JET Alum researcher seeks JET Alum respondents for survey on reverse culture shock
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Smitha Prasadh (Tokushima-ken, 2005-07) is a Master of Design Candidate at Carnegie Mellon School of Design as well as an active organizer of the growing JETAA Pittsburgh Subchapter. She is seeking respondents for a survey she is conducting on reverse culture shock as part of her graduate research:
Hello! I am an alumna of the JET Programme. For my graduate thesis, I am designing a resource to help North American JET alumni cope with reverse culture shock upon their departure from Japan. If you are an American or Canadian JET alum, I would sincerely appreciate it if you could fill out this survey about your overall experiences before, during, and after JET. Your participation would help my research greatly.
The following survey should take approximately 15‐20 minutes to complete. (Should you choose to elaborate on your answers, it will take a bit longer.)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/jet-rcs-thesis
Thank you very much for your time!
Smitha Prasadh
thesis@smithaprasadh.com
Commentary: “The Cove is a Total Failure”
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Here’s a blog post from Ryan Cecil Smith (Hyogo-ken, Nishinomiya-shi, 2010) about his attempts to show the controversial documentary film The Cove to students in his town of various age ranges in an effort to foster discussion and reaction.
Here’s the post: http://ryancecilsmith.com/blog/the-cove-is-a-total-failure
Here’s a quote from Ryan’s blog post:
“I think that there should be some reckoning by the makers of The Cove for how poorly the movie has been received in Japan. I’m really disappointed that the movie is targeted so far from a Japanese audience, even though the point of the movie is ostensibly to change a Japanese practice.”
Ryan is very interested in hearing reactions and comments from the JET and JET alumni communities as well as from any other readers. Please feel free to comment below.
You can find additional commentary about The Cove on JetWit here and here.
I was aware of Aaron Woolfolk’s (Kochi-ken, 1991-93) film The Harimaya Bridge. But I didn’t realize there’s also a frisbee team in Kochi called the Harimaya Bashis. (Makes more sense if you’ve been to Kochi or seen the film and the story behind the bridge.) It turns out they’re involved with a Kochi Flying Disc Association event for October 10 at the Kochi Municipal Sports Complex (shiei) consisting of a day of various frisbee-related sports and activities.
JetWit would love to post a write-up and/or any photos from the event if someone reading this happens to attend. But mostly this post is just an excuse to share the Harimaya Bashis’ super sweet logo.
JET Alum Writer Beat
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I’d like to start a new series of posts titled “JET Alum Writer Beat.” And I’m looking for someone to take it on and make it happen. Please contact Steven at jetwit@jetwit.com if interested.
JET Alum Writer Beat will be kind of like JETAA Chapter Beat and Japan Society Round-up. You’ll follow established JET alum writers out there (I’ll give you a list to start)–i.e., read or subscribe to their blogs, their Facebook or Twitter accounts, email lists, etc.–and you’ll post a round-up once a week or so listing anything you think is worth mentioning about them and their recent work.
For more info, please contact Steven at jetwit@jetwit.com.
Notable JET alums: Bruce Feiler comments on anti-Islam protests on CNN
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Bruce Feiler (Tochigi-ken, 1987-88), author of Learning to Bow as well as several very thoughtful books on the topic of religion including Walking the Bible, was recently a guest on CNN discussing current anti-Islam sentiment with Anderson Cooper. Click here to read more posts about Bruce Feiler on JetWit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-pVfz8UbZU
A recent column from The Japan Times by Debito Arudou (not a JET or JET alum) that does a nice job of addressing the oft-heard (and rather misleading) charge that JET has not led to improvement in English scores in Japan: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20100907ad.html
It has a bit of snark and falls into some generalizations, but the underlying point as well as the thoughtful analysis are spot on and greatly appreciated here on JetWit.
JET ROI: Japan Times readers respond to recent article on JET
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From The Japan Times, definitely worth a read:
- “Readers offer their thoughts on jettisoning JET” – http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20100907hs.html
Here are links to related JetWit posts with:
- The original Japan Times article by Eric Johnston: https://jetwit.com/wordpress/2010/07/27/jet-roi-japan-times-article-on-debate-over-jet-program/
- A Japan Times article based on JETAA’s press release following the JETAA USA National Conference in August: https://jetwit.com/wordpress/2010/08/17/jet-roi-japan-times-article-jets-press-to-keep-program-intact/
- Christiana Aretta’s “100 English Dreams”: https://jetwit.com/wordpress/2010/07/31/jet-roi-100-english-dreams-a-jet-project-by-christiana-aretta/
JET ROI: JETAA Rajio Taiso
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JETAA Portland is getting ready to make a video of a group of its members doing NHK Rajio Taiso (radio exercises) in Portland’s Japanese Gardens on September 8. And it’s hoping to inspire other JET Alumni chapters to do the same in front of their respective landmarks. The goal is to aggregate all of the videos into one big video that shows JET alumni doing Rajio Taiso all over the U.S. and, preferably, the world.
While the idea takes a lighthearted approach, it will also help symbolically demonstrate to Japan’s population how JET alumni everywhere are and have been promoting and spreading Japanese culture around the world.
For more information, or to submit your own video, you can contact JETAA Portland’s webmaster Bob Schnyder at webmaster@jetaaportland.com or go to: http://www.jetaaportland.com/community-events/rajio-taiso-portland-japanese-gardens/
And if you have no idea what Rajio Taiso is (or you just need a little dose of natsukashii) here’s a video:
JET Alum Video: Eigo Noto – a new perspective
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I found this JET-made parody video (which I’ve since found out was made by Lena Franco (Okayama-ken, 2008-10)) after seeing it posted on a fellow JET alum’s Facebook status:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQrfiJ2WFeQ
And one more cute and fun video by Lena titled “Souljia Boy” which is a compilation of video clips where she taught students the dance that goes with the tune:
http://www.youtube.com/user/francol86
JET alum James Kennedy turns “Odd-Fish” novel into school curriculum
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In a rather brilliantly creative move, James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of the acclaimed young adult novel The Order of Odd-Fish, has developed a classroom guide for the novel which is intended to be used by school teachers in class with their students.
In James’ own words:
Some schools have put The Order of Odd-Fish on their reading lists. That’s great!
So I’ve put together a classroom guide for Odd-Fish. It’s 44 pages of discussion questions, lesson plans, and projects. It also features Odd-Fish fan art by enthusiastic readers—art that was featured in our Odd-Fish gallery show in Chicago in April 2010.
This curriculum does the strangeness of the book justice, I think. Aside from the chapter-by-chapter worksheets, there are also activities such as inventing your own Odd-Fish specialty, writing your own articles for the Eldritch Snitch, researching Japanese rituals that inspired the Odd-Fish festivals, baking avant-garde pies, creating urk-ack music, and inventing one’s own Eldritch City mythologies.
It’s also gateway to other fields of study. The knights of the Odd-Fish are, after all, scholars as well as warriors. This curriculum touches on topics as disparate as cockroach anatomy, Shinto and Hindu mythology, the KGB, Wikipedia, foppery, real-life historical eccentrics, and more.
Download the guide for free here. And of course, I always enjoy visiting schools, either in person or by Skype.
Go pester your teachers now! I’m doing this for you, people!
And in JetWit’s opinion, while the novel is in the young adult category, it’s also one of the funniest books you’ll ever read as an adult. To read more JetWit posts about James, click here. And watch the below video to see James doing an extremely dramatic reading from the book at last year’s JET Alumni Author Showcase in New York:
New “JET Alumni Non-Profit Group” on LinkedIn
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Arisa Takahashi (CIR, 1991-94), the Treasurer for JETAA Northern California, has started a much-needed new LinkedIn group for JETs and JET alumni for those working in or interested in non-profit organizations and related fields.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the JET Alumni Non-Profit Group on LinkedIn. (Or just do a search for it on LinkedIn.)
Domo arigatou Arisa-sama!
Books: Lars Martison’s “Tonoharu” gets favorable write-up on BoingBoing, makes Amazon’s Top Ten Bestselling Graphic Novels list
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There’s a nice review of JET alum Lars Martinson’s graphic novel Tonoharu: Part 1 on the BoingBoing site written by Mark Frauenfelder titled “Tonoharu: Excellent graphic novel about an English teacher in Japan.” And according to Lars’ blog,
“Thanks to Mark Frauenfelder’s writeup about Tonoharu: Part One on Boing Boing, the book has made it into Amazon.com’s Top Ten Bestselling Graphic Novels today!”
Here’s the link to the review: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/27/tonoharu-excellent-g.html
Here’s a quote from the review:
“Published in 2008, and a winner of the prestigious Xeric Award, Tonoharu is a story of isolation, frustration, and mystery, with just the right amount of black humor to keep it from being depressing.”
For fans awaiting the next installment, Tonoharu: Part 2 is due out in December.
Notable JET alums: Rob Cornilles – U.S. Congressional candidate
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JET alum Rob Cornilles
JET alum Robert Cornilles won the Republican primary for Congress in Oregon’s 1st District and will be running against incumbent Democrat David Wu this November 2010.
Rob is also the founder and CEO of Game Face, a successful sports marketing company with a client list that includes the Chicago Bulls, Miami Dolphins, Boston Celtics, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
For more information about Rob and his campaign, you can visit his website at www.cornillesforcongress.com.
JetWit is seeking a volunteer to help post jobs on the JetWit site. If interested, please contact Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) at jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
The role primarily involves taking jobs that have been sent to the JetWit Jobs Google Group and making sure they also get posted to the JetWit site in a timely manner. You’re also welcome to find additional job listings that might be of interest to JET alums and post them on the site as well.
Knowledge of WordPress is helpful. (If you don’t know how to use it, then I’ll explain it to you–a good chance to learn a new skill.)
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
New “JET Alumni Policy & Government Group” on LinkedIn
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A new LinkedIn group called “JET Alumni Policy & Government” has been set up by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) for JETs and JET alumni who work in any field related to policy or government, aspire to work in related fields or have an interest in the topic.
CLICK HERE to see the group and join.
