JQ Magazine: JQ&A with Merry White on ‘Kissaten: Japanese Cafes Past and Present’
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“Japanese coffee standards are the highest—when there is a new varietal on the market, it is often sent to Japan for testing. If a bean can make it in Japan, it can make it anywhere. The quality tasters are very keen, and there are fewer defective beans permitted than anywhere in the world.” (Courtesy of Merry White)
Brewing Up Something at Japan Society
By Alexis Agliano Sanborn (Shimane-ken, 2009-11) for JQ magazine. Alexis is a graduate of Harvard University’s Regional Studies-East Asia (RSEA) program, and currently works as an executive associate at Asia Society in New York City.
When it comes to notable food and drink of Japan, for many “coffee” is not the first thing that comes to mind. Yet, on May 21, Merry (Corky) White, Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, will teach audiences at Japan Society in New York City just how robust their coffee culture is, and how exacting their measurements are. Get ready for something good at Kissaten: Japanese Cafes, Past and Present.
White’s no newbie to food and Japan—it’s been much of the foundation of her professional work. If you look her up on Amazon, you’ll see that she’s been publishing food-related books since the mid-1970s, and regularly offers contributions to publications the world over. Definitely a foodie—and someone who knows her stuff. When not researching coffee and cafes, she’s active teaching about Japanese society, women in Asia, food and culture, and the anthropology of travel and tourism. Check her out on Twitter, where she regularly posts food- and culture-related content.
To whet your appetite for this program, JQ recently caught up with White to learn more about the coffee world in Japan, and what we can expect to hear from this rich presentation.
At your lecture at Japan Society, what do you hope to teach the audience about Japanese coffee culture?
I hope to surprise at least a few people, who may not yet know that Japanese coffee is a well-rooted, well-developed cultural product with a deep history. The coffee experience is also about cafes, koohii hausu, and kissaten, places with a special meaning that have developed over time in Japan. These places have offered people various distinctive experiences, depending on the era. The first ones, in the Meiji period (1868-1912), gave people a window on Europe, decor, clothing, foods—which continued into the Taisho period (1912-1926) when the flappers and lounge lizards demonstrated a new modernity, and the urban cultures were changing to, for example, give women a place in public, too. It was fine for a young woman of good family in the daytime, anyway, to go to a cafe, though probably she might have a chaperone…
Can you describe an iconic Japanese-style kissaten?
Courtesy of Merry White
Kissaten are now places of memory, as well as ordinary community life. Brown kissa are the “sepia-toned” places where especially middle-aged people (I would say over 60s) like to go for a nice place to sit and get good service and maybe see friends. Young people like them, too, as they often share a love of the past (one they wouldn’t have had themselves) as a retro experience. Kissaten, though, also have more contemporary styles.
Job: Japanese Speaking Trip Leader — HS summer program (Boston)
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Another JET-relevant posting from Adz Group, which has posted similar opportunities previously on JETwit. Posted by Mia Nakaji Monnier, freelance writer and Online Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese American daily newspaper based in Los Angeles. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Position: Trip Leader
Posted by: Japanese educational and cultural program in Boston
Location: Boston
Status: Short-Term
Japanese Speaking Trip Leader Wanted for July 23-31 in Boston
We are seeking a Japanese speaking candidate to lead an educational and cultural program in Boston for Japanese high school students, from July 23rd through July 31st. Ideally, this person needs to be located in the Boston area and/or familiar with the city.
If you are highly self-motivated, passionate about intercultural experiences and an independent worker this position is for you. Individuals who are attracted to making a notable difference in people’s lives around the world would really enjoy this role.
Job: ALT/Special Lecturer (Nagano)
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Thanks to JET Sabbi Topal, currently the ALT Prefectural Advisor, Senior High School Teacher Consultation Division at the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education for sharing this opening with JETwit. Posted by Mia Nakaji Monnier, freelance writer and Online Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese American daily newspaper based in Los Angeles. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Position: Direct-Hire ALTs, Global Instructors
Posted by: Nagano Prefectural Board of Education
Location: Nagano Prefecture
Status: Full-Time
The Nagano Prefectural Board of Education is currently seeking experienced candidates for four 2015-2016 Direct Hire ALT positions. They are also seeking candidates with extensive teaching experience for three new native-English-speaker special lecturer positions. If you or anyone you know is interested in coming to live and work in Nagano Prefecture, please take a look at the official position announcement pages linked below. Application materials are due by May 15. よろしくおねがいします！
Direct Hire ALT Position Openings: http://www.pref.nagano.lg.jp/kyoiku/kyogaku/saiyo-nyuushi/joho/altboshu.html
Global Instructor Position Openings: http://www.pref.nagano.lg.jp/kyoiku/kyogaku/saiyo-nyuushi/joho/global.html
Job: 3 positions — MultiLing Japan (Yokohama)
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Received directly from MultiLing Japan. Posted by Mia Nakaji Monnier, freelance writer and Online Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese American daily newspaper based in Los Angeles. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Position: Apprenticeship, Office Manager, and Vendor Service Coordinator
Posted by: MultiLing Japan
Location: Yokohama, Japan
MultiLing, a patent translation company in Yokohama, seeks candidates for three positions. For details and to apply, click here.
Job: ESL/English/Math Teachers — Japanese Children’s Society (Fort Lee, NJ)
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Directly via the Japanese Children’s Society, which has posted other listings to JETwit previously. Posted by Mia Nakaji Monnier, freelance writer and Online Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese American daily newspaper based in Los Angeles. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Position: Teachers
Posted by: Japanese Children’s Society
Location: Fort Lee, NJ
Status: Part-Time
Part-time ESL/English/Math teachers needed
■Description: Native English Speakers + BA (+ K-12 teacher certificate/TESOL + Teaching exp.)
■School Name: R/Lingo Learning Center(Japanese Children’s Society Inc.)
■Location: Fort Lee, NJ
■Time: 1. Saturdays 9:00-12:00 (2 classes) *An ESL teacher & Math teacher needed ASAP.
2. Mon. to Fri. :
① 9:00am – 12:00pm *home tutoring
② 1:00pm – 5:00pm *private tutoring @school / home tutoring
③ 5:00pm – 8:00pm *private tutoring @school / home tutoring
*Each class is 60 to 90 min long. Please register for future job offering.
■Payment: At least $30.00/hour * We pay transportation cost.
*Please send your RESUME to ringo.nyikuei@gmail.com or call 201-947-4707.
Job: Japanese Culture Teacher — Explore Japan Summer Program (Milton, MA)
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Another JET-relevant opportunity from Adz Group. Posted by Mia Nakaji Monnier, freelance writer and Online Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese American daily newspaper based in Los Angeles. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Position: Japanese Culture Teacher
Posted by: Explore Japan summer program, American Learning
Location: Milton, MA
Status: Short-Term
Japanese Culture Teacher Position for the Girls Program: We are looking for personable and energetic people interested in sharing their knowledge of Japanese culture. Teachers must be self-motivated and organized, and love working with students age 8-18. Each Explore Japan teacher has a class of 12-15 students and usually has a student assistant with them. You will be asked to plan, organize and deliver a full series of fun, hands-on workshops including arts and crafts projects, language exercises, calligraphy, cuisine, music, and other topics related to Japanese culture. We can provide you with a sample template we have used to arrange the 10-12 day schedule of activities. In the afternoon, both the American students and the Japanese students embark on field trips together. The Explore Japan Teachers are expected to act as chaperones to help keep all of the students organized during the afternoon field trips. Competitive compensation will be provided.
For more info, go to http://www.americanlearning.com/
Send Resume and Cover Letter to jessica.bendell@adzgroup.net
Job: Associate Producer — NHK (DC)
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A JET-relevant job listing posted at the request of the company. Posted by Mia Nakaji Monnier, freelance writer and Online Editor of The Rafu Shimpo, a Japanese American daily newspaper based in Los Angeles. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Position: Associate Producer
Posted by: NHK
Location: Washington, DC
Status: Full-Time
Overview:
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) currently has an opening in its Washington bureau for the Associate Producer position.
This entry-level position is a fantastic opportunity for those who are early in their journalism careers – you won’t get this kind of access anywhere else.
JQ Magazine: Book Review — ‘Gon, the Little Fox’
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“Written by the legendary children’s book author Nankichi Niimi when he was just seventeen years old, the story brings to life a little rascal who never passes up a chance to cause havoc.” (Museyon)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-10) for JQ magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub-Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master’s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com.
You probably remember reading some of Aesop’s Fables—such as “The Tortoise and the Hare” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”—during your childhood. Or more importantly, the lessons those fables are supposed to teach.
Likewise, your students in Japan likely read similar tales, and one of them might have been Gon, the Little Fox. Written by the legendary children’s book author Nankichi Niimi (1913-1943) when he was just seventeen years old, the story brings to life a little rascal who never passes up a chance to cause havoc, like setting fire to rapeseed husks held out in the sun, to dry to stealing a farmer’s cayenne peppers.
However, Gon realizes he’s gone too far when he kills an eel intended to be eaten by the ailing mother of a villager named Hyoju. To atone for his egregious misdeed, Gon repeatedly gathers, among other objects, mushrooms and chestnuts to leave at Hyoju’s house. But Gon’s attempts at forgiveness are never acknowledged and the story ends tragically. (Premature deaths were an unfortunate aspect of Niimi’s life; his mother passed away when he was four and he himself died when he was twenty-nine.)
6 jobs in International Education
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Via Carleen Ben (Oita). Posted by Sophia Chan (Sapporo-shi, 2009-2014). If interested in more job listings, join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
(1) Admissions Programs Assistant – Spanish Studies Abroad (Amherst, MA)
Spanish Studies Abroad
Position Announcement – May 2015
The Organization: Spanish Studies Abroad an educational services organization specializing in the design and implementation of academic programs in Spanish language and culture. Since 1969, we have designed such programs through partners and/or our own institutions in Spain, Argentina, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. We design for-credit Academic Programs on both regular-term and customized schedules, as well as educational Cultural Travel Programs for special interest groups. Spanish Studies Abroad is a privately held organization registered in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Job title: Admissions Programs Assistant, reports to the Director of Admissions. Full-time.
Job Description: The Spanish Studies Abroad Programs Assistant assists the Admissions Department in programming matters such as, collection of application materials, student correspondence, general office duties, some database/website upkeep, and social media.
Qualifications: The ideal candidate will be highly organized and self-motivated, communicate clearly and succinctly and have moderate Spanish language fluency. General knowledge of social media is required. This job is ideal for a recent college/university graduate or student looking to break into the field of international Education. Candidates with university administration or general office experience preferred.
Applications: Applications will be collected until the position is filled. Anticipated start date will be June 15th, 2015.
Applicants: Please send a cover letter and resume via e-mail to erinn.kennedy@spanishstudies.org. Read More
I’ll Make It Myself!: Add a Dash of Cultural Imperialism: Japanese Food and Cooking (1956), Part 5
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L.M. (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. Ze works in international student exchange; writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan and the US; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group on LinkedIn.
Part 5 on a series about Stuart Griffin’s Japanese Food and Cooking (1956).
If sushi is the engagement, sashimi, or raw fish, is the wedding. Now is the time to stop dabbling an plunge bolding into what may be regarded as the pièce de résistance, in the accepted French sense, and what some may regard as just the piece to resist, other will regard as the one they cannot resist.
Raw fish, to many foreigners, spells trouble.
“Raw fish!” one can hear them scream, “how could anyone think of eating such a thing?” (36)
I’ll Make It Myself!: Add a Dash of Cultural Imperialism: Japanese Food and Cooking (1956), Part 4
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L.M. (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. Ze works in international student exchange; writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan and the US; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group on LinkedIn.
Part 4 on a series about Stuart Griffin’s Japanese Food and Cooking (1956).
We’ve made it to the sushi chapter, readers!
I’ve spoken with several people about Griffin’s choice to describe sushi (well, nigiri sushi) as “rice sandwiches.” While I think most Americans in 2015 have some idea of what sushi is, in the 1950s, outside of Japanese-American communities, some explanation may have been required. Reactions to “rice sandwiches” have ranged from “no, that makes sense” to “aren’t they more like hors d’oeuvres?“* to (my favorite) “Do you know how sandwiches work?”
9 Jobs in International Education
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Via Carleen Ben (Oita). Posted by Sophia Chan (Sapporo-shi, 2009-2014). If interested in more job listings, join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
(1) MIUSA Project Manager
Looking for an opportunity to work with a highly respected organization in the Pacific Northwest? Know a dynamic and passionate leader? MIUSA is currently seeking a dynamic and experienced Project Manager for the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE). Please share our job posting below with your networks. Thanks, and have a great weekend!
Mobility International USA (MIUSA), a national nonprofit organization founded in 1981 and based in Eugene, Oregon USA advances the rights and leadership of people with disabilities globally. MIUSA seeks a dynamic and experienced Project Manager for the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE), a project sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. This is a tremendous opportunity for a leader to maximize and strengthen a national-level project in a well-respected, mission-oriented, and innovative organization. Applications are due by May 13, 2015 by 5:00 p.m. PDT.
View the full position description and application instructions at: http://www.miusa.org/employment
Sincerely,
Monica Malhotra
Project Coordinator, National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange
Mobility International USA (MIUSA)
132 E Broadway, Suite 343Eugene, Oregon 97401 USA
Skype: monica.miusa
(541) 343-1284 ext 27
Email: mmalhotra@miusa.org Read More
Job: Education Recruitment Consultant (Tokyo)
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This is a repost, as the deadline for applications have been extended, with some modifications of conditions.
Posted by Eden Law, President of JETAA NSW (who doesn’t work at the company, but posts on their behalf). Note that a knowledge of the Australian education system is preferred, as is a Japanese PR or an unrestricted working visa. However, sponsorship may be considered for the right candidate.
Position: Education Recruitment Consultant
Posted by: Staff Solutions Career
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Status: Full-Time
As a highly reputable Educational Agency that caters for international students, our client currently seeks a highly motivated individual to perform the role of Education Recruitment Consultant.
For more details, please check out the job ad @ Seek.com.au.
“By dramatizing some of the people who were on the receiving end of that racial hatred, I think the book might give a concrete sense of what American power can do when it is unleashed against people in other parts of the world. I hope the experiences of Jiro and Mitsuko make readers think twice about that.” (Louis Templado)
By Julio Perez Jr. (Kyoto-shi, 2011-13) for JQ magazine. A bibliophile, writer, translator, and graduate from Columbia University, Julio has had experience working at Ishikawa Prefecture’s New York office while seeking opportunities with publications in New York. Follow his enthusiasm for Japan, literature, and comic books on his blog and Twitter @brittlejules.
A Professor Emeritus of Harvard University, Jay Rubin has also served as a distinguished translator of Japanese literature for more than a quarter century, most notably on the works of Haruki Murakami. June 2 marks the release of his debut novel The Sun Gods (Chin Music Press), which is set in Seattle during World War II and explores the relationships between a Seattle-based Japanese national named Mitsuko and her young adopted American toddler, Billy, who are both interned by the U.S. government at the beginning of the war. Years later, Billy begins a journey to newly reconstructed Japan to find his Japanese mother and learn the truth about their shared past.
As part of the book’s launch, Rubin will be making live appearances from coast to coast, starting with Japan Society in New York on May 7 for an event titled The Magical Art of Translation: From Haruki Murakami to Japan’s Latest Storytellers, featuring other guest authors and moderated by JET alum Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99).
In this exclusive interview, Rubin shares with JQ the legacy of the war on his own writing, the attention to historical detail that went into The Sun Gods (with a few liberties taken), and what makes translating Japanese such a liberating experience.
JQ magazine readers are primarily JETs, JET alumni, and others who have worked and resided in Japan or have a strong interest in the country. Could you tell us about what inspired you to study Japanese language and culture and about any time you spent living in Japan?
In my second year at the University of Chicago, I was going to take one course on something non-Western for the fun of it, and one of the courses that happened to be available was an introduction to Japanese literature (in English translation, of course). I was so fascinated by the literature and by the professor’s remarks on the original language that I immediately started studying that language. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the course I stumbled into happened to be Chinese history. I spent four years studying the language in Chicago before going to the country itself on a Fulbright fellowship. My spoken Japanese was so bad, all I could say to the young woman bartender at the first bar I wandered into was, “Do you realize you just used the word ‘wake‘ (わけ) three times?” I studied in Tokyo for two years, often wish I had made it four. I’m still remarking on how many times people use wake in sentences. I studied mostly Meiji literature while I was in Tokyo, not Noh drama like The Sun Gods’ Bill, though Noh was a side interest, and I did a lot more work on it in later years.
To start off talking about The Sun Gods, how would you describe your new book to potential readers?
This may sound like ad copy, but I’m comfortable with the summary on the book’s front flap:
Opening in the stress-filled years before World War II, The Sun Gods brings together a white minister to a Seattle Japanese Christian church, his motherless young son, and a beautiful new arrival from Japan with a troubled past. The bombing of Pearl Harbor intrudes upon whatever happiness they might have had together, and the combination of race prejudice and war hysteria carry the action from Seattle to the Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho. Nearly two decades later, the son is ready to graduate from college when memories of Minidoka and of his erstwhile Japanese mother begin to haunt him, and he embarks on a journey that will lead him from Seattle’s International District to war-ravaged Japan in his attempt to discover the truth about his past.
The internment of people of Japanese ancestry in America that occurred during World War II is rarely dwelled on as much as other events of the war, how would you explain the internment and the reasons it warrants further attention to someone unfamiliar with the topic? What is the most important message you hope to get across?
If there’s a “message,” it’s to convey a historical moment, central to which was the fact that our government established concentration camps within its borders in order to lock up members of a particular racial group, and that this was supported by both public opinion and the Supreme Court with no constitutional justification whatsoever. The government has since apologized openly and eloquently, thus making a repeat performance highly unlikely. Japanese-American organizations, it should be noted, were among the most outspoken against anti-Muslim racism following 9/11.
Justin’s Japan: VAMPS, ‘Monkey Business,’ AKB48 at Japan Day @ Central Park
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J-pop superstars AKB48 return for their first New York performance since 2009 at Japan Day @ Central Park May 10. (@AKS)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
As spring continues and the weather continues to warm, New Yorkers can enjoy activities all over the city both indoors and out.
This month’s highlights include:
Friday, May 1, 8:00 p.m.
Best Buy Theater, 1515 Broadway
$35
Japan’s most daring rock band, VAMPS is fronted by vocalist hyde of L’arc~en~Ciel and guitarist K.A.Z of Oblivion Dust. Now touring in support of their latest album, Bloodsuckers (available on iTunes), VAMPS returns to take another bite out of the Big Apple for their first area performance since 2013.
Monday, May 4, 6:30 p.m.
Monkey Business: Japan/America Writers’ Dialogue in Words and Pictures
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue
$15, $10 Asia Society members, $12 students/seniors
Join this annual conversation between contemporary Japanese and American authors in which Asia Society hosts an international dialogue, curated and moderated by the co-founders and editors of the Tokyo-based literary journal Monkey Business with writers who are featured in the latest edition of Monkey Business (#5), a unique, cutting-edge annual literary journal which showcases newly-translated Japanese as well as contributions from contemporary American and British writers.
Thursday, May 7, 6:30 p.m.
The Magical Art of Translation: From Haruki Murakami to Japan’s Latest Storytellers
Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street
$12, $8 Japan Society members, students/seniors
Since 1989, Jay Rubin has translated many of Haruki Murakami’s most successful and prize-winning novels, including The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood and 1Q84. In this program, he is joined by Ted Goossen, translator of Murakami’s most recent U.S. publications, The Strange Library and Wind/Pinball: Two Early Novels, and co-editor of Monkey Business literary magazine, which showcases the best of contemporary Japanese literature for an international audience. They will discuss the unique challenges of translating modern Japanese literary works into American English, and vice versa. Rubin will also talk about his transition from translator to novelist vis-à-vis his debut novel The Sun Gods. Joining the discussion from Tokyo will be authors Aoko Matsuda and Satoshi Kitamura, and Motoyuki Shibata, friend and translating partner of Murakami. Author Roland Kelts, co-editor of Monkey Business, moderates the discussion. Followed by a reception.
For the complete story, click here.
