We post a lot of jobs and other work opportunities on JetWit. Occasionally I happen hear from JET alums I know that they got a job from a posting on JetWit, or they picked up freelance translation work perhaps.
Anecdotal is nice, but I’d like to get a more concrete sense of how helpful the site has been for finding work or income.
So if you’ve found a job or work opportunity or even a volunteer opportunity through a posting on JetWit, I’d like to ask you to write a short post about it here. Or feel free to put it in an e-mail to jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.
Thanks and yoroshiku.
Job: Covidien interviewing in Seattle for Tokyo office
Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
Next Monday, at the University of Washington, an American health-care product maker, Covidien, is going to have a presentation followed by interviews with students interested in working for its Tokyo branch. You can read more about the company online (www.covidien.com), and here are the details for the UW event:
Time: May 18, 2009. 5pm – 8pm
Location: Mary Gates Hall, 074
Schedule: 5pm – 6pm Company presentation, Q&A
6pm – 8pm Private interviews
*6pm – 8pm – staff from kikokugo.com will provide consultation about job search in Japan for those interested.
If you are thinking about staying for the interview, don’t forget to bring your resumes and wear business attire.
Jobs: International education programs (Chronicle of Higher Ed)
Via the Chronicle of Higher Education’s international education programs job listings:
5/14/2009
- Troy University (Alabama) : Director, Study Abroad Programs
5/13/2009
- Marshall University (West Virginia) : Director, International Admissions
5/8/2009
- Longwood University (Virginia) : Director of International Affairs
Learn more in our Employer Profiles
5/6/2009
- Institute for Study Abroad Butler University () : Resident Director, Egypt Programs and Director of Latin American Programs
Learning to Blog Workshop #3
We just did the third JETAA NY Learning to Blog Workshop on Tuesday night, again at the Cosi cafe on 31st & Park Ave. and again it was successful and a lot of fun.
JET alum attendees included a financial journalist, a music producer, an editor in the publishing world, a junior high school art teacher, and a scholarship program director. We even had a cameo from my younger brother Greg, who has his own blog called TheDigitialists.com that I occasionally post from on JetWit.
By 8:00 p.m., everyone had their own blog and knew things like:
- the difference between WordPress, Blogspot, Blogger and Typepad
- the difference between a post and a page
- how to change themes
- how to add widgets, like RSS feeds
- what an RSS feed is and how to take advantage of it
- how to create pages and sub-pages
and lots of other useful things for getting their blogs set up for career development and other purposes.
Adren Hart, the guy behind JETAA Ongaku Connection, e-mailed afterwards to say:
I feel like I have a better sense of the basics of WordPress and would be able to create and manage my own blog. I found the background info on the differences between WP and Blogspot, etc. quite useful as well as how to use widgets for specific tasks (e.g., embedding rss feeds from other sites).
Stay tuned for future workshop dates. If interested, e-mail me at jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.
Japan Society: Summer program for high school students (NY)
![]() |
|
|
Please click on the corresponding links for more details or visit http://www.japansociety.org/. Subscription information is located at the bottom of this e-mail.
Attention high school educators and students. Registration is open for our popular summer immersion workshop for high school students, A*NI*ME: Japanese Animation Production: Bring Your Artwork & Characters to Life!, scheduled for August 10-14 and August 17-21 with a screening on August 22nd. Deadline for application: Thursday, May 21, 2009. Complete applications received after the deadline will be considered on a space-available basis. Animation is a combination of storytelling, visual arts and acting, expressed through both electronic arts and traditional animation skills. In this two-week intensive workshop, participants will learn firsthand about the history of Japanese animation (anime), its unique features and cross cultural influences in Japan and in the U.S., as well as the market & distribution systems. During the hands-on part of the workshop, participants will gain practical experience creating short anime clips using various animation techniques. Learn about scenario writing, character development, storyboarding, and voiceovers under the guidance of anime production experts, scenario writers and designers, including Dai Sato, Japan’s leading anime scenario writer. Tuition: |
|
Bankruptcy Bill #15 – Above The Law
Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.wordpress.com.
Ethics CLE in Tokyo/Seeking speaker on Japanese securities law
Osaka-based JET alum lawyer Sean McIntire Allen, the founder of the Japan Legal group on LinkedIn, posted the following on the group list, which might be of interest to some other JET alums out there:
Ethics CLE in Tokyo & looking for speaker on Japanese Securities Law
TUJ Law Dean Matthew Wilson is presenting a CLE on legal ethics for a foreign bar association in Tokyo on Thursday 20 May 2009 at 19:00. The CLE will be simultaneously available in Osaka via video-conference. For more information, please see: www.gaiben.jp/kara/cle/s/EIN.
Also, the same bar association is interested in finding a speaker to present in English on Japanese Securities Law. If you would like to speak on Japanese Securities Law, or another CLE topic, please complete the Prospective Speaker questionnaire at: http://www.gaiben.jp/kara/cle/spkr . Thanks.
Update: The latest from Professor Michael Auslin
Here’s the latest from JET alum Michael Auslin, a professor of Japanese history and politics and currently the Director of Japanese Studies for the American Enterprise Institute in D.C.
- The Rise of China: Essays on the Future Competition – Edited by Gary J. Schmitt, with contributions from Michael Auslin, Dan Blumenthal, Ellen Bork, Nicholas Eberstadt, Robert Kagan, Schmitt, and Ashley J. Tellis; April 2009; Contributors to this volume challenge the prevailing benign view of China’s rise and analyze what the United States and its allies might do in the arenas of foreign and defense affairs to meet the challenges posed by China’s increased political, economic, and military power.
- Obama’s Hundred-Day Scorecard on Asia Policy
Japan
Grade: BOne step forward, two steps back. Secretary Clinton’s trip to Japan as the first stop on her diplomatic voyage was an important symbolic gesture to reassure Tokyo that Washington still values it as its key Asian ally and a proactive attempt to reengage Japan. However, the U.S. failure to make clear its commitment to defending Japanese territory prior to North Korea’s missile launch, compounded by its inability or unwillingness to secure a new resolution punishing Pyongyang’s provocation–the United States ultimately codrafted a presidential statement with the Chinese–left Japan feeling isolated. Furthermore, Tokyo and Washington face potentially troublesome days ahead fulfilling long-standing alliance agreements to restructure forces. Symbolic gestures will be no substitute for a firm working relationship built on shared interests.
Japanese culture trends in NYC
Many of us are now aware that modern Japanese culture has essentially turned New York City into New York-ku, with Pocky and Pretz widely available, new ramen shops and izakayas popping up every week and Japanese hair salons throughout the city. And of course you can’t swing a Kinokuniya bag without hitting a Japanese style karaoke bar.
But yesterday alone I noticed yet three more examples of Japanese culture–perceived as so impentrable by much of the world–penetrating further into New York-ku:
- City Bakery’s (3 W. 18th St) baked goods now all seem to have Japanese subtitles on the little signs sticking out from the muffins and other items.
- Opening of the Japanese Culinary Center (the “Other JCC,” as New York Magazine calls it) on 711 Third Ave. (entrance on 45th St. between Second and Third aves.) nymtc.com
- Gamar Jobat, a Japanese silent comedy duo (i.e, manzai) currently performing at the New Victory Theater (https://secure.newvictory.org/newvictory/tickets/production.aspx?PID=767&emailsource=GAMAR1212)
Have other examples to share? Post a comment or send an e-mail to jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.
JET alum sake expert John Gauntner at Japan Society May 19
Just saw a Japan Times article on JET alum sake expert John Gauntner, and then this popped into my inbox:

|
LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!
Annual Sake Tasting & Lecture Koji-making is the heart of the sake brewing process. Koji is steamed rice onto which a special mold has been grown with great precision and skill that converts starches to sugars, which in turn are fermented to yield alcohol. Making good koji requires precise regulation of temperature and moisture, and nothing has a greater impact on the final flavors and aromas of sake. Like much of sake brewing, koji-making is more art than science. Sake expert John Gauntner discusses the art and science of making koji, what it is, the myriad ways it can be accomplished, and how tiny changes to koji can result in major differences in sake flavor. Followed by a sake tasting. Co-sponsored by the Sake Export Association. Tickets: Purchase tickets online or call the box office at 212.715.1258 |
Thanks to JET Liason Noriko Furuhata and JET alum Eric Campbell, both of whom work at the Consulate General of Japan in New York, for sharing the link to this Japan Times article about JET alum John Gauntner who has established himself as the leading non-Japanese sake expert in the world. And this on the heels of a recent JETAA NY sake tasting event at Bao Noodles, a restaurant owned by JET alum and sake sommelier Chris Johnson (Oita-ken, 1992-95).
Great stuff. Then again, is anyone really that surprised that JET alums would know sake so well? :-)
For more info, here are links to:
- the Japan Times article: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090404a1.html
- John’s website: http://www.sake-world.com/ (filled with lots of good stuff)
- The five books he’s written on sake: http://www.sake-world.com/html/books.html (Yet another published JET alum author!)
- His Nihonshu columns that he wrote for the Japan Times for 8 years: http://www.sake-world.com/html/jt-archives.html
Perhaps going forward it’s time for JetWit to start keeping its eyes peeled for JET alum shouju sommeliers.
Kirsten’s World: Oh, I’m a Joyous Glad T.V.
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
I would pay a ton of money to be a Japanese-comprehending fly on the wall of a Glico marketing conference. Summer approaches and Japan requires a new gum.
Eureka! I’ve got it! Monkey gum!
No one’s gonna buy monkey gum, idiot.
I tell you some folk can’t resist the idea of monkey gum! It’ll be a sensation! The people will embrace it by storm!
3 people will embrace it by storm–the guy in the strait jacket and the two men in white chasing him with a net.
You just don’t see my vision, man!
Ok. What exactly does monkey gum taste like?
I believe we may have found an appropriate vehicle for our as yet unlaunched gobo-yuzu series.
In what blanking universe does gobo OR yuzu have anything whatsoever to do with primates?
Who fucking cares??? It’s monkey blast! Simmianrific! Sarutastic! My mojo’s on the yen, baby! Tart it up, get Kamenashi in a chimp suit to whore it out and it’ll sell like スルメ in a Nursing Home!
The ironic thing is, ladies and gents? It likely will. In fact, it might even launch an American remake.
Such a fickle lot the Japanese are. Just when I’d start developing a bitching jones for キャラメル 味 Kit-Kats, I’d find them cruelly yanked come Winter and Read More
JapanInfo Newsletter – April 2009
The April 2009 edition of JapanInfo is now available online. JapanInfo is published by the Consulate General of Japan in New York/Japan Information Center and is a great source of info for Japan-related things going on in New York and the surrounding area.
Highlights include:
Ambassador Nishimiya Takes Office- Ambassador Nishimiya Visits Philadelphia
- Ms. Toshiko Calder of the Princeton Community Japanese Language School is Honored
- JETAANY Hosts First Author Showcase
- The World Heritage Sites in Japan: Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto
- Manga as a Tool for Learning Japanese
- And plenty of things to do and see on the Events Calendar.
Job: Assistant English Teacher (Hokkaido)
Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
Greetings from Hokkaido,
I remember this gig as being a sweet one if anyone is interested in coming back to Japan and living up in Kamui Mintara (Ainu for “God’s Country”) of Hokkaido. If so, please check out the below and get in touch with them directly.
If you are interested in coming over to the Kamui Mintara this summer for some good ol’ fashioned (straw bale) wall raising, check out the blog listed in my signature for information on our workshop the first weekend in August.
I hope all is well back in The Pac. NW!! Ogenki de!!
-Toby
Hokkaido, Japan, Earth
http://maikotobybomber.blogspot.com
*************
The Shintoku BOE is seeking an enthusiastic applicant to fill one of its two Assistant English Teacher (AET) positions. Read More
Job: Bilingual English/Korean Assistant Recruiter (Southern California)
Via JETAA Southern California:
Assistant Recruiter Wanted
Description
Major Japanese trading company is looking for Assistant Recruiter(Human Resource Department)! This company holds nineteen branch offices througout the United States, Canada, Tokyo, Kobe and Shanghai China. They offers Japanese food to the world , and offers international food to Japan. Read More




