Asahi article about JETAA NY Fundraiser
Article/Journalism, Earthquake Tsunami, Events, JETAA Chapters, JETs in the News, Return on JET-vestment, Translating/Interpreting 
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Thanks to Kyushu-based professional translator Joel Dechant for alerting JEtwit to this article in Japanese on Asahi.com about Tuesday night’s JETAA NY Japan Fundraiser. My Japanese reading ability has weakened over the years, but it looks like I’m quoted at the end of the article. I think the other JET alum quoted is Ayelet Fogel (Sendai City, Miyagi-ken) who is in the photo. (And yes, that’s me in the background of the photo wearing my “JETAANY Nihongo wakaru yo!” t-shirt.)
If anyone would like to translate or summarize in English, please post as a comment or e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
English translation below by Lee-Sean Huang, webmaster of JETAANY and JETwit.
〈世界から被災地へ〉第二の故郷「ガンバ！」 元英語教師奔走
2011年4月7日10時25分
日本の高校や中学に派遣された米国の元英語教師が東日本大震災の被災者支援に奔走している。ニューヨークでは５日夜、義援金集めのパーティーがあり、多くの参加者が「第二の故郷」に思いを寄せた。
ニューヨーク州ロングアイランド出身のアイェレット・フォーゲルさん（３１）は「３・１１」の当日、仙台市の自宅にいた。家具が崩れ落ち外に飛び出した。
日本政府が英語指導の助手として招くＪＥＴプログラムで２００３年８月から宮城県に滞在。３年の任期が終わっても宮城に残り、８年間で県内の七つの学校で教えた。現在は仙台育英学園の講師として働く。
最初の２年を過ごした南三陸町や気仙沼市では津波で家を流された友人も少なくない。釣りやサーフィンをし、親友と何度も通った美しい海岸は、がれきの山になった。宮城県石巻市では、ＪＥＴのテイラー・アンダーソンさん（２４）が犠牲になった。
仲間が大変なときに宮城を離れたくはなかったが、家族の懇願もあり先月１８日に帰国。「米国でも出来ることがあるはず」と、義援金集めに走り回る。４月２０日に学校が始まるのに合わせ、仙台に戻る予定だ。
１９８７年に始まったＪＥＴプログラムは、経験者が５万人を超える。
ニューヨークのパーティーには約３００人が駆けつけ、約９０万円が集まった。９０年代に愛知県刈谷市に滞在したスティーブン・ホロウィッツさんによる と、米国各地で同様の動きがある。「私たちはどこにいても心の中では日本人。日本で過ごした日々への恩返しをしたいのです」（ニューヨーク＝田中光）
<International responses to the Tohoku Earthquake>
Former English Teachers support their 2nd hometowns
April 12, 2011, 10:25
Former American English teachers who worked in Japanese junior high and high schools are organizing to support the victims of the recent eastern Japan earthquake. There was a fundraiser party in New York on the evening of April 5, where many participants came out in support of their “second hometowns.”
Ayelet Fogel (31 yrs/old), from New York’s Long Island, was at her home in Sendai City on the day of the “3/11” quake. She ran outside to safety as items in her home came crashing down.
Fogel has lived in Miyagi Prefecture since August 2003 when she was invited by the Japanese government to serve as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) on the JET Programme. After finishing her 3 year term, she remained in Miyagi and taught for 8 years at 7 schools in the prefecture. She is currently employed as an instructor at the Sendai Ikuei Gakuen.
In Minamisanriku Village and Kesennuma City, where Fogel spent her first 2 years in Japan, she has many friends whose houses were washed away by the tsunami. The beautiful coastline where she went fishing and surfing many times in the past with her friends has been turned into a mountain of rubble. JET participant Taylor Anderson, who was based in Miyagi Prefecture’s Ishinomaki City, died in the disaster.
Fogel did not want to leave her friends in Miyagi in a time of distress, but upon the request of her family, she returned to the US on March 18th. “I should be able to do something to help from the US as well,” she thought, and so began to collect donations for the disaster relief effort. She plans to return to Sendai in time for the beginning of the new school year on April 20th.
Founded in 1987, the JET Programme now has over 50,000 alumni.
The fundraiser party in New York attracted about 300 guests and raised over 10,000 dollars (~90,000 yen). According to Steven Horowitz, who lived in Aichi Prefecture’s Kariya City in the 1990s, similar fundraising events are taking place across the United States. “Wherever we are, we are all Japanese in our hearts. We want to do something to give back for the time we spent in Japan,” Horowitz said.
Tanaka Akira, New York
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