Japan Relief: “It Won’t Be Long Now” song and video by JET alum Shun Endo and The Liquid Now
Cultural Outreach, Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising, Music, Notable JET Alums, Return on JET-vestment, Video, Volunteer 
Comments Off on Japan Relief: “It Won’t Be Long Now” song and video by JET alum Shun Endo and The Liquid Now
***************
JET alum Shun Endo (Ibaraki Prefecture, 1998-2001) (Treasurer and Webmaster for JETAA Pacific Northwest and creator instantnoodlescomics.com) and his band The Liquid Now have released a music video titled “It Won’t Be Long Now“ intended to draw attention to and help fundraise for Japan relief efforts.
From Shun Endo and The Liquid Now:
IT WON’T BE LONG is about overcoming the tsunami and earthquake in Northern Japan. It was a chance for us to really reflect on their struggle, and beyond. To us, the Japanese festivals encompass the beauty of the culture. We’ve experienced nothing like it. It is a time of strong community, tradition, abandon, and joy. We hope the areas affected will heal enough to enjoy themselves once again soon.
All band sales will be donated, so just donate directly to the Seattlejapanrelief.org who work with Red Cross and Peacewinds.
For a digital copy of the song, visit www.theliquidnow.com and/or email theliquidnow@gmail.com
Thank you for listening. 日本の皆さん、頑張りましょう。
The Liquid Now are a band from Seattle that is influenced by British music and Japanese culture. www.theliquidnow.com
(we hope people don’t mind us using their online photos as this is for a good cause, and we will donate anything that comes our way.)
Smile Kids Japan’s Mike Maher-King speaks at TEDxTokyo
Earthquake Tsunami, Japan Trends, Notable JET Alums, Return on JET-vestment, Video, Volunteer Comments Off on Smile Kids Japan’s Mike Maher-King speaks at TEDxTokyo
Mike Maher-King (Fukui), founder of Smile Kids Japan, recently spoke at TEDxTokyo: Entering the Unknown on Saturday, May 21 at Miraikan Tokyo.
Here are the English and Japanese videos of Mike’s talk which is titled “Against All Odds” in which he talks about Smile Kids Japan, how he came to start it, how the JET experience and community factored in and SKJ’s involvement in earthquake relief efforts.
Earthquake Relief: Seattle Japan Relief Weekly Highlights for May 23-29th
Earthquake Tsunami, JETAA Chapters, Return on JET-vestment, Volunteer Comments Off on Earthquake Relief: Seattle Japan Relief Weekly Highlights for May 23-29th
Via Pacific Northwest JETAA:
Check out Seattle Japan Relief Weekly Highlights for May 23-29th!
We are looking for volunteers to help out with a June 11th classical concert at UW to fundraise for Japan relief efforts! Interested in being an usher or registration volunteer? Please contact seattlejapanrelief [at] hyogobcc.org.
Domo ne,
Erin Erickson
CIR, Akita 2001-2004
Volunteer, Seattle Japan Relief.org
JETAA Chicago Author Panel: Experiences Teaching English in Japan
Books, Career, Events, JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA Chicago Author Panel: Experiences Teaching English in Japan
Via JETAA Chicago May Webletter:
On Friday, June 10, 6:30-8pm, JETAA Chicago and the Japan America Society of Chicago will be hosting a panel featuring Lars Martinson and David Fernandez, two JET alumni authors.
Mr. Martinson, cartoonist and author of Tonoharu, and Mr. Fernandez, author of Rising Sunsets, will share their experiences teaching English in Japan, relive funny cultural stories, and mention how these experiences shaped the writing of their books Tonoharu and Rising Sunsets.
Please join us at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, 1 N Wacker Suite 4400, Chicago, IL 60606.
Tickets are $5 for JASC & JETAA members, $10 for general admission.
Space is limited so RSVP soon to Erika Kono at kono@jaschicago.org.
Career/Networking reminder: JET Alum LinkedIn groups
Career, Graduate School, Jobs, Networking, Return on JET-vestment Comments Off on Career/Networking reminder: JET Alum LinkedIn groups
Just a reminder that there are a number of LinkedIn groups set up for JETs and JET alumni geared towards professional connecting and career development:
*Don’t see what you’re looking for? Start your own JET alum LinkedIn group and e-mail jetwit [at] jetwit.com. We’ll post it on JETwit.
**Also, don’t forget about the JETwit Jobs Google Group as well as the JET Alum LinkedIn groups by prefecture.
Japan Times: JET teacher aids school rebuilding
Blogs, Cultural Outreach, Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising, Japan Local, JETs in the News, Local Government, Notable JET Alums, Return on JET-vestment, Volunteer, Writers Comments Off on Japan Times: JET teacher aids school rebuilding
“My name is Andras Molnar, an English teacher from Yamamoto Town in Japan, a place recently devastated by the earthquake and tsunami. I am trying to raise funds for the reconstruction of the schools in my town, as well as buying school supplies and uniforms for children who lost everything in the tsunami.”
U.S. teacher aids school rebuilding
SENDAI — An American English teacher at a middle school in Miyagi Prefecture has set up funds to solicit donations for rebuilding elementary schools damaged by the tsunami following the March 11 earthquake.
Pennsylvania native Andras Molnar, 25, said that although he is leaving the prefecture’s town of Yamamoto in August when his teaching contract ends, he is “hoping to stay connected” with the town through the fund.
Molnar said he became interested in Japan through “anime” such as “Gundam” and spent a year in the country as a high school student and again while at university. He came to Yamamoto, a coastal town of around 16,000, in August 2009.
He said he got along well with locals through a drum circle and surfing, a hobby of his.
“Everyone is very open, kind and I like them a lot,” he said in Japanese.
After the town was engulfed by the tsunami, he stayed at the junior high school for a week, busily checking the whereabouts of his students and doing what he could at evacuation sites, he said.
He then moved to Tokyo for around one month at the suggestion of his parents and friends.
But after getting email from friends in Yamamoto inquiring about him, he wondered why he was not giving his best when all the people in the town were doing their utmost, he said.
Molnar said it was this that prompted him to return to his apartment in Yamamoto.
“It was really good that I returned,” he said. “I feel encouraged by the children.”
He set up relief funds in Japan and the United States to help rebuild two elementary schools where buildings were devastated by the tsunami, and is soliciting donations through his blog.
JETAA British Columbia Newsletter – May 2011
Article/Journalism, Earthquake Tsunami, JETAA Chapters, Writers Comments Off on JETAA British Columbia Newsletter – May 2011
The JETAA British Columbia Newsletter May 2011 issue is now available online. (Really nice look and layout, by the way.)
It also has some very good articles, reactions and perspectives on the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami and subsequent relief efforts and activities by JETs and alumni.
For more info on JETAA BC (which is hosting this year’s JETAA Canada Conference in June), go to their website at www.jetaabc.ca
Volunteer: JETwit seeks help tracking JET disaster relief efforts
Earthquake Tsunami, Jobs, Notable JET Alums, Volunteer Comments Off on Volunteer: JETwit seeks help tracking JET disaster relief efforts
I know there a slew of JETs and alums involved in a variety of volunteer efforts in Japan right now. And I don’t have time to capture and post on JETwit about it.
For example:
- A JET named Paul Yoo in Akita helped organize something called The Fruit Tree Project to bring fresh fruit to affected areas and posted information about that and other volunteer efforts on a website I believe he set up called volunteerAKITA.
- Mike Maher-King (Fukui) of Smile Kids Japan has been doing all kinds of things with orphanages and delivery of supplies and connecting people and groups who are trying to help in various ways.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. These are just two examples I happen to be aware of.
Would someone out there be interested in doing occasional posts on JETwit that simply list recent efforts, activities and updates along with links to the source of the information? Sort of a JET Volunteer Round-up?
Familiarity using WordPress preferred but not absolutely necessary.
Contact Steven at jetwit [at] jetwit.com if interested.
Thanks and yoroshiku.
“Return on JET-vestment“ is the term I’ve been using (along with “JET ROI“) to connote the “return on investment” that JET and JETAA have been providing for Japan in various ways, both directly and indirectly. And it’s now particularly important for us to demonstrate Return on JET-vestment to the Japanese government and taxpayers, particularly at the prefecture and local government levels as those are the ones making the decisions as to whether to hire JETs or some other form of ALTs (e.g., dispatch companies).
Translation Challenge:
What’s the best way to convey “Return on JET-vestment” in Japanese?
Please post in the comments section below or e-mail to jetwit [at] jetwit.com. (Commentary and thoughts on the translation is welcome as well.)
Yoroshiku!
Tohoku Earthquake benefit: Rock Chicks’ Revenge (Tokyo – June 4)
Earthquake Tsunami, Events, Fundraising, Music Comments Off on Tohoku Earthquake benefit: Rock Chicks’ Revenge (Tokyo – June 4)
JET alum Sarah Cortina is one of the co-organizers of the Rock Chicks’ Revenge (Rock Gods Must Die) which will happen June 4 in Tokyo’s Shibuya Milkyway from 6pm-10pm with a special guest appearance by the Blue Man Group.
See full details at Metropolis Magazine.
JET Alum Authors: Ari Kaplan – “The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career”
Advice, Books, Career, Notable JET Alums, Writers Comments Off on JET Alum Authors: Ari Kaplan – “The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career”
I recently learned of yet another JET alum author, Ari Kaplan (Hyogo-ken, 1993-94) who practiced law for nine years at a big firm before setting out on his own and, among other things, writing The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development which became a big hit in the world of lawyers and especially among law students facing an increasingly uncertain job market and career prospects.
It turns out Ari, who speaks regularly at legal career events, has a new book coming out soon on the theme of “reinvention” intended not just for lawyers but for all professionals re-thinking their careers in a society where the ground increasingly seems to shift below our feet.
For more information about Ari, visit his website at www.arikaplanadvisors.com. You can also see media coverage of him on WGN-TV Chicago, in the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog and in the Houston Chronicle
Earthquake Support Event: WE ARE HERE – Little voice and art 311 Japan (NYC)
Art, Earthquake Tsunami, Events, Fundraising, Photography Comments Off on Earthquake Support Event: WE ARE HERE – Little voice and art 311 Japan (NYC)
Posted at the request of CLAIR New York:
WE ARE HERE – Little voice and art 311 JAPAN is an exhibition of messages from Japanese children of areas affected by the disaster as well as photos of the area. The exhibition is being held at the AIGA Gallery in New York on 22nd St and 5th Avenue in Manhattan from today through May 20. They are also collecting messages from visitors to those children.
SeattleJapanRelief.org 05/16/2011
Earthquake Tsunami, Events, Fundraising, JETAA Chapters Comments Off on SeattleJapanRelief.org 05/16/2011
Pacific Northwest JETAA has been forwarding updates from SeattleJapanRelief.org, which is a collection of Japan earthquake/tsunami-related fundraising events and activities in the Seattle area. Below is the latest, and there’s more good info here as well. These are not necessarily JETAA events, but I’m guessing various JET alums are involved in some of these.
***********
Weekly Highlights:
May 16 – 22, 2011
What’s happening around town?
Fri (5/20) 1st Annual Japan ISD Matsuri
6-8pm @ Commons- Issaquah High School (Issaquah)
Japanese clubs and classes will be presenting many family-friendly activities. Donations to Peace Winds. Contact: Tammy Haldeman 425-837-7792
Sat (5/21) Japan Relief Now: University Street Fair
4:15pm @ music stage- 42nd & University St (Seattle)
See The People Now for event details
Sat (5/21) The Sun Always Rises: Japan Relief Benefit Concert
7pm @ ACT Fall’s Theatre (Downtown, Seattle)
Artists: Sarah Rudinoff , Miss Mamie Lavona the Exotic Mullatta and Her White Boy Band, The Live Girls! Ladies Choir, Jacqueline Tabor, One World Taiko, Kaze Daiko, and Seattle Kokon Taiko. For tickets: www.acttheatre.org
Upcoming!
Thu (5/26) One Night: Relief Concert
8pm @ Neumos (Capitol Hill, Seattle)
See Nuemos for event details & tickets
Question: Do you know of any Japanese prefectures, cities, towns, regions, etc. that have their own tourism website in English? (e.g., Shimane Prefecture: http://visitshimane.com) Or even their own English language website that might be helpful in some way to potential tourists? And if not, do you have time to look some up?
Your help needed: Please either post the locations and URLs in the comments section below. Or email the information to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Goal: To gather in one place a list of as many English language tourism sites for Japan as we can find.
Background: One more thing the JET alumni community can do to increase the “Return on JET-vestment” by helping to promote tourism to Japan, especially to more local and regional areas. I thought about this when I stumbled on the visitshimane.com website and realized that there must be a bunch of other Japanese prefectures and local governments that have set up sites to encourage tourism. In addition to gathering and posting them all in one place on JETwit, I thought it would also be great if every time we list a JET alum along with prefecture and years on JET (e.g., Steven Horowitz, Aichi-ken, 1992-94), we can hyperlink the prefecture and/or town to the appropriate tourism site. This will help drive more traffic to those sites and also provide additional linkbacks, which are valuable to a website with regard to search engine optimization.
Thanks for everyone’s help with this collaborative effort. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
p.s. I checked with Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) as well as CLAIR and as far as I can tell there’s no previously existing version of this kind of list.
I just set up a new LinkedIn group for JETs, JET alums and Friends of JET who work in academia or are interested in working in academia. This includes any professors, PhD candidates, masters degree students or anyone related in any way to research and academia.
