AJET Connect Magazine: April 2013
AJET 
Comments Off on AJET Connect Magazine: April 2013
Here’s the April 2013 issue of AJET Connect Magazine: (Download PDF) http://ajetnet.s3.amazonaws.com/connect/2013_April_Connect.pdf
JET alum’s “Man of Steel” passion project
LifeAfterJET, Notable JET Alums, Video Comments Off on JET alum’s “Man of Steel” passion project
An interesting passion project produced by videographer Patrick Lee (Nagasaki-ken, 2010-2012). More of his videos can be seen on his Youtube Channel. He can be contacted through Facebook and Twitter.
Here’s a little background from the WILL & TALE site:
Like many fans, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Man Of Steel since it was announced a few years ago. Taking inspiration from diehard fans who created unofficial title sequences for films such as Adventures of Tintin and X-Men: First Class, we wanted to see how far we could go with this same idea. The result is a passion project – the culmination of many long nights and weekends over the past three months.
The story we developed is a take on our favorite superhero, Superman. We created a narrative of news anchors and eyewitnesses highlighting major events throughout Clark Kent’s life. It was important to have Clark’s story told by the world and show how he has impacted the lives of others.
Nothing in the video has been pulled from a video game or other movie footage. We created all the 2D/3D animations, compositing, articles, voiceover recordings, and more.
Japan Times: LDP looks to double JET Program’s ranks in 3 years
Japan Trends, Return on JET-vestment Comments Off on Japan Times: LDP looks to double JET Program’s ranks in 3 years
Good news on the horizon for the JET Program. And for the future of JETAA as well.
LDP looks to double JET Program’s ranks in three years
By Ayako Mie, Staff Writer
The number of teachers hired for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program would be doubled in three years under a proposal drafted by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to boost Japan’s global competitiveness and nurture international talent.
According to the draft of a midterm report by the LDP’s economic revitalization headquarters obtained Monday, the number of JET teachers would be increased to 10,000 from about 4,360 in 2012. The teachers also would be dispatched to all elementary, junior high and high schools within 10 years.
The JET Program was targeted for wasteful spending by the Democratic Party of Japan’s “shiwake” government revitalization unit before the young party was kicked out of power in the Lower House election in December.
The LDP views the use of native English speakers as vital to improving English-speaking ability at a time when it is moving toward making a passing score on the Test of English as Foreign Language mandatory for entering and graduating from college.
The proposal is in line with the growth strategies Prime Minister Shinzo Abe mapped out last Friday ahead of the July Upper House election. The strategies include globalizing the Japanese workforce and increasing the number of women in it by extending the length of maternity leave to three years from 18 months.
The proposal will be part of Abe’s real basic economic policies, which are being compiled by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy for release in June — just a month before the House of Councilors election in July.
Fleshing out Abe’s pledge to fight the nationwide shortage of day-care centers, the LDP’s plan will also propose tax breaks for spending related to housekeeping, including baby-sitting and housekeeping fees.
According to media reports, the LDP will also try to lure back Japanese companies that have moved overseas to escape the strong yen by offering tax breaks for closing any factories built abroad and for building new ones in Japan.
Halting the manufacturing exodus will help prevent the hollowing out of Japanese industry.
Toby Weymiller (ALT Hokkaido, 1997-2000)
I was shocked and saddened today to see a post to the Pacific Northwest JETAA email group letting everyone know that JET alum Toby Weymiller (Hokkaido, 1997-2000) had lost his life in an avalanche. Toby had sent me anecdotes for the JETAA NY Newsletter over the years and also shared how he was building his eco-friendly kissaten in Hokkaido. I also just learned that he had been involved with efforts to rescue animals in Tohoku after the tsunami through AngelsWithFurJapan. According to Toby’s Facebook page and Lynn’s email below, there is a memorial service for him on Saturday, April 20 in Tacoma, WA.
Below is the email sent to the PNW JETAA group:
It is with a heavy heart that I share the sad new of the passing of Toby Weymiller (Hokkaido ALT, 1997-2000) on March 29th from injuries sustained in an avalanche. Though originally interviewed in LA, he departed from Seattle and lived in Seattle for a few years after participating on the JET Program (2004 – 2007), before returning to Hokkaido with his wife Maiko; therefore, in my book, Toby will forever be a member of our Seattle JETs/PNWJETAA family.
For those of you who frequented Kinokuniya around 2005, you may have run into Maiko, as she used to work there. Toby loved being outdoors, and had an a great appreciation for nature and the environment. I never knew what kind of adventure he & was going to embark upon at any given time or what stories he was going tell about Bomber the cat. One of the more memorable ventures was a couple of years after moving back to Japan, when he and Maiko built “Square One” – their straw bale eco-hybrid house in Higashikawa. I remember being fascinated by the whole process, as they shared video updates on YouTube. The project later evolved in to a book that he published in 2011 called “The Building of Square One”.
I just recently learned of this news – thanks to Jeff Huffman for spotting the obituary & passing it on. For any of you who knew Toby, a celebration of his life will be held at the Harmon Brewing Company in Tacoma, WA, this Saturday, April 20 at 4 pm.
Toby, for those of us lucky to have been touched by your friendship, you will be remembered and missed.
Lynn Miyauchi
Seattle PNWJETAA
Membership Committee
*****************
For more information about Toby you can go to the Angels With Fur Japan website: http://angelswithfurjapan.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/toby-weymiller/
There’s also a very nice tribute by a friend with more information about Toby here: http://www.seanmisen.com/?p=941
JET alum seeks to create “Japan Town” in Sydney
Return on JET-vestment Comments Off on JET alum seeks to create “Japan Town” in Sydney
I saw a post about this on the JETAA New South Wales Facebook page and thought this was worth sharing with the JET alum community since it’s a JET alum seeking to literally spread Japanese culture. Here’s the full description of the project being pursued by JET alum Joshua Flannery at http://www.pozible.com/project/21447:
Sydney already has a China Town, a “little Italy” (Leichardt/Haberfield), a Korea Town (Eastwood/City) and many more pockets of ethnic-flavoured deliciousness.
This pozible project aims to create a permanent “Little Japan” somewhere in Sydney (actually I prefer the name “Little Kyoto as it is less common than Little Tokyo or Little Osaka a la San Francisco).
Sure, we have the Japanese supermarket and a bit of a community in Northbridge but its not exactly an equivalent to China Town. We also have a little pocket of restaurants and a Japanese bookshop in Artarmon but to be honest, you could walk right through it and not realise it was there.
More than just a collection of restaurants in the same area, this will include an onsen (Japanese traditional baths), a geisha house, quaint little Japanese bars, street vendors/markets selling chicken kara age (Japanese fried chicken) and takoyaki (fried octopus ball) stands.
There would be a manga cafe and maybe even a maid cafe.
Japanese art and craft would be on display and on sale with J-Pop, Enka and Japanese hip-hop heard throughout the area.
There would be regular events and performances and busking in the area would be permitted for Japanese and Japan related artists.
A Business with Japan zone would also be created with an area to network with local business people with Japanese products and services or business visitors from Japan. To see a Japanese salary man roaming from the zone to a restaurant to a bar just like the backstreets of Tokyo would not be unusual.
For those wanting to study Japanese or keep up their language skills, there will be “Japanese language zones” where only Japanese language will be spoken. The will also give an effect as if one were over in Japan. Further to the language learning, there will be classes to make Japanese food, art and martial arts training available in a dojo space.
Sydney’s Little Japan will be an experiential, educational and delicious zone of Japan flavored food, art, culture and people.
Outside of Japan, this space will be the most extensive Japan flavored space in the world and people will actually visit it as a tourist attraction too.
What do I have and why me?
· Japanese food and culture addict
* 6 years living and working in Japan
· A network of Japanese business community
· A network of Japanese people living in Sydney (including my Japanese wife)
· Experience as the only non-Japanese staff in Sydney’s first sushi train restaurant
· Strong links into Japans business and hospitality industry (I’m a Certified Sake Professional)
– My day job now is working with start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors and everyone else in the innovation ecosystem. I know what it takes to plan and execute a project :
What do I need?
In order to do this properly, I need some funding to do the research for the project. I’d like to conduct interviews with current players in Sydney (read Japanese restaurant owners, importers, dojo managers, the Japan Foundation, the Japan External Trade Organisation, Japanese schools and the Japanese expat community).
Depending on how much is pledged, I would also look at 1 trip to Japan to meet with potential partners based in Japan who may support the project (read government officials, businesses and others with interested in spreading “Japan” further into Sydney). It would be cool to bring something new that doesn’t exist in Australia over.
The goal will be to create a detailed report, which will give a clearer idea of:
1) who wants to be a part of this
2) what the real size of this Japan Town will be (a multilevel building or an area around a train station in the suburbs or?)
3) how much money it will cost to make this happen
Upon the completion of the project, I will send those who donate a copy so they can see what this project has found.
The document will also act as the basis to start the second, much larger project of beginning to actually make this Japan Town become a reality – and another reason for people to love Sydney.
Here’s the link to pledge to the cause: https://www.pozible.com/fund/support/21447/0/-1
JETAA Australia, New Zealand chapters collaborate towards JETAA Oceania
JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA Australia, New Zealand chapters collaborate towards JETAA Oceania
I noticed on the JETAA New South Wales Facebook group that JETAA chapters in Australia and New Zealand decided to emphasize a more regional collaboration. This sounds a bit like what’s been going on between JETAA USA and Canada chapters, and there’s even been some mention here and there about the possibility of more collaboration between JETAA UK and the North American chapters. Here the info from the JETAA New South Wales email list:
“One of the main outcomes of the 2012 JETAA Regional Conference was a decision to create a combined logo for all JETAA chapters in Australia and New Zealand.”
“All JETAA members are invited to vote for their preferred logo by emailing their name and preferred image (number 1-5) to jetaanzrep [at] gmail.com. Alternatively, you can vote on the JETAA Oceania Facebook page: JETAA Oceania Logo Poll”
“Voting closes on Thursday 11 April, so get in quick!”
Link to JETAA Oceania Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/192391273441/
JETAA Singapore announces new Board
JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA Singapore announces new Board
Via JETAA Singapore’s website:
“Thanks for your votes at AGM/Elections. We are pleased to present the 6 elected members of JETAA SG Board 2013-2014!”
(LtoR) Anne Tan, Nathalie Ng, Sheryna Yip, Tee Yiting, Eugene Neubronner, Wong Hung Shane
For the JET who has everything: The Tokyo History Over Time Puzzle
Cultural Outreach, Local Government, Travel/Tourism Comments Off on For the JET who has everything: The Tokyo History Over Time Puzzle
Originally posted to the Pacific Northwest JETAA Facebook group by Sabrina Holliday Carlin:
“For the JET who has everything…$40 at Snapdoodle Toys in Kenmore!””
Life After JET: Teaching perspective from Kevin Stein
Blogs, Career, LifeAfterJET, Notable JET Alums, Writers Comments Off on Life After JET: Teaching perspective from Kevin Stein
A great post about teaching from “The Other Things Matter,” a great blog by Osaka-based ESL teacher Kevin Stein. Kevin is also the author of the article “Even a Native Speaker Stops Sometimes: Helping Japanese Learners to Understand What is Said.”
As many flavors of failure…
I came over to Japan for my first English language teaching job on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. It was 14 years ago. I was living way out in the countryside and always looked forward to our big prefectural trainings. At that time, the program directors gathered up the assistant language teachers twice a year and plunked us all down in a hot-spring hotel for three days. During those trainings, I first learned how to use the International Phonetic Alphabet as a tool for pronunciation work. I learned about how to help students adjust to ambiguity in the language classroom (something I recently revisited thanks to the spring issue of The English Connection). And oddly (or perhaps not oddly at all), I met John Fanselow for the first time. He gave a lecture on partial information which has stayed more than partially with me for over a dozen years.
I also remember one more presentation from the first training I attended. It was only thirty minutes or so long. It was given by a very unassuming high school teacher from Japan. He wore a short-sleeved cream colored button-down shirt with a brown necktie. He stood at the front of the room and started telling us about his bullet-train ride into the conference. He hadn’t brought much cash with him, so he bought a cheap Japanese lunch-box before getting on the train. He put his luggage and Japanese lunch-box on the rack above his seat, nodded to the business man sitting next to him, and then promptly took a nap.
When he woke up, he felt a little hungry, so he pulled down his lunch box. He was pleased to find that, even though it was a cheap lunch-box, it was filled with all sorts of strips of beef, some fatty tuna, and quail eggs. He was particularly happy about the quail eggs as they were his favorite. About half way through eating his lunch-box, the businessman next to him also woke up from a nap, stood up, and took down his own lunch-box. But as soon as the businessman opened the lunch-box up, he seemed to get very angry. The presenter said, “I wasn’t sure why he was angry. I guessed that maybe he was disappointed in his lunch-box. It wasn’t as nice as mine. It was the kind with sausages, not steak. Fried fish, not sushi. I felt very bad for him.” Then the presenter started laughing. A real solid laugh that, I think, made everyone else in the room want to laugh as well. “In fact, I was feeling bad for him when he turned to me and said….
Click here to read the full post on Kevin’s blog.
JETAANY announces new Executive Board
JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAANY announces new Executive Board
2013 JETAA New York Executive Board
President – Monica Yuki
Vice President – Pamela Kavalam
Secretary – Wendy Ikemoto
Treasurer – Tommy Zhou
Membership – Ann Chow
JET alum children’s book author Rob Weston keeps producing
Books, JET Alum Author Beat, Notable JET Alums, Writers Comments Off on JET alum children’s book author Rob Weston keeps producing
Rob Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), author of the one-of-a-kind children’s novel Zorgamazoo, continues his uniquely rhyming ways. In February, he published Prince Puggly of the Spiff and the Kingdom of Spud. And in November he will be publishing a phosphorescent children’s book–The Creature Department.
About Prince Puggly:
Prince Puggly of Spud and the Kingdom of Spiff is the story of Puggly, a commoner chosen to be the prince—not the king, definitely not the king—of the extremely unfashionable Kingdom of Spud.
The newly-crowned Puggly is surprised to receive an invite to a party in the kingdom next door, the painfully chic Kingdom of Spiff. When Puggly shows up in plaid trousers and a polka-dot cape, the stylish Spiffians are not amused—especially when when it turns out Puggly’s invite is a forgery.
But hark! All is not lost. Puggly soon discovers an unexpected ally in Francesca, the bookish Princess of Spiff. Together, the two friends set out to teach the Spiffs an absurd lesson in style…
For more info, go to: http://robertpaulweston.com/
Here are clips of Rob from the 2009 JETAA NY JET Alumni Author Showcase.
JETAA DC elects new officers
JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA DC elects new officers
Via the JETAA DC Google Group:
We would like to thank everyone who voted at elections during our general business meeting last night at the Embassy of Japan. Congratulations to the following individuals who will comprise the 2013-2014 JETAADC Board:
- President – Leigh Ann Mastrini
- Vice-President – Becky Solem
- Treasurer – Ryan Bedford
- Secretary: – Joanna Blatchly
- Social – Sara Haider & Joel Zara
- Volunteer – Paul Schuble
- Outreach – Joy Young
- JET Ambassadors – Sarah Lyons & Sarah Tillotson
- Online – Brandon Wright
- Returnee Handbook – Chrissie Skodon
- Thought Leadership: Shana Tischler
- Newsletter – TBD
Tohoku Tomo Update 03.26.13
Cultural Outreach, Earthquake Tsunami, Japan Local, Notable JET Alums, Return on JET-vestment, Video Comments Off on Tohoku Tomo Update 03.26.13
Wesley Julian (Miyagi-ken, 2008-10) is now in Japan with a small film crew making a video that will share the story of JET alums and others who have made and continue to make a difference in Tohoku, Japan. Below is a video update from Wesley regarding his Tohoku Tomo project:
Tohoku Tomo Update from Philip Holbrook on Vimeo.
JET alum Lucia Brea interviewed by NY Public Library Blog about JET Program
Cultural Outreach, Interview/Profile, Return on JET-vestment Comments Off on JET alum Lucia Brea interviewed by NY Public Library Blog about JET Program
The New York Public Library Blog recently interviewed JET alum Lucia Brea (Fukui-ken) about her experience on the JET Program:
STUFF FOR THE TEEN AGE, THE TICKETLESS TRAVELER
Think Japan is all Manga, Sushi, and Pocky Sticks?
by Rabecca Hoffman, Kingsbridge Library
March 21, 2013
Harajuku? Geisha? Robots? Awesome! Japanese culture has been an obsession of mine for a while now, as well as for the teenagers at my branch, so when we recently had the opportunity to invite Lucia Brea, Fukui Friendship Ambassador, to stop by and talk to the Kingsbridge Library’s Teen Advisory Group, I jumped at the opportunity. Lucia spent four years in Japan through the JET Program teaching English to students of all ages in the Fukui Prefecture, and I was able to sit down with her after her visit to ask her a few questions about her experience:
What is the JET program, and would you recommend it for other people? Are there other ways to go about living in Japan as a foreigner?
The JET Programme stands for Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme, now in its 26th year, which aims to promote grass-roots international exchange between Japan and other countries. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a passion for developing strong relationships with communities and the drive to live in Japan for an extended period of time. It is an opportunity to experience Japan and continue to enhance relationships between Japan and their home country like I did at the New York Public Library. There are many other ways to live in Japan as a foreigner, the JET Programme is one of the best…
CLICK HERE to read the full article on the New York Public Library site.
JETAA Chicago White Day Dinner
JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA Chicago White Day Dinner
JETAA Chicago recently held a White Day Dinner. How cool is that? No write-up to share, but just wanted to share the concept perhaps for other chapters to try out in the future. Maybe it’ll even catch on in the US?
