Press Release: The U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) Entrepreneurship Task Force and others Announce a Strategic Partnership to Bring Innovation, Recovery to the Tohoku Region.
Earthquake Tsunami 
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Thanks to JET alum Andrew McCarthy for sharing this information:
For Immediate Release
The U.S.-Japan Council (USJC) Entrepreneurship Task Force, SunBridge Global Venture Habitat and Venture Generation, Tokyo Announce a Strategic Partnership to Bring Innovation, Recovery to the Tohoku Region.
The partnership launched at an April 25 event at Stanford University supports entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas for the area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Leaders of this new initiative hope to breathe new life into the region by empowering entrepreneurs to rebuild the region in smart and innovative ways that will make it globally competitive. Read More
Job: World Languages Coordinator (Atlanta, GA)
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Thanks to JET alum Jessica Cook (who works for the Consulate in Atlanta) for sharing this JET relevant opening. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97).
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Position: World Languages Coordinator
Posted by: Atlanta Public Schools
Type: Full-time
Location: Atlanta, GA
Salary: N/A
Closing date: 06/13/2012
https://aps.taleo.net/careersection/all_jobs2/jobdetail.ftl?job=216580&src=JB-10120
Overview:
The World Languages Coordinator provides leadership and coordination for planning, implementation, and assessment of curriculum/instructional initiatives related to improvements in the ESOL and Foreign Languages Programs; The coordinator ensures compliance with all State and Federal Laws and State Department of Education Rules and Regulations. The World Languages Coordinator provides leadership and coordination for planning, implementation, and assessment of curriculum/instructional initiatives related to improvements in K-12 Foreign Language Program. This position reports to the Director for Curriculum and Instruction.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Administration and Organization:
- Ensure the implementation of the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards into the ESOL and Foreign Language Programs
- Provide leadership and coordinates the development of a comprehensive K-12 ESOL curriculum including knowledge of WIDA standards and assessments
- Coordinate the selection of instructional materials, supplies, technology, equipment, and textbooks needed to support the implementation of the ESOL curriculum
- Develops and manages a District-level budget and the Title III grant budget
- Plan, organize, supervise, and evaluate all activities and program functions, personnel, and physical resources of the ESOL department
- Direct the multifaceted services, programs, and activities of the ESOL department
- Direct the completion of multiple reports as mandated by the state DOE
- Develop short-term and long-term goals for the ESOL department
- Collaborate with and/or supports schools, other offices, departments, and non-school agencies to accomplish the ESOL department’s mission Read More
WIT Life #204: Enka Sensation Jero
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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 together with her own observations.
I never thought I would say this, but last night I was captivated by the strains of enka. However this was not your typical enka, it was this style of Japanese music performed by none other than Pittsburgh-born singer Jero. This 30-year old celebrity in Japan learned enka thanks to his maternal Japanese grandmother. As early as five he began singing ballads to entertain her, and from this young age he had a dream of becoming an enka singer. He has achieved this success in spades, debuting with his hit single 「海雪」 (Umiyuki, or Ocean Snow) four years ago. He went on to create numerous other hits, including an original one dedicated to his mother who raised him on her own.
The event I attended took place at Japan Society and was entitled “Let’s Enka! with Jero.” It began with an interview where Jero shared how his childhood dream had became a reality, including how at one point he contemplated Read More
JapanLocal: Promotional Video for JET alum book “For Fukui’s Sake”
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Below is a promotional video for the book For Fukui’s Sake: Two Year’s In Rural Japan by JET alum Sam Baldwin (Fukui-ken, 2004-06) (who also created the video). The video does a great job of capturing the images and essence Fukui through Sam’s eyes. Read more about Sam in the book review Tim Martin (Fukui-ken, 2006-08) did for JQ magazine.
JapanLocal: Tokyo Moves Video
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Patrick Lee (also known as Pat Leezy) is a current 2nd year JET in Nagasaki-ken who specializes in videography. His videos can be seen on his Youtube Channel. He can be contacted through Facebook and Twitter.
Tokyo is a city of contrasts. Its towering skyscrapers and neon-lit nights suggest a modern metropolis ceaselessly advancing into its future. Yet Japan’s capital visibly prides itself on its rich heritage, preserving various historical landmarks throughout the city. Pat spent a week this past April during cherry blossom week exploring this delicate relationship with his point-and-shoot camera.
JQ Magazine: App Review – Japanese Flash and Rikai Browser
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"The best study materials are ones that are easy to pick up and make a habit of using. It’s also important that they’re easy to use after being neglected for a while. Both Japanese Flash and Rikai Browser pass that test." (Courtesy of Long Weekend LLC)
By Jarrad Skinner (Toyama-ken, 2007-2011) for JQ magazine. Jarrad is a game design student. He’s rediscovering New York by going to lectures, comedy shows, meetups, concerts, bars, restaurants, and by skipping subway rides for long walks whenever possible. You can find him sleeping on the LIRR.
It’s June. That means six months until the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test in December, so it’s a good time to take a look at goals and study materials and get crackin’. Long Weekend LLC has two iOS apps, Japanese Flash and the Rikai Browser, which may help.
JET alum Mark Makdad (Toyama-ken, 2005-06), Long Weekend’s director and co-founder, explains what sets their apps apart: “We took the dictionary approach but added on two important things: an SRS algorithm to show you words you’d already looked up and saved to a custom set, and 150+ sets of useful and/or interesting words pre-loaded so people can just study vocabulary relevant to their situation,” he says. “For example, there’s a ‘Drinking Words’ set–if you’re going out to an izakaya with Japanese friends for the first time, you’ll probably want to learn a few ahead of time!”
Learning Japanese has become much easier in the past five years. When I started JET in 2007 and began studying Japanese, I used a ragtag paper pocket dictionary that my predecessor had left on my desk. It got me through a lot but not without a lot of tedious fumbling, and I was envious of my fellow JETs with their fancy electronic dictionaries. Those fancy electronic dictionaries are really expensive, though. It wasn’t until the middle of my third year on JET that I upgraded from my not-so-sturdy pocket dictionary. I had gotten an iPhone and immediately put the free dictionary Kotoba! on it. This was not a minor thing, but a cause of a marked improvement in my quality of life as a JET.
Not only was I more willing to jump into Japanese conversations because I knew I could quickly look up a key word if I needed to, but students and teachers were more willing to try to talk with me and have deeper conversations because they knew the dictionary app was right there to help them, too. Never having to learn how to look up kanji by stroke order in a paper dictionary was also appreciated.
JETAA Northern California Pacific Bridge : Alumni Spotlight on Ryan Kimura
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JETAA Northern California’s Pacific Bridge recently interviewed Ryan Kimura (Shizuoka-ken, 2004-06) who currently serves as the Director of Programs and Community Affairs at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC).
How did you wind up in this position after JET?
After JET, I opened up a small purikura [Japanese photo booth] business, Pika Pika (www.pikapikasf.com), in Japantown’s Japan Center Kinokuniya Building. I owned, operated, and grew this business for five years before hearing about an opening at the JCCCNC for a Programs Director position. When I was a student at UC Berkeley, I interned at the JCCCNC and formed many strong relationships with the staff there, including Executive Director Paul Osaki. Additionally, managing a Japantown business and staffing a number of Japantown non-profits really motivated me into playing a larger role in the community. I decided to call Paul up, interviewed, and have been serving at the JCCCNC since May of 2011.
Seeing as we have recently passed the first anniversary of the 3/11 earthquake. I know the JCCCNC has been doing so much to support Tohoku and bring awareness to the community. Can you talk about that?
Immediately after news of the earthquake reached state-side, volunteers from all over the Japanese American community staffed an all-day, all-night telethon on NBC in the Bay Area, where we raised over 400,000 dollars. All of this money was soon after transferred to the JCCCNC-led Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. Additionally, we took our efforts online and put up a Causes.com page for the fund. Our page has since received donations from over 25,000 people.
Speaking on the scale of the Japantown community, the JCCCNC has hosted numerous fundraisers for the cause. The 2011 Cherry Blossom Festival, which occurred about a month after the earthquake, had many of our staff and volunteers selling merchandise to generate money. Donation cans were located at every festival booth, and, throughout the year, many Japantown merchants used those same cans in their stores. The JCCCNC has also received money from smaller community charity events, including a lemonade stand run by kids, taiko concerts, and cultural performances.
On the February leading up to the first year anniversary, the JCCCNC flew in six Tohoku students who were studying to enter the hospitality industry at the Sendai YMCA. These students’ lives were devastated by the earthquake—they lost property, loved ones, and so much more. Some of them had not even gotten over the shock. Through the relief fund, we were able to pay for their tuition, show them around famous San Francisco hotels to enlighten them about hospitality in the West, and saturate them with American culture through homestays and preschool volunteer programs. We wanted to show donors how their money was being used, and because of the community’s generous spirit, these six students have the chance to realize their futures—to arise from tragedy and push forward.
JET alum James Kennedy curates Second Annual 90-second Newbery Film Festival
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This just in from the so-original-you-have to see/meet/read-him-to-believe-him James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of the acclaimed young adult novel The Order of Odd-Fish. Make sure to watch the “Heart of a Samurai” video below–one more example of a JET alum generating interest in Japanese language and culture in ways the Japanese government could never have possibly imagined. (See explanation further below.)
Preparations for the Second Annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival are underway! The 90-Second Newbery is a film festival I curate in which filmmakers of any age are challenged to make movies that tell the story of a Newbery award-winning book in 90 seconds or less.Full details here. The deadline for video submission is October 29, 2012. Details about screenings in New York and Chicago—including special celebrity guests—below!
But first, check out the latest submission above! It’s of Margi Preus’ fantastic 2011 Newbery Honor book, Heart of a Samurai. The movie is by Alex, Amy, Izzy, Asher, and Zach from Burley Elementary in Chicago. Full disclosure: I helped with this one! And here’s our twist: we did the film in Japanese, even though the students, er, don’t know Japanese. I helped with the script and pronunciation. There are storms at sea! Whales! Burning beards! Fistfights! It’s also slightly longer than 90 seconds. Oh well. ENJOY! Read More
Job: Quality Assurance- General Administrator (Carol Stream, IL)
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Via Futaba North America. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97).
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Position: QA General Administrator
Posted by: Futaba North America
Type: Full-time
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
Salary: $35,000
Start Date: N/A
Overview:
The corporate office of three auto manufacturing subsidiaries is seeking a QA General Administrator. The position responsibilities require proficiency in the following areas:
Japanese- English Communicator:
Demonstrated verbal and written communication skills to translate documents, emails, memos and, when necessary, provide interpretation. Build relationships with colleagues in Japan to facilitate effective communications between corporations.
Document Control Coordinator:
Implement procedures, work instructions and revise documents. Follow work flow process and review/approve documents via Adobe Acrobat.
SharePoint Administrator:
Create document libraries, schedule training events, establish surveys, provide site creation and maintenance, and coordinate the discussion board.
– Knowledge of TS 16949 standards preferred, but not required.
– Japanese Language Proficiency Level 2 or higher or equivalent experience is essential.
– Intermediate level knowledge and skill in Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) is a must.
This is an entry-level position. Only applicants who are proficient in English and Japanese and have experience in Microsoft Office software should apply. The applicant must be flexible, a team player and be able to multi-task successfully in busy office environment. *** The position will work with a JET alum, Colin Stecker, who already works there. ***
Applicants should forward resumes to: employment@futabanaem.com
Job: Publicity Coordinator job opening at the JICC, Embassy of Japan (DC)
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Via JETAA DC. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97).
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Position: Publicity Coordinator
Posted by: Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan
Type: Full-time
Location: Washington, DC
Salary: Commensurate with experience
Start Date: N/A
http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JICC/employment.html#Publicity-Coordinator
Overview:
The Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), Embassy of Japan, is seeking a highly motivated, team-oriented individual for the Publicity Coordinator position. This individual is responsible for supporting the JICC’s goal to promote a better understanding of Japan and Japanese culture by disseminating information about the JICC and various Japan-related events to the public and media. Possessing excellent writing skills, this individual will have primary responsibility for creating and designing promotional materials and will also be responsible for drafting speeches for Embassy of Japan diplomats.
This position also entails other duties shared with coworkers at the JICC, such as assisting the diplomats and other colleagues with events held at the JICC, and responding to public inquiries about Japan. Please see below for a more detailed listing of responsibilities.
The Embassy offers group health insurance coverage, paid vacation and sick leave. Working hours are 9am – 5pm, Monday through Friday with weeknight and/or weekend events several times a month (paid overtime).
Candidate must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. green card holder. All candidates will be subject to background checks and security clearance.
Responsibilities:
* Draft flyers, brochures, pamphlets, posters and advertisements for JICC events
* Draft speeches, statements, remarks and correspondence for diplomats and staff
* Develop materials for JICC exhibits such as signs and posters
* Keep the staff updated on news coverage of JICC events in the media
* Maintain a database of media and art-related contacts and build relationships with relevant media
* Disseminate information on Japan to the public; respond to public inquiries on Japan
* Assist the diplomats with administrative tasks, writing and research
* Support other staff with JICC events and other office tasks Read More
Job: Reporter/Researcher in New York Bureau of The Yomiuri Shimbun
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Thanks to JET alum and former Yomiuri staff member, Olivia Nilsson for passing this great job listing on. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97).
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Position: Reporter/Researcher in New York Bureau of The Yomiuri Shimbun
Posted by: Yomiuri Shimbun
Type: Full-time
Location: NY
Salary: Compensation includes medical/dental benefits, and 401(k)
Start Date: N/A
Website: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ English-language: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/
Overview:
The Yomiuri Shimbun is Japan’s largest daily newspaper. They are headquartered in Tokyo and have over 30 international bureaus, three of which are in the United States: New York, Washington, and Los Angeles.
Qualifications:
Applicants must have a strong interest in current affairs and advanced Japanese language skills. An interest in journalism combined with attention to accuracy and the ability to multitask effectively under deadline is required. Ease with building and maintaining good sources, a strong work ethic and ability to take direction well and work collaboratively with others is essential. Applicants should already be based in New York region Read More
Message from Outgoing AJET Chairman Matthew Cook
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Originally posted to the AJET website on May 25, 2012:
AJET Chairman, Matthew Cook: My Final Message as Chair
CLICK HERE to read the full message on the AJET website.
A few select quotes:
“This year saw AJET re-branded to clearly show the world what AJET does: Connects people linked to the JET Programme; participants, ministries, alumni, our countries, and the world. That started a chain reaction of more close interaction from all of those parties.”
“This year, you saw the AJET website revamped and redesigned so that you could more easily navigate it. We saw facebook groups created for regions across Japan, to allow JETs to connect with other JETs locally and share what they found relevant to their experiences. We saw AJET make a presence in the twitter universe and speak to the public, as well as multiple instances of coverage in the media.”
“AJET got involved with JET Alumni and members of our council even attended the JETAA International Conference, to make sure current JETs were represented. AJET engaged Embassies and started close relationships with U.S. and Canadian governments, which we’re hoping will result in more and more opportunities for JETs.”
CLICK HERE to see a list of Matt and the AJET Council’s accomplishments.
SCBWI Tokyo Illustration Day with John Shelley
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SCBWI-Tokyo Publicity Assistant Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima 1988-90) shares the following:
Sunday August 19, 2012
SCBWI Tokyo Illustration Day with John Shelley:
Breathing Life Into Your Pictures
Power up your pictures! Give your illustrations vitality and zest! This SCBWI Tokyo Illustration Day featuring illustrator John Shelley will focus on techniques that children’s illustrators use to create resonance in their work and will explore how visual psychology works to convey mood, emotion, and movement. The Action and Emotion Illustration Assignment to be completed in advance of the workshop provides an opportunity for illustrators to develop their craft through open critiques at the event.
Time: Sunday, August 19, 2012, 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Place: Tokyo Women’s Plaza, Audiovisual Room, A & B
5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (by the Children’s Castle and United Nations University). For a map see www.scbwi.jp/map.htm Read More
Career: JET alum makes her mark in international exchange role with Hostelling International
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Thanks to Megan Johnson (Mie-ken, 2001-03) who works for Hostelling International, for sharing a bit about her career path in the field of international exchange programs, a very popular field for JET alumni. (Join the JET Alum International Education and Exchange group on LinkedIn to connect with other JET alums in the field.) Megan recently also shared a very JET-relevant job opening at her organization which we posted to JETwit.
During the two years I spent teaching in rural Japan, exploring the country, and traveling throughout Southeast Asia, I gained an immense appreciation for responsible, culturally sensitive travel and the power of travel to build positive relations among those of different cultures. Before I left Mie-ken, I knew I wanted to find an organization in the U.S. that I could get involved with that would allow me to interact with travelers and exercise my passion for utilizing effective intercultural communication skills to learn more about the world and its people. Hostelling International USA turned out to be that organization.
HI-USA is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to “help all, especially the young, gain a greater understanding of the world and its people, through hostelling”. There are 60 HI-USA hostels throughout the country, and luckily one of their locations is in Chicago, where I moved after JET. Because of a stroke of luck–the replacement ALT in my tiny town in Mie-ken happened to be from Chicago and happened to be a volunteer at the hostel in Chicago–I found myself accepting a job as the hostel’s Education Coordinator. Read More
Job: Postings from Idealist.org 6.5.12
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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. Hire me! :-)
Student Exchange Program Manager
Posted by: States’ 4H International Exchange Program
Type: Full-time
Location: Seattle, WA
Salary: DOE
Application Deadline: June 15, 2012
S4-H is seeking a program manager to oversee inbound exchange programs. Candidate must have a BA or BS degree in education, business administration, communication, international relations, or a related field. Minimum of 4-5 years work experience in a complex administration, educational, non-profit or customer service environment required. Interview process will include 2-3 in person interviews as well as written tests.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/WBTzP3CC6mJd/
Administrative Assistant
Posted by: US Japan Council
Type: Full-time
Location: Washington, DC
Salary: DOE
Application Deadline: Not specified
The US Japan Council is seeking an administrative assistant for their rapidly growing 501(c)3 nonprofit membership organization. Applicants with an interest in U.S.-Japan and Asia relations and Japanese language ability (written, oral) are strongly encouraged to apply.
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/XTSj2g9dX874/
