Tom Baker reviews cat manga, three new films
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com. (One recent post is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of climbing Mt. Fuji.)
Recently he reviewed the manga “Neko Ramen” and the new-in-Japan films “The Road,” “The Yellow Handkerchief” and “Repo Men.” Here are some excerpts:
“Neko Ramen”
“It’s the one real maverick cuisine of Japan,” Tokyo ramen shop owner Ivan Orkin told The Daily Yomiuri in an interview last year. Sushi and other cuisines are bound by highly refined conventions, but “ramen is the story of a salaryman whose life sucks and he sells everything and opens a ramen shop…he’s going to do it his own way.”
The manga series Neko Ramen, which made its English-language print debut last month, is about a ramen shop owner named Taisho who almost perfectly embodies the ethos Orkin described.
Taisho isn’t a former salaryman–or a man at all. He’s a cat. But he did buck convention to strike out on his own. His father was a top cat-food advertising model, and it was assumed that Taisho would follow in his glamorous footsteps. Instead, he ran away from home.
Even when he is reduced to living on the street, he never loses his independent spirit. Eventually he discovers his calling as the master of a ramen shop.
Mangaka Kenji Sonishi lives in Sapporo, a city noted for its ramen culture. He has given considerable thought to the most egregious ways a bowl of ramen could go wrong, and he has Taisho stumble into each of them.
Read the rest of the review here.
“The Road”
…We see this world a decade or so into the aftermath [of a global cataclysm] through the eyes of a father and son (Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee) who are slowly traveling south on foot, hoping things will get better somewhere along the way.
It’s a bleak journey, filmed in such genuinely postapocalyptic locales as hurricane-scoured New Orleans and the blasted slopes of Mt. St. Helens.
One of the film’s most desolate images–which can only be appreciated on the big screen–shows a gigantic highway bridge spanning a valley. Seen from below, the bridge cuts a black swath against the murky gray sky. When the man peers over the side of the bridge, the tiny distant speck that is his head is the only thing in the image to show any movement.
The man and the boy’s long walk is a wire-thin plot onto which brief encounters with varied strangers are strung like widely spaced beads.
At the beginning of most such encounters, the boy wants to befriend and help the person, while the man is suspicious. “Why are you following us?” is his angry refrain, even when the person hasn’t been following them. The middle of every encounter is different, but more than one ends with the pair leaving the person behind, the son worrying that the stranger will die and the father remarking, “He was going to die anyway.”
Often the boy needs to ask, “Are we still the good guys?”…
“The Yellow Handkerchief”
The Yellow Handkerchief begins almost like a silent movie. The first scene shows a man named Brent (William Hurt) being let out of a prison cell. He hardly says a word, but the other inmates wish him a sincerely friendly farewell. His silence continues outside the walls as he watches other newly released inmates embraced by their waiting families. No one is waiting for him. His face shows that he is resigned, and he sets off down the road on foot, alone.
This tells us a few things about him, and gives us a few things to wonder about.
In the next scene, he is sitting in a small-town diner when he notices a dark-haired teenage girl (Kristen Stewart) outside the window. She walks over to a boy of her own age and speaks to him.
Brent (and we) can’t hear her through the glass, but she stands very close to the boy without looking him in the face, suggesting a mixture of intimacy and shyness. The boy ignores her for a moment and then walks away to smile at a blonde girl who welcomes his attention as if it were her due. The dark-haired girl sees this and heads into the diner with a downcast look, alone.
This tells Brent (and us) a few things about her, and gives us a few things to wonder about.
Read the rest of the review here.
“Repo Men”
The premise of Repo Men is that in the not too distant future, mechanical hearts, livers, kidneys and other organs are so common that they are sold in shopping malls. But they remain so expensive that you have to take out a scarily high-interest loan to get one. And if you miss a few payments, some even scarier repo men (including a pair played by Jude Law and Forest Whitaker) will find you, Tase you, and gruesomely retrieve the property–which is then rinsed off, repackaged and sold to the next sickly dupe.
Theoretically, such a setup could have been used to send an allegorical message about the world’s various debt crises or the U.S. health care debate, but the plot is just a heap of sci-fi action cliches.
First, evil corporations control everything. Second, new technology improves material standards of living, but leaves people shallow and soulless. Third, those who oppose or question the new order are fated to live in refugee camps or slums. Fourth, a hunter becomes the hunted, joins the people he once oppressed and does battle against his former colleagues. Fifth, the ending…
Job: Public Outreach Officer, Polaris Project Japan (Tokyo)
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Job posting by Lauren Sethney (Niigata-shi CIR, 2000-2003). Lauren serves as the Program Director at the Japan-America Society in Dallas-Fort Worth.
via Marc Hitzig (Niigata-ken, 1992-1995)
Polaris Project is an internationally recognized organization headquartered in the United States that has been working to combat human trafficking and modern-day slavery since 2002. Polaris Project has operated a local office in Japan since 2004. Polaris Project Japan (PPJ) seeks a Program Officer, who will be responsible for a variety of roles in a small office. The Program Officer will work under the direction of the Japan Program Coordinator. The position will be based in the Tokyo, Japan office. The position’s continuance is subject to extended funding, secured currently for one-year.
The Program Officer will:
–Support all general programmatic activities including: victim outreach and identification, victim services, policy advocacy, prevention and youth empowerment, coalition and infrastructure- building, office administration, training and technical assistance, fundraising, strategic planning, leadership development, and grassroots community mobilization.
–Support the general administration of the PPJ Office, including a primary role in the training and coordination of volunteers and training materials development, office management, maintenance of timesheets, Salesforce data management, and response to general office inquiries.
–Play a leading role in public communications, including fashioning a public affairs strategy, managing communications materials, social networking efforts, awareness newsletters, and the PPJ website; and importantly helping to produce a quarterly analysis of trafficking trends in Japan.
–Play a leading role in fundraising, including donor development and relationship management; fundraising events and campaign management; pursuit, and management of grants.
–Play a leading role in legislative advocacy and PPJ’s role in the anti-human trafficking coalition, including interaction with the legislative and executive branch of the Japanese government and the dissemination of trafficking trends analysis to all relevant stakeholders.
Qualifications:
–At least three to five years of experience, preferably in the non-profit sector
–Minimum three years of professional experience working in Japan
–Knowledge of government agencies in Japan
–Excellent organizational, written, and oral communication skills in Japanese
–Strong command of both Japanese and English languages
–Experience, competence, and confidence in supervising volunteers
–Experience working in multicultural environments
–Ability to set and balance multiple priorities, plan ahead, and anticipate programmatic needs
–Solutions-oriented, collaborative, self-directed, and self-disciplined
–Resiliently positive and energetic attitude
–Focus on and commitment to human and women’s rights and interest in fighting human trafficking
Degree Preferred: MA; BA required
Type: Full Time
Salary: $30,000 to $35,000 (DOE)
Start Date: Available immediately
Languages Required: English, Japanese
How to Apply:
PLEASE DO NOT FAX OR MAIL YOUR APPLICATION. All application materials should be sent electronically as attachments to Applications@ polarisproject. org. Materials should include a custom cover letter, resume, and three references, plus any additional personal statements you may wish to include. The deadline for application is rolling, until a candidate is chosen, so early application is advised. Please write JAPAN Program Officer Position in the subject line of the email.
Japan Info e-Newsletter July 2010
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The July 2010 edition of JapanInfo is now available online: http://editor.ne16.com/he/vo.aspx?FileID=1eebd4a0-af80-4be3-8945-42739cf4d675&m=1a93644da75eb849a0cfdf023ccba12e&MailID=12891461
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.
Job: Business Development Associate, Unspecified Non-Profit Organization (New York)
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Job posting by Lauren Sethney (Niigata-shi CIR, 2000-2003). Lauren serves as the Program Director at the Japan-America Society in Dallas-Fort Worth.
via MAX Consulting Group, Inc.
Location: Mid-town, Manhattan NY
Area Industry: Non-Profit Organization
Title: Business Development Associate
Job Description: 1 year long Temporary Assignment
Primary Duties: Discover companies willing to invest in Japan, especially in Service and Environment industry. Attend trade shows and visit potential companies. Follow up and assist those companies willing to develop business in Japan.
Secondary Duties: To assist alliance between Japan and the US in high-tech industry, bring American corporate employees to Japan and vice versa and coordinate business meetings. Assist promoting export business from Japan. Sales experience is preferable but not a must. Proficiency in Japanese is preferable, but not a must. Some business trips.
Please email your resume to info@maxjob.com or call 212-949-6660.
Kirsten’s World: Glitter on the Mattress
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Bow-waka-chika-POW!
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08) who is currently a teacher in the NYC Teaching Fellows Program.
If you see a faded sign by the side of the road…
My kid bro’s Japanese friend was surprised at his knowledge of love hotels as he had never been to Japan before. But love hotels are one of those garish social conventions that anyone with the faintest modicum of interest in Japanese culture needs to know. There’s no mystery to that fascination.
“It’s really strange.” His Japanese friend said. “Love hotels are the only way Japanese teenagers can really have sex. But what about American teenagers?”
Why do you think Americans have such big cars?
Love hotels are right up there with Read More
Job: English Teacher, Kobe College High School (Nishinomiya)
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Job posting by Lauren Sethney (Niigata-shi CIR, 2000-2003). Lauren serves as the Program Director at the Japan-America Society in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Via JETAA Chicago
Kobe College High School seeks applications for an English teaching position for grades 7-12.
Contract: Two years; term begins April 1, 2011
Salary: 4,691,200 yen
Extras: Furnished Apt (small fee), Travel & Shipping, Expenses and Language Study
Qualifications:
-B.A. degree. Major in English or Education preferred.
-TESOL certification and teaching experience are preferred.
-Speaker of standard American English with strong grammar skills.
Application Deadline: August 7, 2010
Visit www.kccjee.org for a full job description or e-mail kccjee@comcast. net with questions. To view Kobe College’s website, go to: www.kobe-c.ac.jp
To Apply: Send a letter of application and a resume to:
KCC Japan Education Exchange
2100 Sanders Road, Suite #190
Northbrook, IL 60062
Fax: 847-715-9860Email: kccjee@comcast. net (no on-line links)
*Please include your email address in the correspondence.
Job: Associate TV News Producer, Tokyo Broadcasting System (New York)
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Job posting by Lauren Sethney (Niigata-shi CIR, 2000-2003). Lauren serves as the Program Director at the Japan-America Society in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Via Tokyo Broadcasting System
The New York News Bureau of Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) is seeking an energetic, professional individual to fill an Associate TV News Producer position.
TBS is one of the oldest and largest television and radio broadcasting networks in Japan and broadcasts nationally via 28 affiliate stations. The New York Bureau covers news primarily in the United States for broadcast in Japan.
Responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:
– Assist News Correspondents with daily news coverage and long term news projects.
– Research for news stories, set up interviews, and coordinate schedules.
– Assist with on-site news production and in-house recording, logging and editing of video feeds.
– Compile and prioritize information on daily, weekly, and long-range news events in coverage area.
– Monitor U.S. domestic news sources for information of interest to Japanese audience.
Japanese language ability a plus, but not required.
Strong interest in journalism, economic, political and social news preferred.
Available to travel and work extra hours and occasional weekends and holidays.
Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.
Start Date: As soon as possible.
Payment: Entry level position with full time and overtime payment.
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to newsjob@tbsi-us.com. No telephone calls, please.
Job: Associate Director for Administration, Center on Japanese Economy at Columbia University (New York)
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Job posting by Lauren Sethney (Niigata-shi CIR, 2000-2003). Lauren serves as the Program Director at the Japan-America Society in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Via Caroline Hasegawa (JET Program Alum)
The Associate Director for Administration will engage in executing programs and overseeing day-to-day activities of the Center on Japanese Economy and Business. The employee will report to directly to the Director for Administration as well as work collaboratively with faculty directors and other officers of the Center.
Key Job Responsibilities:
1. Thoroughly understand and carry out the Center’s mission by working closely with the Director for Administration to execute and oversee day-to-day administrative activities of the Center. Help Director in assigning tasks and monitoring performance of program staff.
2. Coordinate production of Center events. Maintain and monitor the quality and content of the Visiting Fellows Program.
3. Work with Center’s Academic and Administrative Directors to find opportunities for engaging CBS faculty in research related to Japan.
4. Lead efforts to update, improve and maintain the Center’s website, reports, email campaigns and other public relations outreach materials; liaise with the Business School Marketing and Communications office on key PR efforts
5. Assist the Director in conceptualizing and executing a variety of academic and outreach activities, including programs for students, alumni, faculty, and industry professionals.
6. Assist Director with creating Center marketing and fundraising materials.
7. Play a lead role in managing the Center’s new program, entitled “New Financial Architectures: Japan and the US.”
A full description of the job and its requirement can be found at: https://jobs.columbia.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1278599679364.
JET ROI: Seven JETs, Seven Stories
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Andrew R. McCarthy (Akita-ken, 2005-08) is a law student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law focusing on international trade, business, and tax. He currently runs the blog JETs with J.D.s, an information source for current JET alumni law students and prospective law students for career paths and approaches within the current legal market. For those considering law school and trying to comprehend the costs and the risks of such an endeavor, he also recommends The Law School Tuition Bubble.
Perhaps it’s the fact that the influence one JET participant has in one town is difficult to quantify. Perhaps it’s the lack of a clearly defined job description. Perhaps it’s simply that the “soft hands” approach a Board of Education must take to the internationalization and exchange portion of JET makes it impractical for that same employer to critique and provide feedback on the English education portion. Regardless of the reason, it is incredibly easy and natural to belittle the JET Programme for what appears to be, on paper, a lackluster development of English ability in Japanese schools since 1987.
It’s particularly easy for the CIRs, SEAs, and ALTs themselves to do the belittling. When I had a Japanese English teacher delegate me as human tape recorder, it was easy to lament that “I had no impact.” When I found myself singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in front of a bunch of over-enthused six-year olds, I certainly questioned whether my college education was worth it. At some of the more difficult moments of my JET tenure, I remember thinking that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t be remembered. I’d be just another foreign dude who arrived in town, hung out for a few years, and abruptly left as summer once again turned to autumn. I figured I would just disappear into the fog of my townsfolks’ minds, nothing more than an occasional afterthought for locals between glasses of winter shochu.
Those doubts have not come to fruition. What’s more, there was plenty of evidence, even while I was still in Japan, that they would not.
I was the seventh ALT to live in my town. I didn’t know that when I arrived, but Read More
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
We want your “outreach” stories!
Have you given back to your town or prefecture in some way? Have you helped spread Japanese culture through activities in your own country? Have you inspired former students in interesting ways?
We know there are tons of stories and examples out there that have yet to be documented (or gathered in one place). We need these now to help demonstrate some of the ways that JET and JETAA have provided return on Japan’s investment.
Please share your story in the comments section below (or email it to jetwit@jetwit.com).
Yoroshiku!
Job (repost): Japan Travel Consultant (Bristol, UK)
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Via hyogojets yahoo group:
InsideJapan Tours, an independent travel specialist based in the UK, is currently recruiting for a new travel consultant. This company has a number of ex-JETs among their staff. Applications are now being accepted (closing date late July), and the job will start in September. The position available is for a Full Time Japan Travel Consultant based at the UK Office in Bristol. InsideJapan Tours is looking for someone who has experienced living and working in Japan and wants to share their passion for the country with others.
Unfortunately, no work visa sponsorship available. Details at:
http://www.insidejapantours.com/jobs/
Job: Academic Director (Columbus, OH)
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Via the JETAAJOB listserv:
NOTE: Candidates residing outside the Greater Columbus, OH need not apply.
Job Summary:
Reporting directly to the Center Director, the Academic Director is responsible for all operations concerning the academic program. Specifically, the Academic Director is responsible for the hiring, training, development and dismissal of instructional staff; the development and implementation of the curriculum; the testing, placement and evaluation of students; and the scheduling of classes. In the absence of the Center Director, the Academic Director is responsible for the operation of the Language Center.
**REQUIREMENTS**
Ex-Hot Dog Eating Champ Takeru Kobayashi arrested in New York on Independence Day
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By JQ Magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
Say what you will about former hot dog eating champ Takeru Kobayashi, he’s no chicken.
The six-time winner of the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest was busted at the 95th edition of the annual event Sunday after attempting to storm the stage following the fourth win in a row by his American archrival Joey Chestnut. In an AP video, the Japan-born Kobayashi, clad in a “Free Kobi” T-shirt, is dragged away and handcuffed by multiple NYPD officers to the shouts in the crowd of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” while his interpreter Maggie James, wearing the same T-shirt, says frantically, “They weren’t giving him his freedom. It was unfair.”
As reported yesterday, Kobayashi officially blogged his intent to drop out of the competition after reaching an impasse over an exclusivity contract with Major League Eating, the sanctioning body of the Nathan’s event and other food-related contests. Public opinion Kobayashi, nicknamed “The Tsunami,” was divided between his announcement and the event, with some dubbing him a sore loser and coward (he had previously groused over an arthritic jaw before losing to Chestnut for the first time in 2007), and others applauding his decision to remain a free agent.
Read the full article here.
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JET Return on Investment (ROI) is a new category on JetWit intended to highlight the various economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan resulting from its investment in the JET Program. Why is this important right now? Because the JET Program and JET Alumni Association may be cut by the Japanese government, as explained in this post by Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) titled “JET Program on the Chopping Block.”
Because of JET….
- Many of us have a lifelong connection to Japan.
- Many Japanese citizens have learned English and been inspired to go to other cross-cultural accomplishments.
- Many of us have found jobs and careers working for Japanese companies and organizations in Japan and in our home countries.
- Over 50,000 of more people in the world can speak at least a little Japanese, and many of us are fluent.
If you’re a JET or a JET alum, you know these things because you’ve experienced them. Now it’s time to share some of those experiences as a way to demonstrate concretely some of the many benefits to Japan of the JET Program.
Please post your own personal “BECAUSE OF JET…..” example in the comments section below, or feel free to e-mail it to jetwit@jetwit.com. (Please make sure to include your prefecture and years on JET.) (Feel free to substitute “JETAA” for “JET” if appropriate.)
(Note: Special thanks to our JETAA International officers for coming up with this concept.)
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Last week was the start of the Japan Cuts film festival at Japan Society, where this year 24 films will be featured. This is the largest lineup ever and includes a wide variety of films. The Japan Society allows those who offer to volunteer at the festival the chance to stay and view the movie for free! I have decided to take advantage of this opportunity, and plan to help out during a couple of days of the festival. Stay tuned for reviews of the many movies I will have the chance to sample!
However, my first time at the festival was as a customer last Friday for the screening of the conspiracy theory comedy Golden Slumber. The plot of Read More
