Job: Web Producer at Japan Society (NYC)
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Thanks to JET alum Christy Jones of the Japan Society of NY for passing this 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: Web Producer
Location: NYC
Overview:
The Web Producer is responsible for supporting web and e-communications efforts across multiple programs and departments. This person is also responsible for updating and maintaining content on the Japan Society website, creating and editing our email campaigns, and assist with various other tasks including website optimization, graphics editing, and social media updates to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. A key quality is attention to detail, strong project management skills, and a keen eye for proofreading web content for publishing. The position requires flexibility in working across multiple projects concurrently, with an ability to shift priorities when needed. Read More
Job: Sub-contractor ESL Tutor (Indianapolis, IN)
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Via the Indiana subchapter of JETAA Chicago. Posted by Kim ‘Kay’ Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Sub-contractor ESL tutor
Posted by: The Language Training Center
Type: N/A
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The Language Training Center (www.languagetrainingcenter.com), based in Indianapolis, is looking for an ESL tutor for Saturday mornings and a teacher for ESL group lessons on Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons. Some Japanese language familiarity preferred.
If you are interested in these positions or have questions, please contact LTC’s Ryan Cook: rcook@languagetrainingcenter.com
http://www.languagetrainingcenter.com/about/career-opportunities.aspx
Job: Director of Education – Museum of Chinese in the Americas (NYC)
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Via Philanthropy News Digest.Posted by Kim ‘Kay’ Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Director of Education
Posted by: Museum of Chinese in the Americas
Type: N/A
Location: New York, NY
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The Director of Education is responsible for developing and managing comprehensive educational plans (both short and long term) as well as creating and maintaining educational programs that reflect the Museum of Chinese in America’s ( MOCA) mission and meets the needs of the diverse audiences we serve.
Responsibilities
- Work with Executive Director and senior staff to set the vision and goals for the department.
- Recruit, train, and supervise museum educators, interns, and volunteers.
- Develop and implement curriculum-based education programs including on-site guided tours, professional development workshops, and resources.
- Plan, develop, implement and evaluate in-school and out-of-school partnership with school teachers, school administrators, and staff at partner community organizations. Read More
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘Life in Japan: The First Year’
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“Edison’s artistic talent captures Japan’s essence and his autobiographical account is honest and direct. JET Alumni will be able to follow his story and find many of their own experiences and thoughts represented within his work. From his first encounter ordering a hamburger to his dissatisfaction with being a glorified babysitter, his tone and pace keeps the reader hooked.” (Big Ugly Robot Publishing)
By Lana Kitcher (Yamanashi-ken, 2010-12) for JQ magazine. Lana is the business development associate for Bridges to Japan. To read more about Lana’s adventures in Japan and New York, visit her blog at Kitcher’s Café.
Victor Edison is a young man who remembers always having some Japanese influences present throughout his life. His family hosted a Japanese exchange student during his childhood, and he was fascinated by anime and manga from a young age. After graduation he found himself working a job he didn’t really want that wasn’t really going anywhere. A friend that was working in Japan at the time encouraged him to apply to be an English teacher and all he could respond to this was, “why not?”
Published by Nagoya-based Big Ugly Robot Press, Life in Japan: The First Year is a bilingual graphic novel written and drawn by Edison about his first year working for an English language school in Mie Prefecture. With little previous knowledge of the Japanese language or customs, he travels blindly to his new home armed only with his enthusiasm and determination to succeed, his ultimate goal to one day become a full-time artist.
His first choice was to work in Tokyo, simply because that was all he knew. After his interview with “Noba,” he soon learns that he has been offered a position in Mie, and accepts.
He starts work at an English conversation school located in a semi-rural area. While the majority of the clients were adults and young adults, the teachers often had to “teach” toddler classes as well. Because the school was located in a shopping mall, many parents would drop their kids off at the English school to fit in some uninterrupted shopping time. The teachers quickly learned that the child classes were thinly disguised babysitting sessions.
The 17th Japanese Film Festival makes its final stop in Melbourne. Eden Law (Fukushima JET 2010-2011, JETAA NSW member) reviews some of the selection available.
So what have you done with your life lately?
Proving its never too late to start anything, at the age of 98, Toyo Shibata sold over 1.5 million copies of her poetry collection in Japan, later achieving international fame in Asia and Europe. Shown at Australia’s national 17th Japanese Film Festival a mere week after its release in Japan, “Don’t Lose Heart”, is the film inspired by Toyo’s life and her poetry. Its international premier in Sydney was also accompanied by both the visiting director Yoshihiro Fukagawa, and the main star who plays Toyo, Kaoru Yachigusa, a legendary name in Japanese cinema.
Up until the time Toyo received recognition of her work, she lived a typical, seemingly unremarkable life as a elderly member of Japan’s rapidly aging population: a widow who lives alone, with one surviving son, Kenichi (Tetsuya Takeda) , an unreliable, chronic gambler who is terminally unemployed and financially supported by his exasperated but ultimately loving wife, Shizuko (Ran Ito). Worried about the mental state of his mother, and feeling guilty about what a big loser he is, Kenichi writes poetry with her as away of spending more time together, which eventually brought out her literary talents.
Films which contain roles for older actors are rare, and as Yachigusa said during the Q&A after the movie’s screening in Sydney, good roles are even rarer still. Yachigusa has the challenge of developing Toyo as being more than just another grannie. At first Toyo seems pitiful – she is beset by the usual ills that advanced age brings, finding it difficult to move around pain-free without a walking stick. She seems a little bland, quiet and unremarkable. However when she begins to write, the film shifts into exploring the source of her inspiration, in flashbacks that regress further and further into time. “Don’t Lose Heart” is certainly aptly named, as Toyo, in her quiet way, reaches out to counsel those around her with the benefit of her experience. By the end, Toyo is revealed to be anything but ordinary. Being alive is a pretty difficult gig for anyone, and Toyo proves she’s just as tough a chick as any fictional superhero, and more inspiring than any easily digestible soundbite artificially manufactured by cynical corporations to move units.
Yachigusa is just extraordinary in her performance. Her Toyo is dignified and gentle, but with a hint of impish mischief that shows a quick and intelligent mind is alive and well – quite similar to Yachigusa herself in the interview. She gives Toyo vulnerability and frailty, but is able to convey the fighter and survivor beneath the exterior, and the resulting sense of compassion and understanding of human nature gained from having being through it all herself. Takeda plays Kenichi as a petulant short-tempered man-child, a bit over the top maybe (you have to wonder what the real Kenichi thought of his on-screen portrayal) but possessing of the same compassionate basic nature of his mother. And as Kenichi’s wife, Ito is also superb, displaying the patience of a saint in staying with him all through the years.
Be warned: this film moved Sydney audience to tears, rather loudly too, perhaps because Toyo seemed like the kind of grandmother everyone wishes they have (unfortunately Japan’s national grandmother passed away earlier this year at the age of 101). Fukagawa said that her poetry gained prominence because of their simplicity and lack of pretension and their inherent optimism and positivity, qualities that he tries to convey in his film. He can be rather sentimental at times, imparting an almost saintly, Buddha-like glow on Toyo by the end of the film, but there is a lot of respect for the source material in this film, and it shows, resulting in a tender, tribute to not just Toyo’s writings, but to the human condition itself.
Don’t Lose Heart (Kujikenaide) by Yoshihiro Fukagawa, released November 16 2013 in Japan. Starring Kaoru Yachigusa, Tetsuya Takeda, Ran Ito, Mizuho Suzuki and Yusuke Kamiji.
【RocketNews24】Why does the fifty yen coin have a hole? And other fun facts about Japanese coins
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Posted by Michelle Lynn Dinh (Shimane-ken, Chibu-mura, 2010–13), editor and writer for RocketNews24. The following article was written by Master Blaster, writing team for RocketNews24, a Japan-based site dedicated to bringing fun and quirky news from Asia to English speaking audiences.
A fun way to get a perspective on another country’s history and culture is by looking at the currency used. The materials and design that go into making them can say a lot about what a country holds dear.
So, why don’t we take a quick look through the modern coins used in Japan and learn a little about why they look the way they do and some other tidbits along the way such as what happens when you microwave a one-yen coin and why you shouldn’t do it.
As Australia’s 17th Japanese Film Festival is begins its last city tour in Melbourne, the capital of the southern state of Victoria, Eden Law (Fukushima-ken ALT 2010-2011, current JETAA NSW committee member) reviews some of what is on offer. Stay tune for more reviews!
Everyone’s feeling somewhat uncomfortable now.
Okay, so what would you think if I told you that Maruyama, the main character in this film, spends most of the film trying to touch tongue to his own peen? A certain expectation will be set, wouldn’t it? Like, there wouldn’t be much else to expect from the plot except whether that lollypop gets licked. So it’s pleasantly surprising to find that it’s actually less like a string of dick jokes (unlike this review), and more of an endearingly quirky film.
Our hero with a quest, Maruyama, is a hormonal 14-year-old with a rather active imagination, frequently dreaming up imagined lives for his family and residents of his apartment complex. We’re taken through his daydreams, which range from randy fantasies filled with bouncy ladies, to colourful scenarios that get sillier and funnier as he imagines various people being either wacky fruit-themed superheroes, scissor-wielding gangsters or aliens. But Maruyama decides that he needs a hobby to distract him from such childish preoccupations, one that will bring focus and maturity – like attempting to orally do one’s own dong. However, he later befriends a dorky, uncharismatic single father, Shimoi (played with surprising ability by Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a member of the ageless Japanese boy band SMAP), who encourages him to embrace his fantasies. Real life can be more strange than any fantasy, and a bit of strangeness is nothing to be ashamed of, but celebrated.
Maruyama’s world is undeniably ridiculous and entertaining (and sometimes sticky) as the imagination of a teen could be. And despite Maruyama’s overarching ambition to boldly try what many men have tried before (and failed, and the few that do make a career out of it), a sweet, innocent quality exists, thanks to director Kankuro Kudo’s affectionate treatment of him and all the eccentric and flawed characters that populate the neighbourhood. It’s quite an accomplishment that “Maruyama” manages to build a more substantial film on such an unlikely basis, and it results in a film that’s like a funnier combination of a Wes Andersen and Michel Gondry movie. Hiraoka Takuma, being close to the age of the character Maruyama that he plays, embodies the innocence and determined Maruyama well, shining with youthful enthusiasm, embarrassment and determination as he takes his character from zero to hero. The whole ensemble cast is perfect in their various roles, obviously having a lot of fun, from Kenji Endo’s geriatric grandfather with a surprising ability, and Maki Sakai as Maruyama’s Korean drama-obsessed mother.
It’s hard for any film to sustain the initial novelty of the first half right to the end, and “Maruyama” suffers the same problem as it gets a bit flaccid towards the end. However, the film still climaxes in a satisfactory way that, while lacking in the same vigor and energy of the start, manages to tie up all the plot threads and situations. While “Maruyama’s” length is a bit too long for comfort, overall, it charms with its humor and originality – not bad for a film that started off with auto-fellatio.
Maruyama the Middle Schooler (Chuugakusei Maruyama) by Kankuro Kudo, released in Japan April 21 2013, starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Hiraoka Takuma, Kenji Endo, Yang Ik-June, Maki Sakai, Toru Nakamura, Nanami Nabemoto, Yuiko Kariya
Job: Director of International Student Life, University of Georgia (Athens, GA)
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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.
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Position: Director of International Student Life
Posted by: University of Georgia
Location: Athens, GA
The position will close on January 10, 2014
Overview:
The Director of International Student Life reports to the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and serves as the unit manager responsible for supervising the ISL staff, developing the vision for programs and services established by the office, and managing all fiscal, human capital and other resources. The Director oversees and facilitates the development, advising, implementation and evaluation of a variety of cross-cultural and international programs that ensure developmental and academic growth, promote the success and retention of UGA’s undergraduate and graduate international/multinational student population, and educate the larger campus and community.
Job: Program Associate for Africa, ISEP (Arlington, VA)
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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.
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Position: Program Associate for AFrica
Posted by: ISEP
Location: Arlington, VA
Overview:
ISEP is currently seeking a full-time Program Associate for Africa located in our central office in Arlington, VA (10 minutes from Washington DC). Founded in 1979, ISEP is a nonprofit membership organization with over 300 partner institutions in 50 countries around the world. ISEP provides exchange and study abroad opportunities to over 3,400 students annually.
Position Summary:
Under the general supervision of the Director of Africa and Middle East Programs, the Program Associate for Africa serves as program assistant for both the Africa and Asia Pacific Regional teams and provides administrative support for the placement process and program implementation including data entry and processing and mailing of application materials. The Program Associate for Africa works jointly with the Regional Director in administering student exchanges between U.S. ISEP member institutions and member institutions in Africa and implementing the Africa Region Strategic Plan. The Program Associate for Africa serves as principal liaison for members in Africa and also an Alternate Responsible Officer (ARO) for SEVIS.
Job: University Relations and Campus Outreach Specialist, Boston University (MA)
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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.
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Position: University Relations and Campus Outreach Specialist
Posted by: Boston University
Location: Boston, MA
Overview:
Under the direction of the Associate Director, the University Relations and Campus Outreach Specialist will assist in the development and implementation of Boston University Study Abroads (BUSAs) communications and recruitment strategies for off-campus and on-campus recruiting. Provide leadership in the planning and facilitation of special events. Represent BU Study Abroad to students, advisors, faculty members and administrators of multiple schools around the United States with a view of direct recruitment of students to BU programs, and of the maintenance and development of BUs relationships with the institutions visited.
Requirements:
B.A./B.S., proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, organized, detail-oriented with excellent communications skills and experience in public speaking and formal presentations. Media relations, public relations, and social media skills strongly preferred. A second language and experience living or studying abroad highly desirable. Minimum of two years of experience in marketing and advertising strategies. Study abroad recruitment or other international education recruitment experience preferred. Previous experience with event planning and outreach to professors, student organizations, and administrators preferred. Ability to travel 30-50% domestically.
For more information, please visit the job listing.
Job: Administrative Assistant – Columbia Univeristy (NYC)
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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.
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Position: Administrative Assistant
Posted by: The Office of Global Programs at Columbia University
Location: New York, NY
Basic Function:
Reporting to the Dean of Undergraduate Global Programs/Assistant VP for International Education the incumbent provides high-level administrative, clerical,and organizational support for the Office of Global Programs.
Duties:
- The incumbent will act as first point of contact supporting the front office by greeting visitors and managing the telephones and e-mail traffic in a busy global programs office which includes study abroad, exchanges, and fellowships. The incumbent will answer general questions related to fellowships, exchanges and study abroad as well as direct students to the appropriate advisors and other University officials.
- Assists with the operations of the office including liaising with tech support, phone support, facilities, and other University offices. This includes the handling of the mail, maintaining and purchasing supplies, and coordinating student worker projects. Acts as back up to the Dean’s assistant as necessary.
- Maintains and reconciles the department purchasing card and petty cash. Maintains records and creates reports from office databases.
- Provides administrative support for all units within the office including, but not limited to, collecting application materials and uploading documents into the student database, following up with students to ensure completion of their application, and assisting in coordinating the Columbia study abroad fair and other OGP events as needed.
- The incumbent will be responsible for organizing logistical support for meetings and international visitors. Organize files and storage including discarding outdated material.
- Other related duties as assigned.
Additional Information:
https://jobs.columbia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=139316
Job: Coordinator of Students in Transition, Spring Hill College (Mobile, Alabama)
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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.
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Position: Coordinator of Students in Transition
Posted by: Spring Hill College
Location: Mobile, Alabama
Overview:
Under the supervision of the Director of Student Academic Services, the Coordinator is responsible for transfer student services: pre-enrollment through first semester; coordinates early warning withdrawal system and assesses students referred to the office by the faculty and staff in categories such as excessive classroom absence, dropping below full-time status and withdrawal/exit interviews. Assists with academic advising of freshmen and transfers, especially at-risk students. The Coordinator assists with career services particularly with undecided students.
Main Duties:
This position coordinates transfer student academic services from orientation, initial registration through a first semester transfer seminar; works with a team of freshmen advisors particularly during summer orientations, serves as an academic and career advisor for at-risk and undecided students; coordinates international students orientation and updates SEVIS records. Coordinates the early warning referral system campus wide and conducts exit interviews.
Requirements:
Position requires three to five years of experience in higher education, and an earned master’s degree in Education, Student Personnel, or related field. Academic advising and teaching experience preferred in a liberal arts college preferred.
Additional Information:
Send cover letter, resume, list of three work-related references with phone numbers (direct supervisor included) to Personnel Office, Spring Hill College, 4000 Dauphin Street, Mobile, AL 36608. E-mail: pdavis@shc.edu
For more information, please visit the job listing.
Kyodo News “Rural JET alumni” series: Nic Klar (Niigata)
Article/Journalism, Japan Local, JET Alum Author Beat, JETs in the News, LifeAfterJET, Notable JET Alums, Return on JET-vestment Comments Off on Kyodo News “Rural JET alumni” series: Nic Klar (Niigata)
News agency Kyodo News has recently been publishing monthly articles written by JET alumni who were appointed in rural areas of Japan, as part of promotion for the JET Programme. Below is the English version of the column from October 2013. Posted by Celine Castex (Chiba-ken, 2006-11), currently programme coordinator at CLAIR Tokyo.
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Originally from Australia, Nicholas Klar (Niigata-ken, Itoigawa-shi, 1995-97) wrote the book “My Mother is a Tractor” about his life as an ALT in Omi, Itoigawa, Niigata-ken. After JET he worked for many years as a college counsellor and History teacher in international schools before returning to Japan to live. He now runs a small business in the Japan Alps, “Explore the Heart of Japan” as well as a popular travel website (http://myoko-nagano.com).
Ghosts of the Blue Sea
Remember that here all is enchantment, – that you have fallen under the spell of the dead, – that the lights and the colours and the voices must fade away at last into emptiness and silence. –Lafcadio Hearn
It was a stark winter’s day as usual in Niigata-ken, grey like sodden blanket. Not one that I had set out on seeking ghosts, but it suited the mood. As I changed trains in Naoetsu for Ōmi the old tempura stand I had been hoping for a snack at was still there, but today it was closed. It seems even the sturdy yukiguni could not stand the sort of weather that was being hurled at them this winter from across the Japan Sea. I settled into my seat, its soft orange covers familiar like an old friend, and waited for the delayed departure. I scrubbed the mist from the brown streaked windows with my hand as the motor idled and the minutes slipped by. Outside schoolboys in their traditional Prussian kit seem oblivious to the biting gusts of artic-like snow. Eventually with the sound of the station attendants whistle the doors snapped shut and the blue and white carriage groaned away from the platform.
As we crossed over the dark frigid waters of the Himegawa almost an hour later I grew excited. I hadn’t been back to the haunts of my old town for years. It was an unplanned visit and no-one really knew I was coming. I looked over for the local chugakko as the train passed by, obscured now by the construction of the new Hokuriku shinkansen. Framed behind those were the mountains I had loved so much. So many times I had taken my bike up into those North Alps making new discoveries, getting lost in the awesome beauty of its nature. Days of sunshine, days of rain. How I missed them. And the ghosts that inhabited them.
To the right there was a slight glimpse of my former apartment block. Not mine anymore, not for many years. In fact I think it now lays empty, apart from maybe a ghost or two, as the town depopulates. Tall, grey, forbidding – once referred to by a friend as, “…classic 1950’s communist Romanian style architecture”. The memory of that remark brought a brief smile to my face. Yet, it is the only place I will ever live in that has a sea view at the front and the mountains at the back. Grand views of God’s great vista on tap.
When the doors clunked open at Ōmi eki it was if nothing had changed. The chimes rang the same they had all those years ago and the black asphalt platform lay several centimetres thick with windswept snow. It felt soft under my feet as I began my ascent up the cold cement stairs. Standing in his post was my first metaphorical ghost – Watanabe-san the station master in the same blue-clad uniform, looking not a whit older than when we had last met a few years ago. He didn’t recognise me of course, even though I had taught his daughter at Ōmi chugakko. During my stay many of the station attendants had greeted me by name each time I passed through the gate. The inside of the station was a time capsule still painted the same green, apart from a more modern poster here and there, populated by even more ghosts of my memories. Local oba-chan in the waiting room still sat chatting on wooden bench seats around the kerosene heater behind glass doors. The three old shuttered-up ticket windows still existed – a sad reminder from the more grandiose boom days of Ōmi. Perhaps they were stubbornly retained in the forlorn hope that those times may yet return once again. Read More
“Reunion” – Film Review from Australia’s 17th Japanese Film Festival
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Australia’s 17th Japanese Film Festival is soon embarking on its last city tour in Melbourne, the capital of the southern state of Victoria, after being shown around Australia in the first ever national film festival administered by the Japan Foundation. Eden Law (Fukushima-ken ALT 2010-2011, current JETAA NSW committee member) got to see some of what’s on offer during its recent run in Sydney. This one’s for you, Melbournites! Don’t say we don’t do anything for you south of the border.
If you can’t feel anything watching this, you are probably dead inside.
It has been almost three years since the disaster that devastated the north of Japan. There have since been a handful of films on the event, on the nation and it’s people as they resolutely look forward to “revival” and reconstruction. However, few of those films, I suspect, would have dealt quite so starkly and closely on the subject of death quite like “Reunion”.
“Reunion” is a dramatization of Itai: Shinsai, Tsunami no Hate ni (遺体―震災、津波の果てに?, “The Bodies at the End of the Earthquake and Tsunami”), a reportage of the events by Kota Ishii in the days immediately following the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. A brief snapshot of the normal, mundane lives around town in the beginning, contrasts sharply the aftermath, showing how unprepared and ill-equipped the small town’s public servants were, as bodies kept coming into the temporary morgue set up in the old high school gymnasium, and distraught relatives plead for information and support. Horrified by the disorganization and haphazard treatment of the dead, Aiba (played by Toshiyuki Nishida), a retired funeral home director, volunteers to oversee the proper administration of the morgue. He shows the exhausted and numbed workers how to massage limbs stiffened by rigor mortis until they became pliant again for proper positioning, and how to counsel and deal with the grieving and traumatized people who come to identify the deceased. And slowly, people carry on with their jobs, because there is very little other choice.
This will be the most heart-breaking film you’ll ever watch this year. I’ve never cried at the movies before (if there’s anybody watching), but looks like there’s the first time for everything. While the subject matter itself is undeniably powerful and emotional, “Reunion” is actually quite simple, a recounting of the events and the personal tragedies of those who survived. Music is used sparingly in this film, the silence heightening the solemnity and noises that included the constant squelching of the mud-logged boots and the sobs of the bereaved, background sounds as described in the book. Director Ryoichi Kimizuka makes sure that the deceased is an all-pervasive presence, as the cast of characters work with them and around them, uncovering their blackened swollen faces, identifying them and saying prayers for their souls. Thanks to Aiba’s character, not only are the workers brought around to empathise with the dead, as their names and personal stories are revealed, but the audience also becomes involved. Little wonder then, that at many events where this film has been screened, audiences have been emotionally devastated.
In this film where multiple stories and tragedies play out, the cast work marvellously well together. There are very little histrionics or hysteria, just numbed helplessness, as many at first wander confusedly about before being given direction by Aiba. Performances are muted and restrained, which make the break-down moments even more heart-wrenching, for everyone has their trigger, be it the discovery of a loved one’s body while carrying out work, or the tragedy of a young child, unclaimed by any surviving relatives. There are no questions of morality, no “why did this happen to us”, soul-searching, condemnation or religious debate to be had that can be adequate. From Aiba’s point of view however, the answer is to never forget one’s humanity, which can be even more precious than food, in order to survive the unrelenting horror and sorrow of the situation. And that in the end, ultimately provides a glimmer of positivity in this film, as well as in life.
Reunion (Itai: Shinsai, Tsunami no Hate ni) by Ryoichi Kimizuka, released in Japan February 23 2013, starring Toshiyuki Nishida, Naoto Ogata, Ryo Katsuji, Jun Kunimura, Wakana Sakai, Tsuneo Aiba, Kenichi Domon, Yuta Oikawa, Yoshito Shibata, Takae Oshita, Koichi Sato, Shiro Sano, Ikki Sawamura, Mirai Shida, Michitaka Tsutsui, Michio Shimoizumi, Takeshi Yamaguchi, Nobutsugu Matsuda, Yuko Terui, Daisuke Hiraga, Toshiro Yanagiba
Job: Study Abroad Coordinator – Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, TX)
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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.
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Position: Study Abroad Coordinator
Posted by: Sam Houston State University
Location: Huntsville, TX
Type: full-time
Educational Experience Requirement:
Bachelor’s degree with at least one year of related experience. Experience with international travel and college level interaction with students desired. A combination of experience, training and education that would produce the required knowledge and abilities could be considered.
Nature and Purpose of Position:
To provide administrative and coordination responsibilities for the development, growth and maintenance of Sam Houston State University’s Study Abroad Program and short-term one month program for language and cultural training.
Primary Responsibilities:
Coordination of the Study Abroad program, including advising potential students and conducting workshops to promote study abroad opportunities. Coordinates one-month short-term program to include activities and host family interaction, language instruction coordination and related paperwork. Performs other related duties as assigned.
Other Specifications:
Position involves contact with students, staff, faculty, administration, parents, public officials and general public.
For more information and to apply, please visit the job listing.
