Job: Northwest Marine Trade Association – Sponsorship and Membership Director (Seattle)
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Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
Job Opening at NMTA – Northwest Marine Trade Association
Friends – We are looking for a new Sponsor and Membership Director because Alashia Wartelle (who has done a wonderful job for us) left recently to have her first baby. Mother and daughter Lilly are doing fine J. She is not planning on coming back to work right away…..thus an opportunity for someone. Read More
J-News Mini-Roundup: LDP Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Takes Girl for a Joy Ride
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
Background: The two leading headlines for politics this morning in Japan are the election for the new head of the DPJ, and another political scandal involving the ruling party, the LDP. Since I’ve been covering Japanese politics there have been quite a few scandals, including misappropriation of funds that eventually brought down the head of the DPJ, and a scandal at the G7 where the finance minister was reportedly “drunk”. Each newspaper talked differently about the embarrassing acknowledgment from former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Kounoike Yoshitada, that he took a young girl for a ride on the JR line using his government issued pass.
Nikkei “We Left on a Romantic Getaway” The Nikkei states in their first paragraph that the accusation is “roughly true”, according to the general secretary of the LDP party. The rumor that Kounoike took his JR pass that’s supposed to be used for cabinet members and used it to go out with a girl on a “romantic getaway” was verified by the general secretary last night in a news conference.
In response, Prime Minister Aso stated that a pass being used for anything other than its intended purpose is extremely regrettable. He then said, ” I now have to make a new appointment for the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary.” The current state of Kounoike, adds the Nikkei, is that he’s in the hospital.
Asahi “ Kounoike’s in the hospital, where it is I don’t know”
(Click HERE to read the rest of the post)
Job: J>E Document Review and J>E Translation Editor
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By translator and writer Jamie Graves (Saitama-Ken 2002-2003)
Via the Honyaku group:
Spotted two job postings on the Honyaku discussion group today both for experienced Japanese to English translators. One asks for applicants with a legal background, the other for people with experience in technical translation.
For more info check out the original post.
JapanInfo Newsletter – April 2009
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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.
J-News Mini-Roundup: The Sumo Tournament for Losers, Asashoryu Included
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
Background: Last night sumo’s match was an upset for the returning champion sumo, Asashoryu. After an accusation from the sumo authorities for “playing soccer in Mongolia”, among other charges, he was officially banned from sumo for an extended period of time in 2007 to 2008. Now this year he’s back along with his arch rival, Hakuhou. While Hakuhou was undefeated last tournament, Asashoryu racked up two losses. Last night also demonstrated that Asashoryu is not going to be able to come out of this tournament unscathed. Each newspaper had a slightly different take on Asashoryu, Hakuhou, and the tournament last night at Ryogoku, in Tokyo.
Yomiuri “Asashoryu hits the floor, Hakuhou racks up a third win.” The Yomiuri, compared with the other two papers, focuses on Asashoryu’s loss and him literally “hitting the floor.” His rival, Aminishiki, pushed him out of the ring by a well positioned start. The Yomiuri then describes this defeat as the seventh time Aminishiki has beaten a sumo champion. Hakuhou on the other hand, as they describe in their second paragraph, has racked up his third consecutive win.
Nikkei “Asashoryu’s first defeat, Hakuhou and Haruma win” The Nikkei cleverly gives the spotlight in their headline for a win to both…
(Click HERE to read the rest of the post)
J-News Mini-Roundup: The Head of Japan’s Opposition Party Resigns
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
Background: Representative Ozawa of the Democratic Party of Japan announced his resignation today. The DPJ, or Democratic Party of Japan, has gained unprecedented political prominence in recent years. Just earlier this year it was highly rumored that the DPJ was going to unseat the ruling party, the LDP or Liberal Democratic Party, for the first time since the Second World War. Then, amidst a scandal where Ozawa’s secretary was accepting illegal campaign contributions, Ozawa and the DPJ abruptly started losing public favor. Each newspaper took a slightly different account of Ozawa’s resignation speech and how they viewed his departure from power.
Asahi A Political Soldier, “I did it for the Unification of my Party”. The Asahi reports that Ozawa’s main focus in his resignation was to unify his party, and continue the political battle. It’s almost made to seem as if a soldier has just retired from the battlefront. “Not only am I doing this to pave the way for a transition of power, but beyond that I’m doing this for sake of political solidarity.” The Asahi then adds that Ozawa still feels that “winning the snap election is of the utmost importance. I will continue along with my party to fight till the end.”
Nikkei A Vulnerable Threat, “The Party was Unstable“. The Nikkei focused on very different commentary…
(Click HERE to read the rest of the post)
J-News Mini-Roundup: Toyota’s Debt: The Biggest Japan Has Ever Seen
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
Background: Car companies are part of the corporate identity of Japan, and at the head of the pack is Toyota. With car sales higher than GM, they’re the number one car company in the world. What the economic crisis has taught both America and Japan, however, is that being big isn’t necessarily always best. The newspapers released today the most dismal earnings forecasts that Toyota has had in its 70+ year history.
Yomiuri “850 billion yen for two years” Yomiuri states in their first paragraph that Toyota’s debt forecast will reach a whopping 850 billion yen (8.5 billion dollars), the largest debt on its balance sheet history. According to the Yomiuri, due to the economic slowdown in the world car market, next year’s debt will be twice as much as this year’s.
Nikkei “550 billion yen” The Nikkei paints a very different picture of Toyota…
(Click HERE to read the rest of the post)
Music: Hanami Taiko tonight at Drom (NYC)
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JET alum Ariel Shearman (a member of the the Soh Daiko taiko group) shared the following (FYI, Ariel studies under Kaoru Watanabe, a longtime member of KODO, based in Brooklyn, and Kaoru is in the group performing tonight):
http://dromnyc.com/home/index.php?option=com_gigcal&task=details&gigcal_gigs_id=736
Thursday May 7th 2009 (TONIGHT)
Naka Naka Series presents:
HANAMI DAIKO!
Yoshikazu and Yoko Fujimoto
(founding members of KODO)
and Special Guests
7:30pm
$15 Advanced Tickets, $20 at the Door
Over 400 hits today
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Happy to share that JetWit broke the 400 mark today with 407 hits on the site between 8pm on Tuesday night and 8pm Wednesday night (i.e., tonight)!
Cristy Burne (Hyogo-ken, Kawanishi-shi, 1998-2000), author of the children’s book Takeshita Demons, recently won the first Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Book Bward, an award that aims to celebrate cultural diversity in children’s literature.
Takeshita Demons, set to be published next year, is based on the adventures of a Japanese schoolgirl named Miku. Cristy says, “After spending two years as an ALT and a third working in a Japanese company, you can guess that much of my inspiration comes from the JET experience.”
For more information on Cristy, the award and her work, check out her blog (http://cristyburne.wordpress.com) or contact her directly.
Go to the award website to see more photos from the awards ceremony held this past Thursday in London.
Jobs: International Education Programs (Chronicle of Higher Ed)
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Via the Chronicle of Higher Education’s international education programs job listings:
5/4/2009
- Kaplan (China) : Dean of First-Year Students (Shanghai, China)
- Otterbein College (Ohio) : Director, Center for International Education and Global Engagement
- University of Minnesota Law School (Minnesota) : Director of International and Graduate Programs
- University of Nevada at Las Vegas (Nevada) : Assistant Director of International Students & Scholars
4/28/2009
- University of Toronto at Scarborough (Canada) : Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences
JETAA NY Learning to Blog Workshop: Part 2
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Update:
I ran the second “JETAA NY Learning to Blog Workshop” last Wednesday evening, April 29 in the back of Cosi on 31st & Park, not knowing quite what to expect. It turned out to be a lot of fun and everyone found it helpful and productive. (Click here to read about the first one.)
- We covered the basics of blogs (what they’re good for; advantages and disadvantages of WordPress, Blogspot, Blogger, etc.; posts vs. pages; using RSS feeds) as well as some more advanced topics (driving traffic; creative strategies; adding users). By the time we were done, everyone had set up their own blog and was ready to go.
- The attendees included two translators and three people who had started their own businesses. One of the translators wanted to create a forum for his writing. The other translator was inspired by the discussion of blogs at the JET Alumni Author Showcase (where Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06) and Rob Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04) all discussed how they resisted at first but now are glad they followed their publishers’ suggestions to start blogs.)
- One of the JET alum entrepreneurs, Adrienne Smith (CIR Tochigi-ken, 1997-99), founder of Harlem Hip-Hop Tours (www.h3tours.com), said she had been thinking of starting a blog to help promote her tour business but had been holding herself back and appreciated the workshop because it lifted the “technology fog” for her.
- Frank Luo (Fukuoka-ken, 1997-99), a Chinese-English translator, said afterwards, “It was really helpful… An efficient walk through on the mechanics of how to start a blog and why do it on WordPress, plus a few other useful bits of information. We also floated a few ideas on how to expand the scope of the workshops to make them more helpful to aspiring writers as well as those who are trying to promote their business through blogs.” (Frank, by the way, brought a nifty little netbook, which we all sat around and marveled at for 5 minutes.)
- Additionally, Friend of JET (FOJ) Jon Hills, a more experienced blogger who writes the J-News Mini-Roundup column for JetWit and also writes a blog for Hills Learning, a NY-based Japanese language learning services company he started, came to help out and also share a few new tricks (like adding blog functionality to a WindowsLive-based website). He said afterwards he really appreciated having a chance to meet other people running businesses in a setting where everyone was working together towards a common goal.
Going forward
I’ll likely do one or two more blog workshops at Cosi or, if the weather’s nice, perhaps in Bryant Park after work one day. If you’d like to be notified of future workshops, please feel free to contact me at professional [at] jetaany [dot] org.
Looking ahead, it would be nice for the “workshop” to evolve into a monthly “meetup” for JET alums and FOJs at beginner, advanced and in-between levels to spend some time working together, sharing experiences and tips and, of course, helping beginners learn to get started and have an opportunity to ask all the same “dumb” questions that I’ve asked along the way.
Additionally, for readers outside the NYC area, it would be great for people to get JET alum blog workshops going in other areas. It’s a useful career tool and also a nice way to bring people together.
J-News Mini-Roundup: Japan’s Children are Disappearing
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
Background: May 5th is Children’s Day in Japan, the day to celebrate the youth and energy of the country. Local inhabitants hang large carp streamers outside their houses called koinobori, which represent famous warriors and other heroes recognizable to children.
Unfortunately, Japan’s population is shrinking and getting older. The Statistics Bureau on May 4th published their annual estimate of the population of children in Japan. The newspapers reported the news. (please note “children” are identified as 14 or younger).
Asahi “And the prefecture with the least children is…” The Asahi reported that from last year there has been a decrease of 11,000 children. This sounds alarming, but even more so is their dismal statistic that the population of children has been decreasing for 28 years in a row since 1982.
They then split the statistics by prefecture (drum roll please). The prefecture with the most children is Okinawa, while the prefecture with the least children is…
(Click HERE to read the rest of the post)
Writing Opportunity: YouMaga
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JETAA Pacific Northwest Treasurer and Webmaster Shun Endo found the below writing opportunity for JET alums in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere:
I met with the owner of YouMaga (www.youmaga.com) a while back, and she was interested in starting a new column for her magazine in the next month or two. The monthly article would be a short story written by a JET alumnus about a HUMOROUS experience they had in Japan. Something that would highlight cultural understanding, or misunderstanding! :P The great thing is that it will be a very short piece, only about two or three paragraphs in length. Very concise and simple and easy to write! The alumnus whose article is selected will have their photo and bio next to their story. It’s a fun way for PNW JETAA to be introduced to the Japanese speaking community. Maybe next time you go shopping at Uwajimaya, an obachan will ask you for an autograph?
If you are interested, first write me and tell me that you are interested, and then write a two or three paragraph story. The article will be printed in Japanese, but you can write it in English for them to translate. Or, if you want to practice your Japanese writing skills, feel free to do so, since the editor will fix any mistakes. I encourage all of you to share your funny experiences with the Seattle Japanese community! Hope to hear from you. We need one story for each month, so send many of them in! Also, send a pic and bio information:
Biography
Name:
JET Program (Years and Location):
Profession and/or interests:
Favorite japanese thing:
Baker’s Dozen by Eric Baker
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Eric Baker (Fukuoka-ken, 2006-08) will be writing the Baker’s Dozen column as he approaches the end of a year of travel and reconnecting. He will discuss his thoughts and experiences as he transitions back to working in the States after two years on JET.
Like many folks, I discovered JetWit through a JET friend. Joining the Facebook group, I began exchanging messages with Steven, our prescient leader, who suggested I start writing a few posts about my life as I, too, join the increasingly anxious fray of those looking for work. 
You may wonder how it came to pass that I’m starting these posts now, in May. I’m either ahead of the game for an ’09 JET or way behind for the group who finished in the summer of ’08. As you may have guessed, I’m the latter–I took a scenic western route returning from Japan to round out 2008. This year I’ve balanced my time between reading and fitness binges at “home” in Detroit, and with a number of week or two-long stints on the road, reconnecting with my diaspora of American friends, seeing how they live.
So far I’ve found value through the ups and downs of my deliberately gradual reentry. But while my old friends are well on their varied roads to success, evidenced in their shapely Apple and Ikea products and the flatscreen TV pandemic (when did that happen?), I turn 25 tomorrow, am living with my parents, and am increasingly in need of that pension refund. I check my account most days for that deposit, and in the meantime my 0% American Express keeps me afloat. But with my Nokia prepaid phone, goodwill cutlery and non-HD compatible 27″ JVC, I’m clinging to the fringes of social acceptance.
In fits and starts, I’m making the inevitable transition to commence thinking about and searching for my next job. I’ve missed most grad school deadlines, so that is eliminated for now. But most everything else is up in the air. Like my friends, I’m happy to move since—my pride in the Great Lakes (五大湖, anyone?) and ability to use my right hand as a map of my state aside—finding work in Michigan isn’t realistic right now. And for better or worse, I sometimes feel more socially isolated being temporarily back “home” than I did in my inaka hamlet. I’m becoming antsy to really Read More
