The first-ever JET Alumni Author Showcase is done and in the books, and by all accounts it was a big success.
- Wonderful readings by Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06) and Rob Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04). (Stay tuned for photos and video clips.)
- Engaging and informative discussion, led by Randall David Cook (Fukui-ken, 1991-93).
- Great post-program schmoozing, connecting and re-connecting (including a mini-Nara reunion).
- And I think Kinokuniya sold pretty much all the books it brought.
Thanks to everyone who attended, helped out and supported the event. Hopefully this will be the first of many more to come.
JET Alums and the art scene
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What’s the connection between JET alumni and the NY art scene? It turns out that a JET alum, Matt Schlecht (Akita-ken, 1998-99), is the editor of NY Art Beat (www.nyartbeat.com), an online art review and listings site, which grew out of Tokyo Art Beat. Matt says they’re always looking for writers to contribute to the NY Art Beat blog, which features reviews, interviews, and photo reports. So if there are any JET alums out there looking to gain exposure for their writing or photography, please feel free to get in touch with him.
Meanwhile, at the JET Alumni Author Showcase earlier today, a JET alum named Alan (I didn’t get his last name) mentioned that he’s an artist in NYC and would be interested in organizing a JET Alumni Artist Showcase one of these days. He inquired about the best way to go about making this happen, and after additional thought my suggestion would be…
- Someone should start a JET Alumni Art group, either on GoogleGroups or Facebook or whatever medium you prefer.
- Let me know about it so I can post info about it on JetWit
- Let JETAA NY and other chapters know about it so they can mention it in their announcements to their members (I can help with this part too)
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Another post from my brother Greg on TheDigitalists.com about innovations amongst the unemployed that may offer helpful perspective to JET alums seeking work.
In this post he compares two efforts to deal with unemployment: Runway Project and Laid-Off Camp.
The positive spin on this development is that the advent of social media has made it easier for like-minded individuals to organize effectively. The more pessimistic view is that, unlike at the beginning of this decade, when a lot of young people experienced temporary career setbacks after spending the previous few years outpacing their qualifications, this downturn is likely to be far more lasting and transformative, and if people are going to reinvent themselves professionally, they better get started immediately; they don’t have time to “just hang out.”
Click here to read the full post.
Writing Opporunity: Write the ending for “The Strange Ship: Part II”
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James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish, has a strangely compelling post on his blog asking readers to help him write the ending to the first book he ever wrote–The Strange Ship.
[A]s a lark, back in November I posted The Strange Ship, the first book I ever wrote (I was seven years old). I mentioned I had written a sequel. Some of the students in Mrs. Vivian’s fifth grade class asked me to put it online. My pleasure!
In The Strange Ship, two nameless space explorers called “moneymen” and their trusty droid 5-0-6 stumbled upon a strange ship full of monsters (including the giants Carziperes, Diploziperes, and Zarzit). The moneymen then proceeded to blow up the ship by making all the monsters simultaneously sneeze.
Clearly a sequel was required, to tie up all those loose ends. So let me take you back to March 13, 1981-almost exactly 28 years ago-and The Strange Ship: Part II.
However, I must warn you-the last couple pages are, tragically, missing! The story breaks off right in the middle of the climax! But America, my carelessness is your opportunity. I propose a contest. Draw / write YOUR OWN ending to The Strange Ship: Part II and send it to me! Let’s make the deadline April 15, 2009. I’ll post the new endings right here on this blog, and there will be prizes!
Click here to read the full post and experience the wonderful drawings in their entirety.
According to Rob Weston’s (Nara-ken, 2002-04) recent post on his blog, “Zorgamazoo has been chosen by the Children’s Literature Assembly as a notable book for 2009. The Assembly is affiliated with the National Council of Teachers of English.”
Rob explains that each year the Assembly selects 30 titles that “demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style; involve word play, word origins, or the history of language; and invite child response or participation.”
It would be an understatement in the extreme to say that Zorgamazoo makes unique use of language, style and word play.
Omedetou gozaimasu from the JET alum community on collecting yet another accolade for your writing. And see you Sunday, March 22 at the JET Alumni Author Showcase in NYC!
Grad school? Journalism? Time to question assumptions says TheDigitalists.com
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My brother Greg, an online marketing/media expert, has another thoughtful post on TheDigitalists.com, this one offering some perspectives on graduate school and journalism, two topics of interest to many a JET alum. (Note as well the hint of sibling rivalry.)
Grad Schools and the Shifting Job Landscape
Lots of people go to grad school for the wrong reasons. My brother, who has a JD but no longer practices, has made it his mission in life to dissuade as many aspiring law-school applicants as he can. And rightly so. Far too many liberal-arts grads assume law school is the only answer to the question, “What do you do with a BA in English?”
Meanwhile, New York magazine is reporting on journalism schools, specifically Columbia, experiencing yet another “existential crisis.” (For those keeping score, this is the 54,978th such crisis in the last 30 years.) And, of course, business schools are grappling with the fact that the main industry to which they have funneled most of their graduates has suddenly imploded.
I think the fundamental problem these programs are facing is that, as professional schools, they were set up to train graduates in a profession. Lawyer. Journalist. Banker. Marketer. The problem is, the definitions of those jobs are not only changing, they’re blurring together.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE POST
Update: As if on cue, there’s an article in Sunday’s NY Times titled “Is It Time to Retrain B-Schools?“
Kirsten’s World: “Shake Up the Picture The Lizard Mixture”
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By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
Many things in Japan were my crack cocaine. Tarako, choco an-pan, hijiki, and heated toilet seats all soon became things I could not smile without. I would do lines of kinako dust in the morning just to ease my peanut butter withdrawal. Hon maguro became my sushi requirement. In my rusty little hamlet by the sea there was no shortage of shiokara (salted squid guts) to go with the copious amounts of booze that somehow found me. The stuff was pretty tasty as long as you ate it with a heaping dose of denial.
But of all things Japanese that would make me their bitch, I owe my sanity to one ambrosial substance: 玄米茶。
That’s brown rice tea for those not in the know.
Friends, a steaming cup of genmai-cha on a colorless cold morning feels like a mini three day weekend. It tastes like autumn in a cup, like being hugged by your ample armed mother. Please have some. Read More
From the 2009 Winter Issue of JQ, the JETAA NY quarterly magazine:
By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08)
It was one of our last big nights in Tokyo. A well dressed crew hailing from Ibaraki descended on Roppongi for our last big hurrah. In a couple months we would all go back to our homes, be them England, Australia, America, etc. and this weekend was an all out affair. Expensive dinners, nice hotel, Jacuzzi Karaoke, Tokyo Bay cruise…it was one for the books.
Saturday night of this luxurious weekend found us at club Alife, rumored to be a hot spot for famous Japanese actresses and models. To be honest, I don’t think I’d know them if I saw them, but it was still cool to be partying where they party, and with a ¥3,000 entrance fee, it had better be fun. There were about 15 of us in total running around, having drinks, dancing, enjoying ourselves. Little did we know it would end up being one of our most talked about nights in JET. Read More
JetWit Blog Beat by Crystal Wong
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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 as a media planner in Chelsea and sorely misses all her favorite midtown ramen joints.
Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04) recommends this book as a must read for all aspiring readers.
JET alum Lars Martinson shares a piece of Japanese whimsy. If only the elevators in New York (or anything else, for that matter) were that friendly! (Note: For a good laugh, make sure to read the first comment to Lars’ blog post.)
Tokyo As Seen Through the Eyes of Foreigners (film review)
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By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) and Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03)
Sunshine Cinema is now showing the movie Tokyo!, a compilation of three short films from the French directors Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Leos Carax (Lovers on the Bridge) and the Korean director Bong Joon-Ho (The Host). Gondry himself made an appearance at two showings of the film when it debuted last weekend, for a Q&A session after the 7:30 show and introducing the movie at the 10:30 show. He spoke in his typically quirky way about his time shooting in Tokyo, and how things like the spaces between buildings and how Japanese people falling asleep on each other on the train fascinated him. Before starting the show, he expressed relief that his Japanese producers weren’t there so he wouldn’t feel bad about forgetting to thank them.
Tokyo! kicks off with his contribution of “Interior Design,” a Kafkaesque story about trying to find your place in the world. The story revolves around a young couple that Read More
Bankruptcy Bill #13 – Facebook 2
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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.
James Kennedy “Librarian” essay sets blogosphere atwitter
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Following James Kennedy’s (Nara-ken, 2004-06) recent post of his essay describing the heretofore unpublicized lifestyles and rituals of librarians (a “cult” of which Kennedy’s own wife is admittedly a member) in connection with the American Library Association’s awarding of the “Best Book for Young Adults” to Neil Gaman, author of Coraline, rather than Kennedy’s The Order of Odd-Fish, the blogosphere was atwitter with commentary about Kennedy, who will be appearing in NYC March 22 for the JET Alumni Author Showcase along with Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) and Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04)).
The Handless Poet’s Maria Alexander said:
I’m buying James Kennedy’s book, The Order of Odd-Fish. I’m buying it entirely because of this blog post. James Kennedy could quite possibly be the funniest man in America. http://www.thehandlesspoet.com/blogger/2009/03/james-kennedy-is-all-growed-up.html
School Library Journal’s Elizabeth Bird wrote:
Bad news for my husband. I have just fallen head-over-heels in love with James Kennedy, author of the YA novel The Order of Odd-Fish. Ladies and gentlemen of the liking men variety, I advise you to be very careful in reading this blog post of his which tells (in a fashion) of his experience with the last ALA Media Awards. He had me at “conniving sidelong lope” and now I feel compelled to read every damn word the fellow has ever written, starting from the early scribbles he scrawled out as a toothless mewling babe. Ba-bump goes my little heart. I also feel inclined to give him a bad review with the sole intention of hoping that he will write about me and do complicated things with my name. As I read through it I almost want to dedicate this entire post solely in the purpose of getting you to read this blog. Go. Now. Read. This. Man. I, for my part, am off to read his book. Even if it is YA. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1130041713.html?nid=3713
JET Alumni Author Section at Kinokuniya – more photos
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Here are a few more photos from the photo-op last Friday to promote the JET Alumni Author section at Kinokuniya in anticipation of the JET Alumni Author Showcase (set for March 22; e-mail authors at jetaany dot org to rsvp).
The books featured include:
- Japanamerica – Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99)
- The Order of Odd-Fish – James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06)
- Zorgamazoo – Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04)
- Learning to Bow – Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90)
- Importing Diversity: Inside Japan’s JET Program – David L. McConnell
- Hitching Rides with Buddha (originally titled Hokkaido Hitchhiking Blues) – Will Ferguson (Nagasaki-ken, 1991-94)
*See a more complete list of JET alumni authors and their works at http://jetwit.com/wordpress/library/authorsbooks/
Stop by Kinokuniya and take a look!
L to R: Noriko Furuhata (Consulate), John Fuller (Kinokuniya Store Manager), Toru Mukaikubo (CLAIR), Hirotaka Ono (Consulate), Tony McCormac, Steven Horowitz, Amber Liang, Roland Kelts, Akira Sugiyama (Japan Information Center), Ryoko Kobayashi (CLAIR)
Roland Kelts on Japan’s News Zero interviewed by Sho Sakurai
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Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) was recently interviewed by Sho Sakurai on Japan’s News Zero program. Click here to watch the clip on YouTube. (Good opportunity to practice your Japanese a bit as well. :-)
KRAZY! Roland Kelts to speak at Japan Society (NY) this Thursday
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Japan Society Lecture
Talking KRAZY! Japan’s Evolving Pop Culture
Curatorial Panel Discussion
Thursday, March 12, 6:30 PM
Left to right: Bruce Grenville, Toshiya Ueno, and Roland Kelts, photo © Matthias Ley.
What are the forces that drive the narrative and artistic sophistication of Japanese manga and anime? What accounts for their dominance in Japanese visual culture and their international popularity?
Join KRAZY! curators Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Toshiya Ueno, Professor of Sociology at Wako University, in conversation with Roland Kelts, Lecturer at the University of Tokyo and author of Japanamerica, together with moderator Joe Earle, Director of Japan Society Gallery, as they discuss the continuing evolution of visual culture in Japan.
Followed by a reception.
Tickets
$15 non-members
Japan Society Members free
Advance ticketing is required. Please call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.
