Jan 28

【RocketNews24】Grated radish art from Japan brings the cute to your favourite dishes

Article/Journalism, Writers 3D art, cute, daikon, Food, food art, radish Comments Off on 【RocketNews24】Grated radish art from Japan brings the cute to your favourite dishes

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

If you’ve been keeping up with the amazing 3-D latte art trends going on in Japan’s barista world right now, then you might want to take a look at their savoury counterparts popping up in grated radish form. Instead of swimming in cups of coffee, these adorable home-made creations are taking dips in winter hot pots and stews. Join us as we take a look at some of the cutest critters on offer, from Ghibli characters to sleeping cats, and see just how easy it is to cook up some edible cuteness at home.

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Jan 28

Job: Internship at Japan Society (NY)

Jobs Comments Off on Job: Internship at Japan Society (NY)

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Position: Individual Giving Intern

Overview:

Japan Society’s Development office seeks a spring 2014 intern to assist with daily operations related to Individual Giving. Working with the Director of Individual Giving and Individual Giving Associate, this is an excellent opportunity to gain firsthand experience in individual fundraising at an internationally-recognized nonprofit cultural organization with a distinguished history of more than 100 years. Read More

Jan 28

Job: Speech Writer/Public Relations Advisor at Consulate of Japan (Los Angeles)

Jobs japan, LA Comments Off on Job: Speech Writer/Public Relations Advisor at Consulate of Japan (Los Angeles)

*Applications due February 15th, 2014

Thanks to JET alum Tiffany Dyer (who works for the Consulate) for passing this great JET-relevant job listing along. Posted by blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.

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Position: Speech Writer/Public Relations Advisor
Location:  Los Angeles, CA
Type: Full-time

Overview:

The Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles is seeking a motivated and diligent individual to be a Speech Writer and Public Relations advisor. The successful candidate would have excellent writing and research skills, intercultural communication skills, and have an ability to self-motivate and take initiative to better communicate Japan’s policy to the American public. Read More

Jan 28

Japan Times: “Japanese firms mostly unaware of benefits of hiring from JET ranks: poll”

Career, Japan Trends, JETs in the News, Return on JET-vestment Comments Off on Japan Times: “Japanese firms mostly unaware of benefits of hiring from JET ranks: poll”

Article from the Japan Times about a Keizai Doyukai survey that indicates that Japanese companies are behind the curve compared to foreign companies with regard to hiring JET alumni, even though they possess qualities such as familiarity with Japanese language and culture than many Japanese companies need.  

Note to Japanese companies:  If you want to reach JET alumni, it’s as easy as e-mailing your job listings to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.  It’s the best way to disseminate your job listings since JETwit jobs posts get echoed by JETAA chapters, and it’s free!

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/27/business/japanese-firms-mostly-unaware-of-benefits-of-hiring-from-jet-ranks-poll/#.UufAYmQo791

BY MASAAKI KAMEDA

STAFF WRITER

Japanese companies are less aware than their foreign counterparts of the government-sponsored Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and are thus missing out on an opportunity to hire foreigners who have the skills they need, a recent survey by a major business lobby showed.

The Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai), which conducted the survey released Friday, noted that domestic companies need to strategically hire former JET teachers and urged the government to create a mechanism to facilitate match-making opportunities for them.

The Keizai Doyukai survey, carried out between late November and December, said that only 18 percent of the 167 responding domestic companies knew about the JET program, and that only nine had hired former JET personnel.

By comparison, 83 percent of the 23 foreign companies and embassies who responded said they knew about the program and had employed past JETs. Read More

Jan 27

WIT Life #260: Shohei Imamura Film Festival at Asia Society

Events, Film, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WIT Life #260: Shohei Imamura Film Festival at Asia Society

WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03).  She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends along with her own observations.

First of all, a belated 明けましておめでとうございます！ It’s been a busy start to 2014, but I’m happy to be blogging again in the year of the horse (午年 or umadoshi).  It being umadoshi is good news for people like me whose animal sign is the horse, as one is said to have good luck when the zodiac sign for the current year is the same as the one from the year when you were born.  This makes me what is called a 年女 (toshi onna), and I’m hoping this year of the horse gives me faster feet in the many marathons I run…

In conjunction with the Japan Foundation, the Asia Society is currently featuring the Vengeance is Shohei Imamura film series from January 17-February 1.  I have been a fan of Imamura’s ever since seeing The Eel (「うなぎ」, with Yakusho Koji playing a former convict) in 1997, and was glad to have the opportunity to check out some of his other flicks.  He was the first Japanese director to win two Palme d’Or awards, one for Unagi, and one for The Ballad of Narayama (「楢山節考」) in 1983, screened this past Saturday night as part of the Imamura film festival.

Set in the 19th century, the movie takes place in a small rural Japanese village where they have Read More

Jan 27

Job: International Cultural Ambassador at Fukui City (Japan)

Jobs fukui, Job Comments Off on Job: International Cultural Ambassador at Fukui City (Japan)

*UPDATE 01-27-14:  Fukui City is still seeking applicants.  See below for details.

Thanks to Ayuko Ono of CLAIR NY for passing on this very JET-relevant opportunity. Posted by blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.

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Position: International Cultural Ambassador
Location:  Fukui, Japan
Type: 2 Year Contract
Salary: 300,000 yen/month gross

Overview:

Fukui City invites human resources mainly through the relationship with our sister cities to promote internationalization in Fukui City, Japan.

This individual will engage in promoting international understanding and conducting cultural exchange programs. More details can be found on the official site here.

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Jan 26

Job: Intercultural Programs Advisor – Center for Global and Intercultural Study (CGIS), Univeristy of Michigan(Ann Arbor, MI)

Jobs Comments Off on Job: Intercultural Programs Advisor – Center for Global and Intercultural Study (CGIS), Univeristy of Michigan(Ann Arbor, MI)

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: Intercultural Programs Advisor
Posted by: Center for Global and Intercultural Study (CGIS) – Univeristy of Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor, MI 
Type: full-time

Overview:

Established in 2009, the Center for Global and Intercultural Study (CGIS) was created to provide a wide variety of global engagement and learning opportunities to the University of Michigan community. CGIS programming serves students with diverse academic interests at both international and domestic sites.

The Intercultural Programs Advisor coordinates of a range of services for CGIS programs. Programs assigned to this position include, but are not limited to, those in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Czech Republic. Responsibilities of the position are described below.

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Jan 26

Job: English Teaching Internship (TESOL) at Ibaraki Christian University (Japan)

Jobs Comments Off on Job: English Teaching Internship (TESOL) at Ibaraki Christian University (Japan)

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Position: English Teaching Intern

Overview:

In the teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) internship program, interns help undergraduate English majors in Japan to improve their English. Interns will work with students in and outside of the classroom to help them academically, provide communication practice and create opportunities where students can use their English in nonacademic settings such as playing games, sports and other extracurricular activities. Interns will learn how to plan, execute and improve these activities through working with students and university professors. They will also learn how to be effective educators in English as a foreign language settings. We are looking for interested students who would like to do an international internship related to teaching English as a foreign language and Asian culture. We welcome students of all religious faiths and cultures and secular humanists. Read More

Jan 26

JQ Magazine: MIT Professor Ian Condry Explores ‘The Soul of Anime’

Article/Journalism, Books, JQ Magazine, Notable JET Alums Comments Off on JQ Magazine: MIT Professor Ian Condry Explores ‘The Soul of Anime’

“I think it’s a challenge coming back from JET. But the times and experiences we had will really pay off in the long run even if in the short term it’s hard to see how they will apply.” (Courtesy of Web.mit.edu)

By Sheila Burt (Toyama-ken, 2010-12) for JQ magazine. Sheila is a Chicago-based journalist who blogs at www.sheilaburt.com.

Anime can easily be called a global phenomenon. In the past few decades, several anime TV series and movies have grown so successful that even people with little knowledge of Japanese culture can probably name at least one anime show or character. But how is something that is so labor intensive, costly and culturally quirky able to transcend oceans and inspire rabid fan bases?

A participant in the JETAA Regional Conference held at Harvard University earlier this month, cultural anthropologist Ian Condry (Miyagi-ken, 1988-89) explores this question in his new book, The Soul of Anime. An associate professor of comparative media studies at MIT since 2002, Condry researches cultural movements that go global, looking at how and why certain local phenomenon spread. The Soul of Anime is his second book, followed by Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization (2006), about the inner world of Japanese hip-hop.

Although initially interested in the business model of anime, Condry changed the focus of his research after learning, rather surprisingly, that “No one gets rich making anime. And in fact, it’s a terrible business model.” Rather than looking at how anime sustains itself business-wise, Condry looks at the power of anime as a platform where, oftentimes, fans and other forms of “collaborative creativity” are at the heart of anime’s success. In order to illustrate this argument, Condry tells the story of Gundam, an anime series about giant robots that first aired in 1979. It was initially a ratings failure, but after fans created everything from encyclopedias to timelines about the show, it became a cult sensation, eventually becoming the longest-running anime series in Japanese history.

“If you look at media only in terms of the genius of the creators or the kind of business model that it fits into, then you miss the power of fans and the importance of the value they add to the products,” Condry explains. “That’s sort of what the book is about. I think now we’re starting to see that all over the place with Facebook, Wikipedia, and Twitter, all these kind of media platforms where the content is made by the users but then there’s this interaction between the users and the platform producers that make all the difference.”

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Jan 24

Job: TOMODACHI Alumni Coordinator (Tokyo)

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Position: Alumni Coordinator
Posted By: US-Japan Council
Type: Full-time

Overview:

The TOMODACHI Initiative is seeking a talented, dynamic, bilingual individual for the position of TOMODACHI Alumni Coordinator. The Coordinator will be responsible for the development and oversight of TOMODACHI alumni programming throughout Japan and, in coordination with U.S.-based staff, on programs in the United States, with the goal of building upon short-term exchange experiences to promote continued alumni engagement with the United States (or Japan, in the case of American alumni). The Coordinator will report to the Executive Director of the TOMODACHI Initiative in Tokyo, and be co-located with the TOMODACHI team in offices both in the U.S. Embassy and pro bono space provided by GE in Akasaka, Tokyo. Read More

Jan 24

Job: Native English Advisor for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency (Tokyo)

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Position: Native English Advisor
Posted By: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency
Type: Freelance
Salary: 3,000 yen/hour as the advisory fee

* Transportation fee will be provided according to PMDA’s regulations.

Overview:

The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) has focuses on enhancing active and smooth dissemination of information to the world by enriching and improving its English web content. To this end, PMDA is looking to recruit for a qualified native English advisor(s) who can proofread and edit English documents, produced by PMDA, so as to make them read naturally. The documents include translated review reports for drugs and medical devices that will be uploaded to the PMDA website. The successful applicant(s) will work on site at PMDA, upon the request of PMDA, to perform the assigned tasks. Read More

Jan 23

CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” series: Penelope Fox (Saga)

Life As a JET, Return on JET-vestment, Uncategorized Comments Off on CLAIR Magazine “JET Plaza” series: Penelope Fox (Saga)

Each month, current and former JET participants are featured in the “JET Plaza” section of the CLAIR Forum magazine. The October 2013 edition includes an article by current JET participant Penelope Fox. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.

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“Aside from the wonderful opportunity to live and teach in a country I love, I thank the JET Programme and all its participants I have had contact with for making me think more about the world I live in and how I can make a difference.”

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Penelope Fox (Saga-ken, Shiroishi-cho, 2009-14) developed an interest for Japan at the age of four while accompanying her father on a business trip there. She started studying Japanese in elementary school and, after graduating from university, embarked on a career in Human Resources while dreaming of going to live in Japan one day. Several years and a graduate degree in Education later, she joined the JET Programme and was sent to rural Saga. She has been teaching elementary school children for almost five years and, actively involved in AJET at the local and national level, has been an invaluable member of the JET community since then.

Like many people coming on the JET Programme, I was super excited to come to Japan and embrace its culture and language head-on. In fact, for me personally, the JET Programme represented the realisation of a long-term dream: to live in Japan for an extended period and combine my love of teaching, children and Japanese language, and experience ‘real’ Japanese life in the countryside.

While I tried to come to Japan with very few expectations, I would have to say that the JET Programme has been everything I hoped it would be and more: my schools (I have worked at a total of 15 different kindergartens, elementary schools and junior high schools over the past four years) have all be fantastic, each in their own way; my co-workers have generally been very welcoming and accepting of me; my supervisors have been kind; and my communities have embraced having a foreigner in their midst.

For my first placement, I worked in a small ‘city’ of 20,000 people surrounded by mountains. Coming from a dry, mostly flat continent like Australia, the beauty and vividness of the greenery I could constantly see around me that first summer never ceased to amaze me. Having requested a ‘rural’ placement on JET, I was thrilled. At first, my focus was on my work and understanding what it meant to be an ALT. In fact, I believe it took me almost two years to feel like I was really able to contribute to my full potential in classes and at school. As time went by, I cemented personal and professional relationships, and came to love my quiet country life in Japan; perhaps even more so than that first ‘honeymoon’ phase.

At the end of my third year, unable to secure a new contract with a cost-cutting BOE, yet not wanting to return home yet, I was lucky enough to be granted a transfer to a neighbouring city in the same prefecture. Though my surroundings have since changed to a flat landscape and the constant smell of onions and renkon (the two specialties of the area), plus a suite of new schools, the people around me again have made the difference in making me feel at home. My neighbours and co-workers epitomise what I believe to be one of Japan’s core strengths– the friendliness of the people. Again I am reminded how lucky I am to have this experience that has exceeded all my expectations.

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Jan 23

Justin’s Japan: Japan Goes to the Oscars

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Click image to read story

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

Fans of Japan-themed cinema were delighted when candidates for this year’s Academy Awards were announced Jan. 16, as Cutie and the Boxer was nominated for Best Documentary Feature and The Wind Rises received the nod for Best Animated Feature Film.

A 2013 Sundance Film Festival entry (and award winner for director Zachary Heinzerling), Cutie and the Boxer captures the stormy 40-year marriage of painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko, a budding artist in her own right. Shot over five years in New York, the film is a raw and sometimes unpleasant look at how egotism and the desire to create can bend personal relationships to the breaking point. It will be released on Blu-ray and DVD Feb. 4.

On the animated front is The Wind Rises, the latest work from Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli fame. Based on the life of wartime aeronautical engineer Jiro Horikoshi, it was the top-grossing film in Japan last year and is the third Oscar nominee for Miyazaki (he previously won for 2001’s Spirited Away). It could also be his last, as he announced his retirement in September. The film receives a domestic theatrical release Feb. 21, and marks a bold new thematic direction for the maestro.

The 86th annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live on March 2. For more information on the nominees, visit www.oscar.go.com.

Jan 23

Job: Student Life International Student Manager – CUNY – New York, NY

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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: Student Life International Student Manager
Posted by: CUNY
Location: New York NY
Type: full-time

Job Duties:

• Manage and coordinate services to support the success of international students.
• Creates goals and objectives that reflect Campus objectives, and evaluates performance and success
• Supervises staff and develops office policy to ensure efficient service delivery
• Drafts, recommends and implements policies and procedures on a variety of international student issues, such as admissions, health insurance, resident tuition, and English proficiency for international students
• Collaborating with student affairs colleagues, provides leadership in the development of international and diversity student activities and programs; serves as an advisor/mentor to international student organizations.
• Produces and presents relevant communications to international students, such as a handbook and orientation programs
• Oversees required activities in matters pertaining to government agencies and compliance, such as the US Department of Justice, the US Department of State, and the Internal Revenue Service
• Maintains relationships with College community, faculty and staff to provide additional support and to inform students of resources available to them.
• Performs related duties as assigned.

Jan 22

Job: Senior Coordinator at Embassy of Japan (UK)

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Position: Senior Coordinator, Administrative Section
Posted By: Embassy of Japan
Type: Full-time
Salary: According to qualification and experience (24K to 29K)

Overview:

Working hours: Monday to Friday, 9:30 to 18:00 (lunch hour: 12:45 to 13:45) with the possibility of overtime work
Commencing: March 2014

• Assist general administrative duties in the Embassy
• Assist human resource management of locally hired staff of the Embassy
• Undertake ad hoc research on administrative issues
• Assist with coordination between departments internally, and with other institutions such as the FCO, for VIP visits and major events hosted by the Embassy

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