JET help needed to secure music grants for Iwate, Fukushima & Miyagi
Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising 
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Via the JETAA USA website:
JET help needed to secure music grants for Iwate, Fukushima & Miyagi
Margarita Rozenbaoum of Relief International (an international humanitarian nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles) is reaching out the JET alum and JET community to secure music grants for schools in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi-ken. This project, called Jam for Japan aims to give scholarships/ grants of $5000 USD to several Japanese schools in the affected prefectures.
Relief International has to date received a very low number of grant applications for this project and the deadline is fast approaching. They are looking to JET alums and current JETs to help identify the schools in need and facilitate connections between then two. The scholarships/ grants are focused on elementary school, junior high and high school levels as well as individual musicians in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi. The damage from the earthquake and tsunami does not need to be severe for a school to qualify for the grant.
Interested schools/ individuals must submit the grant application by February 29, 2012. It is available in both English and Japanese:
Hope for Tomorrow launches English language website
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Hope for Tomorrow, a JETAA USA Fund grant recipient, just launched the English language version of its website: http://hope-tomorrow.jp/index-e.html
Hope for Tomorrow has provided subsidies to cover travel and other exam-related costs for a 70 students from Takata High School in Rikuzentakata and is funding 244 students from 5 schools for this year’s exams.
Click here for more JETwit posts about Hope for Tomorrow.
JETAA Chapter Beat 2.6.12
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Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) takes us on a walk around the JET Alumni community for another edition of JETAA Chapter Beat.
- Oshaberi Cafe – Sunday, February 12th, 2:00 at Once Upon a Milkshake. Oshaberi Cafe is an effort to foster interaction between JETAA members and the Japanese community in Singapore. Bring your Japanese speaking friends, and share in the conversation and games
- Norwegian Wood Movie Night – Tuesday, February 7th, 6:45 at Kabuki Theater in Japantown. Based on Haruki Marukami’s novel, Norwegian Wood will be showing at Kabuki from now until the 9th. JETAANC is getting a group together to see it this Tuesday, so don’t miss your chance.
- Kabuki on Film: The 47 Ronin Project – This is a year long exploration of the original Kabuki version of the popular tale. Beginning last Sunday, the JETAANC and San Mateo Kabuki clubs are teaming up to bring you two different celebrated productions of the complete epic on film. Screenings begin at 1:30 at the San Mateo Japanese American Community Center.
- Joshikai Pre-Valentine’s Day Networking Event – Thursday, February 9th, 6:00 at Muka. Joshikai is a networking group for Japanese women and women with connections to Japan. Migle, chat, and share stories with other women in English and Japanese over snacks and wine.
- JBook Meeting – Monday, February 27th, 6:30 at the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC. This month’s selection will be Roshomon and the Seventeen Other, but Ryunosuke Akutagawa. As this is a collection of short stories, this is a perfect chance to see what JBook is all about without having to read everything.
- Kaiwa – Thursday, February 9th and 23rd, 5:30 at 43 Below. Join in and practice your Japanese skills with friends and alumni.
- Cooking Class with Nashville Top Chef Toshihiro Nishimoto – Saturday, February 11th, 5:00. Learn how to make Japanese cuisine from a true master at this fun and educational event.
- Tabemashou – Thursday, February 9th, 7:00 at Wafu. Tabemashou is a group that gathers to explore, critique, and enjoy Japanese dining in Portland. Check it out if you are looking for the next best place to sate your appetite.
What happened at your chapter’s event? If you attend(ed) any of these exciting events, JetWit would love to hear about them. Just contact Jonathan Trace with any info, stories or comments.
JETwit site re-design: How can you help?
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We’re thinking through a re-design of the JETwit site, and we want your help.
How could the site be better organized? What would make it easier or more useful for you? What would be the ideal layout or set-up?
The goal is to update JETwit so that it is as helpful to the JET and JET alumni community as possible (within reason. :-)
Any and all feedback is welcome. E-mail Steven at jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
I’ll Make It Myself!: “Flexitarian: Spicy Fava Beans and Pork Stir-fry”
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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 web administrator for The Art of Japan: Kanazawa and Discover Kanazawa, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan.
Ishikawa is a good source of locally-raised pork, which I discovered when I set out to make today’s recipe. Fava beans, sora mame（空豆), are all over Kanazawa right now (though my vegetable almanac says they are a late spring bean), and they really compliment the sweet onions and spicy pork in this stir-fry.
CLICK HERE to read the full post.
JETAA USA Fund Update 02.04.12
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Thanks to Jim Gannon for passing on the following update about the JETAA USA Fund:
The JETAA USA donation of $26,700 to Hope for Tomorrow has apparently been extremely effective, allowing Hope for Tomorrow to provide subsidies to cover travel and other exam-related costs for a full 70 students from Takata High School in Rikuzentakata. Altogether, Hope for Tomorrow is funding 244 students from 5 schools for this year’s exams .
Separate from the JETAA funds, they have selected 2 students from Takata High School (and 2 from elsewhere) to take part in a March homestay at the Harvey School in Westchester NY, courtesy of a donation from the Harvey School. In preparation for this, they have arranged online English tutoring for the students and also provided computers to the schools for this purpose.
Click here for more JETwit information and background about Hope for Tomorrow.
Click here for a summary of the JETAA USA Fund disbursements and recipients.
JET alum Rob Cornilles loses election for Congressional seat in Oregon
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We came close, but JET alum Rob Cornilles has lost the special election in Oregon’s 1st district to Suzanne Bonamici. The election was necessary after previous Congressman Democrate David Wu had to resign last year due to allegations of sexual impropriety. Cornilles also made a good showing but lost to Wu in the last election.
Ganbatte Rob!
Justin’s Japan: ‘Tokio Confidential,’ ‘Our Planet’ Premiere Next Week
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Mel Maghuyop and Manna Nichols in rehearsals for ‘Tokio Confidential,’ playing Feb. 5-19 at the Atlantic Theater Stage 2. (Philip Smith)
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his Japanese culture page here for related stories.
Words, music and the history of the world collide next week with the new theatrical presentation of Tokio Confidential at Atlantic Theater Stage 2 from Feb. 5-19 and Our Planet at Japan Society for one night only on Feb. 6.
A new musical penned entirely by Eric Schorr and helmed by Joanna McKeon (the associate director of the Broadway and national tour editions of Green Day’s American Idiot), Tokio Confidential (a Richard Rogers Award finalist) is set in 1879 the hidden pleasure quarters of Meiji era Japan.
Isabella Archer, a young American war widow, crosses an ocean in search of a lost love—and is about to cross a line from which she can never return. When Isabella falls in love with a renowned Japanese tattoo artist, she enters a world of extreme beauty, becoming an object of unexpected desire—in a realm of unspeakable danger. It’s a journey across the boundaries between pleasure and pain, art and artifice, the secrets of the flesh and the sins of the heart.
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How to Pass Your Love of Japan onto Your Kids
By Jessica Kennett Cork (CIR, 1997-2000, Hiroshima-ken)
(Note: Click here to join the JET Alumni Parents Facebook group.)
My kids (7, 5, 2 and 4 months) are the only blond-haired kids in their school. My two oldest know the names of all the Pokémon characters in both English and Japanese. My toddler can sing the Totoro and Anpanman theme songs in Japanese.
No, we don’t live in Japan. We live in a suburb of Atlanta. But I knew that even though we live in the United States, I wanted to share my love of Japan with my kids. I don’t want to “force” Japan on them, and it is fine with me if their future careers have nothing to do with Japan. But at the same time, I want for them to appreciate our family’s adopted culture, and to understand that since I met their dad in a Japanese class in college, they wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Japan.
And so I decided to enroll them in Japanese/English bilingual immersion school. We’re lucky to have several here in Atlanta: two daycare centers and one elementary school. Almost all the other kids in the school are full Japanese or half Japanese, so it is not always easy on my blondies. The elementary school is Japanese Ministry of Education approved, which means homework every day, even during summer vacation, and lots of parental involvement expected from the PTA. Not to mention the pressure to come up with a decent o-bento for lunch. My seven year old often wonder why his o-bento doesn’t have cute rabbits made out of apples and carrot flowers. But at the same time, he got to pound rice for New Year’s, grow tomatoes and morning glories as part of his life skills class, has mandatory music and art class, and can use chopsticks better than I can.
But what I love most about the school Read More
JNTO contest offers free trips to Japan
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Via the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) website:
“Spring 2012 will be a special season as it marks the centennial anniversary of Japan’s Gift of Trees to the U.S. To celebrate this anniversary, we’re giving you and a guest the chance to explore Japan inside and out. Read through all 6 itineraries, pick your favorite, and enterfor your chance to win your dream vacation!”
JET alum anti-robocall activist calls out Newt in Florida
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JET alum Shaun Dakin, anti-robocall activist
JET alum Shaun Dakin (Shimane-ken, 1989-91), founder of StopPoliticalCalls.org which seeks to stop the use of robocalls in political campaigns, was quoted recently in several articles about the Republican primary battle, including one today on Huffington Post (“Newt Gingrich Robocall: Mitt Romney Forced Holocaust Survivors To Eat Non-Kosher Food“).
The Republican primary and upcoming national election will likely be busy times for Shaun. But whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or some other category, Shaun seems to have found an issue that most everyone who owns a phone can likely support. And, hey, maybe after the 2012 elections Shaun can head back to Japan and team up with Inuyama City Council Member Anthony Bianchi (Aichi-ken, Inuyama-shi, 1988-89) to fight back against the political campaign trucks with the obnoxious loudspeakers.
Ganbatte Shaun-san!
*Read the Fall 2008 JETAANY Newsletter interview with Shaun by Stacy Smith(CIR Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).
Call for Artists!! Announcing the “Japan Day – Cherry Blossom Art Contest”
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Via the Consulate General of Japan in New York:
http://www.japandaynyc.org/news
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of gift of cherry trees given to the U.S. by Japan, Japan Day 2012 invites visual artists to submit their artwork to the “Japan Day – Cherry Blossom Art Contest”. The chosen artwork will become the official image of Japan Day @ Central Park 2012, and will be used for the Official Poster, Program and Flyer. The winner’s award, and up to four honorable mentions, will be presented the day of the event. Please see below for details.
DEADLINE
Friday, February 24th, 2012
CONTEST RULES Read More
Job: Administrative Assistant / Sales Coordinator (Fort Lee, NJ)
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Via Pasona. 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: Administrative Assistant / Sales Coordinator (Fort Lee, NJ)
Job Details:
Japanese Trading company is looking for Administrative Assistant / Sales Coordinator.
Read More
Job: Business Development/Sales at Japanese NPO (NY)
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Via Actus. 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: Business Development/Sales at Japanese NPO (NY)
Job Details:
Responsibilities:
Main purpose of this position is to find and assist small-mid size US companies to start business in/with Japan. You will attend conferences and trade shows to find new clients. Identify sales prospects and contact these and other accounts as assigned. Will be in charge of retail services and health care field.
Read More
Job: Resident Care Manager (RCM), Nikkei Concerns (Seattle)
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Via PNWJETAA. 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: Resident Care Manager (RCM), Nikkei Concerns (Seattle)
Job Details:
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 Resident Care Manager vacancy.
The position will plan, direct and implement the clinical care program to support each resident in attaining his/her maximum level of physical and psychological well being. The ideal candidate will have a proven ability to lead and manage, 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.
Read More
