Rare Japanese Film Masterpiece “The Human Condition” at Film Forum in NYC
Japan Trends, Uncategorized 
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By translator and writer Jamie Graves (Saitama-Ken 2002-2003)
Periods of great filmmaking seem to flower only under certain conditions, none of which seem to last very long. A relatively stable and industrialized society is needed just to provide the materials and conditions to shoot films, but truly great filmmaking only seems to spring up in the aftermath of huge social upheavals. The images of poverty and brutality in Italian Neo-Realist masterpieces like “The Bicycle Thief” and “Open City” had a jarring immediacy springing out of a society that had been rocked by poverty, a bloody invasion, and an increasingly oppressive regime. America cinema of the 1970s wrestled an increasingly fragmented society of alienated individuals in masterpieces like “Godfather Part II”, “Dog Day Afternoon”, and “Taxi Driver”. Recently places as disparate as Korea and Iran have begun to produce filmmakers whose works crackle and pulse with an immediacy missing from most American filmmaking. Something has been propelling them not just to make movies that can get made, but that they feel must get made.
It is widely acknowledged that Japanese cinema of the 1950s and 1960s popped with this sort of immediacy. Some mysterious confluence of a permissive studio system open to experimentation, a public hungry for rich, complex films and a generation of filmmakers with ambitious visions for cinema Read More
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Having recently returned from a trip to Japan, during my time there I was reminded of the cultural differences large and s
mall that exist between our two nations. Some were simple things I forgot, such as the sometimes lack of paper towels and dryers in the restrooms and the need to carry around a small towel to dry your hands. Other issues were more deeply integrated into the cultural psyche, such as the surprise that friends expressed when I told them about pregnancy/motherhood here in the States. I happened to visit many pregnant friends and new mothers, and they get to enjoy a long stay in the hospital after giving birth. Also, for working mothers the amount of time you can take off in Japan before returning to the workplace is quite generous (for some cases such as civil servants a year compared to the typical three months here), although I think the tendency for women not to return to work after having a baby is more common than here in the States.
Anyway, the news this morning profiled a story that fits into the larger cultural difference category. According to the report, actor Shunta Nakamura (31), the son of actor Masatoshi Nakamura (58) and actress Junko Igarashi (56), was arrested this weekend for Read More
JETAA Chapter Beat 4.7.09
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Freelance writer/editor Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) takes us on a walk around the JET Alumni community…
- AJS Pitch and Putt Golf Day – Saturday, April 18th, 2:00 at Canberra International Golf Centre. Tee off with AJS and JETAA Canberra for a day of family fun.
- O-Shaberikai – Wednesday, April 29th, 5:30 at the Holy Grail in Civic. Join in and meet Japanese people living in Canberra and other locals interested in Japan.
- Panel Discussion – Tuesday, April 14th, 9:00 A.M. at the Wohlstetter Conference Center, AEI offices. JET alum Michael Auslin, Director of Japan Studies for the American Enterprise Institute, will be moderating a panel discussion on the topic of “Are Alliances Enough: The Role of the U.S. – Japanese Alliance in Maritime Asia.” This discussion is only part of an all day event titled “Protecting the Seas: Maritime Security in the Asia Pacific, America’s Interests, and Asia’s Future.”
- JBook Book Club – Monday, April 20th, 6:30 at the Penn Quarter Teaism. This month’s book is “An Artist of the Floating World” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Come share your thoughts and impressions with JBook.
- Star in the Eye Poetry Reading – Tuesday, April 7th, 5:30 at Barnes and Noble on 1 E. Jackson. Former ALT James Shea will be giving a poetry reading from his book “Star in the Eye.”
- JETAA Meeting – Monday, April 13th, 6:00 at Hema’s Kitchen. Sit in and find out more about the Chicago JETAA community.
- James Kennedy “The Order of the Odd-Fish” Book Reading and Signings – James Kennedy will be promoting his book, “The Order of the Odd-Fish” at three upcoming events within the Chicago area. Saturday, April 22nd, 2:00 at Borders bookstore, Wednesday, April 22nd, 4:00 at the Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library, and Tuesday, April 28th, 7:30 at the Hopleaf. Do not miss this chance to meet James and hear excerpts from his delightful book.
- JET Alum Writers Needed – The Sushi and Sake Magazine is looking for JET Alumni to share their experiences in writing to teach others about Japan. In particular, topics on cuisine, language, geographic regions and business structure are being sought, but anyone can contribute.
- Second Weekend Social JETAASC Rock Wall Climbing Event – Saturday, April 11th, 3:30 at Beach City Rocks. JETAASC will be spending the day on the wall, followed by a little Korean BBQ.
- Nihongo Dake – Sunday, April 26th, 2:00 at a location yet to be determined. Brush up on your Japanese skills and join in on a day of conversation, food and JETAA.
JETAA Texoma
- Japan Festival Mikoshi Bearers Needed – April 25th and 26th in Hermann Park, Houston. JETAA and the Consulate of Japan are looking for volunteers to help out at this year’s Japan Festival carrying the mikoshi(portable shrine) that they are building. Help out or just stop by JETAA Texoma’s booth and say hi.
- Japanese Colligraphy: Language and Cultural Experience Workshop – Wednesday, April 8th, 6:15 at the Japan Society Conference Room. Spend the day learning about Shodo, the art of writing kanji and kana characters with an ink-dipped brush led by Mr. Hideo Murakana.
- Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival – April 11, 12, 18 & 19th at the San Francisco Japantown. Two weekends of Japanese culture and food. It’s the 42nd year of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, including a lively street fair with food, arts and crafts and a children’s village.
- JETAANC Oakland A’s Game – Saturday, April 25th, 1:00 at McAfee Coliseum. JETAANC and the Japan Society are co-hosting a day at the ballpark. Oakland takes on Tampa Bay, so come out and root for the home team with friends and JETAA.
What happened at your chapter’s event? If you attend(ed) any of these exciting events, JetWit would love to hear about them. Just email Jonathan Trace with any info, stories or comments.
Robert Weston’s (Nara-ken, 2002-04) rhyming novel Zorgamazoo has just received another honor. Below is the post by Rob on his blog wayofthewest.wordpress.com:
Unbelievable. My little black book simply won’t stop slapping me in the face with the most pleasant of surprises.
GET THIS: Zorgamazoo is on the shortlist for the 2009 E.B. White Read Aloud Award. And here’s what I have to say about it:
EEEEEEEEEEGAD!
(ahem. )
Now then. What this means: E.B. White, as I’m certain you already know, is the author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little (he’s also the eponymous “White” of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style).
Co-working links
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The following links are from the article on co-working by freelance translator Joel Dechant (CIR Fukuoka-ken, 2001-04).
- Coworking Google Group http://groups.google.com/group/coworking
- I’m Outta Here E-Book http://www.imouttaherethebook.com/
- Coworking Wiki http://coworking.pbwiki.com/
- Web Worker Daily –http://webworkerdaily.com/
- Independents Hall, Philly –http://www.indyhall.org
- CoLab Tokyo –http://co-lab.jp/about/index.html
- Jelly –http://www.workatjelly.com
Joel Dechant (CIR Fukuoka-ken, 2001-04), freelance translator based in Fukuoka, has been exploring the “co-working” trend. If interested in discussing with him, click on his name to contact him via LinkedIn or post a comment below to share your thoughts or perspectives.
After 3 years on JET I worked at a private Japanese university as a translator for 3 years. It was essentially a JET-type job: translate, interpret, assist foreign students and/or plan programs for 3 years and then you’re out. After their stints were up, some of my other colleagues went home or elsewhere in Japan to work in universities, government agencies or in the private sector, but I-on the other hand-decided to stay.
“What about my contract?” you ask. Well, my employer and I struck a deal. They needed someone who knew the university and who could translate and interpret well, and I wanted to stay in the area. By virtue of being placed in the position that bore the biggest share of translation and interpreting work, I was able to hone my skills well enough to confidently say, “Hey, I can do this!” So we wrote a new contract in which they would outsource their work to me. With the stroke of a pen, I was self-employed.
It was like a dream come true. How many times had I Read More
JETAA Chicago Newsletter – Spring 2009
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Elizabeth Friedman (Shimane-ken, 2003-04) just put out her first issue as new editor of the JETAA Chicago Spring 2009 Newsletter (PDF). Have a look-and-see at what’s going on in Chicago’s JET-world:
- Letter from the Editor
- Photos from Shinnenkai and Ski Trip
- Guide to buying Japanese food in Chicago
- Spotlight on local JET alum writer: James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-fish
- Poet and JET alum James Shea Book Event
- Japan America Society of Chicago Spring Events
Japan America Society Round-up 4.7.09
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Current Hiroshima-ken JET Gail Meadows shines a light on the upcoming events of various Japan America Societies…
- Program on HR Issues for Japanese-owned companies – Are you an HR professional working for or with a Japanese-owned company? If so, this program is for you. It’s called “Surviving the Economic Downturn: Human Capital Strategies for Japanese-Owned Companies.” Learn about the economic challenges facing Japan and America today and what they mean to you as an HR professional. This program will focus on the cultural expectations of workers and management in Japanese-owned companies. It also will explore the impact of U.S. labor laws for companies that are working to cut their employee-related expenses or restructure their U.S. workforce.
- Date: Thursday, April 16
- Time: 8 to 10 a.m.
- Place: Holiday Inn Rolling Meadows, 3405 Algonquin Road, Rolling Meadows, Illinois
- For more information: http://www.jaschicago.org/en/events/Default.aspx?eventid=67
Free Lectures at Portland State University – The JAS of Oregon invites members to attend two free lectures at Portland State University by Dr. Donald Keene, an American scholar of Japanese literature. The first lecture, “World War II Diaries by Japanese Writers”, will be on Thursday, April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Native American Center, Room 110. The second, “Behind the Scenes with Mishima Yukio; A Conversation with Donald Keene”, will be on Friday, April 17 at noon in Smith Memorial Student Union, Rooms 327 and 328. For more information: http://www.jaso.org/Keene_2009.doc
- Concert by Masakazu Ito – The JAS of Colorado invites members to enjoy a music program featuring guitar masterworks, including the Grand Solo by Fernando Sor, Sonatina by Frederico Moreno Torroba, Koyunbaba by Carlo Domeniconi, Collectici Intim by Vincente Asencio, Sakura by Yuquijiro Yocoh, and La Catedral by Agustin Barrios. Tickets are $35 and include post-concert wine and hors d’oeuvre reception at the Mary Williams Art Gallery.
- Date: Saturday, April 18
- Time: 7 p.m.
- Place: The Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder
- For more information: http://www.thedairy.org
Furoshiki Workshop – Have you ever considered how much trash you produce with gift wrap? Or plastic bags? Shopping bags alone account for 2 million tons of garbage each year in the U.S. Subtract yourself from that statistic by attending this workshop about how furoshiki, a square piece of wrapping cloth traditionally used in Japan for carrying things, can be used to cut down on the amount of trash you produce. The workshop will explore the history of the colorful cloths, examine other cultures that use similar “green” wrapping methods and show how furoshiki can express personality through design and color. Cost is $20.
- Date: Wednesday, April 22
- Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
- Place: University of Pittsburgh, 4130 Posvar Hall
- For more information: http://www.us-japan.org/jasp/furoshiki.pdf
Does your Japan America Society have an upcoming event you’d like to share with JetWit readers? Let us know by emailing Gail Meadows the info.
Bankruptcy Bill #14 – Online Dating
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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.wordpress.com.
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Another good post from my brother Greg on TheDigitalists.com, this one on Kindle and the future of book publishing. Definitely worth a read by JET alums authors and those working in publishing, especially on the heels of the JET Alumni Author Showcase.
Much of the chatter surrounding Mark Bowden’s Vanity Fair piece on the New York Times has focused on the anonymous quotes slagging publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. But what I found the most fascinating was the passage dissecting Sulzberger’s invocation of the phrase “platform agnostic”:
When the motion-picture camera was invented, many early filmmakers simply recorded stage plays, as if the camera’s value was just to preserve the theatrical performance and enlarge its audience. To be sure, this alone was a significant change. But the true pioneers realized that the camera was more revolutionary than that. It freed them from the confines of a theater. Audiences could be transported anywhere. To tell stories with pictures, and then with sound, directors developed a whole new language, using lighting and camera angles, close-ups and panoramas, to heighten drama and suspense. They could make an audience laugh by speeding up the action, or make it cry or quake by slowing it down. In short, the motion-picture camera was an entirely new tool for storytelling. To be platform agnostic is the equivalent of recording stage plays.
I had a similar thought last week when, after months of reading about it and stealing envious glances at it on the subway, I had a chance to play around with the Amazon Kindle. It’s a pretty cool product, though it’s clearly still early in the product life cycle; I’d guess it’s roughly analogous to where the iPod was six or seven years ago. But I also realized that in terms of societal impact, we’re even earlier in the process. So far, the Kindle has made the tiniest dent in terms of how books are distributed. In the coming years, it will change how they’re promoted. And one day in the not-too-distant future, it will begin to transform our entire notion of what a book is.
Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks to JET alum and professional translator Joel Dechant (CIR Kagoshima-ken, 2001-04) for sharing this link to the jobs page for the International Association of Business Communicators, which can also be found on the Job Site Links page in the Job Searching section on JetWit.
Bonus link: On a somewhat related note, Joel also shared a useful link to the Social Science Japan forum of U of Tokyo: http://forum.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
North Korea Missile Launching: Different Reactions from Different Perspectives
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
Nikkei (Business Perspective) – The Ministry of Finance is discussing decreasing the maximum value of money allowed to be sent into North Korea. Currently transactions totaling over 1 million yen are prohibited. Businesses take note: if any transactions are not reported fully, financial penalties will incur.
NHK (Scientific Perspective) – NHK this morning interviewed experts on missile behavior to analyze exactly what type of missile was launched by North Korea. If the missile was designed for launching satellites, as claimed by North Korea, then the missile would have to have gone much farther and straighter than had occurred.
Asahi (Comical Perspective) – Prime Minister Aso was asked “The long range missile fired from North Korea today traveled further than the one previously. Do you think this shows that North Korea’s ability to develop technologically is progressing? ” Aso replied: “You’re speaking to the wrong person. You should ask a technology expert.”
Job: News Assistant/Staff Reporter at The Asahi Shimbun – Washington, DC
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Via the JETAADC jobs yahoo group:
News Assistant/Staff Reporter
Organization: The Asahi Shimbun
Location: United States (Washington, DC)
Contact Information: Hiring Manager
Email: asahidc at nationalpress dot com
Description:
Duties include assisting our Washington-based political correspondent with articles by conducting thorough background research, attending press briefings, gathering news and views, arranging interviews, and closely following developments in the area of U.S. domestic politics. Some administrative support, such as transcribing interviews and other assignments, is also required.
This is a reporting position with no article-writing or byline opportunities. Salary is $32,000 to $35,000. Compensation includes overtime pay, excellent medical/dental benefits, and 401(k).
Please email cover letter and resume. No clips or phone calls, please.
Qualifications:
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree (master’s degree preferable). Background in U.S. politics is highly desirable. Japanese language is helpful but not required. U.S. citizenship is required.
2010 Japanese Government Scholarships
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Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
Subject: 2010 Japanese Government Scholarships
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2010 Japanese Government Scholarships
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The Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle is now accepting applications for the following 2010 Japanese Government Scholarships for studying in Japan.
U.S. citizens living in the states of Washington, Montana, and Northern Idaho are eligible to apply at our office.
The application forms are available on our website at: http://www.seattle.us.emb-japan.go.jp
Job: Executive Director at Volunteers in Asia – San Francisco, CA
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Via the JETAA Northern California jobs yahoo group:
Volunteers in Asia (VIA) is dedicated to increasing understanding between the United States and Asia through public service and service learning programs promoting cross-cultural education.
VIA is seeking an Executive Director who is a strategic manager with a strong personal and/or vocational commitment to expanding global cooperation and understanding through service learning and/or international education. Candidates should also be able to blend effective business methods with the mission of the organization.
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