Mar 14

Kirsten’s World: “Shake Up the Picture The Lizard Mixture”

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 […]


Mar 8

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) The trip home was poetic. Trying to spare myself the tremendous charge for checking more than 2 bags on a flight, I condensed the entirety of my JET existence into three bags. One of them (a duffel bag to be precise) broke 30 minutes before the takyuubin people were due […]


Mar 5

Kirsten’s World: 現金なれます。現金を取り下さい。I suck at the lyrics to the ATM…

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) I had an inaka bank. 弟四銀行. Anyone outside Niigata even heard of it? Is it just a Niigata thing? Do they have those in Nagano/Toyama/Nagoya? I was always nervous going to Tokyo because the only ATM that would recognize my ATM card was the 7-11. Not the Save-On, not the […]


Mar 4

Kirsten’s World: 年休,病休、代休&FU休

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) My first year in Japan schooled me. Learn how to suck it up, you soft American pansy. This is Nippon and we don’t care if your carcass is rotting and your soul is spiraling rapidly towards damnation. We will smile and hand you the five letter dirty word: G-A-M-A-N.  Now […]


Feb 21

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) Dudes, I have a confession. I am scared shitless of the yaki-imoyasan. Granted, I am a petit pussois and many things creep me out. But I will chalk this up to sheer cultural ignorance and unexplainable skeevies. The potato man is out to get me. For those not in the […]


May 19

JQ Magazine: COBU Gives Sakura Matsuri Season a Beat

By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-2008) for JQ magazine. Kirsten is a native New Yorker and currently works as a teacher for the New York Board of Education. Sakura matsuri season is upon us. For JET returnees, this time of year hearkens back to picnics with friends or students. Copious amounts of alcohol under the pink […]


Nov 7

  By Sierra Soleil (Fukushima-ken, 2000-02) for JQ magazine. Sierra works at an ESL school in Manhattan. He enjoys teaching, writing, and riding his bike. The first weekend of November marked the ninth annual Japan Arts Matsuri (JAM) in New York, this year at the Theater for the New City in the East Village. With […]


Nov 12

Kobayashi Headlines New York’s Annual Japan Arts Matsuri

  By JQ magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories. “Ultimate Food Fighter” Takeru Kobayashi returns to eat another day to break a new Guinness World Record as the special guest of the 8th Annual Amnet New York Japan Arts Matsuri this weekend […]


Jun 9

Note: This is the first in what JetWit hopes will become a series of “Japan Fix” articles.  Each article can be a simple guide for where to go to get a Japan fix in your neck of the woods, or a more personal account of how you get your Japan fix.  (Or in Kirsten’s case […]


Mar 31

News: 84-year old Japanese woman foils 22-year-old burglar in Fukuoka

**************** Thanks to Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) for sharing proof of what JET alums already know:  obaasans are not to be F*&%$ed with: http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/84-year-old-woman-apprehends-22-year-old-burglar-in-fukuoka


Feb 25

JQ Magazine: Winter 2009 “New Issue” of JETAA NY Quarterly Magazine Now Online!

*********** Otsukare sama deshita to Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02), the new editor of JQ, JETAA NY’s Quarterly Magazine, for putting out the first issue of the Magazine.  And what an amazing issue it is. Go to http://jetaany.org/magazine to see the issue online. Here’s the table of contents: WINTER 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3…..Letter […]


Nov 15

POLITICAL ANIMALS – Stories of politics from days of JET

We didn’t go on JET to run for office or start a revolution, but sometimes politics had a way of finding us. Here are some stories from fellow alums. ********************* GIFT CERTIFICATE WINNERS Clara Solomon (CIR Tottori-ken, 1999-2001) Meredith Wutz (Saitama-ken, 2000-02) One Prize: $25 to Kinokuniya Bookstore, now on 6th Ave. between 40th & […]


Nov 10

JETAA NY Quarterly: Fall 2008 “Politics” Issue

JETAA NY has just published its Fall 2008 “Politics” Issue of its quarterly publications.  Click the image below to read. FALL 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1…..JET Alumni Election Survey Page 2…..Letter from the President Page 3…..Comings & Goings Page 4…..Translators Challenge Page 5…..JETAANY Society Page by Yoku Shitteiru Page 6…..Interview with Inuyama City Councilman […]


Aug 20

Greetings Fellow Former JETS! It’s that time of year again! My uber-cool yosa-koi dance team is once more looking for new members to audition! “But Kirsten,” you say, scratching your head. “I don’t dance. Even if I did dance, I still have no idea what yosa-koi is!” No worries, gentle coz. You are not alone. Yosa-koi […]


Jan 25

10TECOMAI: YOSA-KOI DANCE PROJECT AUDITION

Greetings Fellow Former JETS! Do you know what yosa-koi is? Good for you. Do you love nothing more than flailing about with naruko? (wooden instrument, NOT some girl’s name! ^^)  Are you an aspiring performer/dancer with an interest in Japanese culture?  Are you a non-performer/dancer with an interest in Japanese culture? Do you just really miss Japan and dream of becoming […]


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