JET Prefecture Round-Up 08.15.11
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Emily Lemmon, (Hyogo-ken, Shiso-shi, 2009-present), PSG volunteer, organizer of Hyogo-ken’s PEPY Ride, student of Shorinji Kempo, and editor of the Hyogo Times, gives a little taste of what JETs are doing around Japan. To submit items for future JET Prefecture Round-up posts, e-mail Emily at jetinfogather [at] gmail.com.
Newly brought to my attention is the website ToBetterUs, put together by a former Miyazaki JET to assist with earthquake/tsunami relief. The website seeks to generate money through website ad revenue; instead of money, contributors are asked to donate their art. Here they are on facebook and twitter!
Events by Region
- Summer seminar for English teachers in Kamikita District was held July 29, at the Misawa International Center.
- Aomori’s Welcome Party will be September 10th.
Chubu Region
- The Nagano JET Welcome party will be held at Winds, Friday 12th August after the Nagano JET Orientation.
- Nagano JET groups will attend the Lake Suwa Fireworks display.
- There will be a Japanese cooking class for foreigners (chicken teriyaki and chocolate mousse) on September 4th in Okaya City.
- Toyama Beer Garden on August 13th.
- JETs will Hike Mount Fuji August 20th and 21st!
- Toyama JETs are attending lots of matsuri this month.
Kansai Region
- JETs host a cooking class and supermarket tour for their newcomers.
- Goon BBQ is Saturday, August 20 in the southern countryside of Nara, and features swimming in the Yoshino River, and grilling in the shade.
- Nara’s next Smile Kids Japan visit will be Saturday, August 27.
- Group C Welcome and Pre-orientation Beer Garden will be Sunday, August 28 at Niko Hotel Beer Garden.
- Nara JETs’ Group A Welcome Dinner was Saturday, July 30th.
- Marty Party 4 / Nash Bash 1 / Nara JET Welcome Party will be September 3rd – 4th in Tenkawa.
- Hyogo’s Welcome Party will be August 20th in Kobe.
- Ehime JETs will continue the tradition of the annual book exchange at this year’s orientation.
- There will be trivia night on Friday the 12th of August in Matsuyama.
- Enkai for the Ehime Orientation wll be at the Takashimaya Beer Garden on Thursday the 11th of August.
- This year’s Ainan Mud Soccer Tournament will be on Sunday, September 4th at Sasayama Elementary School in Ainan, Ehime.
- Some JET volunteers will assist with “Green Market,” a flea market / farmers’ market that aims to promote Kochi’s local producers and businesses on August 20th in Kagami Village.
- The Fukuoka Day Out will be October 15 and will include Fukuoka Softbank Hawks Baseball Game v. Seibu Lions, Asahi Beer Garden Dinner, and Night Out at Clubs along Tenjin’s Oyafuko-dori Strip! This event is for Fukuoka, Oita, Saga, and Nagasaki!
- The Oita JET Welcome Party is August 19th at the Forus Beer Garden in Oita City.
- On Saturday August 20th, the Oita International Plaza will be holding its monthly Japanese Conversation Circle.
- KumAJET will be hiking the lovely Mt. Aso on August 27th!
- Ichi Kyu Bee will be held in Kumamoto on October 1st as the first Co-ed ALT-hosted Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Kyushu!
- Welcome Dinner for New JETs will be August 19th at Cafe de Nature in Miyazaki.
- Some JETs will join NPO Miyazaki as they return to volunteer in Ishinomaki in August, September 5, and October 20.
- Miyazaki CIR Tiffany is on the planning committee this year’s Nobeoka, a famous outdoor Noh play, held in the spectacular setting of the city’s castle ruins on October 8th.
- KAJET Welcome Dinner will be Monday, August 22nd at the Porto Casa outdoor beer garden at Dolphin Port.
- Kagoshima’s JET Day Out was August 6th, and new JETs got a whole day of information and fun!
Jobs: Purpose Campaigns (NY)
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Via JETwit and JETAANY Webmaster Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06) who works for Purpose. Please make sure to mention “JETwit via Lee-Sean” if you apply for any of these positions.
Purpose is actively hunting for a senior Movement Strategy Director and a CTO among our top priority hires. We’re also on the lookout for great talent for a Finance Manager, Creative Director, Developers, and Project Mangers – full list.
For Movement strategy Director, we want someone who can architect major projects for clients, and create and run new partnerships and incubated ventures. As you know, our 3 core disciplines are marketing/communications, strategy consulting and political organizing — so the ideal candidate will be very strong in at least one of these areas (e.g. a super talented political organizer who has helped to start or build a movement organization). Full job description
For CTO, we’re looking for a world-class team leader to oversee all aspects of technology, from the overall vision, to the buy/build/integrate decision-making process, to development and deployment of the organization’s applications and web presence, and management and growth of the technology team. Demonstrated interest in technology for social change and mass digital participation is a must. Full job description
For the right person, these roles are an opportunity to shape and direct major areas of a rapidly growing (approaching 50 people) organization.
Job: Japanese Research Institute is looking for a Japanese/Spanish bilingual research assistant, ASAP!
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Via Pasona, N.A. Please make sure to indicate you learned about the job via JETwit if you apply. Yoroshiku!
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Japanese Research Institute is looking for a Japanese/Spanish bilingual research assistant, ASAP!
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Location: Downtown NY
Position: Research Assistant
Salary: Temp – $14.00/hour (*Possible to become a permanent position)
Working Hour: 9-5/M-F
Job Description:
– Research industries and companies in South/North America .
– Have an appointment for the interview with local organization.
* Industry Example- Automobile, Energy etc.
Requirement:
– Japanese proficiency/ Reading and Writing, Spanish or Portuguese proficiency/ Speaking and reading
– Entry level is welcome.
– Basic PC skills (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
If you are interested in this position, please contact at mtakemura@pasona.com.
All Hands volunteers and 3M workers take a break from tearing down drywall to enjoy a delicious bento lunch. All Hands executive director and founder David Campbell, center, T.R., second row, far right. (Eric Zdenek)
By T.R. Pearson (Shiga-ken, 2004-06) for JQ magazine. T.R. currently works in the Admission Office at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, New York. This was his third deployment with All Hands after volunteering in Indonesia in 2006 and Bangladesh in 2008. If you’d like more information on All Hands, he can be reached at theodoreroyce[at]gmail.com.
I’m sure most JETs remember the influx of e-mails after every typhoon or earthquake in Japan. It didn’t matter if you lived hundreds of miles away on a different island, family members and friends wanted to know you were safe. With the exception of a couple rumbles and some violent windstorms, my time as an ALT in Nagahama, Shiga-ken was relatively peaceful. While earthquakes in Japan are always a concern, the scale of devastation that occurred on March 11, 2011 was unimaginable and unpredictable. Watching coverage from my home in New York, I was now the worried person sending e-mails to friends and researching ways I could help. I found my answer on March 14 when I received a message from the international disaster relief organization All Hands entitled “Japan Tsunami Assessment.”
Three days after the quake, executive director David Campbell and international operations director Marc Young, were on the ground surveying the damage and meeting with local governments to discuss possible response projects. As Marc said in his e-mail, “the best way to really understand the situation is to be there on the ground, and make important decisions from that perspective.” After encountering some refusal for assistance in certain areas, the mayors of Ofunato and Rikuzentakata in Iwate-ken graciously opened their arms and their cities to All Hands to coordinate relief efforts, recruit volunteers, and distribute fresh food through a partnership with Second Harvest Japan. A month after All Hands launched Project Tohoku, they received over 4,000 applications from eager volunteers. Initially, the organization requested people with Japanese language skills and cultural knowledge to expedite the work that needed to be done. This made JET alums and current expats living in Japan perfect candidates to get involved.
Much like the JET Program, All Hands attracts people from all over the world at different stages in their lives. To date, All Hands has brought in over 539 volunteers from 28 countries. When I was there in June, I worked alongside college students on summer break, backpackers who rearranged their travel schedules, mid-career professionals who quit unfulfilling jobs, nurses with extensive international experience, and of course, JET alumni. Certain aspects of the JET Program mirrored this experience as we navigated an unfamiliar landscape, discussed Japanese culture, talked about our hometowns, sang our hearts out in karaoke booths, shopped at the grocery store, and lived in a community as if it were our own.
New LinkedIn group: JET Alum Okane
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All JET alumni and Friends of JET are welcome and encouraged to join a new LinkedIn group:
JET Alum Okane
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=4045224&trk=anet_ug_hm
For JET alumni who have an interest in, work in or aspire to work in fields related to money – i.e., finance, fundraising, investment, accounting, tax, economics, insurance, etc.
Click here for a list of all of the other JET Alum LinkedIn groups you can join.
JETAA USA e-mail subscription now available
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FYI, you can now get JETAA USA website updates via e-mail just like many of you already do for JETwit. (I just worked with Country Rep Jessyca Wilcox to get it set up on the JETAA USA site.)
Just go to www.jetaausa.com and enter your email into the subscription field in the right sidebar.
(If you’re not already getting JETwit posts sent to your inbox, just go to the subscription field in the right sidebar on JETwit.)
Update 08/14/11: See below for responses so far from various chapters.
This survey is intended to help figure out how much collaboration exists between JETAA chapters and the Japan-America Societies in their area.
It comes on the heels of having a chance to talk with and listen to Peter Kelley, President of the National Association of Japan America Societies (NAJAS), and JET alum Marc Hitzig, Deputy Director of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., who both spoke at the JETAA National Conference in Washington, D.C. a couple weeks ago, as well as a recent conversation with Japan Society of Boston‘s President, Peter Grilli, and Program Marketing Manager (and JET alum) Bhaird Campbell.
*Please e-mail responses to Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, Kariya-shi, 1992-94) at jetwit [at] jetwit.com or post in the comments section below.
From talking to JETAA officers at various conferences and in other contexts, it seems that each JETAA chapter has it’s own unique relationship with its local Japan-America Society (JAS). And of course every JAS has its own unique characteristics.
As a result, I’d like to ask JETAA chapters cooperation with:
- Gathering responses from JETAA chapters that comment on or share some of the collaborations with JAS that have been successful or beneficial in various ways; and
- Getting a sense of what the relationship history has been, whether any JET alums work for the JAS and any additional thoughts you might have on the topic.
For example:
- With respect to JETwit, I started just subscribing to all of the JAS e-mail lists which led to an ongoing and periodic Japan-America Society Round-up post, now written by Gail Meadows (Hiroshima-shi 2007-10).
- In Washington, D.C., the Japan America Society, among other things, runs the annual Cherry Blossom Festival which attracts thousands of people and involves many JET alum volunteers who play a very significant role in running the event. It also happens to have a JET alum, Marc Hitzig, working there, and another JET alum, Laurel Lukaszewski, who previously served as the organization’s Executive Director.
- In Minnesota, apparently there’s usually a JETAA Minnesota officer who is active on the Board of the Japan America Society in Minneapolis.
There are clearly many more great examples of collaboration and a lot more info to gather. By gathering the information here, I hope to get a bigger picture sense of the JETAA chapter relationship with JAS and figure out if there are ways to foster greater collaboration and sharing of info and ideas in the future.
As responses are received, I’ll add the text to this post so that it becomes a record and a resource available to JETAA chapters and to JAS.
Why? This ties in with the “Return on JET-vestment” concept as well as with big picture strategic thinking about the future of JETAA and JET. It’s a first step that will hopefully shed light on the topic and open up new ideas and opportunities.
*Please e-mail responses to Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, Kariya-shi, 1992-94) at jetwit [at] jetwit.com or post in the comments section below.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
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Updated 08/20/2011
Apropos of nothing, here’s a great piece by Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) about a recent film event at Japan Society in New York featuring an appearance by Sora Aoi.
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9. JETAA Heartland & The Heart of America Japan-America Society
Via JETAA Heartland President Warren McAllen:
I’m not sure how far back JET Alum involvement with JAS goes, but I do know that we have had members in common with The Heart of America Japan-America Society almost as long as there has been a chapter in KC and several of our members have held positions on the JAS Board over the years.
We have a joint event this weekend, HJETAA and HoA JAS co-sponsor the Japan Pavilion at the Greater Kansas City Ethnic Enrichment Festival (http://www.eeckc.org/). We promote JET and recruit new members (and find some who have slipped through the cracks over the years) and help JAS with their fundraising efforts. We may, eventually, do our own fundraising at this event attended by 10′s of thousands of people.
We also sponsor networking events with JAS and other Japan-related org’s two or three times a year. Last year we organized a food tasting for the UMKC Jazz Band and JAS members who were selected to perform at the National Culture Festival in Kurashiki, Okayama, Kansas City’s Sister City.
Of course, we have a booth at the GKC Japan Festival and our members are involved in many phases of the organization and execution of the festival (I was almost it’s Executive Director, at one point). This year we have volunteered to do a presentation on JET and the Alumni Association on one of the event stages as well.
This year we worked with JAS to inaugurate the GKC Japanese Film Festival and look forward to continued cooperation on future film festivals. We also worked together on disaster relief fundraising
Naturally, we promote each other’s events and I recommend the JAS to all JET recruits and returning members. We’ve talked about reciprocal membership but we’re still negotiating.
On an individual basis, many of our members are also in JAS and are involved in varying ways from simple membership and volunteering to serving on the board, as I mentioned earlier, organizing events and making presentations.
Job: ESL teacher at Bronx Charter School
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Via idealist.org. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London and is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Positions:
English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher – Job
Posted by: The Bronx Charter School For Children Location: Bronx, New York, United States
http://www.idealist.org/view/job/PwP3F4kgSz5P/
Job: Library of Congress – Section Research Manager – Asia Congressional Research Service
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Via a JET alum. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London and is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Library of Congress – Section Research Manager – Asia Congressional Research Service
Job Details:
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) seeks a Section Research Manager for the Asia Section in the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division. CRS provides confidential, nonpartisan, and authoritative legislative research, policy analysis, and information service to the U.S. Congress. Working directly with Members of Congress and congressional committees on public policy issues, CRS staff contribute to an informed national legislature as it considers policy issues of importance to the American people.
The Section Research Manager leads the Asia Section in the development of policy research and analysis relevant to congressional needs. Issues covered by the section include political, security, economic, and social issues in the sub-regions and countries of Asia and the Pacific.
For more details, click on this link
Job: Research Assistant position at Penn Institute for Urban Research (Philadelphia)
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Via JET alum Chau Lam, who works at UPenn. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London and is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Research Assistant position at Penn Institute for Urban Research (Philadelphia)
Job Details:
As part of a recent grant with Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER), Penn IUR is looking for a Research Assistant to help in carrying out its deliverables in the creation of a Knowledge-Sharing Platform (KSP) in the Energy Smart Communities Initiative (ESCI). This KSP, developed in collaboration with a host of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, will be a repository of information and case studies related to energy efficiency and sustainability. The Research Assistant will build and organize content for the KSP using original research and materials gathered from international ESCI partners in preparation for an energy conference to be held in Taiwan in October 2011. This position reports to Penn IUR’s Project Manager for Energy Initiatives as well as the Associate Director and Co-Directors.
Read More
Job: Nikkei Concerns – Job Opportunities (Seattle)
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Via PNWJETAA. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London and is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Nikkei Concerns – Job Opportunities (Seattle)
Job Details:
DRIVER
Nikkei Concerns, a non-profit elder-care organization primarily serving the Japanese-American and Asian-American Communities in the Greater Seattle area, is seeking qualified applicants for their Driver vacancy. The position will transport residents and participants in Nikkei Concerns’ programs, including residents of Seattle Keiro skilled nursing facility, Nikkei Manor assisted living, Kokoro Kai adult day services, and Nikkei Horizons extended learning programs. The ideal candidate will possess the ability to relate to residents and staff of diverse backgrounds and a passion for enhancing the lives of our residents and elderly community. Interested qualified individuals should email their resume and a cover letter to jlardizabal@nikkeiconcerns.org (Jeannette Lardizabal, Human Resources Specialist, 206-726-6525). Complete job descriptions are available upon request. Please visit the Nikkei Concerns website at www.nikkeiconcerns.org for more information about our organization. Position advertisement is open until filled. First considerations will be given to resumes and cover letters received by 5:00 p.m. Friday, August 19, 2011.
TRANSPORTATION MANAGER
Nikkei Concerns, a non-profit elder-care organization serving primarily the Japanese-American and Asian-American communities in the Greater Seattle area, is seeking qualified applicants for their Transportation Services Manager vacancy. The position will plan, organize, develop and direct the Transportation department of Nikkei Concerns in accordance with current local, state, and federal laws and regulations. The ideal candidate will have a proven ability to lead and manage, possess a CDL and can relate to residents and staff of diverse backgrounds with a passion for enhancing the lives of our residents and elderly community. Interested qualified individuals should email their resume and a cover letter to jlardizabal@nikkeiconcerns.org (Jeannette Lardizabal, Human Resources Specialist, 206-726-6525). Complete job descriptions are available upon request. Please visit the Nikkei Concerns website at www.nikkeiconcerns.org for more information. Position advertisement is open until filled. First considerations will be given to resumes and cover letters received by 5:00 p.m. Friday, August 19, 2011.
Job: JET Desk Office Assistant, Embassy of Japan (London)
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Via JETAAUK. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London and is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: JET Desk Office Assistant, Embassy of Japan (London)
Job Details:
This is a full-time post, on a temporary basis. This post requires a former ALT participant on the JET Programme who has excellent communication skills, a good command of English, and is a good user of windows office software (i.e. Power Point, Excel, Word etc). The job involves arranging university visits, attending university promotional talks and office administration including answering endless enquiry e-mails/phone calls, under the supervision of the Programme Coordinator.
The contract starts early September and ends on the last working day of the Embassy in December 2011. After successfully completing the first contract, it will then be renewed until the end of March 2012
How to Apply:
Please send your CV with a covering letter info@jet-uk.org
Job: Grants Officer (NYC)
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Via Philanthropy News Digest. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London and is currently looking for new work opportunities related to Japan, translation, or other fields.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Grants officer, IIE (NYC)
Job Details:
Coordinates the financial and communications management of the various grant programs that enable individuals from all over the world to travel internationally to conferences, seminars and short courses, and ensures that all administrative details for participants are handled. Work is carried out independently under general supervision.
See link below for more details:
http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/jobs/job_item.jhtml?id=348500015
Tsunami: JET alum Harvard professor Ian Miller’s NY Times article
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Harvard history professor Ian Miller (Miyagi-ken, Miyako-shi)
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Thanks to a recent conversation with Peter Kelley, President of the National Association of Japan-America Societies, I just learned of this New York Times article by Harvard history professor and JET alum Ian Miller (Miyagi-ken, Miyako-shi) which ran March 19, 2011.
Bitter Legacy, Injured Coast
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/opinion/20miller.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1
By IAN JARED MILLER
Cambridge, Mass.
THE rugged Sanriku Coast of northeastern Japan is among the most beautiful places in the country. The white stone islands outside the port town of Miyako are magnificent. The Buddhist monk Reikyo could think of nothing but paradise when he first saw them in the 17th century. “It is the shore of the pure land,” he is said to have uttered in wonder, citing the common name for nirvana.
Reikyo’s name for the place stuck. Jodogahama, or Pure Land Beach, is the main gateway to the Rikuchu Kaigan National Park, a crenellated seashore of spectacular rock pillars, sheer cliffs, deep inlets and narrow river valleys that covers 100 miles of rural coastline. It is a region much like Down East Maine, full of small, tight-knit communities of hardworking people who earn their livelihoods from tourism and fishing. Sushi chefs around the country prize Sanriku abalone, cuttlefish and sea urchin.
Today that coast is at the center of one of the worst disasters in Japanese history. Despite the investment of billions of yen in disaster mitigation technology and the institution of robust building codes, entire villages have been swept out to sea. In some places little remains but piles of anonymous debris and concrete foundations.
I taught school in Miyako for more than two years in the 1990s, and it was while hiking in the mountains above one of those picturesque fishing villages that I came across my first material reminder of the intricate relationship between the area’s breathtaking geography, its people — generous and direct — and powerful seismic forces.
On a hot summer day a group of middle-school boys set out to introduce me to their town, a hamlet just north of Pure Land Beach. While I started up the steep mountainside the children bounced ahead of me, teasing me that I moved slowly for someone so tall. “Are you as tall as Michael Jordan, Miller-sensei?” yelled one boy as he shot past me up the trail.
“Not quite,” I told him, pausing on a spot of level ground to look out over the neat collection of tile roofs and gardens that filled the back of a narrow, high-walled bay.
“What is this?” I asked, pointing to a mossy stone marker that occupied the rest of the brief plateau. A chorus of young voices told me that it was the high-water mark for the area’s biggest tsunami: more than 50 feet above the valley floor.
“When was that?” I asked, but the boys couldn’t say. Read More
JET Publications Round-Up
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The summer issues are out! Check out the latest from JET publications around the country!
- Nagasaki‘s Nagazasshi
- Summer Issue available now!
- Nagano‘s Yomoyama
- Summer Issue (Natsukashii) is out now!
