Transitions 2012: Opportunities Forum and Networking Expo
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Via Pacific Northwest JETAA Posted by 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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Hey JET Alums,
Transitions 2012 is in two days! A couple reasons to come:
•New presentations. Rob Uy and Steven Joiner (see bios here) will be giving a brand new presentation together this year. Rob has over 18 years of experience in HR and Steven is a national workforce expert. What do you get when you add them together? I’m not sure, but it is surely something great.
•Get LinkedIn. Ryan Hart’s presentation will be on personal and professional branding. He’ll be zeroing in on LinkedIn, showing how to take the JET experience and apply it (and you) to LinkedIn.
•Financial Guidance. Beckie Faught, who works for Waddell and Reed, will be doing a presentation on personal finances. She presented for the first time at Transitions last year and people raved about the session. Come back for round number two.
•Break out sessions. Two panel sessions – education and general topics. The breadth and depth of our panelists’ backgrounds is impressive. We have professors, publishers, translators, designers, teachers, and international advisers. Some of panelists have their own companies, and others work for companies like Nintendo, Amazon, and more.
•Networking Expo. We have 15 vendors coming. Great chance to network and get to know the different volunteer and job opportunities out there!
Oh yeah, lunch will be on us. And after all of this greatness, we’ll be heading to the Duchess Tavern for refreshments, relaxation, and hours of happiness.
Join us. Register here. See you Saturday.
Transitions 2012 Coordinators,
Brett Rawson + Lynn Miyauchi
Job: Program Officer II – Institute for International Education (NYC)
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Via The Foundation Center. Posted by 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: Program Officer II
Posted by: Institute of International Education (IIE)
Type: Full-time
Location: New York, NY
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/jobs/job_item.jhtml?id=313800003
Purpose of Position:
Manages grants programs in the division, including the Bellagio Center Programs and Competitions and Travel and Learning Fund. Work is carried out independently under general supervision.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. IIE may add, change, or remove essential and other duties at any time:
•Responsible for complying with applicable contract and sponsor requirements and following all IIE policies and procedures
Bellagio Program Management:
•Manage the completion process; reviewing, processing and organizing completed applications; managing inquiries from candidates; establishing selection committees and preparing application materials for their review, facilitating their meetings and other related activities; maintaining Fellows’ data in database.
•Liaise with the Rockefeller Foundation to manage the Bellagio Center Resident Fellows and the Bellagio Creative Arts Fellows Program.
•Responsible for expanding international outreach for the program – work includes collaboration with IIE’s International Offices to implement a solid recruiting plan in their region and proactive networking with experts in various programmatic areas.
•Provide assistance to applicants by maintaining the Bellagio Application Resource Center on the web and hosting online information sessions about the application process. Host webinars to recruit applicants and provide information about successful applications.
•Periodically write and submit program status and summary reports. Read More
The Fall 2012 JETAA Ottawa Newsletter available now!
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*******Posted by Gemma Villanueva (Fukushima-ken, 2008-11), current editor of the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter. As always, we would love to have your thoughts incorporated into our quarterly newsletter. Drop us a line on Twitter, Facebook or e-mail newsletter[at]jetaaottawa[dot]ca. There is still time before our winter issue is released in December!
Download your copy of the Fall 2012 issue of the JETAA Ottawa Newsletter (868 KB, .PDF)
Please check out our latest issue! Learn more about our upcoming events, such as the networking evening in November and free autumn Japanese lessons for alumni. Brace yourself for the chilly weather, and discover Fukushima’s slopes as described by a fellow alumnus. And read about other events that JETAA Ottawa has held in the community over the summer.
2012 Kitadaito Festival Day 1
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the fantasy novel Samurai Awakening (Tuttle).
Every year on September 22 and 23 Kitadaito Village celebrates its largest Festival. These dates mark the beginning of autumn. Kitadaito, also known as north Borodino island, is a place of 12sq kilometers 320 kilometers east of the Okinawan mainland. It is unique in that it was settled by residents of Hachijo Island (near Tokyo) but is part of Okinawa Prefecture. Over the past 100 years the island has become a unique chanpuru (mix) of both cultures.
After graduating from the University of Arizona, I spent three years living and teaching on Kitadaito, and returned this year after more than a year on Kumejima. It was great to re-experience old memories and make new ones as the festival has changed since my time there. Watch the accompanying video for a chance to experience a few bits from this truly unique day.
Read more about the Kitadaito Festival on Ben’s blog — MoreThingsJapanese.com
I’ll Make It Myself: Earth Café (Veg* Out in Kanazawa Series)
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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. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and 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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to L.M. at jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Earth Café (アースカフェ)
Location: Kanazawa City, Ishikawa pref.
Type: Café, Lunch
Veg Status: Completely vegan
Languages: Japanese, English (bilingual menus and staff)
To put it simply, Earth Café gets vegan food right. Despite enjoying cooking vegan food at home, I am often wary of it in restaurants. Just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy– particularly in light of some of the sugar/margarine bombs out there in the world of vegan desserts. (Readers may remember this sentiment from various iterations of “13 Things Your Barista Won’t Tell You,” which floated around the internet in the late ’00s.)
Hiroshima JET’s “The Wide Island View” – 09.25.12
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From The Wide Island View, the JET Program Webzine of Hiroshima Prefecture:
Have you wondered what happens to JETs after they are, well, JETs? Jackie hunted down ex-JET Greg Beck to ask him what life holds after five years in Japan and how to make the most of the experience. Read all about it at Where Are They Now? JET Alum Greg Beck.
Now the weather has cooled down, are you looking to get some exercise? What about an excuse to catch up with friends? Or a chance to travel Japan? If any of those ideas motivate you, read Maire’s article, Kure Shipheads Touch Rugby Team – Don’t let the ship sail without you!
We hope you are enjoying the cooler temperatures. Make the most of the lovely weather to travel and socialise – check out old articles for lots of inspiration! Remember we update the site every two weeks and we have a forum up and running. Enjoy!
Charly & Emily
I’ll Make It Myself!: How to Bake Cookies in the Oven Range and Mini Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies Recipe
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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. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel (formerly The Art of Japan: Kanazawa & Discover Kanazawa), ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and 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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Food homesickness is the plague of not just expats but those who move from region to region– for example, Homesick Texan is a food blog about recreating Texan/TexMex cuisine in New York. The way the author writes about food memories and the problems recreating beloved foods when you can’t always find ingredients really resonates with me as a foodie and expat.
Last week, one of my friends from language school who has also moved to Japan for work commented that he would kill for a decent oatmeal raisin cookie.
JQ Magazine: JQ&A with The Inaka Founder Chris Allison
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“Japan’s inaka offers something completely different. In the inaka you can find nature restaurants, shops, and people that will do a much better job representing a different culture and a different experience—an experience you can only get in Japan.”
By Sarah Rogers-Tanner (Kyoto-fu, 2009-11) for JQ magazine. Sarah hails from Afton, Minnesota and learned a thing or two about the inaka in her small town of Ujitawara, located in the mountains outside of Kyoto City. While there, Sarah taught students ages 2-15 and is now pursuing her master’s degree in elementary inclusive education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Chris Allison (Oita-ken, 2009-12) is a recent JET returnee who spent three years teaching at both an academic high school, as well as a rural, agricultural school. Originally from a small town in Indiana, Chris studied international business and Chinese at Bethel College and began studying Japanese while on JET. Though he is in the U.S. for the time being, Chris hopes to soon be back in Asia again, this time teaching English in Beijing.
Over the past few years, Chris noticed the need for a website that, as opposed to focusing on the prefecture as a whole, exhibits what each town in Japan has to offer. Chris founded The Inaka so that foreigners living in Japan can share pictures and information about their towns for future generations of ALTs and tourists alike. Chris hopes to bring tourism not only to the larger cities but also to the small towns that many of us JET alumni came to love.
Chris says that by increasing the tourism to these towns and cities, we also increase the breadth of knowledge that the world has about Japan, allowing us to give something back to our second home abroad. Now, The Inaka needs your help. The upload process is very easy, so take a look at your prefecture and see what you can contribute!
What made you fall in love with the inaka?
This is slightly off topic a bit, but I often get asked, “What is there to see in Japan?” Up until recently, I didn’t really know how to answer this question. For most countries it is a fairly simple question. For China, “Great Wall.” For France, “Eiffel Tower.” Japan doesn’t really have that one thing that makes it stand out. Sure you could say something like Tokyo or Kyoto, but those are cities and not single attractions.
There was never one thing that I could say that I felt gave a fair representation of Japan. Then it hit me. I could not think of one specific place or attraction, because the entire country is filled with them. No matter what town you go to, you will find heaps of history and sights that will amaze you. The inaka is what makes Japan stand out as a country; it is where you will find the history, nature and culture of what I have come to know as the real Japan. I think it makes the country worth traveling to.
That is why I love the inaka!
JETAA British Columbia Newsletter – September 2012
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The latest issue of the JETAABC Newsletter is now available. In this “Food Issue”, they talk about making Chicken Namban, preparing bentos for lunch in a reasonable amount of time, fermenting your own natto, eating locally-produced food, checking out various izakaya restaurants in Vancouver, and much more!
- PDF (25Mb): http://www.jetaabc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NewsletterV17N2.pdf
- Online viewer version on Issuu.com at http://issuu.com/jetaabc/docs/newsletterv17n2
JET Author Beat: Current Okinawa JET debuts with new book “Samurai Awakening”
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Benjamin Martin is a fifth-year JET ALT in Okinawa Prefecture. He spent three years on Kitadaito Island, a place of 12 sq km and 550 people before moving across the prefecture to another island called Kumejima. His debut novel Samurai Awakening is out now on online retailers and hits bookstores October 10, 2012. Benjamin competes in Okinawan Sumo, is co-host of FM Kumejima’s weekly Haisai English radio program, writes the blog More Things Japanese and serves as an occasional plaything for elementary school students.
About Samurai Awakening and Benjamin Martin
Samurai Awakening is a Young Adult fantasy that takes place in Japan. I began writing it as a way to bring aspects of Japanese culture to young westernersas a compliment to what we do on JET. Overall, it’s a fun read with aspects of Japanese mythology derived from The Kojiki and a healthy dose of real Japan as seen during my time teaching kindergarten through junior high. Here’s the official description:
Benjamin Martin (Okinawa-ken), author of Samurai Awakening
David Matthews is having a particularly bad day, after an especially bad month. His first weeks as an exchange student in Japan have left him homesick and misunderstood by nearly everyone around him, even his host family! Beaten down by a month of loneliness and bullies at school, a fateful invitation to the local Shinto shrine sends David on a path no foreigner has experienced before.
After awakening with a newfound ability to speak Japanese, David learns the members of the Matsumoto family are far more than just traditional sword smiths. They are the keepers of ancient secrets, and a task set upon them by the first Emperor- to train new Jitsugen Samurai, protectors of Japan.
When more strange things begin happening to David, he discovers his future is tied to a Japanese god within him, and that to be a Jitsugen Samurai holds consequences he may not survive. With his new family, friends, and a reluctant ally, David must fight against dangers far closer than any of them realize. As students disappear, David must overcome his past, and accept a new and uncertain future in time to stop the lurking darkness threatening Japan.Why Write?
I started writing as a way to share my experience on JET. My photography and writing skills have grown in tandem since I began my blog More Things Japanese in 2010. I had read Sir Basil Hall Chamberlain’s Things Japanese at the University of Arizona, and wanted to recreate it for today. It became a way to share the unique aspects of Japan I see every day with the world.
The two projects complement each other. The blog lets me focus on non-fiction without having to worry about huge amounts of research. I can simply share what I see, while my novels provide a chance to explore the question, “What if The Kojiki is more than mythology?”
JET has been an amazing experience, and writing gives me a chance to give back and continue to promote the ideals of cultural exchange. I left the US for Japan with a degree in Business and an interest in Japan. Now I have found just how amazing this country can be, and learned a lot about myself I had not known before.
Join the Awakening.
Enter to win a free copy of Samurai Awakening. http://morethingsjapanese.com/samurai-awakening-is-here/ Contest ends 10/10/2012. Alternately you can support my blog and novel by purchasing a copy from your favorite bookstore or online vendor. Thank you!
JET Alum Author Beat: Nicholas Klar’s “My Mother is a Tractor” now free on Kindle for a limited time
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JET alum Nicholas Klar’s (Niigata-ken, Omi-machi (now Itoigawa-shi), 1995-97) My Mother is a Tractor: A Life in Rural Japan, originally published in 2006, is now available for free on Kindle for the next couple days. Click here for more details.
Here’s some more info about the book:
Less than six months after chucking in his management job to take up teaching Nicholas Klar finds himself on the JET Program and a plane to Japan – ending up as an ALT teaching English in Omi (now Itoigawa City) in the far reaches of rural Niigata prefecture.
Never one to be taken too seriously he spends two years far beyond the beaten tourist path in often carousing encounters with Elvis impersonators, love hotels, toilets, train schedules, cults, hostess girls, freezing weather, the local garbage-man and postal workers, plus the recording of a bizarre incident where a cow apparently falls out of the sky.
Combining humour, wonder and a good deal of eclectic research the author veritably crams his pages chock-full of tales of culture shock, humorous anecdotes and insights, reflections upon his own life and cultural baggage, strange facts, plus cultural incongruities and marvels. He inevitably falls in with a motley crew of acquaintances along the way and revealed are many of the personalities he encounters – both Japanese and foreigners.
My Mother is a Tractor is rollicking, fact-filled ride through the Land of the Rising Sun that will both amuse and inform.
Job: Regulatory Affairs Specialist (Japanese language) (Bloomington, IN)
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Thanks to former JETAA Minnesota officer Errol Packard for sharing this JET-relevant job listing.
Posted by 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: Regulatory Affairs Specialist
Posted by: Cook Medical
Type: Full-time
Location: Bloomington, IN
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Job Description:
The Regulatory Affairs Specialist responsibilities are narrowly focused to a specific country and/or region in which the Specialist has proficient language skills (reading/writing/speaking). The Regulatory Specialist helps develop regulatory strategies, obtain and maintain approval, and serve as a communication liaison between the Cook manufacturer and the Cook International Local Office and/or Cook Distributor. Read More
Job: Japanese Chamber of Commerce: Administrative Coordinator (NY)
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Thanks to Heather Tomoyasu (Ibaraki-ken, 2004-06), who currently works for the JCCIC, for sharing this opening. Posted by 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: Administrative Coordinator
Posted by: Japanese Chamber of Commerce
Type: PT/FT Contract Position
Location: New York, NY
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York (JCCI) is seeking a qualified candidate for the part-time position of Administrative Coordinator from October through mid-December, switching to full-time from mid-December through March. There is a possibly that this position will surpass 5-months or lead to regular full-time employment. Successful candidates must be professional, service-oriented and able to handle a variety of duties. Experience working in Japan or at a Japanese company is a must, as are native-level English fluency and computer proficiency. Candidates with a business background are strongly preferred. Japanese language ability is a plus, but not required. Read More
JETAA DC Summer 2012 Newsletter
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The JETAA DC Summer 2012 Newsletter has just been published. Here’s the link: http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/7247642/324117872/name/JETAADC+Summer+Newsletter.pdf
Here’s a note from JETAA DC Newsletter Editor Sarah Howe:
Hi everyone,
I’m Sarah Howe, your new JETAADC newsletter chairperson. A lot of JET alums have been busy this summer, and you can read all about it in the attached summer newsletter! If you’re doing something Japan-related that you’d like people to know about, please consider submitting an article to the fall newsletter. We’d love to read your stories!
Sarah
Job: Postings from Idealist.org 9.18.12
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Via Idealist.org. Posted by Geneva Marie (Niigata-ken 2008-09) Geneva is a contributor to both JETwit and JETAANY. Geneva is on a continuous (epic) search for Japanese-related jobs in the United States. Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
Senior Desktop Support Technician
Posted by: Asia Society
Type: Full-time
Location: New York, NY
Salary: Competitive
Application Deadline: Not Specified
Asia Society is seeking a Senior Desktop Support Technician responsible for all aspects of the operations relating to installed and anticipated computer hardware, networked systems and data communications technologies. College degree and 4-5 years related work experience preferred. Knowledge of Raiser’s Edge and SQL a plus. A+ Certification and/or Microsoft Certification (MCP) required.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/tF3TxdJxKj74/
Gallery Officer
Posted by: Japan Society
Type: Full-time
Location: New York, NY
Salary: DOE
Application Deadline: Not Specified
The Japan Society is seeking a Gallery Officer to assist the Gallery Director in organizing exhibitions, with current and new gallery initiatives, and liaise for touring exhibitions and exhibitions co-organized with other institutions. Bachelors degree and a minimum of 3 to 5 years of related administrative experience in art and patron relations, required.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/kcTsk4d4M2Jd/
