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Author Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90), who serves as the publicity assistant for the Tokyo branch of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, shared the following announcement:
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators presents
Literary Agent Laura Rennert
Under the Hood: The Nuts and Bolts of Craft
Time: Friday, May 15, 2009, 6:30 – 8:30 p.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 1,500 yen; non-members 2,000 yen
This event will be in English.
In this two hour presentation, Laura Rennert, senior agent of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, will lift the hood and focus on the key elements of the writer’s craft: voice, great beginnings, characterization, narrative structure, plot, powerful endings. How do you establish your compact with the reader and then honor it? What makes opening pages irresistible and how do you sustain these page turning elements throughout your work? What causes an agent, an editor, or a reader to put down a book? If voice is that ineffable something you bring to the table, are there concrete ways in which you can work on it? What are the essential elements that go into the creation of “round” characters, and how can you create these multi-dimensional, vivid characters?
Come to this hands-on session and plumb these questions and others as Rennert delves into issues of craft and technique, drawing on her ten years plus experience as an agent, on her Ph.D. and eight years of university experience teaching English Literature, and her own experience as an agent with forthcoming published books.
Laura Rennert is a Senior Agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Founded in New York City in 1981, it was the first literary agency to represent both children’s book authors and illustrators. Rennert has been with the agency for almost ten years, and specializes in all categories of children’s books, from picture books to young adult, graphic novels, fiction and nonfiction. Visit the Andrea Brown agency website at www.andreabrownlit.com.
Upcoming Lectures at Japan Society (NY): Intimacy and Tourism
Events, Japan Society Round-up, Japan Trends 
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I just saw that Japan Society (NY) has two particularly interesting lectures coming up. One on the issue of intimacy in Japanese society and the other on whether Japan has failed to take advantage of a big tourism opportunity, both topics that are likely to be of interest to JET alums.
Lovesick Japan:
Stories of Intimacy from Courts to Keitai (Cell Phone) Novels Dana Goodyear, poet, journalist and the author of the New Yorker article “I ♥ Novels,” and Mark West, Nippon Life Professor of Japanese Law at the University of Michigan, discuss their latest research into this “crisis of intimacy.” Moderated by Kenji Yoshino, The Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University. Tickets: Purchase tickets online or call the box office at 212.715.1258 Historical and Natural Tourism:
Rediscovering Lost Japan While tourism has become the world’s largest earner of foreign exchange, famed author and Japan expert Alex Kerr argues that Japan has largely missed a great opportunity. Using examples of successful historic renovation and new approaches to managing tourist sites in both rural and urban Japan, Kerr offers an innovative vision for the future of international tourism in Japan. Purchase tickets online or call the box office at 212.715.1258 LOCATION: |
Job: Doc review for attorneys fluent in reading Japanese
Jobs Comments Off on Job: Doc review for attorneys fluent in reading Japanese
Thanks to Jonathan Golub, Esq. (Saitama-ken, 1996-97) for passing along this opportunity:
PeterSan Legal Temps is seeking admitted attorneys who are fluent in written Japanese for a document review project. Admission to at least one state bar is strongly preferred; attorneys with admission pending will be considered. No non-attorney candidates are being accepted at this time. Please email your resume ASAP to pltresumes@petersan.com.
(Also, a reminder for any JET alum lawyers, law school students, potential law school students or those with any other connection to or interest in law that you’re welcome to join the JETAA Law Group on Facebook.)
Via Sabrina Carlin on the JETAA Pacific Northwest e-mail list:
For those Yoshida Kyodai fans out there, the Brothers are playing at the Triple Door on May 20th. There are two shows, 7 pm or 9:30. Tickets are $23 or $26 at the door. You can call over the phone for tickets for a small service fee. http://www.tripledoor.com/ The doors open at 5 pm, and they have a full dinner menu available. A few of us Alums are going to the first show. Want to join us?
For those of you who’ve never heard of them:
One more video clip below the fold: Read More
I just found out about another JET alum blog, this one at japandra.blogspot.com by a woman named Sandra (Miyazaki-ken, 1997-99) who worked in media in NY for a few years and now is back n Tokyo still in the media biz.
My favorite line so far is from her post “Do Over” where she attends a Yakult Swallows game and comments:
Maybe you know something about how Japanese baseball fans coordinate and organize. They make honeybees look sloppy.
Definitely a blog worth following.
This past Saturday we held the first-ever JET Alumni Blog Workshop where we invited JET alums to gather and learn how to set up, use and take advantage of blogs. This was my first activity in my new JETAA NY role as Professional Outreach & Development Chair and it turned out to be both productive and a lot of fun.
- The goal was to help JET alums develop skills that will be beneficial in furthering their careers, whether they want to be independent writers, promote their services and abilities or perhaps just be one of the few people in their company who knows how to use blogs effectively (or at all).
- Location: JETAA NY webmaster Lee-Sean Huang‘s apartment building in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, which has wi-fi in its library. Two JET alums joined: Randall, who had never used a blog before, and Anton, who is familiar with blogs but was seeking structure for his writing energies and was interested in learning some of the techniques for effectively using a blog and increasing traffic. Rather than a formal class-style lecture, we just sat around with our laptops (3 laptops for 4 people), demonstrated the basics of blogs and then looked over Randall’s shoulder as he set up his first-ever blog. With Anton we discussed using RSS feeds to follow other blogs as well as possible writing topics
and ways to contribute to JetWit.com.
- Next JET Alumni Blog Workshop: Probably on a weeknight in the near future, most likely in midtown at a cafe or other space that has wi-fi. Stay tuned for more information. If you’re interested and you have not already been in touch, just send an e-mail to professional at jetaany dot org and I’ll add you to the list.
- Lastly, I encourage other JETAA chapters to try setting up blog workshops as well. In addition to helping JET alums learn new skills, it was also nice to get together, learn about what each of us was doing and exchange info in a constructive way. In the current economy it’s more important than ever for JET alums to help each other out, and this is just one small way among many to do that.
Just found out about another JET alum author out there in the JETAA-sphere…
Suzanne (Borsum) Kamata (Tokushima, 1988-90) is the author of the novel Losing Kei (Leapfrog Press, 2008), a picture book, Playing for Papa (Topka Books, 2008) and the editor of three anthologies – Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (Wyatt-Mackenzie Publishing, 2009), Love You to Pieces: Creative Writers on Raising a Child with Special Needs (Beacon Press, 2008) and The Broken Bridge: Fiction from Expatriates in Literary Japan (Stone Bridge Press, 1997). Her articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in over 100 publications, and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times. She is also the 2008 recipient of the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for Fiction. She is currently fiction editor of literarymama.com, and provides manuscript critiques on a freelance basis.
- To learn more about Suzanne you can visit her website at http://www.suzannekamata.com or her blog at http://gaijinmama.wordpress.com (RSS feed here).
- Read an interview with Suzanne Kamata on children’s books and diversity by the blog Kabiliana.
- Go to the Authors/Books section of the JetWit Library to see a complete list of JET alum authors (at least to JetWit’s knowledge).
JETAA Texoma website up and running
JETAA Chapter Beat, JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA Texoma website up and running
Texoma JETAA Region has just announced the launch of its new website in blog format: www.jetaa9.org
Get the RSS feed here: http://www.jetaa9.org/wpb/?feed=rss2
You can go here to meet the Texoma JETAA officers.
JET alum artist Laurel Lukaszewski featured in Washington Post article
Art, Events, Interview/Profile Comments Off on JET alum artist Laurel Lukaszewski featured in Washington Post article
Artist Laurel Lukaszewski (Kagoshima-ken, 1990-92) is featured in a nice article “Ceramics That Go Beyond Cups and Bowls” in Friday’s Washington Post. The article focuses on how unique it is for an artist to be working with clay these days, particularly since it has nothing to do with bowls, cups and dishes.
Laurel has an upcoming show titled “A Fine Line” opening Thursday, April 23, in D.C. Together with Noelle K. Tan she will be showing her sculpture and Noelle Tan will have her altered photographs and prints.
A Fine Line
Works by Noelle K. Tan and Laurel Lukaszewski
505 9th Street, NW Lobby
Washington, DC
(near the Archives and Gallery Place/Chinatown metro stations)
Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Thursday, April 23, 2009, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
The show runs April 23 through early July 2009 and is open weekdays 8:00 am – 7:00 pm
For more information, please visit: http://project4gallery.com/invitations/afineline/index.html
For more information on Laurel and her work, go to www.laurellukaszewski.com.
This article from today’s NY Times puts a positive spin on job searching in the current economic climate, pointing out how the lack of traditional Wall St. jobs for business school grads has in a sense given many of them “permission” to pursue other jobs, such as teaching, managing a jazz club, applying for the foreign service or going to rabbinical school when they might otherwise have felt pressured to go for a high-paying, high-status Wall Street job.
Dakedo, if you read between the lines, what this means is a more competitive job market for everyone including JET alums. Now, when you apply for the foreign service or Teach for America or anything else, you’re competing against MBA students and other highly-qualified people for these positions.
Sore de, it’s more important than ever to take a proactive approach to the notion of career and job search. The ground is shifting underneath us, which is scary, but also means there are new opportunities. It’s no longer enough to think of jobs as familiar fixed categories for which you send your resume and wait for a company or organization to “give” you a job. This is the time to look around, figure out what needs are out there and create your own job and your own value, especially given the tools available out there to everyone such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Etsy.com, eBay and many others. While you may or may not succeed in creating your own job or business, going through the process will open doors, teach you new skills, give you more confidence and be more likely over time to lead to new opportunities and new jobs.
In other words, we all now have permission to take risks. Ganbatte kudasai!
Via the Consulate General’s post on the JETAA British Columbia yahoogroup:
2010 MEXT (Monbukagakusho) Research Studies Scholarship
Guidelines and application forms for the 2010 MEXT (Monbukagakusho) Research Scholarship are now available. The scholarship is open to university graduates, born on or after April 2, 1975 who wish to study at a university in Japan as research students.
The deadline to apply for the scholarship is May 14, 2009.
The scholarship documents can be accessed through the Consulate General of Japan in Vancouver’s website at http://www.vancouve r.ca.emb- japan.go. jp/en/culture/ mext.htm
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 604.684.5868, ext. 391 or by Email at culturalcentre [at] consuljpnvan [dot] com.
Sincerely,
Steve Chevalier
Assistant to the Consul, Cultural Affairs
************ ********* ********* ********* ******
The Consulate General of Japan in Vancouver
800-1177 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 2K9
www.vancouver.ca.emb-japan.go.jp
NYTimes: Young Japanese head to inaka for work
Japan Trends Comments Off on NYTimes: Young Japanese head to inaka for work
Interesting article in today’s NY Times about how a lot of young Japanese adults are heading to the inaka to work on farms. This simultaneously helps with some of the unemployment in Japan and also helps replace a lot of the aging farm workforce and perhaps even in terms of improving inefficient farming processes.
Demographic shifts also tend to have other consequences as well. I wonder if any current JETs out there are seeing this trend first hand. And I wonder if there might be any impact on the JET experience or even the JET Program in some way over time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/global/16farmer.html?emc=eta1
Job: Payroll Admin for TransPerfect (NY)
Jobs Comments Off on Job: Payroll Admin for TransPerfect (NY)
Via JETAA DC yahoogroup (interestingly enough):
Payroll Administration for TransPerfect in NY
Position Summary: The Payroll individual to manage, process and coordinate all aspects of bi-weekly and monthly payrolls for over 1,000 national and international employees. Read More
Zach LeNarz, founder of the JETAA Law Group (now on Facebook) posted a link on the group’s wall to the powerpoint slides (in PDF format) used in a presenation at the 2008 Yokohama returner’s conference. The presentation was given by an Australian woman then working for the law firm of Herbert Smith in Tokyo and provide a good way of thinking through any JET’s decision to study law and the various career options.
http://www.jetprogramme.org/documents/conference/crj/2008_crj/Law_ppp.pdf
Jobs: 4 positions at Outdoor Research (Seattle area)
Jobs Comments Off on Jobs: 4 positions at Outdoor Research (Seattle area)
Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
- (Posted: 2009-03-03) Accounts Payable Specialist
- (Posted: 2009-03-31) Internet Marketing Coordinator
- (Posted: 2009-04-13) Auxiliary Supervisor
- (Posted: 2009-04-13) Part Time Weekend Sales Specialist
If you or someone you know is interested in one of these positions, please refer them to the Employment Section of the OR website ( http://www.outdoorr esearch.com/ site/jobs_ listing.html ) and have them submit a resume to jobs at outdoorresearch dot com.
