A (Culturally) Stimulating Interview with the Insatiable Asa Akira
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“I think I have a lot of Japanese culture ingrained in me. Just from being from a Japanese family, living in Japan. The whole ‘respect your elders,’ that, to me, is the main thing that’s different between America and Japan.”
Porn porn
By Michael Karns (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for JQ magazine. Michael is an avid photographer.
The winner of five AVN Awards (like the Oscars, but without Cuba Gooding, Jr.), Asa Akira returned to the East Coast last weekend for a rare promotional trip. In the spirit of intensifying relations between our nation and Japan, we spoke with the scintillating 25-year-old superstar/native New Yorker about her Japanese roots, her favorite anime films, and the deeper cultural points that America and Japan can swap with each other.
Regarding your Japanese heritage, where is your family originally from?
My mother’s side of the family is from Osaka and my father’s side is from Tokyo, but they live in Yokohama.
You went to an American school growing up.
I did, a very prestigious American private school. It was nice.
When Japanese students relocate to America, it can be difficult adjusting. How was it for you relearning the way of life here?
I was born in New York City and I moved to Japan when I was six, so I already had a little America experience, but it was definitely a huge culture shock. Kids in Japan are really good, even American ones. So coming to New York was like, “Oh my God, these kids are 12 years old and they’re doing drugs!” It was definitely a huge culture shock, and I totally bought into it for a little bit (laughs).
You’ve got an incredible personality…
Thank you.
What do you attribute this to?
I grew up around boys; I think that has a lot to do with my sense of humor. Me and this other girl were always the only two girls in this group of boys, so I think we grew up with a really good sense of humor, you know?
So are you kind of like an otemba (tomboy)?
Yeah (laughs).
That’s my type, by the way.
Oh, good (laughs).
Regarding Japanese culture, what things do you like the most about it? Are there any films or other things that you point to as an inspiration?
I think I have a lot of Japanese culture ingrained in me. Just from being from a Japanese family, living in Japan. The whole “respect your elders,” that, to me, is the main thing that’s different between America and Japan. People in America treat old people like [expletive].
I love my grandmother, but I know what you’re talking about.
(Laughs) And they just don’t listen to older people. I think that’s weird. So that would be the main thing.
I’ll Make It Myself! — Travel Checklist: Local Foods in Hida-Takayama, Part 2
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and translator for The Art of Japan: Kanazawa and Discover Kanazawa, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan.
Travel Checklist: Local Foods in Hida-Takayama, Part 2
To recap– In September, a friend and I traveled to Takayama, about 3 hours from Kanazawa. Located in Gifu near the border of Nagano, the old towns of Hida (飛騨) and Takayama (高山) are a food tourist’s paradise. Since the town is quite small, most of these foods can be found in stands or restaurants near Takayama Station and nearby morning markets.
CLICK HERE to read the full post.
Kirsten Phillips strikes a Yosakoi pose.
By Sierra Soleil (Fukushima-ken, 2000-02) for JQ magazine. Sierra works at an ESL school in Manhattan. He enjoys teaching, writing, and riding his bike.
The first weekend of November marked the ninth annual Japan Arts Matsuri (JAM) in New York, this year at the Theater for the New City in the East Village. With about 30 volunteers and a handful of business sponsors, JAM put on an excellent show for roughly a thousand people over the three exciting days.
The entryway and lobby of the theater was crammed with tables selling everything from okashi and yakisoba to clothes and handicrafts, though most people in the know went directly for the Sendai miso cream puffs, and for good reason. There were even two carnival games: a simple one involving throwing a plastic katana at prizes, and an incomprehensible one where people poked little cookies with needles for some reason. Nearly every table was also raising money for earthquake/tsunami relief.
Every day of the three-day matsuri had music and dance performances, but Saturday was Talent Night, where performers could compete for a special invitation to perform at next year’s JAM. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Talent Night, which was good, because it was as wildly erratic as any cross-section of modern Japanese music and dance should be. The first act I caught was Robin’s Egg Blue, a cheerful acoustic pop group. They were followed by a band called Firesign, which was meant to be metal, though any spell they cast dissipated immediately when, as they left the stage, one of the emcees decided to reassure us that they were all very polite in person. After that there were modern and traditional dances, a gospel singer, a karaoke cover of Cee Lo Green’s smash hit (the “Forget You” version, of course), and a fascinating collaboration between a belly dancer and a beatboxer.
The show was billed as being like Amateur Night at the Apollo, and there was some resemblance. The acts were short, and before each intermission the audience chose their favorite via applause. Looking at the lineup, it occurred to me that JAM’s offering was a lot more diverse than anything I’ve seen at Amateur Night. One of the matsuri’s goals is to share Japanese culture with Americans, and the lesson to take from Talent Night is that culturally, the Japanese really are into everything. It also occurred to me that the power to vote by cheering for a performer we liked meant a lot less without the power to impeach them by booing.
I came to Talent Night specifically to meet with JET alumna Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08), a member of the Yosakoi Dance Project 10tecomai. The first impression she makes is everything a JET is supposed to be: energetic, cheerful, with a kind of wide-eyed enunciation that makes everything sound exciting. She went directly from teaching in Japan to teaching special education in New York, and it immediately seems like she would be good at it.
JQ Magazine: Film Review – Sion Sono’s ‘Cold Fish’ an Antisocially Acquired Taste
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“In the end, Sono really does ask us about our humanity, and what life is about. Sure, he takes the bloody, abusive, rape-filled path, but he does touch on some solid stuff. It’s a lot of big questions wrapped in a gory, misogynistic, boob-exposing gift box.” (Courtesy Salient Media)
By Rick Ambrosio (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) for JQ magazine. Rick manages the JET Alumni Association of New York (JETAANY)’s Twitter page and is the creator of the JETwit column Tadaima!
I was hungry, real hungry after work and was about 20 minutes early to the New York Museum of Art and Design near Columbus Circle to see the movie Cold Fish 「冷たい熱帯魚」, so I walked a block to Good Burger and grabbed an overpriced hamburger. As I arrived back to the museum, I sat next to Shree (name changed to protect the innocent) who was midway through a burrito. With minutes left before the movie started, we headed into the museum and down some wooden steps to the theater. Walking in I was pretty surprised; we were only accompanied by seven or eight other patrons. Little did I know that it was a blessing in disguise…fewer people to feel awkward around after the movie.
Oh yes, the movie. How do I write about Cold Fish? It’s a little difficult. I suppose I can do it like this:
Cold Fish is a film directed by the controversial Sion Sono (whose month-long, eight-film retrospective wraps this week at MAD) and stars Denden and Mitsuru Fukikoshi. The film is based on real murders that took place in Fukushima. The story begins well enough: A timid man named Nobuyuki (Mitsuru Fukikoshi) with a rebellious daughter (Hiraki Kajiwara) and a hot trophy wife (gravure idol Megumi Kagurazaka) is feeling disconnected and regretful. They own a tropical fish shop. Through an awkward circumstance they meet Mr. Murata (Denden) and his attractive wife (Asuka Kurosawa), both of whom also own a tropical fish shop.
From there, shit just gets weird. That’s the only way I can explain it, folks. And it wasn’t just because the film cut out four times while we watched it. (Apparently, there were Blu-ray issues…through most of the movie. The museum might want to buy a new player before they hold another festival.) Anyway, Mr. Murata decides to bring Nobuyuki on as a partner, but not before hiring his daughter at his shop and sleeping with his wife (who apparently enjoys rough treatment, to put it mildly).
As Nobuyuki is introduced as the new partner, the old partner finds himself exiting the business via a poisonous death. This is where things kick into the next gear, and Murata forces Nobuyuki to assist with the disposal of the body. The whole body disposal process is presented with great detail. I’m serious about this part—after watching this movie, I am fairly confident that anyone could make a dead body disappear.
The plot then dives deeper and deeper into the dark comedy that is Murata’s utter disregard for human life and the director’s utter disregard for your stomach. By the way, did I mention that this film is very graphically violent? If you aren’t into that kind of thing, find another show; this movie revels in its ability to test what you can deal with gore-wise. If you enjoy severed heads and genitalia being tossed around a bathroom, you’ve found your dream movie.
Job: Weekend position at a freight forwarder (Long Island)
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Via Quick USA. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London but is interested in hearing about any Japan-related opportunities across the globe.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Weekend position at a freight forwarder (Long Island)
Job Details:
Job Type: Long-term part time position (2days/week)
Company: An international freight forwarder
Job Title: Import Coordinator
Salary: Min. $14/hr
Shift: Saturday and Sunday. 8 hours per day.
Requirements:
– Must have customer service etiquette
– Must be able to work on both Saturday and Sunday (8 hours per day).
– Prior experience is not required. The training is provided.
– Need to be proficient with PC and MS Word & Excel
– Must be able to commute by a car
Location: Long Island ? Near JFK
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If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your resume to hoshino@919usa.com
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Shion Hoshino
Recruiting Consultant
Quick USA, Inc.
Job: Product Manager at Yelp – Japanese Products (San Francisco)
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Via JETAA US country rep Mike Shu who works for Yelp. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London but is interested in hearing about any Japan-related opportunities across the globe.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Product Manager – Japanese Products (San Francisco, CA)
Job Details:
At Yelp, we pride ourselves in being a hyper local product. Yelp is already available in nine countries and we’re starting to work on bringing Yelp to Japan. This role will involve customizing the Yelp product to make sure it feels truly local to our users in Japan.
We need a Product Manager who can design beautiful-but-simple features, crank out mockups and is passionate about how culturally unique different countries are. You should be fluent in Japanese and a definite plus is if you currently live in or have spent a large amount of time (at least 10 years) living in Japan.
You will:
Requirements (and we mean it!):
+ Techie Cred: CS or similar degree so you can talk to our enginerds about Python, map reduce jobs, and naive Bayesian algorithms without a translator.
+ i18n Experience: Knowledge of and experience dealing with the challenges that launching a product in multiple languages creates. You will work with our engineering team on optimizing our translation and localization workflows.
+ Passion about the Space: You love the world of social networking, local search and consumer websites.
+ Non-Nerd Empathy: You’re interested in FriendFeed, Twitter, etc. as much as the next nerd, but you also recognize that you’re designing for a non-techie audience.
+ A Conditional Love for Yelp: Like a BFF or a tee ball coach, you should love us but also be able to tell us what we’re doing wrong. You’ll need to be able to dish out the criticism here and take it, too.
+ A Need for Speed: Daily release cycle? Bring it!
Job: Openings at the Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta
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Via JET Program Atlanta. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London but is interested in hearing about any Japan-related opportunities across the globe.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
The Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta currently has the following three openings:
Security Assistant/Japanese Citizen Support Service Assistant
The Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta is seeking security assistant/Japanese citizen support services assistant.
Applicants must either be an American citizen or permanent resident, proficient in both Japanese and English, and possess computer skills, especially Microsoft Word and Excel.
Interested parties should send an email and resume to yoshimura@cgjapanatlanta.org.
Employment Opportunity – Consular Section
The Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta is seeking a full-time Staff for the position of Assistant for Consular Section. The candidate must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. Green Card holder and need to be fluent in Japanese and English. Computer skills (Microsoft Word and Excel etc. preferred） are also required. To apply for this position, please send us your resume to koike@cgjapanatlanta.org.
Employment Opportunity – Driver
The Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta is seeking a driver to operate the Consulate’s passenger van.
Candidate must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. green card holder, must be fluent in English, possess computer skills (Microsoft Word and Excel etc.), and be able to use a GPS navigation device. A safe driving record is required.
To apply for this position, please send a resume to isoda@cgjapanatlanta.org.
Job: Instructor for Japanese Course (Miami)
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Via JET alum Abby Mcbain of the Miami consulate. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika has recently moved back to London but is interested in hearing about any Japan-related opportunities across the globe.
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***Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JETwit. Thanks.***
Job Position: Instructor for Japanese Course
Job Details:
Walter Kozloski at Miami Dade College, North Campus are looking for an instructor for beginner’s Japanese.
The course will begin in the Spring Semester, which starts in January 2012. Most likely, the
course will be scheduled for 9:00-9:50 am on Mon, Wed, Fri. or 8:25-9:40 on Tue, Thurs.
In order to instruct in the credit programs at Miami Dade College, a Masters degree in Japanese or a Masters degree in a related field with 18 graduate credits of Japanese language is required.
How to apply:
If interested, contact Mr. Kozloski at wkozlosk@mdc.edu with an attached resume as soon as possible.
