Thanks to JET alum journalist and freelance translator, Paul Benson for sharing this posting. 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: SNYS English Page Editor
Posted by: New York Seikatsu Press
Type: N/A
Location: New York, NY
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
New York Seikatsu Press is looking for an English page editor. The Shukan NY Seikatsu (週刊NY生活) paper has broad readership in the United States and Japan. This position is ideal for someone interested in journalism, editing, and Japanese-English translation. The applicant must be able to commute into New York City once per week.
* Prior professional translation and journalism experience is recommended, but not required. Read More
Job: Teachers needed for Seattle Japanese Language School (WA)
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Via Pacific Northwest JETAA. 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: Teachers
Posted by: Seattle Japanese Language School
Type: N/A
Location: Seattle, WA
Salary: Usually $15-$20 hourly. Wage depends on the experience and qualification.
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
Please note that the positions listed below may have changed slightly since the announcement was originally posted; however, please contact the Seattle Japanese Language School for the most up to date information about job openings!
The Seattle Japanese Language School is looking for 2 teaching positions. One is Beg. 1 level, 6-8 year olds. Other is Int. 2 level, 10-18 year olds.
Saturdays, 9-11:30am. We pay 4 hours plus $10.00 per Saturday.
Contact for More information:
Machiko Wada
Office Manager
Japanese Cultural & Community Center
Seattle Japanese Language School
1414 S. Weller St. Seattle, WA 98144
206-323-0250
machikow@jcccw.org
http://www.jcccw.org/index.html
Let’s Talk Japan is a twice monthly, interview format podcast covering a wide range of Japan-related topics. Host Nick Harling (Mie-ken, 2001-03) lived in Japan from 2001 until 2005, including two great years as a JET Program participant in Mie-Ken. He practices law in Washington, D.C., and lives with his wife who patiently listens to him talk about Japan . . . a lot.
In this episode, Nick speaks with Leslie Helm, author of Yokohama Yankee: My Family’s Five Generations As Outsiders In Japan.
The Helm family’s connection with Japan begins with Mr. Helms’ German great grandfather, Julius, who traveled to Japan as a young man in 1869, looking to make his way in the world. Julius would go on to found Helm Brothers, a company with diverse interests related to what would become Yokohama’s booming port economy. From there, the book’s narrative winds its way through four further generations of the Helm family. Mr. Helm recounts not only the family’s participation in major historical events, but also offers a frank assessment of the personal and intra-family struggles each generation faced while living in Japan. Together, these two aspects make for a compelling read.
Mr. Helm was born and raised in Yokohama and left Japan in the early 1970s to attend university before returning as a journalist to cover Japan for Business Weekand the Los Angeles Times. He currently lives in Seattle, where he is the editor ofSeattle Business magazine.
Also, there is a JET alumni connection. Joshua Powell (Saitama-ken, 2005-07), is responsible for the book’s award-winning design. JETwit previously highlighted his work HERE.
Enjoy!
Nick
If you have not already done so, be sure to “Like” the podcast on Facebook, and follow the podcast on Twitter @letstalkjapan. Additionally, please consider leaving a positive rating and/or review in iTunes.
Job: Embassy of Japan – Political Researcher (DC)
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Via JETAA DC Google Group. 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: Political Researcher
Posted by: Embassy of Japan
Type: N/A
Location: Washington, D.C.
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The Embassy of Japan is seeking an individual for the position of Political Researcher. The Embassy offers group health insurance coverage, paid vacation, and sick leave. Salary is commensurate with experience.
Candidate must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. Green Card holder. Read More
Job: International Scholarship and Tuition Services – Customer Care Specialist (Nashville, TN)
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Thanks to JET alum Cameron Manning who works for the Consulate in Nashville for passing on this JET-relevant listing. 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: Customer Care Specialist
Posted by: International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc. (ISTS)
Type: N/A
Location: Nashville, TN
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The Customer Care department is the first point of contact for many of our applicants, school counselors, parents, and other people involved in the application process. Customer Care Specialists work closely with the Operations Department to ensure the highest standards of service are met for all of ISTS’ customers. They respond to inquiries via telephone, live chat and email, ensuring clear, friendly, professional and timely replies to all questions.
The Customer Care Specialist reports to the Vice President of Customer Care. Read More
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘Amorous Woman’
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“Amorous Woman is well written—especially the vibrant, vivid sexual acts—and you get the feeling that this would make a great film (If nothing else, there would be some hilarious scenes).” (Iro Books)
By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-2010) for JQ magazine. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro.
If you were to tell stories centering on the most memorable aspects of your stay in Japan, what would you focus on?
Donna George Storey tackled the erotic. Her autobiographic eBook, Amorous Woman, brings out a side of Japan that many might not see. Inspired by Ihara Saikaku’s novel, The Life of an Amorous Woman, Storey brings to life the kinkiest aspects of her nine years in Japan, where she worked as an English teacher and a bar hostess, in addition to enjoying the company (to say the least) of countless Japanese men.
Amorous Woman actually doesn’t start in Japan but in San Francisco, where the novel’s protagonist Lydia is teaching Japanese business etiquette (despite the fact she knows little of it) to businessmen en route to the Land of the Rising Sun. But she’s actually planning to do a 180 from her life in Japan—Lydia has decided to model her life on a Japanese courtesan-turned-nun, a character that only lives in the fantasies of Ihara Saikaku. She even tells herself upon leaving Japan that she will never have sex again.
If only if it weren’t that easy to get the subject off her mind. Since she knows “plenty about picking up strangers in hot spring baths, handcuffing guys to beds in tacky love hotels,” among other things, she decides to tell the real story of her stay in Japan to two students over dinner. That’s when Amorous Woman really heats up.
JLGC New York Newsletter – July 2013
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Via CLAIR-NY (aka Japan Local Government Center):
The newest JLGC Newsletter is has been published and can be viewed here: http://www.jlgc.org/files/newsletter76.pdf
This issue includes articles on Japan Day in Central Park (in which JETAA NY participated significantly) and a report on the JETAA Canada National Conference in Montreal.
JLGC publishes semi-annual newsletters featuring articles on JETAA activity, sister city and sister state relationships, exchange programs, and local government issues in the United States, Canada, and Japan. The newsletter enables local government officials, JLGC’s fellowship program participants, and other interested persons to stay abreast of JLGC activities and research efforts. At the same time, the newsletter provides those outside of the organization with the opportunity to share their ideas and opinions.
Click the following link to subscribe to the JLGC Newsletter: http://www.jlgc.org/NewsLetterEmailEntry.aspx
JETAA DC Newsletter – August 2013
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Here’s a link to the latest JETAA DC Newsletter post. (It used to be a PDF newsletter, but now it’s set up as a blog post. Very nice!)
http://jetaadc.org/august-jetaadc-news/
In This Edition of JETAA DC News:
- Message from the Board
- August JETAADC Events
- New on the Blog!
- Other Events
- Best of JET (etc.) Around the Web
Job: GenNET (Genesee Network for Education Telecommunications) ITV Teacher – Japanese I & II (Michigan)
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Thanks to AJET’s Sarah Stout for passing on this jet-relevant listing. 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: ITV Teacher – Japanese I & II
Posted by: GenNET (Genesee Network for Education Telecommunications)
Type: N/A
Location: Michigan
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The GenNET Interactive Television (ITV) teacher is responsible for teaching in the assigned area and implements instructional activities for students through the use of interactive video, computers and other instructional technology available in the distance learning environment. Responsible for following established curriculum outcomes and adopting instructional delivery strategies to teach in the assigned area. Read More
Justin’s Japan: Nippon in New York — Karaoke Networking, Poisson Piano and ‘Cutie and the Boxer’
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The award-winning documentary Cutie and the Boxer premieres at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and Landmark Sunshine Cinema Aug. 16. (RADiUS-TWC)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
In the dog days of summer, it’s best to escape the heat in a place that’s cozy and cool. For those into Japanese cultural events, this month offers a diverse selection of music, film premieres and parties—all in the comfort of indoor air conditioning.
This month’s highlights include:
Thursday, Aug. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Young Professionals 2nd Annual Midsummer Matsuri and Karaoke Party
Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street
$10 for corporate and individual members, $15 for non-members
Japan Society’s Young Professionals events provide the opportunity for emerging business leaders from the U.S. and Japan (aged 25-45) to meet people with similar interests, experience programming on timely topics, and network with their peers. Attendees are invited to join for a night of networking, singing, eating and drinking featuring singer and Japanese TV personality Alex York as MC! Yukata and other summer attire are welcome, and admission includes light Japanese food and one drink ticket, cash bar thereafter. Space is limited; for advance registration email youngpro@japansociety.org or call 212-715-1219.
Saturday, Aug. 3, 7:00 p.m.
Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue
$35 members/students/seniors, $40 nonmembers
As part of the closing night presentation of the 36th Asian American International Film Festival, this screening of Our Homeland includes a Q&A with the director followed by an awards ceremony and gala reception featuring chef’s tasting tables and open bar with specialty cocktails sponsored by Rémy Martin. Sent decades ago as a child to North Korea under a repatriation program, Sungho returns to Japan for a temporary medical visit. A wrenching human drama unfolds as his family grapples with why he was ever let go. Under the constant surveillance by an accompanying North Korean official, Sungho and his family reunite again in this sensitive tale inspired by Korean-Japanese director Yang Yonghi’s true family story. Capturing the tender feelings of separation, memory, and belonging, the film also provides a rare glimpse into the life of ethnic Koreans in Japan. Presented in Japanese and Korean with English subtitles.
Friday, Aug. 16
Lincoln Plaza Cinema and Landmark Sunshine Cinema
$13, $13.50
Winner of the Directing Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and a hit at film festivals around the world, this candid New York story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of renowned “boxing” painter Ushio Shinohara and his artist wife, Noriko. As a rowdy, confrontational young artist in Tokyo, Ushio seemed destined for fame, but met with little commercial success after he moved to New York City in 1969, seeking international recognition. When 19-year-old Noriko moved to New York to study art, she fell in love with Ushio—abandoning her education to become the wife and assistant to an unruly, husband. Over the course of their marriage, the roles have shifted. Now 80, Ushio struggles to establish his artistic legacy, while Noriko is at last being recognized for her own art—a series of drawings entitled “Cutie,” depicting her challenging past with Ushio. Spanning four decades, the film is a moving portrait of a couple wrestling with the eternal themes of sacrifice, disappointment and aging, against a background of lives dedicated to art.
For the complete story, click here.
I’ll Make It Myself!: The Best Sakura Soft Cream in Town: Kyokusuien
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. Ze also 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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Around Japan in 47 curries: Miyazaki air base curry
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Tom Baker (Chiba, 1989-91) is writing a 47-part weekly series of posts on his Tokyo Tom Baker blog, in which he samples and comments on a curry from a different prefecture each week. Here’s an excerpt from his tenth installment, about Miyazaki Prefecture.
To set the scene, Miyazaki is on the east coast of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. In recent years, this prefecture made national news quite often. Partly this was because a famous television comedian named Hideo Higashikokubaru was its governor from 2007 to 2011. And partly it was because during his term outbreaks of bird flu and foot-and-mouth disease led to strict quarantines and massive culls of chicken, cattle and pigs. Nearly 200,000 chickens and more than 200,000 head of livestock had to be killed and disposed of, in a severe blow to the prefecture’s farmers, especially those who produce Miyazaki’s famous beef.
But in addition to agriculture, Miyazaki’s economy also includes the activities of Nyutabaru Air Base. And those activities include making curry. This weekend I picked up some Nyutabaru Air Base curry at the Miyazaki antenna shop in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
The curry I tried came in two flavors: spicy beef and mild chicken. The beef has a photo of an F-4EJ Phantom jet on the box, while the chicken is adorned with a pair of F-15s.
Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan premieres in New York July 28. For more information, click here.
By Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03) for JQ magazine. Stacy is a professional Japanese writer/interpreter/translator. She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations in the periodic series WITLife.
This weekend the annual Asian American International Film Festival will screen the new documentary Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan (the title being the Romanization of “half” in Japanese), made by filmmakers Megumi Nishikura and Lara Perez Takagi and. Both half Japanese themselves, these women were inspired to undertake this project due to the lack of media attention on hafus and frustration with the shallow adoration of hafu celebrities on Japanese television.
The film begins with some informative statistics, such as that 2% of Japan’s population is foreign born and a striking 1 out of 49 babies is born to a family with a non-Japanese parent. These numbers have grown greatly over the last 30 years, and yet Japan is still lacking in its understanding of this diverse populace. Hafu features five half Japanese subjects, and their struggles and successes living in Japan today.
One of the families profiled is comprised of a Japanese father and a Mexican mother, who met while studying abroad in the U.S. They later married and now live in Nagoya with their two children. The older one, nine-year-old Alex, is having a hard time at his local school as the other kids tease him for being “English.” Alex’s parents believe that he needs a change in environment and decide to transfer him to an international school. He asks to spend some time in Mexico before the transition, and comes back from this trip brimming with confidence and an easing of the stutter that plagued him when he was being bullied (which his teachers had turned a blind eye to). Alex goes on to love his new school, make friends, and feel comfortable in his own skin without having to worry about being hafu.
Nihongo Master: The Fun Way To Learn Japanese Online
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Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-10), Community Manager for Nihongo Master and editor of Surviving in Japan.
Japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn. I’ve heard this numerous times.
People say it’s because you have to learn thousands of kanji in addition to hiragana and katakana.
As a visual learner, I’ve found the opposite to be true. Kanji makes sense to me. But what I’ve struggled with while learning Japanese, and believe many language learners experience, is maintaining the motivation to study.
This is why I was excited when asked to work with Nihongo Master, an online Japanese learning site with a fun, easy-to-use platform. The site takes an entirely different approach from all the tools I’ve tried, using social interaction and gamification methods to help learners stay motivated. As JETs we tried to make English classes enjoyable for our students, so why not have fun learning Japanese?
I’ve tried and used numerous language learning tools over the years–a few worked well and a lot of others didn’t. I bought study books and didn’t finish them. I found that I enjoyed practicing Japanese through online, computer or phone apps, but then lost focus within a few weeks. Few of them offered any sort of reward system or a way to stay motivated to continue.
Nihongo Master, on the other hand, provides incentive to learn, and keep learning, by unlocking achievements and earning points as you read lessons, complete tasks and do spaced-repetition vocabulary drills. The community groups and weekly community chat offer a chance to practice Japanese and ask questions. Or if you’re up for some friendly competition, you can build a team and compete against other teams as you learn.
This community aspect is something many of us studying on our own might find helpful, especially as it doesn’t require being at a specific location (other than your computer, of course). And the platform helps those of us who thrive off a little friendly competition. I wish that I had something like this years ago–a positive external motivator that makes the lessons less about endless textbook reading and more about learning for the fun of it.
Remembering that summer before I went to Japan on JET, I also think Nihongo Master would be useful for new JETs trying to cram as much Japanese into their brain as they can before they arrive. The lessons start out at the absolute beginner level and are engaging and easy to follow, helping beginners master hiragana and katakana. If you’re farther along you can skip ahead to later lessons. The hiragana, katakana and vocabulary in the lessons also include audio recordings by a native speaker for pronunciation practice, with a recorder to practice matching your pronunciation.
Another big plus is that Nihongo Master doesn’t use romaji in the lessons, so beginners become familiar with the Japanese writing systems right away.
The free Japanese-English dictionary comes in handy too, with definitions and sample sentences for over 150,000 words and 13,000 Kanji.
The introductory lessons are also free, and after that a premium subscription lets you access all lessons, make study lists, build custom vocabulary drill lists, and download kanji writing practice sheets for US$12 a month.
I’m excited about this platform and think its unique approach to language learning will fill in a large gap, particularly for those, like me, who need some external motivation and fun, especially if you’re new to Japanese.
Visit Nihongo Master to learn more and try it out for yourself. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Books: An English Language Guide to Crafting in Tokyo
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Interview by Rose Symotiuk (Hokkaido 2003-2005) with Angela Salisbury, author of the Tokyo Craft Guide:
As a JET, I keep track of my friends from my Japan days on Facebook. I started seeing posts by my fellow JETs for this cool e-book about crafting in Tokyo. Imagine my surprise when I realized that one of the authors, Angela Salisbury, was an old friend from high school!
I reached out to her to find out more about the book, crafting in Japan, and the JET crafting scene….
Rose: So, how long have you lived in Japan?
Angela: 3 years
Rose: Why did you move to Japan?
Angela: Adventure! The real answer? My husband’s job needed him in Asia, and we decided Tokyo was the place for us.
Rose: Is there an expat crafting scene in Tokyo? If so, can you tell me a little bit about it? Read More
