I’ll Make It Myself!: Mameshiba Cupcakes
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer, web administrator, and translator, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
ね、知っている？(Hey, did you know?)
I’ll Make It Myself!: Veg* Out in Kanazawa: Aashirwad
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer, web administrator, and translator, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Aashirwad (アシワード)
Location: Kohrinbo, Kanazawa
Type: Indian/Nepalese; lunch, dinner
Veg status: vegetarian friendly
Languages: Japanese and English (menus, staff)
I’ll Make It Myself!: What I Ate in Nagano, Day 3: Matsumoto, Miasa
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer, web administrator, and translator, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
On our last day in Nagano, we went to see Matsumoto Castle and drove through Hakuba and Miasa on the way back to Kanazawa.
I’ll Make It Myself!: New Resource: Guide to Japanese Kitchen Appliances
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A professional writer, web administrator, and translator, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
On reflecting on four years of cooking in Japan, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about which kitchen appliances were useful and how larger appliances differ from their North American counterparts. If you’ve just moved to Japan and aren’t sure if you’d rather have a food processor or a blender, or if you’re unsure of what is available and where to get it, this is the guide for you.
WIT Life #232: Gutai at the Guggenheim
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WIT Life 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.
On Saturday I finally had the chance to check out the exhibition Gutai: Splendid Playground (Feb 15-May 8) at the Guggenheim, and it was well worth the wait. Frank Lloyd Wright’s rotunda is filled with Sadamasa Motonaga’s Work (Water), an installation of tubes filled with colored water commissioned by the museum to be recreated for this space.
Gutai (具体) literally means “concreteness” and refers to the way the members of the Kansai-based Gutai Art Association (59 Japanese artists from 1954-1972) sought to directly engage with materials in an experimental way. The group would hold festivals and other events designed to break down the barriers between art, the ordinary public and everyday life.
One interesting aspect of the movement that I wasn’t aware of was its Read More
WIT Life #231: 2020 Olympics in Tokyo?
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WIT Life 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 night I went to a reception at the Nippon Club hosted by the Honorable Naoki Inose, the Governor of Tokyo. His remarks were proceeded by some from Mr. Shigeyuki Hiroki, Japanese Ambassador and Consul General of Japan in New York, who was also a co-host. Ambassador Hiroki offered his condolences for the recent tragedy in Boston before Read More
JET Alum Journalists: New Culling Method By Taiji Cove Dolphin Hunters Deemed Inhumane
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Here’s a link to a quick story put together by JET alum James Foley (Fukushima-ken, Iwaki-shi, 2007-10).
I’ll Make It Myself!: Sakura Matcha Muffins
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer, web administrator, and translator, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
One hell of a storm blew through Saturday night and Sunday, ruining the weekend for hanami. Luckily, we’d had decent weather all week, including Friday night, when I went to Rojô Park in Komatsu for nighttime cherry-blossom viewing.
Of course, hanami wouldn’t be hanami without food and drink, and what better to bring than two Japanese classics together in a super portable form?
I’ll Make It Myself!: What I Ate in Nagano, Day 2: Yamanouchi
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan; curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan; and admins The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Day 1: On the Road to Yudanaka Onsen (長野の名産を食べる旅：第一日)
On our second day in Nagano, we headed to Yamanouchi to see the snow monkeys at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. We kind of took the long way around, but eventually we got on the right path.
Life After JET: Teaching perspective from Kevin Stein
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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.
WIT Life #229: Shaking things up
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WIT Life 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.
This week the New York Times has had a host of articles about recent economic, business and political decisions in Japan. One that came out today discusses the efforts of Haruhiko Kuroda, the new Bank of Japan governor, to drastically change Japan’s economic policy in order to escape the deflation that has plagued the country for an extended period of time. He will attempt to achieve this by doubling the amount of money in circulation and bringing annual inflation to about 2 percent. However, some experts question whether monetary policy alone can end Japan’s deflation, as the country has other deflationary pressures like an aging/shrinking population and heavy regulations burdening the economy. A certain result from these new policies will be a weakening of the yen, which is a boon for Japanese exporters.
Another article talks about the changes the Japanese Cabinet has proposed in regard to Read More
I’ll Make It Myself!: What I Ate in Nagano, Day 1: On the Road to Yudanaka Onsen
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan, and The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Craft beer wasn’t the only delicious thing I had on my trip to Nagano. Let’s recap!
I’ll Make It Myself!: Homemade Sakura “Latte” (Sakura Steamer)
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L.M. Zoller (CIR Ishikawa-ken, Anamizu, 2009-11) is the editor of The Ishikawa JET Kitchen: Cooking in Japan Without a Fight. A writer and web administrator for The Art of Travel, ze also writes I’ll Make It Myself!, a blog about food culture in Japan, and curates The Rice Cooker Chronicles, a series of essays by JETs and JET alumni on the theme of cooking/eating and being alone in Japan, and The JET Alumni Culinary Group in LinkedIn.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Nothing heralds spring like seasonal menu changes! Starbucks’ sakura latte (henceforth not italicized) is much like the pumpkin spice latte in the US: people go crazy for it and it sells out long before sakura season is over. Or, in Kanazawa and the rest of northern Japan, before it even starts.
This year, the latte was replaced by a sakura white hot chocolate, which I really liked, but unfortunately it’s been gone for a month and the sakura only started blooming this week. Luckily, a sakura “latte” (technically it’s a steamer since there’s no coffee) is really easy to make at home. All you need is preserved edible sakura, boiling water, and milk.
JET alum children’s book author Rob Weston keeps producing
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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.
Job: CUNY Start – Cooperating Teacher and Writing Assistant (NY)
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Thanks to JET alum and JetWit founder Steven Horowitz for sharing this post. Posted by Kay Monroe (Miyazaki-shi, 1995 -97). Click here to join the JETwit Jobs Google Group and receive job listings even sooner by email.
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Position: Various positions including Cooperating Teacher and Writing Assistant
Posted by: The City University of New York
Type: Various
Location: New York, NY
Salary: N/A
Start Date: N/A
Note from Steven:
CUNY Start is a unique and innovative adult education program, and I thought it may be of interest to any JETs or JET alumni seeking to work in adult education. More information available at the website listed above. Additionally, I’m currently teaching in this program and would be happy to answer questions for any JETs or alumni interested in applying.
– Steven
______________________________________________________________
Program Overview:
CUNY Start provides intensive preparation in academic reading/writing, math, and “college success.” The program enrolls prospective CUNY students who have been accepted to college because they have a high school or GED diploma, but are not ready for college-level work based on their scores on the CUNY Assessment Tests.
Students who have enrolled in CUNY Start re-take the required CUNY Assessment Tests. Past students have shown significant skill gains when they re-test; many have bypassed required remedial coursework entirely.
Spring 2013 and Fall 2013 Job Opportunities at CUNY:
- Associate Program Director – CUNY Start
- Cooperating Advisor
- Cooperating Math Teacher
- Cooperating Reading/Writing Teacher
- Writing Assistant
http://www.cuny.edu/academics/programs/notable/CATA/cti-cunystart/cunystart-employmentopps.html
