Jul 14

Life After JET: Still Lookin

LifeAfterJET Comments Off on Life After JET: Still Lookin

Posted by blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12).

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SPECIAL GUESTS:

Nearly one year later, I got Val and Randy back to continue the story of moving past Japan.

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Jul 14

Community Involvement on JET: Don’t Be Afraid to Start From Scratch

Advice, Article/Journalism, Blogs, Life As a JET community, JET, Kansai Comments Off on Community Involvement on JET: Don’t Be Afraid to Start From Scratch

By Jayme Tsutsuse (Kyoto-fu 2013-2014), organizer for Cross-Cultural Kansai, seeking work opportunities in NYC starting August 2014!

Cross-Cultural Kansai’s Summertime Picnic at the Kamogawa river in Kyoto, celebrating global identities with delicious food, beautiful weather, and amazing friends.

At the JET Program Tokyo Orientation last summer, we were all told to get involved in our communities as much as possible. It seemed like good advice, so I jotted it down in my list of goals, expecting this promise to somehow become less vague once I settled in.

I’m not sure how I envisioned it would happen. Obviously there wouldn’t be a community, gathered with open arms, ready welcoming me in when I arrived. Fair enough. But really, what were we supposed to do?

A friend suggested that I check out Meetup.com, and I was surprised to see how popular it was in Kansai (not nearly as expansive as New York or London, but still!). Every weekend, I’d join events in Osaka or Kyoto, and I never failed to fall deep into conversations with new friends about our backgrounds, where we came from, how it affects who we are today and where we want to go in the future. I loved listening to their stories. And the more I came across these stories, the more I thought about how great it would be to create a space for them, a community premised on sharing these parts of ourselves.

For the complete story, click here.

Jul 12

JQ Magazine: J-POP Summit Festival Returns to San Francisco with Music, Fashion, Film

Article/Journalism, Cultural Outreach, Events, Food & Drink, JQ Magazine, Music Comments Off on JQ Magazine: J-POP Summit Festival Returns to San Francisco with Music, Fashion, Film

The annual J-POP Summit Festival returns to San Francisco July 19-20, featuring special performances from May’n and Tokyo Girls’ Style. (Dave Golden)

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By Sam Frank (Wakayama-ken, 2004-06) for JQ magazine. Sam is the webmaster at the Jewish Community Federation in San Francisco.

Japan is a country that likes to borrow from another culture and make it their own. Punk rock, Spaghetti Westerns, and baseball are just a few things Japan has adopted over the years, and in 2009, the J-POP Summit Festival in San Francisco added a bona fide community event to that list. Similar to Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Outside Lands, the J-POP Summit Festival is an annual street fair held in the City by the Bay that celebrates Japanese popular culture. By introducing the latest in Japanese music, film, art, fashion, gaming, anime, food, as well as niche subcultures, the festival has become a prominent platform to showcase the latest trends and creative innovations from Japan.

“POP is our tradition” is the theme this year’s J-POP Summit Festival, which will be held in San Francisco’s historic Japantown district the weekend of July 19-20. Last year’s event welcomed more than 80,000 attendees, making it one of the largest Japanese festivals in the United States. While Japan is participating in America’s summer festival tradition, it has found a way to distinguish itself from the pack. Bringing together food, fashion, entertainment, and film promises to give the people of San Francisco a lasting impression of Japanese culture.

“Each year we strive to present a compelling mix of the hottest entertainment trends happening in Japan right now, and the J-POP Summit has become a wonderful and unique composite of pop and rock music, edgy kawaii-inspired fashion, modern graphic art, and film and anime content,” says Seiji Horibuchi, president/CEO of NEW PEOPLE, Inc. and chairman of the J-POP Summit Festival. “This year’s event promises to be another important milestone for the evolution of J-pop culture and its fan base in the U.S.”

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Jul 11

Career: Hey JETs, Japanese small business needs you

Career Add Comment (1)

By Nick Woolsey (CIR Tottori-ken, 2011-13), an engineer based in Japan who works for Eureka, a Japanese company.

The time is right to start your career in Japan

The JET Program has always worked very hard to provide its participants with a smooth entry into Japan, support during their tenure, and facilitation for the transition back to their countries of origin.  It is a wonderful and incredibly organized teaching exchange system, but the primary pattern is, however, to finish the program and life in Japan at the same time.  Every year, a large percentage of those participants ending their tenure feel pained as they leave the country they have grown to love, and a few find ways to stay or come back.  That is about to change.

The few JETs (and other foreigners) who brave working life in Japan after their initial contract have found it difficult to find gainful employment outside the education industry because there simply hasn’t been demand for it.  Other than the JET Program, the education system in its entirety is also highly organized, standardized, and rigid in its timeline: by far the optimal time to find employment is directly after high school or college.  Even an extra year or two spent studying abroad or getting a master’s degree has been looked down upon more often than one would suspect.  In addition, changing companies was seen as almost as disgraceful as a samurai betraying one’s feudal lord, and there was no such thing as work/life balance because life was one’s work and one’s company.  Japanese companies have been designed to hire from this homogenous talent pool and allow for gradual training and growth with seniority.  Participants in the JET Program were not meant fit in this system.

Since finishing the JET Program in 2011, I have learned that at the ground level, small and medium sized businesses, that system is now finally increasingly ready for change.  While not newsworthy yet, Japan’s workforce crisis has started.  A number of social and economic factors, all heavily linked to the aging population, seem to be causing the Japanese human resource talent pool to shrink and maybe worsen.  Small businesses especially feel this blow because the best hires often go to larger companies, whose human resource demands have not decreased.  As the total number of working people decrease, therefore, larger businesses take up an even greater percentage of talented employees, leaving less desirable employees and unmet demand in human resources. Read More

Jul 11

Job: Writing Job with Square 2 Marketing (Philadelphia Area)

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Overview: 

The Copy Architect is a master storyteller, responsible for creating engaging, compelling messages for a wide variety of target audiences. In addition, the Copy Architect is skilled in crafting both long- and short-form content for distribution through a variety of communication channels.

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Jul 10

【RocketNews24】Tokyo’s cat pub, the cat cafe for grown-ups

Article/Journalism, Writers cat cafe, cat pub, japan, RocketNews24 Comments Off on 【RocketNews24】Tokyo’s cat pub, the cat cafe for grown-ups

Posted by Michelle Lynn Dinh (Shimane-ken, Chibu-mura, 2010–13), editor and writer for RocketNews24. The following article was written by Casey Baseel, a writer and translator for RocketNews24, a Japan-based site dedicated to bringing fun and quirky news from Asia to English speaking audiences. 

In Japan, since so many people who love cute animals live in apartments that don’t allow pets, you can find cafes that’ll let you relax in the company of everything from owls to bunnies. The most common and widely documented are of course cat cafes, but what do you do when you’re craving not only a little feline companionship, but also want something a bit stronger than a cup of coffee?

Simple: you head to the cat pub in Tokyo.

Read more at RocketNews24

Jul 9

Job: Baruch College Writing Center seeks Multilingual Writing Support Specialist (NYC)

Jobs Comments Off on Job: Baruch College Writing Center seeks Multilingual Writing Support Specialist (NYC)

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Overview: 

The Baruch College Writing Center seeks a Multilingual Writing Support Specialist to join its vibrant and engaged staff of writers and teachers.

Baruch College’s students are linguistically diverse. They include students who are bilingual and multilingual, international students, and students from multilingual communities and backgrounds within the US. Many are in the process of acquiring English, or use of varieties of world Englishes. The Writing Center values this linguistic diversity, and the many linguistic, rhetorical, experiential, and cultural resources our students bring to the Baruch community.

The Multilingual Writing Support Specialist will have three main charges: to directly support students via one-to-one consultations; to develop new small-group programming geared particularly to the needs of multilingual and ELL writers, such as workshops and writing groups; and to support our staff of professional consultants in their work with writers from diverse linguistic backgrounds through one-to-one meetings, group workshops, resource collection, etc.
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Jul 9

Job: News Reporter/Research Asst for The Yomiuri Shimbun (Los Angeles)

Jobs Comments Off on Job: News Reporter/Research Asst for The Yomiuri Shimbun (Los Angeles)

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Overview: 
The Los Angeles Bureau of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest national daily newspaper, seeks a reporter/research assistant. We cover social issues, sports events, national politics and any major breaking news in the Western and Midwestern states of the U.S. as well as all of Mexico. This job primarily involves gathering news, tracking newswires and assisting Japanese reporters by arranging and conducting interviews, doing research and transcribing interviews. The office can be fast-paced and there are daily deadlines. The position will include opportunities to travel to cover major news, report on sporting events, interview high-ranking government officials, and cover the entertainment industry. Applicants should be fluent in English and Spanish. Since the newspaper is in Japanese, there are no byline opportunities.
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Jul 9

JETwit Job Hunter Project: Grant Minagawa

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JETwit Job Hunter is a feature started by Autumn Widdoes (Okinawa-ken 2010-14) where we share the profile of a JET or JET alum currently seeking work and invite JETwit readers to share any advice, suggestions, or perspectives.  Autumn is a writer with a focus on performance and film who will soon return to the job market herself.  She’d like to put her four years of experience in Japan to good use in future employment.

Job Hunter:  Grant Minagawa (Okinawa-ken, 2010-14) is a JET currently living in Naha, Okinawa.  Grant will end his contract with the JET Program this August.  During his JET tenure, Grant was one of the Prefectural Advisors for Okinawa.  He gained experience in event planning, management and human resources, and counseling and conflict resolution.  Grant is interested in using the skills he learned as a PA in working in the management of English language education programs, university-level international education, or as an event planner.   He would like to remain in Japan, though he is potentially interested in opportunities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and the USA.

Objective:  To work in English language education management, international education at the university level, or in event planning.

Areas of Interest: 

• Management of English Language Education Programs
• International Education at the university level
• Event planning

Job Hunting Strategies:

• 2014 After-JET Conference and Job Fair
• LinkedIn
• Websites for job listings
• Networking
• Hello Work employment office

Challenges:  Grant feels that the market has changed significantly since his last job search, but he feels that people have been, often unexpectedly, very helpful to him during this process.   He has been managing his job search while also working diligently as an outgoing PA, managing and coordinating reappointing, inbound and outbound JETs.  With his Japanese at the JLPT N3 level, Grant is finding it difficult to locate non-ALT jobs that do not require full fluency at the N1 or N2 level.    He believes that the job market in Japan is set to expand exponentially for foreign employees, especially as Tokyo gears up to host the 2020 Olympics, but he isn’t quite certain where to begin to look for employment.   Grant is seeking advice and connections to people working in industries related to his areas of interest, especially those who can help him find a job in Japan.

Web Presence:

• To contact Grant visit his LinkedIn Profile.

To help this JETwit Job Hunter, post your comments below, or contact Grant Minagawa directly. 

If you’d like to be profiled, click here to submit your information through the JETwit Job Hunter Google Form.  

Reminder that there are a number of JET Alum professionally oriented LinkedIn groups set up to help you.  By joining groups in fields that interest you, you can find and connect with other alums in that field.

Jul 5

JQ Magazine: Film Review – JAPAN CUTS 2014 at Japan Society

Article/Journalism, Film, JQ Magazine, Reviews Comments Off on JQ Magazine: Film Review – JAPAN CUTS 2014 at Japan Society

Ken Watanabe (right), stars in Unforgiven, premiering July 15 at Japan Society in New York as part of their annual JAPAN CUTS film festival. (© 2013 Warner Entertainment Japan Inc.)

By Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) for JQ magazine. Lyle has completed a master’s program at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and has been writing for the JET Alumni Association of New York since 2004. He is also the goalkeeper for FC Japan, a New York City-based soccer team.

This year’s JAPAN CUTS—North America’s biggest festival of new Japanese film—kicks off July 10-20 at New York’s Japan Society, continuing its tradition of showcasing the latest films from Japan along with some special guest stars and filmmakers. This year’s highlights include Japan’s blockbuster The Eternal Zero, The Great Passage (Japan’s submission for the Academy Award last year) and the post-3/11 documentary The Horses of Fukushima. Below are three of the 28 films in this year’s lineup that were made available to JQ at press time.

Eiji Uchida’s Greatful Dead marks the latest entry in the “dark and twisted” Japanese genre. The sordid story follows Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) as she follows “solitarians” (old and psychotic loners) around Tokyo and snaps selfies with them when they die. She enters into a morbid friendship with one particular “solitarian” (Takashi Sasano) and the rest of the film explores the darker side of humanity and mental illness in modern-day Japan. Uchida also seems to be making a statement about those most marginalized in modern Japan—the young and the elderly. Japan’s youth have a staggeringly large unemployment rate while the aging demographic makes for a perilously underfunded social security system.

Also using horror conventions for social satire is Miss Zombie, taking place in a futuristic Japan where zombies can be domesticated as servants and pets. Directed by Hiroyuki Tanaka (here using the pseudonym “Sabu”), Miss Zombie follows Shara, a mail order zombie whose owner, Dr. Teramoto, feeds her rotten vegetables in exchange for domestic labor. The film takes a darker turn as she is raped by two handymen—an event that sexually arouses Dr. Teramoto. Soon, Shara’s services are no longer limited to domestic chores. Even Dr. Teramoto’s wife finds her services useful after their son drowns. Overall, Sabu brings a fresh and interesting approach to the zombie film—a far cry from the works of George A. Romero and the countless imitators he inspired.

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Jul 3

Justin’s Japan: Nippon in New York — Kabuki at Lincoln Center, JAPAN CUTS, NY Mets, DJ Krush

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Neko Samurai ～Samurai ♥ Cat～ makes its international premiere as part of Japan Society’s annual JAPAN CUTS film festival July 19 with a live appearance by star Kazuki Kitamura. (© 2014 NEKO SAMURAI PRODUCTION COMMITTEE)

By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.

After you’ve seen the outdoor fireworks, enjoy some summer events in the cool indoors, whether it’s witnessing the return of one of the world’s most distinguished kabuki companies returning to New York after seven years, catching one of 20 films in Japan Society’s annual festival, or waiting for the bass to drop at a live performance from a legendary DJ.

July 7-12

Heisei Nakamura-za

Rose Theater, 10 Columbus Circle

$45-$190

The Heisei Nakamura-za company, which made its North American debut in a critically acclaimed and sold-out run during Lincoln Center Festival 2004, was founded by the illustrious Kanzaburo XVIII, the late patriarch of the Nakamura family—a veritable kabuki dynasty in Japan with an unbroken line of actors and innovators reaching back to the 17th century. For its Lincoln Center Festival engagement, the company has revived a rarely performed 19th-century ghost story, Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki (The Ghost Tale of the Wet Nurse Tree), about the murder of an artist by a handsome samurai who desires the artist’s wife. Running the emotional gamut from drama to uproarious slapstick comedy, and culminating in a thrilling fight-to-the-death beneath a waterfall, this is kabuki theater at its most engaging. Performed in Japanese with English synopsis via a headset.

July 10-20

JAPAN CUTS 2014

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

$10-$20

North America’s biggest festival of new Japanese film returns for its eighth year, serving up a thrilling cross section of Japan’s diverse film cultures to New York audiences! Screening 27 features across 10 days, including co-presentations with the 13th New York Asian Film Festival, JAPAN CUTS premieres the best of recent action epics, genre oddities, touching dramas, warped comedies and cutting-edge arthouse cinema made in and around Japan. Plus, meet special guest stars and filmmakers during exclusive post-screening Q&As and raucous parties in Japan Society’s theater and atrium!

Friday, July 11, 5:30 p.m.

New York Mets Japanese Heritage Night 2014

Citi Field, 123-01 Roosevelt Avenue

Special seating $35-$72

For the fifth annual Japanese Heritage Night at Citi Field, the Mets take on the Miami Marlins for this special event. The pre-show kicks off at Mets Plaza outside with an explosive taiko set from New York’s own Soh Daiko, followed by the Mets Spirit Awards inside the stadium given to honored members of the New York Japanese and Japanese American community. Prior to the first pitch at 7:00 p.m., the Japanese Men’s Choir will perform our national anthem. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket bought will go to Japanese community charities through the Japanese American Association of New York. Be sure to look for fun Japanese activities and games throughout the evening at the special tables on the main concourse behind the giant video screen. Price of ticket includes a free T-shirt!

For the complete story, click here.

Jul 3

Leading U.S.-Japan Exchange in Northern California: JETAANC

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The following was written by JETAA Northern California President Mark Frey (Kumamoto-ken, 2002-06) with contributions from Xander Peterson (Miyazaki, 2009-2012) and was originally published in Japanese in the most recent edition of the CLAIR Forum which is distributed to pretty much every prefecture and town government in Japan as well as every Japanese consulate and embassy.  Below is the English version.  Here’s a link to the CLAIR Forum (PDF) which has the article in Japanese.

Leading U.S.-Japan Exchange in Northern California: JETAANC

By Mark Frey, President, JETAANC, mark.frey@jetaanc.org

Many of you know participants of the JET Program (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program). They may be your co-workers or friends. But what happens to them when they return to their home countries? I hope to show you some of the exciting things that former JETs are doing on behalf of U.S.-Japan relations. I will also suggest some ways that you can engage JET alumni to further your own goals.

In 1989, two years after the start of the JET Program, former JETs gathered and established the JET Program Alumni Association (JETAA) with the aim of giving each other support and continuing the mission of the JET Program to foster grassroots international exchange.

Over the past 25 years, JETAA has grown into a vibrant worldwide organization. There are now over 57,000 JET alumni living across the globe. Over 28,000 of them live in America. That’s about 1 in every 8,000 American adults! You can see the positive impact that JET alumni can have in promoting Japan around the world.

This year I became President of JETAA’s Northern California chapter, JETAANC. With over 3,000 members, I am proud to say that we are one of the largest and most active chapters in the world. Next year we will celebrate our 25^th Anniversary.

Our alumni are working at every level of every sector of the local economy, including for-profit, non-profit, education, and government. They are promoting exchange between the U.S. and Japan whenever and however they can.

Every year, our alumni provide substantial support to the JET Program. Read More

Jul 3

Leaving JET: “Dear God, what have I done!?”

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By Hollie Mantle (Gunma-ken, 2011-13) who lives in the UK but has great memories of Gumma, home to the wonderful choking hazard konniyaku.

In February some of you would have ticked that fateful box and signed away all ties to that sweet, sweet wage packet and comfortable life you’re living tucked away in one of Japan’s mountainside prefectures, famous for cabbages or sweet potatoes or a particular flavour of senbei. (Oh the fame, the glory!) As it’s coming up to just before home time, I thought I’d give you a few tips just to horrify you into clinging desperately to your futon and make you comfort-eat kara-age as you think ‘DEAR GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?’ Read More

Jul 3

Job: Study Abroad Program Manager, University of Colorado Boulder

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Via JET alum Carleen Ben.  Posted by Jayme Tsutsuse (Kyoto-fu, 2013-Present), organizer of Cross-Cultural Kansai.  Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.

Position: Study Abroad Program Manager
Posted by: Univ. of Colorado Boulder
Location: Boulder, CO
Type: Full-time 

Overview:

This position exists in order to enable students to study abroad as an integral part of their University of Colorado at Boulder academic career by managing CU-Boulder academic programs overseas, by advising students about study abroad, by serving as a regional advising specialist, and by selecting and preparing students for the experience. The position provides backup to other program managers during their peak busy times by reviewing student applications and following up with difficult cases. Read More

Jul 3

Job: Study Abroad Advisor – University of Florida (Gainesville)

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Via JET alum Carleen Ben.  Posted by Jayme Tsutsuse (Kyoto-fu, 2013-Present), organizer of Cross-Cultural Kansai.  Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.

Position: Study Abroad Advisor
Posted by: University of Florida 
Location: Gainesville, FL
Type: Full-time 

Overview:

An opening for a study abroad advisor position at the University of Florida International Center (UFIC) in Gainesville, Florida. This new position is an opportunity to join a dynamic team of 5 study abroad advisors, an Assistant Director, an Executive Director, and a receptionist, who are responsible for facilitating study abroad opportunities for University of Florida students. It is an exciting time to work at UFIC, as internationalization has been identified as the theme of the university Quality Enhancement Plan that will begin implementation this Fall.
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