Dan Dooher, an Akita-ken ALT and who also serves as the Prefectural Advisor, recently let JetWit know about their English-language guide to Akita-ken for JETs.
http://www.akitajet.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Not sure if other prefectures have done something similar or if this is standard, but Akita-ken has put together a fantastic wiki-style site. When you first arrive you see a map of Akita divided into cities. Clicking on a city leads to a whole wealth of useful information for any JET (or any English-speaker for that matter) who’s planning on going there.
The left sidebar includes links to topics such as Entering JET, Financing, Travel, Health, Driving, Computers and Phones, Entertainment, Volunteer Opportunities and other extremely helpful topics. On the right are feeds for “Latest Discussion” and “Events/Updates.” And scrolling down leads to a Calendar as well as an Article Spotlight featuring “What is the Akita International Sumo Taikai?” (Note: How come my prefecture didn’t have a sumo taikia?) (Additional note: How come the internet didn’t exist when I was on JET?)
Do other prefectures have JET sites like this? (We know, for example, that Hiroshima-ken has The Wide Island View, a terrific e-zine for the JET community there, published by Gail Cetnar Meadows and Josh Zimmer.)
If so, please send the link to JetWit along with any other info and we’ll be more than happy to post it on the site for the benefit of readers.
Job: Japanese teacher (Seattle, WA)
Jobs 
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Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
Please forward this email if you know of an experienced Japanese teacher looking for a position:
The Issaquah School District (20 minutes east of Seattle) is currently interviewing for Japanese teachers. Washington State teaching certificate and endorsement in Japanese preferred, but experienced teachers without these credentials may also apply.
Submit your application online at:
https://web. issaquah. wednet.edu/ jobs/jobs. aspx?id=746&type=1&int=External
JETAA NY Webmaster Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06) is settling into his summer internship at Creative Commons in San Francisco and is working on a site called OpenEd that will act as a kind of portal for the open education community.
Lee-Sean suggested that the JET community, which already does a lot to share their lesson plans and ESL games, might be a good group to engage on OpenEd site.
Lee-Sean has started a a preliminary Wiki page and says he would welcome any input as well as more links to relevant resources. Since the site is a wiki, anyone can create an account and edit the site.
http://opened.creativecommons.org/OER_for_JET_Programme_Participants
Pre-Departure Orientation: The Documents!
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Thanks to JETAA NY Webmaster Lee-Sean Huang (Oita-ken, 2003-06) and JETAA NY President Megan Miller (Hyogo-ken, 2000-02), below is a link to all of the PowerPoints and PDFs of presentations at the JETAA NY Predeparture Orientation which was held this past weekend on Saturday, June 20, 2009.
http://jetaany.org/2009/06/21/2009-jet-pre-departure-documents/
- Asian-American JETS (Powerpoint)
- Travel In and Out of Japan (PDF)
- Japanese Etiquette (Powerpoint)
- Life as a JET (.ppt)
- Vegetarian in Japan – Vocabulary Sheet (Word Document)
- Vegetarian in Japan – Wallet Card (Word .doc)
- Vegetarian in Japan – Wallet Card (Word .docx)
- Women’s Issues Seminar (.pptx)
If you have documents, or links to documents, from the Pre-Departure Orientation in your chapter, please feel free to e-mail them to jetwit [at] jetwit [dotc] com and we’ll post them here for the benefit of JETs as well as for the benefit of JET alums who will organize future Pre-D Orientations. Also, please feel free to e-mail a write-up about your chapter’s Pre-D Orientation and how it went. Other chapters would love to hear about it.
New Google Group for JetWit Job Listings!
Jobs Comments Off on New Google Group for JetWit Job Listings!
We’ve set up a Google Group called JetWitJobs for distributing job listings on a current basis. The group is open to JET alumni, current JETs and of course Friends of JET.
Sign up if you’d like to receive alerts of new job listings from JetWit.
(Note: Jobs can only be posted by the group administrators. If you have a good job listing for the JET alumni community, please send an e-mail to jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.)
Click HERE to sign up for JetWitJobs: http://groups.google.com/group/jetwitjobs?hl=en
Job: Program Coordinator at the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville
Jobs Comments Off on Job: Program Coordinator at the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville
This job opening came via Emily Winckler (Niigata-ken, 2002-05), the Cultural Affairs Division Program Coordinator at the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville:
Program Coordinator at the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville
This is the position that coordinates the JET Progam process along with several other programs and activities. If interested, tune up your 6-string (guitar, banjo or shamisen) and get your resume ready for the folks in Music City.
Click the link below for full details and application info:
http://www.nashville.us.emb-japan.go.jp/en/culture/JET/JET%20Coordinator%20Position.htm
Travel: Aitai Japan
Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting Comments Off on Travel: Aitai Japan
aitai Japan
I just found out about an interesting travel website called aitai Japan (translation: “I want to meet” Japan) (www.aitaijapan.com), which bills itself as an “association for independent tourist assistance in Japan” and explains that it is “a guide/interpreter service with listings of enthusiastic volunteer guides who can offer free tourist assistance for independent travelers on their visit to Japan.”
It reminds me of a great organization in New York City called Big Apple Greeters (a good place for JET alums to volunteer, by the way) which pairs up a volunteer with any visitors to New York looking for a friendly local to walk around with for a few 
hours. Except aitaiJapan seems to be doing this on a national level and really helping tourists cross through what can seem like intimidating language and cultural barriers to non-Japanese.
If anyone out there has had any contact or experience with aitaiJapan, please feel free to share, either by posting a comment or by sending an email to JetWit.
Event: Children’s book illustrators gather for Bologna Children’s Book Fair (Tokyo)
Books, Career, Cartoon/Illustration, Networking, Writers Comments Off on Event: Children’s book illustrators gather for Bologna Children’s Book Fair (Tokyo)
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Author Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90) who also serves as the Publicity Assistant for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, shared the following:
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents
Creative Exchange: The Bologna Experience with Ayano Imai, Kiyo Tanaka and Shimako Okamura
Come join illustrators Ayano Imai and Kiyo Tanaka plus designer/illustrator Shimako Okamura as they share their experiences at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the most important global event in the children’s publishing industry. Included in the topics shared at this exchange of ideas and information will be first-hand experiences of being selected for the Illustrators Exhibition, opportunities that resulted from attending the fair, and more. Visit the Bologna Book Fair site (www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it) before this event, and bring along all your questions and ideas about submitting to the exhibition and promoting your work at the book fair.
Time: Saturday, July 11, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Place: Tokyo Women’s Plaza, Conference Room 1
5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (by the Children’s Castle and United Nations University) For a map see www.scbwi.jp/map.htm
Fee: SCBWI members 1,000 yen; non-members 1,500 yen
This event will be in English and Japanese.
Job: Resident Director, Japan Center for Michigan Universities (Shiga-ken, Japan)
Jobs Comments Off on Job: Resident Director, Japan Center for Michigan Universities (Shiga-ken, Japan)
This nifty job listing was shared by Nina Morgenlander, a longtime Friend of JET who works in the field of international education programs:
RESIDENT DIRECTOR, JAPAN CENTER FOR MICHIGAN UNIVERSITIES (JCMU) Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
The Resident Director is responsible for managing and administering JCMU academic programs, day-to-day operations of the Center, including the budget and supervising students, staff, and faculty. Other duties include teaching a Japanese Culture and Society course, representing the JCMU consortium in public functions, and maintaining communications with MSU and relevant Japanese and American associates. Read More
Job: Senior Campaigners/Strategists-International Movement Team for Purpose Campaigns (NYC or elsewhere)
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(Internships also available)
Is there anyone out there in the JETAA-sphere facing financial difficulties, considering bankruptcy, worrying about foreclosure?
If so, feel free to e-mail your questions to me at jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.
I’m no longer a practicing bankruptcy lawyer, but I work in the bankruptcy world (see, e.g., the Bankruptcy Bill cartoon) and figured I could at least try to help out and get answers to any questions JET alums and Friends of JET out there might have. I might even be able to recommend a good lawyer for you, depending where you live.
I’ll keep all of your information confidential. However, if you give me permission, I would like to anonymously post your question and the eventual response on JetWit for the benefit of other readers.
Lastly, for your entertainment, here’s a post about an engaging blog titled “Love in the Time of Foreclosure” by a writer who is going through foreclosure with her husband. In a lot of ways, it’s more about love than about foreclosure, and kind of captures the zeitgeist of the times in which we’re living.
Job: Change.org seeks online organizer (NY, SF or DC)
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Shared with JetWit by JETAA NY Webmaster Lee-Sean Huang (2003-06) (Please do not contact Lee-Sean to apply for this job.):
Change.org is Hiring an Online Organizer
http://jobs.change.org/view/PWutSUyzgW
Want to help run advocacy campaigns on behalf of dozens of issues in collaboration with 500,000 activists and 4,000 organizations?
Change.org is hiring a full-time online organizer to help create, manage, and promote advocacy campaigns for its 20 causes. The online organizer will:
1. Work directly with Change.org’s growing team of bloggers to identify opportunities for creating effective grassroots campaigns on a daily basis;
2. Serve as the point of contact with Change.org’s thousands of nonprofit partners to improve their campaigns;
3. Maintain a pulse on the most popular and effective campaigns across the web to feature on Change.org, and;
4. Raise awareness about particularly newsworthy campaigns through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
The online strategist will also work with Change.org’s executive team to craft overall site strategy and oversee several major upcoming projects to be announced in the fall.
Applicants should have experience with strategizing and executing online advocacy campaigns, an interest in social media, and an excitement about working in a small, fast-growing organization. We welcome applicants of all ages – from young online organizers eager for more responsibility to seasoned veterans looking to oversee a diverse array of campaigns.
The position can be held in San Francisco, New York or Washington, DC. Pay is competitive.
To apply, send a brief introduction about your experience and a resume and/or Linkedin profile to organizer[at]change[dot]org.
Job: Nippon TV news intern (NY)
Jobs Comments Off on Job: Nippon TV news intern (NY)
A nice job listing sent directly to JetWit from Nippon TV:
Nippon TV (NTV), Japan’s oldest TV network has openings for enthusiastic news interns at New York News Bureau. The responsibility for the position is to assist our reporters in creating daily news stories, breaking news and longer feature stories to our Japanese audience. The ideal candidate would be fluent English speaker (Native/Business level) and conversational in Japanese, have great interests in news and be able to work long-term, more than 3 months. We don’t assist in any visa support. Interested candidates should send their English and Japanese resume to contact@ntvic.com.
Japan Fix: South Carolina
Blogs, Japan Fix, JETAA Chapters, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Japan Fix: South Carolina
Note: This is the second in what JetWit hopes will grow into a series of “Japan Fix” articles. How do you get your Japan fix wherever you live? Write it down and send it to JetWit for the entertainment and benefit of the JET alum community.
Japan Fix: South Carolina
By Daniel J. Stone (Saitama-ken, 2004-07), JETAA South Carolina Subchapter Rep
After spending seven years In San Diego and Los Angeles followed by three years in the metro Tokyo area, the decision to return to my hometown of Greenville, South Carolina with my wife who hails from Tokyo was a bit naïve when I look back to when we first returned to “America’s Bible Belt” in 2007.
Despite the geographic location, demographics and the overall facts that South Carolina is a small and rural state, one can get their “Japan Fix”, if they know where to look.
CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS
The International Center of the Upstate (ICU), located at the Greenville City Hall building, is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting cross-cultural understanding among local and international residents of Upstate South Carolina. It was here where my wife and I went to learn of where to go and what to do in the area’s international community. One of the first things I did was volunteer at ICU’s English conversation group where a group of Japanese spouses attended the weekly session.
Another group which was helpful was the Japan America Association of South Carolina based in Greenville. Through this group I was able to network with Japanese expatriates working at various companies in the area and like-minded Americans.
Lastly, there is the good ‘ol JETAA group based in Atlanta. It was through here that I met other JET alums in the area.
GROCERY & FOOD SHOPPING
The Tanpopo, aka “Dandelion”, located at the corner of Pelham Road and Highway 14 is a Read More
JETAA Chicago Newsletter request for articles
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Via JETAA Chicago and it’s wonderful newsletter editor, Elizabeth Friedman (Shimane-ken, 2003-04):
Dear Chicago JET alums,
My name is Elizabeth Friedman and I am the editor of the Chicago JETAA Newsletter.
I would like to invite all JET alums to submit articles for the summer edition. I have listed some ideas for submissions, but feel free to send in whatever you feel would be appropriate to include in a JETAA newsletter.
- The deadline for submissions is June, 26th.
- Please send your articles to me at jetaachinewsletter@ gmail.com.
- Submissions can include:
–Comic strips
–Restaurant reviews
–Japanese cultural activities in Chicago (music, movies, theater, art exhibits, etc…) reviews or thoughts on
–Announcements about JET alumni (marriages, graduations, jobs, etc…)
–Short stories (maybe a series–one page per issue),poetry, visual art, etc… done by JET alums that was inspired by Japanese culture
–Reflections on returning home from your JET experience
Feel free to contact me at jetaachinewslette r@ gmail.com if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Friedman (Shimane-ken, 2003-04)
