May 19

Tohoku Projects: 3,000 Letters to Japan

Earthquake Tsunami, Return on JET-vestment, Volunteer earthquake, JET, Tohoku, tsunami, Volunteer

As part of an occasional series, Sheila Burt (Toyama-ken, 2010-2012) will begin profiling JETs who are or were in some way involved with rebuilding efforts in the Tohoku region. The inaugural post is about Jessie Zanutig (Gunma-ken, 2009-12), who founded 3,000 Letters to Japan, an international letter exchange project aimed at lifting the spirits of students who are living in the communities hardest hit by the disaster. Burt is currently a freelance journalist and English teacher in Matsuyama City, Ehime-ken. Read more of her reporting at her blog, Stories from the Inaka.

Zanutig’s home full of letters.

Jessie Zanutig was in the middle of celebrating her junior high school students’ graduation at a small restaurant in Kawaba Village, Gunma Prefecture, when the earthquake struck. Buildings in her tiny mountainous town in northern Gunma shook violently, but her town was thankfully safe from the tsunami that was about to ravage several coastal communities in northeast Japan.

As Gunma residents banned together in the next few weeks to send supplies to neighboring Fukushima-ken, Zanutig began to correspond with a Canadian friend who was living in Ishinomaki, one of the hardest hit towns in Miyagi Prefecture, to learn more about the situation. Her friend’s boyfriend, who is Japanese, lost his father in the tsunami and was struggling with the sudden loss of a family member.

“I was in contact with her a lot to make sure she was OK. Her students were having a really hard time,” Zanutig, 28, remembers. “I thought, ‘I want to help but there’s nothing I can do.’ So I asked her, ‘If I just collected a few letters from friends and family, do you have a few students you can give them to?’” Read More

Dec 28

Job: [JET] NY Times Travel Show Volunteer Opprtunity

Jobs, Uncategorized consulate general, NY, Volunteer

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Thanks to Noriko Furuhata, JET coordinator at the NY consulate. 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: Volunteers
Posted by: The Consulate General of Japan in New York
Type: N/A
Location: N/A
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A

Overview:
This year, the Consulate is doing a “Yoroi (traditional samurai armor) try-on.” We will encourage visitors to try on a set of samurai armor and take photos. We would like to have some “genki” JET alumni to help out at our booth. Please see below for the details:

Date:
Saturday, January 19 from 11:00am to 3:00pm
Sunday, January 20 from 11:00am to 3:00pm

Venue:
The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
(11th avenue between 34th and 38th streets)

3 volunteers are needed each day. If interested, please e-mail the Consulate with the following information by Thursday, January 10.

Your Name:
Email address:
Cell phone number:
JET placement location:
JET years:
JET position (ALT or CIR):

Date you can volunteer (1/19 or 1/20):

Please respond by Thursday, January 10! (Please note that the Consulate will be closed from Monday, December 31 to Thursday, January 3.)

Consulate General of Japan in New York
299 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10171
Tel: 212-418-4461
Fax: 212-371-1294
Email: jet@ny.mofa.go.jp
www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp

Jul 28

Job: PEPY volunteer Online Media Strategist (Cambodia)

Jobs, Volunteer Cambodia, Volunteer

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Thanks to JET alum Mark Fujishige for this posting. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97).
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Position: Online Media Strategist
Posted by: PEPY
Type: Full time (30-40 hours/week) – Volunteer
Location: Cambodia
Salary: N/A
Start Date: August or September 2012

Overview:
PEPY is looking for an enthusiastic, creative, and dedicated individual available for a period of 6-12 months to join their office full-time in the volunteer role of Online Media Strategist. This position is part of the Communications Team and will involve managing PEPY’s online presence— especially through social media streams— and develop the ways they use content and online tools both to promote their work and to engage with a variety of partners and thought experts.

You can find additional information about this position and how to apply, via this link: http://www.idealist.org/view/volop/tj88T5hkKfXd/