Read the rest of the review here.
If you’ve been following Toyota’s problems of late, then you may have also noticed JET alum Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, popping up a lot as a commentator.
He recently appeared on ABC’s World News Tonight. And even more recently he was commissioned to write an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor to clarify some of the vast cultural misreadings evident in the Congressional Toyota/Toyoda hearings.
- Toyota and trust: Was the Akio Toyoda apology lost in translation? Stung by Toyota recalls, Toyoda had to convey sincerity – and bridge the gulf in communication styles between Japan and America. http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0225/Toyota-and-trust-Was-the-Akio-Toyoda-apology-lost-in-translation
- Roland is also quoted in this AP article on Toyota: “Toyota President Battles Crisis in Family Company“ http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/02/19/toyota_president_battles_crisis_in_family_company/?page=full
And addressed the topic of Toyota in an interesting way in his recent Daily Yomiuri column on The Super Bowl, Toyota, Anime and Hollywood:
- SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Anime must eventually transcend Japan ‘national’ brand http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20100219TDY11003.htm
And if you’re looking for commentary on non-Toyota topics, then you can listen to Roland’s recent appearance on NPR discussing a wild relic of Japanese popular culture, a viral video of Japanese ‘Jazz Opera,’ produced in 1986 by Tamori, the great comedian:
Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, is interviewed on ABC’s “World News Tonight” with Brian Ross and Diane Sawyer.
Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is now as a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. We will be regularly featuring his work. Here is his latest, an interview with the Hawaiian Stan Sakai, creator of the comic Usagi Yojimbo.
The Art of Usagi Yojimbo
“There was the old movie theater down the street from where I lived that showed the old samurai movies, those chambara movies, every Saturday. I’d go to see the old Toshiro Mifune movies. Get-in-for-a-quarter, stay-all-day type of thing,” Stan Sakai, 56, said, recalling his childhood in Hawaii.
Sakai grew up to become a comic-book artist, and in 1984, he launched a samurai epic of his own. Its main character is a wandering ronin with dazzling sword skills, a fierce sense of honor and a network of friends and enemies across Japan. Miyamoto Usagi is one formidable rabbit.
A fluffy bunny wielding a katana sword may sound silly, but Sakai makes it work. His ongoing Usagi Yojimbo series is filled with drama, pathos and well-developed characters. There are also abundant allusions to Japanese culture. The most obvious of these is that Usagi’s long ears are tied together to form a chonmage samurai hairstyle, but others are more subtle, such as a gourd flask that resembles mangaka Osamu Tezuka’s signature Hyotan-Tsugi character.
In Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai (Dark Horse, 63 pp, 14.95 dollars), a full-color hardback graphic novel released in November to mark the character’s 25th anniversary last year, Usagi confronts a grotesque army of Japanese supernatural beings.
“I love the old ghost stories about Japan. That was fun to research,” Sakai told The Daily Yomiuri by phone from California, where he lives. “For a country that’s so small, there’s so much [in the way of] ghosts and goblins and monsters around. The folklore of Japan is so rich. And not only the really horrific stuff, but also the really goofy stuff. It’s fun to draw.”
To read the full story, click here.
The February 2010 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:
- Special Confusion
- Did you know? Moto methodology
- New section: Sake basics – daiginjo
- Sake professional course
- New! Japanese for sake lovers
- New! iPhone app: The Sake Dictionary
- Odds-n-Ends
Additional links:
Adventures of a Stealth Gaijin
By Ann Chow (ALT, Hyogo-ken, 2007-2009), a New York City-based JET alum currently seeking copy editing/proofreading/production editing jobs in news or book publishing. Email jetwit [at] jetwit.com if you would like to get in touch with her.
E is for Elementary School
E is for elementary school.
Elementary school in Japan is for students between the ages of 6-12, and they are easily spotted by the backpacks, called randoseru, that they carry. Sometimes, they wear sailor uniforms. Sometimes, they don’t. My students didn’t.
When I first arrived in Japan, the BoE I worked for told me I would be working at 2 junior high schools and 3 elementary schools. It was pretty standard for the ALTs working in my town, and I had no complaints except that one of my elementary schools was clear across town, 35 minutes or so by bike, and I wasn’t the ALT who lived closest to it.
Sometime in December of my first year there, I was told I would have to visit another elementary school. There was already another ALT who visited, but the teachers wanted extra lessons, so they added me on to the roster. On my first visit to that school, I was running late because I realized the main entrance to the school wasn’t on the main road, but on a back street behind the sports field and a construction site for new housing. It really didn’t help that they were Read More
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 former English-language writer for Kyodo News. She now works in online marketing in New York and relishes her constant hunt for the best cheap(ish) eats in the city.
Hope everyone had an excellent Super Bowl weekend – I’m sure it was a good one for those rooting for the Saints. Without further ado, let’s get to the much belated first Blog Beat round up of 2010!
- In need of a winter pick me up that you can easily whip up in the kitchen with a few staples? Check out Elizabeth White’s (Toyama-ken, 1995-98), delicious Sausage & Tortellini soup recipe, inspired by her grandma Mary.
- After participating in the JETAA Regional Technology Conference, JETAA NY and Jet
Wit webmaster Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06) reports from Portland, Oregon on what he calls some of the “best Thai food I’ve ever had outside of Thailand.”
- Check in on Kevin Kajitani (Kyogo-ken, 2006-07) and his experiences with New Year’s traditions in Japan.
- Learn how Robert Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04) deals with writer’s block and his obscure novel recommendations in his online interview with WriterGirl.
- Snow in Japan is a very different affair than it is in New York, as you can see in enviable fashion on JET alum Toby Weymiller’s blog.
Here’s the latest SOFT POWER/HARD TRUTHS column in the Daily Yomiuri by Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, this one whether Japan, like Fonzie in the epic sitcom Happy Days, has “jumped the shark.”
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20100122TDY11003.htm
Also, fyi, Roland is now down in Miami for the Super Bowl (his sister works for the NFL!) hanging out with his pal Pete Townsend of The Who which will be providing the halftime entertainment. Here’s the post from Roland’s blog: http://japanamerica.blogspot.com/2010/02/super-bowl-in-south-beach.html
Benjamin Davis (ALT Chiba-ken, 2006-07, CIR/PA Chiba Kencho, 2007-09) is a freelance writer/researcher, translator, renaissance man and jack-of-all-trades based in rural Chiba-ken. He can be contacted at davis.benjamin.j@gmail.com and is always on the lookout for new and interesting projects.
“Setsubun, Bean-tossing, and the Old Japanese Calendar”
This February 3rd, when he gets home from work, my friend Mr. Watanabe will be chased out of his own house, by his own children, who will shout at him and throw dried beans in his face.
No, this is not some clever new trick on the children’s part to get back at him for enforcing their bedtimes. On the contrary, it will be something he planned in concert with them days earlier. He himself will be wearing a demon mask, his wife will be encouraging the children on in the background, and the shouts in question will be repeated cries of “Demons out, fortune in!”
You see, this bean-throwing and shouting is actually an ancient Japanese tradition called “Setsubun” (節分). It is a ritual whose objective is to chase out the malevolent spirits that may have built up like dust bunnies in the dark corners of the house over the year and invite in good fortune for the coming year.
To make the experience more symbolically tangible, a male member of the house may dress up as Read More
The latest issue of JQ (JETAA NY Quarterly) Magazine has hit the stands, and now Editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2000-01) working on the next issue and seeking writers. Read on for more info. (It also actually stands on its own as a great list of JET-relevant things and interesting JET alums.)
Hi, Brainstorm Crew!
Hope everyone’s enjoying the start of the new year (a link to JQ’s current issue is here in case you haven’t seen it yet, thanks always for your contributions and ideas and feel to link the new issue to your own sites/blogs to promote us). Below are the story ideas needing takers for our March 2010 issue and beyond. De wa…
Deadlines are as follows:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5: Registering a story assignment with me at magazine@jetaany.org, or pitching an idea of your own for approval. All suggestions are welcome. We’ve been picking up more new writers with each issue, and I encourage all first-timers whether you consider yourself a seasoned writer or not. (Just mind the deadlines!)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14: Deadline for submitting a final draft of your story. Extensions will be granted on a case-by-case basis, less so for new writers.
I would also greatly appreciate added assistance with the following:
AD SALES CALLS: More sales means more JETAANY-sponsored events. It takes under two minutes to get an answer in most cases. Write for more info.
COPY EDITING/PROOFREADING: For those of you who like reading this thing cover to cover. Multiple times.
YOUR OWN STORY IDEAS: Anything’s fair game! Some of our most interesting material comes from suggestions from our more dedicated readers.
Now the fun stuff. Below are the story ideas. Thanks for reading and providing your support, and e-mail at magazine@jetaany.org with any other questions/ideas.
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CONSULATE GENERAL JAPAN CARAVAN
This is a decade-plus program run by New York’s Consulate General of Japan that sends consulate staff (American and Japanese) to New York high schools and junior high schools to introduce students to Japanese culture. Earlier this month, I participated as a volunteer and enjoyed taking part in a Q&A with a very enthusiastic anime/manga club and faculty. The purpose of this article will be to increase awareness of the program so more JETAA members can get involved.
ASIA SOCIETY
Earlier this month NYC’s Asia Society held a concert called “Hogaku,” or Japanese folk instruments played with modern flair. We’ve never profiled Asia Society, so this would be a great time to find out more about how they select their Japanese attractions and exhibitions. www.asiasociety.org
TENRI CULTURAL INSTITUTE
Tenri Cultural Institute is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote the study of Japanese language and the appreciation of international art forms. Based in Greenwich Village, it also houses the Tenrikyo Church, which has its own interesting history. http://www.tenri.org/
Japan Nite 2010 at Bowery Ballroom
Annual concert featuring indie acts from Japan. This year’s edition will be held Sunday, 3/21 at Bowery Ballroom. I’m looking for a preview piece con the history of the festival with quotes from either members of one of the groups or the promoters. (Info for all acts at ticket homepage below.
Lineup: Red Bacteria Vacuum / Omodaka / JinnnyOops! / Okamato’s
http://www.boweryballroom.com/event/4053
Japan Society’s Spring 2010 Performing Arts Schedule
This season features kyogen, live theater and music. Am open to profiles/reviews of any of the following listed at the page below.
http://www.japansociety.org/performingarts
Exhibit: Kuniyoshi Monster Prints at Japan Society – PREVIEW OR REVIEW
Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller Collection, March 12-June 13, 2010, at Japan Society Gallery
Thrashing sea creatures, samurai warriors, and a giant, looming skeleton are among the distinguishing subjects of the brashest of Japan’s Ukiyo-e masters, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861), whose populist oeuvre is to be presented by Japan Society Gallery from March 12 to June 13, 2010.
Fresh from its spring 2009 showing at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, where it was the surprise smash hit of the season, Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the Arthur R. Miller Collection marks the first major exhibition of Kuniyoshi’s work in the United States in nearly 30 years. The exhibition has been organized by the Royal Academy in collaboration with Arthur R. Miller and The British Museum. The vast majority of the 150 color woodblock prints on display are from the Arthur R. Miller Collection, New York, generously loaned to Japan Society by the American Friends of the British Museum.
ISSHONI LONDON – JET Alum Vanessa Villalobos
London JET alum’s blog: events, news, review and interviews. I met her back in December and this would be a good Q&A piece for any JETs wanting to learn more about how our alumni groups operate overseas.
http://www.isshonilondon.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Isshoni-London/119415767689
http://twitter.com/IsshoniVanessa
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JQ Editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2000-01) has worked hard to put out another fantastic issue of JETAA NY Quarterly Magazine (aka JQ). O-tsukare sama deshita, Justin-san!
Start the decade off right!
JAN/FEB 2010 ISSUE: Click image below for our homepage
Click here to SUBSCRIBE via PayPal
Editor: Justin Tedaldi – magazine@jetaany.org
JAN/FEB 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page 3……..Letter From the Editor / Letter From the Secretary
Page 4……..Nippon News Blotter / JetWit Baby
Page 5……..Peace Corps Calls Out to JETs by Marea Pariser
Page 6……..Gearing Up for Grad School by Aly Woolfrey
Page 6……..At the ISE Cultural Gallery by Michael Glumac
Page 7……..Harumi Kurihara: The JQ Interview by Yukari Sakamoto
Page 8……..Nihonjin in New York – Featuring Filmmaker Takayuki Tanaka by Stacy Smith
Page 9……..Lisa Katayama on 2-D Love, Japan Pop by Crystal Wong
Page 9……..The Legacy of Tokyo Story by David Kowalsky
Page 10……JETlog – Featuring John Ellis-Guardiola
Page 10……The Language(s) of Love: Wendy Nelson Tokunaga by Nichole Knight
Page 11…….Bridge Building with Filmmaker Aaron Woolfolk by Lyle Sylvander
Page 12……The Funny Page
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Joshikai SF: A new meet-up for Japanese women and women connected to Japan
女子力アップ！「女子会サンフランシスコ」
Next meeting: Thursday, 2/11
For February’s Joshikai, the author of Shortchanged: A Japanese Women’s Guide to International Romance（www.sonsuru-japan.com), Mieko Mochizuki Swartz will give advice about international relationships and romance, addressing differences in communication styles and cultural expectations. The talk will be followed by time for networking, chatting and drinking.
(See full details below)
JetWit Note: Apparently the first event they held was wonderful–they had about 35 women in attendance, with a good mix of Japanese and American women including a number of JET alums!
About Joshikai SF
Are you a Japanese woman or a woman with an interest in Japan? Maybe you just moved here from Tokyo this summer and want to make new friends… Maybe you taught English in Osaka a few years ago and want to revive your rusty Japanese… Whether you are a native Japanese woman or an American (or other nationality) woman with an interest in Japan, Joshikai may be for you!
女子による女子のための女子限定ネットワークイベント「女子会サンフランシスコ」を始動しました。女子同士ならではのよさ、赤裸々な本音トークなどを楽しんで、一緒に女子力アップを目指しませんか？
We are creating a community of Japanese women and women with an interest in Japan, gathering for a monthly meet-up to make friends, share stories and learn from each other. On the second Thursday of each month, we’ll meet at a location that is chic, reasonably priced, and conveniently located (near a BART station and other public transportation) for an evening of drinks and girl talk, where our members can connect and relax over a cocktail.
Why women only? We want to create a relaxed atmosphere, with the opportunity to speak freely and connect with each other in a supportive environment.
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Here is the information about our February event (in Japanese then English): Read More
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. This one part of The AEI Outlook Series.
The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Relic of a By-gone Era?
http://www.aei.org/outlook/100929
by JET alum Michael Auslin
The U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation was signed in Washington, D.C., fifty years ago this month. Few alliances last half a century. The fact that this one has is a testament to its strength, but it is also the result of East Asia’s failure to develop stable political and security relationships in the decades after World War II. It also reflects Japan’s postwar political realities and the choices successive Japanese governments made to maintain the country’s largely pacifist global role. Yet, the pressures on the alliance today raise questions about how well it can adapt to changes inside Japan, the United States, and throughout Asia. If the alliance is to survive, how should it change to best serve the evolving national interests of Japan and the United States?
Key points in this Outlook:
* The U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation has helped maintain peace in Asia for the past fifty years.
* Security-related issues regarding North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program and China’s growing military raise important political questions for the future of the alliance.
* Today, the Obama and Hatoyama administrations must decide if they view the alliance as a key element in their security strategies or as an outdated relic of a bygone era.
To read the whole paper, go here: http://www.aei.org/outlook/100929
After the Walkman and the Prius, Is it time for the West to adopt the Confucianism from the East? Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US, asks that in the latest issue of AdBusters. As a part of the magazine’s Big Ideas of 2010 issue, Kelts challenges the West: “Let’s listen to our neighbors in the East. A culture that prizes quiet contemplation, self-abnegation, community and stability should not threaten us in the West. We can do better if we learn from one another. And with our entire planet threatened by extinction, we need to.”
Violinist Diana Yukawa
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Here’s the latest SOFT POWER/HARD TRUTHS column in the Daily Yomiuri by Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, this one about hybrid people, hybrid music and hybridization as a trend.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20091218TDY11001.htm
Diana Yukawa age 8
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Elizabeth White (Toyama-ken, 1995-98), the former Media Coordinator for JETAA Southern California, is now a featured writer for WineTimeTv.net. Have a look:
http://winetimetv.net/home/contributors
BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
Do you work in bankruptcy or restructuring? Now you can join the JET Alumni Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group on LinkedIn.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
Author, manuscript consultant and blogger Liz Sheffield (Hokkaio-ken, Sapporo-shi, 1993-95) has a great post on her blog Motherlogue about a new book out titled Midori by Moonlight by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga. Here’s Liz’s explanation of the background:
About a year ago I read Wendy Nelson Tokunaga’s debut novel, Midori by Moonlight. I was thrilled to see that she had a new release out in November — Love In Translation. Both of her books cover topics near and dear to my heart: Japanese culture, the expatriate experience and cross-cultural romance.
Love In Translation intrigued me because the story is told from the perspective of a foreign woman living in Japan, something with which I have personal experience! As I read the book, I had a wonderful sense of being reconnected to my own experiences in Japan — from the visits to a ryokan (Japanese hotel) to eating delicious shu-cream to blunders in communication through a foreign language. I was also reminded of what I learned about myself thanks to the joy and hardship of navigating a culture so different from my own.
In my interview with her at Motherlogue, Wendy offers insight about her experiences in Japan, about publishing two novels and combining her vocal talents with her husband’s musical talents to create an enka song (“Nozomi No Hoshi“) as the soundtrack for Love In Translation. Details about how to request a copy of “Nozomi No Hoshi” on CD, are included in the interview.
- Read the interview with Wendy Nelson Tokunaga, author of “Love in Translation.”
- Read an interview with fellow JET alum Suzanne Kamata about Suzanne’s book Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering.
- Follow Motherlogue here: http://motherlogue.wordpress.com
Here’s a nice review of Japanamerica (by Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) on the blog Fan-to-Pro: The Blog of Professional Geekery, which describes itself as “a blog about jobs, career and economics for ambitious fans, progeeks, Otariimen and other members of the Modern Literati.”
http://www.fantopro.com/blog/2009/12/book-review-japanamerica.html
Just in time for the holidays, in case you’re looking for that special gift for that special JET friend or Friend of JET!
Just heard from Aaron Woolfolk (Kochi-ken, 1991-93), writer and director of the film The Harimaya Bridge (starring Ben Guillory, Saki Takaoka, Misa Shimizu, and Danny Glover, who is also the Executive Producer), that the film is now available on DVD in Japan.
JetWit would love to have a copy of the DVD for JETAA NY purposes, so if you’re in Japan and can get a hold of a The Harimaya Bridge DVD, let me know. (jetwit [/at/] jetwit [/dot/] com.)
Meanwhile, the Aaron has continued showing The Harimaya Bridge at film festivals around the U.S. and reports that the film is due out in theaters in the U.S. in the spring.
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