Roland Kelts helps launch debut issue of “MONKEY BUSINESS: New Voices from Japan” with April/May events in NYC
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Via Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica and the contributing editor for MONKEY BUSINESS: New Voices from Japan:
A Letter from A Public Space (Brooklyn-based literary publication):
A Public Space Literary Projects announces the debut issue of MONKEY BUSINESS: New Voices from Japan, with April/May launch events in New York City.
New York City, New York, April 4, 2011—A Public Space (APS) announces publication of the first annual English language edition of Monkey Business: New Voices from Japan (MB), supported by a generous grant from the Nippon Foundation. Three launch programs in New York City in late April and early May will bring together authors, translators and editors from Japan and the US for this first-of-its-kind trans-cultural literary event. Twenty-five percent of all MB sales will go toward the Nippon Foundation/CANPAN Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.
Monkey Business is a Tokyo-based Japanese literary magazine founded in 2008 by award-winning translator, scholar, editor and author Motoyuki Shibata. One of Japan’s best known and most highly regarded translators of American fiction, Shibata has won numerous accolades, most recently the 2010 Japan Translation Cultural Prize for his translation of Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon, and has introduced to Japanese readers works by Paul Auster, Steven Millhauser, Rebecca Brown, Stuart Dybek and Steve Erickson, among others.
Shibata, who was interviewed in the first issue of APS, modeled MB in part on the Brooklyn literary journal. Founded in 2006 by editor Brigid Hughes, A Public Space is devoted to cutting-edge literature—not just from American contributors, but by writers and artists spanning the globe. Each issue presents a portfolio that explores an international literary scene. The debut issue of APS featured a portfolio from Japan, curated and edited by author Roland Kelts (Japanamerica) and MB founder Shibata, and featuring contributions from Haruki Murakami, Yoko Ogawa, Kazushige Abe and others. Issue 1 was praised by readers in the US and Japan and has long been sold out.”
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The Anchorage Daily News has an article reporting that the body of Rikuzentakata JET Montgomery “Monty” Dickson has been found. This is very sad news but also not unexpected at this point. From the article, it sounds like Monty’s family is relieved to finally know.
Thoughts and prayers and lots of warmth to Monty’s family and friends from JETwit and the JET and JET alumni communities. You will be missed by many, including those of us who never had a chance to meet you.
Taylor Anderson memorial service in Richmond, VA
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The below was sent by JETAA DC to its members via its chapter yahoogroup:
We have extended the deadline for messages in Taylor Anderson’s condolence book until Friday, April 1 at 12 pm. It doesn’t matter if your message is long or short, profound or emotional, we encourage you to send it to jetaadc.311relief [at] gmail.com. Members of the JETAADC Board will present the condolence book to Taylor’s family at a service to be held in Richmond on Saturday.
For more information on Taylor’s life, her experiences on JET, and Saturday’s service, please visit the website of the Richmond-Times Dispatch<http://www.legacy. com/obituaries/ timesdispatch/ obituary. aspx?n=taylor- anderson& pid=149794411>.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to the Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund for the purpose of rebuilding schools in Ishinomaki City. Donation information is available here: http://www.st. catherines. org/tayloranders on.
Regards,
Leigh Ann Mastrini
Outreach Chair, JETAADC
Minamisanriku JET Kathryn Oi shares her experience of the earthquake and tsunami
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Kathryn Oi (Miyagi-ken, Minamisanriku-shi) has shared a deeply personal description of her experience in the midst of one of the hardest hit towns by the earthquake and tsunami–Minamisanriku, which has lost approximately half of its 18,000 residents. The link below to the written piece which appears on the Claremon-McKenna College website where Kathryn went to college also includes a slideshow of before-and-after photos taken by Kathryn.
http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/news/japan2011.php
Katie Oi ’10 was teaching at a junior high school in Japan when the earthquake and tsunami hit the island. She offers the following firsthand account of the week following the disaster and her journey to safety. Katie is now back at home in Seattle, WA.
After a two hour nap or even a night’s long rest, I wake up suddenly feeling uneasy with a feeling like I had a bad dream somewhere deep within my slumber. It takes me even a few seconds to process where I am—back home in the comfort of my own bed—when it was just two weeks ago I was pinned in the heart of Mother Nature’s deadliest attack on Japan. I have to keep telling myself that the past two weeks were not a dream. What I witnessed was real: the devastation from a M9.0 earthquake and 30-meter tsunami, but also the perseverance to rise up as a people and continue to live in spite of all that.
CLICK HERE to read the full piece on the Claremont-McKenna College website.
Correction 3/31/11: Katie e-mailed to point out that she incorrectly mentioned the tsunami as 30 meters a couple times in her piece. The actual reported height, she says, was 16 meters.
Miyagi JET writes of ruin, survival, rebuilding
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The below letter by current JET Waylon Bryson (Miyagi-ken, Sendai-shi) appeared recently in the Washington State University student publication where Bryson attended college.
The following letter was sent to WSU history instructor Roger Chan, who taught author Waylon Bryson, a philosophy graduate of 2007. Chan shared it with Noriko Kawamura, associate professor of history, who passed it on for WSU Today to share with the university community. Bryson is working in Sendai, Japan as an English teacher. This fall he will attend Vanderbilt Law in Nashville, Tenn.
I have lived in the city of Sendai, Japan for the past three and a half years, where I teach English for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. I was at my desk in the teachers’ room of Hachiken Junior High School when the earthquake struck.
Earthquakes are quite common in Japan and I, like the other staff members, paid little attention at first.
Then the room moved several feet. I had to physically hold onto my desk so that it wouldn’t move away from me. A control panel on the wall lit up like a Christmas tree and alarm bells started sounding. I could hear students screaming from the floors above as cracks snaked along the concrete walls and the building started groaning ominously.
CLICK HERE to read the full article on the WSU Today site.
Mainichi Daily News: JET program English teachers in Miyagi say they won’t leave
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An article from The Mainichi Daily News about the 1/3 of the 70 Miyagi Prefecture JETs who have chosen to stay in Miyagi and continue working for their communities.
The article quotes the following JETs:
- Katherine Sheu, 25, from Los Angeles, who has taught English at five elementary and junior high schools in Ishinomaki for the past three years.
- Edward Clemons, 25, from Chicago,is in his second year of teaching conversational classes for adults and school students in Kesennuma, another Miyagi city severely damaged by the disaster.
- Daniel Villeneuve (Canada), a Miyagi prefectural advisor for the assistant language teachers.
Full article here:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20110329p2g00m0fe073000c.html
Here’s an article from the Salvation Army’s blog about an ALT named Lis Bennett (not a JET) who was teaching at a school 25 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant when the earthquake struck. She was evacuated from the area and shares some of her experience in the article.
NHK TV today showed a video (in Japanese) of Taylor Anderson’s father Andy Anderson visiting Ishinomaki and laying flowers where Taylor’s body was found. It’s very moving to hear her father say, “Taylor loved Ishinomaki, and we do too.” And as a JET it’s hard to look at the background scenery in the video and not feel that sense of familiarity that this could be any town in Japan.
JETAA Northern California benefit raises over $7,000
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KTVU Morning News in San Francisco has a whole feature on JETAA Northern California’s fundraiser. SF Consulate JET Coordinator (and JET alum) Peter Weber is interviewed. I think I saw a brief shot of JETAA US Country Representative Rod McLeod. And it sounds like Canon Purdy may have been there as well.
Good work JETAA Northern California! Yoku ganbatta!
Click here for the video: http://www.ktvu.com/video/27302416/index.html
MSNBC: Family holds out hope for missing American teacher “Monty-san”
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The latest coverage of still unaccounted for Rikuzentakata-shi, Iwate-ken JET Montgomery “Monty” Dickson.
MSNBC: Family holds out hope for missing American teacher “Monty-san”
By Miranda Leitsinger, Senior Writer and Editor, msnbc.com
“Almost everyone in the town of Rikuzentakata on Japan’s northeast coast knew teacher Montgomery Dickson, or “Monty-san,” as the locals call him.
But the tall American hasn’t been heard from since the March 11 quake and tsunami slammed the northeastern coast of the island nation, and any surviving villagers in the town of 23,000 who might have spotted his familiar face apparently have left. An International Medical Corps team that visited Rikuzentakata in the wake of the double disaster found it “was completely destroyed by the tsunami and no persons were present. Showing the depth of the tsunami wave and extent of the destruction, water marks were observed at a height of up to 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) on the sides of hills.”
CLICK HERE for the full article and to read more about Monty.
JETwit featured in CLAIR NY (aka Japan Local Government Center) Newsletter
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Here’s a link to the Spring 2011 Issue of the JLGC Newsletter, published bi-annually by CLAIR NY (aka Japan Local Government Center).
This issue includes a feature on JETwit.com (PDF) which I was asked to write a few months ago. It’s hopefully a helpful explanation of the background and purpose of JETwit. However, post-3/11 I have to admit it also feels dated and I feel somewhat conflicted about posting it now given what’s still going on in Japan.
Japan Times: U.S., U.K. teachers stay on to help care for evacuees
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This Japan Times article on 3 ALTs who have stayed on to help their towns post earthquake/tsunami appears to be about 3 JETs, though that’s not mentioned specifically in the article.
The English teachers listed are:
- Victor Kochaphum (Iwate, Tanohata)
- Kevin Blake (Iwate, Miyako)
- Paul Dixon (Iwate, Miyako)
Minasan arigatou. Ganbatte kudasai.
Please feel free to share additional stories and examples that you know of in the comments section of this post.
CBS’s 60 Minutes recently aired a segment on the town of Matsushima which was wiped out by the tsunami. The segment includes an interview with an ALT named David (I can’t tell how to spell his last name) who gives a harrowing description of being in the school gym with students, teachers and parents when the tsunami hit and how he was able to hold on to the basketball hoop (the water was that high) and help pull a few students to safety.
The interview with David starts at about 6:24 into the video and includes video footage of the school, which looks very much like the schools we all taught at as JETs/ALTs.
Side note: Good feedback from a JETwit reader: “Thanks for the update and the link. Btw, not all JETs (or all of your readers) are ALTs.” The title of this post, which originally read “Matsushima JET,” has been changed accordingly.
The New York Times has an article today about Rikuzentakata titled Japanese Town Holds on to Hope.” The article explains that JET Montgomery “Monty” Dickson as well as the Takata High School swim coach, Motoko Mori, and 29 of the high school’s 540 students are also still missing.
JETs quoted in article on English teaching in Japanese elementary schools
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New AJET Chair Matthew Cook (Osaka) as well as Beppu City JET May Schlotzhauer are both quoted in a nice Epoch Times article titled “Japanese Elementary Teachers Take On Teaching English.” (Yes, Epoch Times is the paper connected with Falun Gong, but they have a mix of regular reporting together with propaganda.)
While the article includes some cynical, provocative quotes, it’s also nice to see that the JETs quoted are the voice of experience, perspective and reason in thinking about and commenting on the new requirement to have English in 5th and 6th grades in Japan. This makes sense as JETs are actually working in the schools with teachers and students and positioned to be informed commentators.
Also interesting, toward the end of the article is a description of a proactive attempt by Cook to help prepare the elementary school teachers in his district for the coming requirement. A good example of a role that JETs can (and likely already do) play in school districts around Japan.
“Hoping to help prepare elementary teachers to teach English, Cook lobbied the board of education to host a training seminar, but was turned down. Later the board agreed to allow his school to offer a voluntary seminar to teachers from three local elementary schools. The seminar will be offered once, lasting no more than two hours.”
Here’s the link to the full article:
