CLAIR-NY’s Hanzawa-san on his life in NYC
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For those who don’t know him, Taichi Hanzawa (Miyagi-ken) works for CLAIR-NY (also known as the Japan Local Government Center or JLGC) and this past year served as the JETAA USA Liaison. That’s the position responsible for coordinating with all 19 JETAA USA chapters to help them with their funding. Takusan shigoto yo. Cantan de ha arimasen. Yet Hanzawa-san has worked very hard and served admirably.
Recently, he wrote a short article for the Miyagi Ken Prefectural Newsletter where he reflected on his life in New York. By way of context, Hanzawa-san and most of his colleagues at CLAIR-NY are part of a sort of inverse version of the JET Program. They are all local government workers in their city or prefectural governments. And they’ve all been selected to be part of a three-year program that starts with one year of training in Tokyo followed by a two-year assignment in a CLAIR office in the U.S., UK, Australia or elsewhere.
Below is the article by Hanzawa-san (along with a picture of him at a recent JETAA NY executive meeting held at the JLGC). If anyone would like to post an English summary in the comments section (assuming you can make out the print below), that would be more than welcome. (If you’d like a PDF version, e-mail jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.)
Job: Business Development Specialist for Hyogo Business and Cultural Center (Seattle)
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Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
The Hyogo Business & Cultural Center (Hyogo Prefectural Representative Office) is currently hiring a position for Business Development Specialist. For more details, please visit www.hyogobcc. org
How to apply:
Submit resume & cover letter by Monday, August 10th 2009 via e-mail to jobs@hyogobcc. org or fax at 206-728-1452. Only candidates who are chosen for an interview will be contacted. NO PHONE INQUIRIES PLEASE!
Position: Business Development Specialist – Full-time position
Location: Downtown Seattle
Salary: $28,000+ DOE
Application Deadline: Monday, August 10th 2009
The Hyogo Business & Cultural Center is looking for a dynamic and organized TEAM player who is highly motivated and takes initiative. The ideal candidate should feel comfortable working in a multicultural office setting.
Just stumbled into “I Survived a Japanese Gameshow” again, halfway into the program. One team is learning how to be samurai and participating in a samurai parade. The other group learned how to cut down bamboo and then take the bamboo and carve it into chopsticks.
Two things occurred to me as I watch this:
- This might be the best tourism promotion for Japan they could possibly hope for. It gives people a real sense of Japan and a connection to it.
- What the hell do samurai parades and chopstick making have to do with the gameshow?
Thus far, the show seems to be a greater enigma than Japan ever was.
Bankruptcy Bill #17: BAPCPA Man (cameo by Roland Kelts)
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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
A twist in the plot! (Also, note the Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) reference as the esoteric worlds of manga and bankruptcy find a rare intersection.)
*BAPCPA = Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, i.e., the 2005 Bankruptcy Law.
Thanks to Mia Simring for passing this along:
Junior Specialist, Japanese Art
| http://www.christies.com/about/careers/americas/
Apply on their site or using this link. Japanese and Korean Art, New York PRIMARY FUNCTION/POSITION SUMMARY: |
JET alums in the art world?
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Botodesigns by Chen Reichert
If you’re a JET alum and you’re an artist or connected to the art world, e-mail us at jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com and let us know about yourself. And if you know of any JET alums in this category, feel free to get in touch as well.
Here’s the most up-to-date list of JET alum artists and JET alums connected to the art world (which will continue to be updated): https://jetwit.com/wordpress/library/art/
Summer by Dawn Mostow (Gifu-ken, 2003-06)
p.s. Make sure to let us know prefecture and years on JET, current location and any links to your work.
Roland Kelts on Australian radio
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Check out this interview on Australian radio (ABC) with Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, about the anime industry in Japan, financial foibles and hentai habits.
Roland recently finished a speaking tour in Australia where made several appearances.
- July 13-16th, Sydney, AU, JSAA Conference, University of Sydney
- July 17th, Sydney, AU, The Japan Foundation: Panel w/Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
- July 20th, Brisbane, AU, The University of Queensland: Panel w/ Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
- July 22nd, Melbourne, AU, The University of Melbourne: Panel w/Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
He also hosted a talk with Hayao Miyazaki in Berkely, CA on July 25. Click here to see video clips of Roland speaking at the JETAA NY Alumni Author Showcase event held back in March 2009, here for photos from the event and here to read a review of the event.
Japan Society of NY: Weekly eNewsletter
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James Scanlon-Canegata returned from JET last year and, in addition to pursuing research on religious studies, he’s also started working as a professional translator. Recently, after taking a freelance job from a large translation company, he learned that he was expected to use translation software to aid his work. This led him to the honyaku Google group to seek advice and perspective on the software issue.
JetWit thought it would be interesting to hear what James has learned so far and share it for the benefit of the JET and JET alum community. Read on for his experience so far:
I was also completely unaware that translators used any kind of translation software when I first started thinking about doing it. I have a friend who does English-Portuguese translation and I first found out from her that this is something most professional translators use. When I did my first paid translation I just worked on Word and excel and it was very slow-going and tedious at some points. That’s when I started to wonder if translation software could help move things along.
I have a Mac and so I tried a couple of free translation programs that I saw recommended on online forums. I ended up feeling mostly confused about, well, everything. But specifically, I had the most trouble with the actual interface of the applications. The program would isolate a small area to be translated automatically and the idea is that you would go along and translate the parts until you’re through. But, with Japanese of course you have to start from the tail-end of the sentence and translate backwards a lot of times and it seemed like the application just wasn’t programmed for that type of translation. The same would go with sets of sentences where the meaning just won’t come out right if it is translated into English word-for-word in its original order. The program also seemed to break sentences up into seemingly random segments without any regard for periods or commas or common sense (on terms of a Japanese-English translation type of common sense).
This may just be because I’m an inexperienced translator, but my theory was that the software was geared Read More
Event: NYC Japan Street Fair – Sunday, August 23
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For a big, 15-block New York street fair coming up, one stretch will be devoted specifically to things Japanese. Further indication of how much Japanese culture has become part of the New York scene. (Rumor has it that New York-ken might even soon have its own ALTs!) Demo majime ni, read the press release below for more info:
The NYC Japan Street Fair Debuts at the Daytop Madison Avenue Festival!
NEW YORK, New York, (July 22, 2009) – On Sunday, August 23, 2009, the NYC Japan Fair will make its debut at the Daytop Madison Avenue Festival, one of New York’s largest street fairs that spans 15 blocks – from 42nd to 57th Streets – and attracts 10 million visitors annually. Hosting a diverse array of companies specializing in distinctly Japanese products and food, the NYC Japan Fair invites New Yorkers to immerse themselves with the rich culture of Japan for a day, while using the event as a test market to introduce new Japanese products to the U.S.
The Fair’s approximately 40 booths offer everything tangible about Japanese culture: food, merchandise, Read More
Learning to Bow…in Iraq?
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Just heard an NPR interview with Wesley Gray, the fluent-in-Arabic author of Embedded: A Marine Corps Advisor in the Iraqi Army, and it struck me that it might be the Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan for current day Iraq. Learning to Bow by best-selling author Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90) was the original “JET book,” describing the experience of living in Japan and making sense of the cultural differences.
I think it would be interesting to hear some JET perspectives on the book, perhaps contrasting Gray’s experience with their own cross-cultural experience in Japan. Please feel free to post your comments below. Also, if anyone wants to write a review of the book, just get in touch.
Here’s a summary of the book from Amazon:
From Publishers Weekly
In this illuminating memoir, Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Gray recounts his eight-month tour as part of a Military Transition Team, working as an advisor to the Iraqi Army on location. Gray was fluent in Arabic prior to deployment, giving him enormous insight into the culture and worldview of Iraqis as citizens and soldiers and obvious advantages over colleagues (and competing memoirists) relying on translantors On many occasions, Gray encounters an Insh’ Allah philosophy, a mantra of “If God wills it” or “God willing” can strike Americans as lazy or unmotivated. Among other startling lessons, Gray discovered that loyalty to tribe supersedes duty to the state; the Iraqi Army soldiers he was training were spending their monthly leave in the ranks of local tribal militias. Gray details the cultural nuances and interpersonal relationships of occupied Iraq with such care and clarity, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in the the reconstruction, especially those set to deploy.
With healthcare legislation front and center in the U.S. and many JETs set to leave the womb of JET life, not to mention the tough job market and high unemployment rate, I thought this might be a good time to ask the JET and JET alum community (and not just the U.S.):
How are you feeling about health insurance and healthcare these days?
Do you have it?
Are you worried about it?
What are your options?
What challenges or problems have you faced or do you expect to face?
Post your comments here for the benefit of the JET alumni and Friend of JET community.
Yoroshiku.
On the July 22 episode of “I Survived a Japanese Gameshow,” the contestants have been sent to sumo houses to where they’ll work as cooks and cleaners. What’s not clear is why they keep blurring over the wrestler’s oshiris, even from the side! It’s not like anything’s hanging out. And they’ve been showing full butts on network tv ever since “NYPD Blue.” Can anyone explain what’s with the blurring in this instance?
Job: Entry level sales admin for Japanese electric manuf co. (Bannockburn, IL)
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Via JETAA Chicago:
Electric Manufacturing Company is looking for Entry Level Sales Administrator
Industry: Electric parts manufacturing
Location: Bannockburn, IL
Salary: $ 30 -34k (Temp to Fulltime)
Job Description: Electric Manufacturing Company is looking for Entry Level Sales Administrator.
Customer Relations Process orders and provides support to customers and distributors in regards to order status, pricing and delivery. The customer service representative acts to bridge communication between customers, outside representatives and Shindengen sales managers. The sales administrator, work closely with the warehouse to ensure prompt and efficient shipments to guarantee customer satisfaction.
Buyer Planner – Buyer works with sales, administration and operations to ensure products and services are received so work flows are not interrupted and customer deadlines are met. This position reports to the Senior National Sales Manager.
Contact: Maiko Ninagawa(蜷川麻衣子), Interesse international inc., Chicago Office, 5600 North River Road, Suite 800, Rosemont, IL 60018, Tel: 847-993-3006, Fax: 847-993-3008, E-mail: maiko@iiicareer.com, HP: www.iiicareer.com
Thanks to Bryan Reynolds (Ibaraki-ken, 2006-08) of JAPANiCAN.com for sharing the following translation/writing position for the JTB Group’s English language site, JAPANiCAN.com. Interested applicants should send a resume and Japanese rirekisho by email to japanican01@jtb.jp.
(Note: One reader reported a problem with the e-mail address earlier today, but we’ve confirmed that now it’s been fixed.)
Keep reading below the jump for full job description details.
