JETAA British Columbia Newsletter – January 2013
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The latest issue of the JETAABC Newsletter is now available. The January issue includes a poignant article on Rikuzentakata by former Alison Dacia Brown (Iwate-ken, Rikuzentakata-shi, 2005-08) as well as an article on Photohoku, hockey in Japan, and other JET-relevant topics. JETAA BC is also one of the few remaining chapters to publish a print-layout newsletter, and they do a great job at it.
- Online Magazine Version: http://issuu.com/jetaabc/docs/newsletterv17n3/8
I’ll Make It Myself!: Best of 2012
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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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Happy New Year, everyone! 明けましておめでとうございます！
Since I bought my own domain name, I don’t get WordPress’s year-end stats for my site anymore, so I thought I would round up some of my most popular posts and my goals for next year as a 年末年始 (new year’s holidays; lit. year-end-year-beginning) exercise.
JET alum Bruce Feiler set to publish latest book: The Secrets of Happy Families
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The latest from JET alum Bruce Feiler (Tochigi-ken, 1989-90), author of Learning to Bow, The Council of Dads, and, most recently, The Secrets of Happy Family, as well as several books on the Middle East including Walking the Bible, Abrahamand Where God Was Born. To read prior columns, please click here.
In a few weeks Harper Collins will publish Bruce’s new book, THE SECRETS OF HAPPY FAMILIES: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More.
From Bruce: “Like many people we know, my wife, Linda, and I felt squeezed between aging parents and rising children. So over several years, I set out to find the smartest ideas and cutting-edge techniques to make our family happier. Avoiding the usual “experts,” I sought out creative minds from Silicon Valley to the set of “Modern Family” to the country’s top negotiators, asked what they were doing with the families, then tested their ideas at home with Linda and our girls. Some of these solutions failed, but many more improved our lives deeply and brought us all a lot closer.”
The book will be excerpted in the New York Times and appear on the cover of PARADE. Bruce will be featured on Good Morning America, Katie Couric, and other shows. Bruce will also be touring around the country.
There will also be an event in NYC at the Barnes & Noble on 86th Street on the East Side on February 20. (Stay tuned for a JETAANY announcement about going to the event followed by a happy hour.)
Learn more here: http://amzn.to/QwQxP5.
For more regular updates, follow Bruce on Facebook: www.facebook.com/brucefeilerauthor.
And Twitter: www.twitter.com/brucefeiler.
WIT Life #224: 明けましておめでとうございます！
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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.
Happy 巳年 (hebi doshi, or year of the snake)! In Japan there are 15.2 million people who were born in the year of the snake, making them either 年男 or 年女 (toshi otoko/onna). Not sure what the numbers are here in the States, but Chinese astrology says that we’re likely to see significant developments in the area of science and technology this year. According to astrology.com, “Research and development are apt to flourish, making 2013 a very special year for scientists and scholars. The snake is a great sign, a positive one, with energy that can help us face all of the challenges ahead of us.” Also, the snake (which has the alternate kanji of 蛇, as shown in the image) is said to be the yin to last year’s dragon (辰, tatsu or 龍, ryu) yang.
Speaking of feminine/masculine elements, two recent articles in the New York Times focus on women’s issues in Japan. The first marks the passing of Beate Gordon, “who almost single-handedly wrote women’s rights into the [Japanese] Constitution.” She was the last living member of the American team that wrote Japan’s postwar constitution, and had served as Read More
I’ll Make It Myself!: Curried Cauliflower with Tuna
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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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
I used to refer to cauliflower as “broccoli’s sad cousin.” Years of veggie trays at family functions taught me that dip does not make raw cauliflower taste good. A month of a “let’s try new vegetables” experiment in high school taught me that no amount of cheese will make me touch boiled cauliflower. (Seriously. There are some things even cheese can’t fix.)
At some point last year, everyone on the Internet seemed to having a foodgasm about using mashed cauliflower as an alternative to mashed potatoes, and as I was snarking away*, my husband revealed that he likes cauliflower.
Whoa whoa whoa. Back up there.
WIT Life #223: Return to LDP rule with Abe at the helm
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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.
The parliamentary election in Japan two Sundays ago restored the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP or 自民党) to power after three years of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or 民主党) being in charge. LDP leader and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now the incoming Prime Minister, and current Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda resigned as head of the DPJ. A particular focus will be the new administration’s handling of issues such as relations with China and other Asian nations (in particular the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands), possible restarting of nuclear power plants and Japan’s energy policy (the LDP favors the nuclear option), and socioeconomic challenges (such as the low birthrate/increasingly aging population and combating deflation).
Abe is known to be a hawkish conservative, and he emphasizes both Japan’s ownership of Read More
JET Alum Author Beat 12.15.12
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Gemma Vidal (Okayama-ken, 2010-12) is a recently returned JET seeking work in licensing/merchandising (if it’s within the publishing industry, even better!). You can usually find her in her little web spaces Gem in the Rough and Peachy Keen (her JET adventures) or training with San Jose Taiko. If you know of any authors/aspiring writers you’d like to see featured in JET Alum Author Beat, just contact Gemma at gem.vidal [at] gmail.com. She would also like to express her deepest condolences to the community of Newtown, Connecticut.
- Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica wrote a special article for The Japan Times where he interviewed Pete Townshend, guitarist of The Who and discussed UK/Japan post-WWII similarities and Mr. Townshend’s recent memoir, “Who I Am”. You can find the article here. Roland Kelts also posted an interesting article on the possible decline of the pop culture phenomenon “Japan Cool”. That article can be found here at The Christian Science Monitor.
- If you’re looking for some light entertainment, Young Adult book Guardian of the Dead’s New Zealand author Karen Healey self-published a collection of essays titled Teen Movie Times. In this collection she muses on teen movie “classics” such as Bring it On and Clueless. Who knows, maybe one of these movies can be used in one of your lessons?
WIT Life #222: Japan’s Global Leadership
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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.
Earlier this week I went to a lunchtime 座談会 (zadankai, or round-table talk) at Columbia Business School’s Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) entitled “Global Leadership Challenges for Japanese Companies.” The discussion was led by Sheena Iyengar, the S.T. Lee Professor of Business at the school and moderated by Hugh Patrick, the Center’s Director. Some of the themes explored during the course of the hour and a half session were how to stimulate entrepreneurship, the issue of global leadership being thought of as equivalent to English ability, and the cultural fear of making mistakes as hindering innovation. There was an interesting characterization of America as being on the promotion side of the spectrum (risk-taking), and Japan falling on Read More
I’ll Make It Myself!: Avocado Almond Cookies
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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.
Downtown Kanazawa is experiencing its seemingly annual winter butter shortage. The grocery stores I frequent have signs that read “one package per customer” and explain that the shortage is due to conditions in Tohoku, where much of the nation’s dairy is produced. My friends in other cities report that they’re having no issues finding or buying butter–maybe the shortage is from all the bakeries in town making Christmas cakes?
As a result of butter’s becoming increasingly expensive and hard to find here, I’m trying to cut back. I have a collection of recipes for muffins, quick breads, and pastry crusts that take yogurt, oil, or applesauce instead, but all my standard holiday cookie recipes take butter. This year, I’ve decided to work on some Japan-friendly non-butter cookie recipes in hopes of saving my wallet and my holiday spirit.*
WIT Life #221: MoMA’s Avant-Garde 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 month MoMA introduced an exhibition called Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde, which looks at the creations that emerged from this tumultuous period. It features around 200 works of various media, such as paintings from Yayoi Kusama and photographs from Daido Moriyama, as well as pieces from lesser known artists. They all offer social commentary and many are confrontational, some via explicitly sexual themes such as Tetsumi Kudo’s “Philosophy of Impotence” installation, which occupies a large section of the exhibit.
Another interesting work is Hiroshi Nakamura’s “Circular Train A,” which features uniformed schoolgirls as cyclops, further fetishizing this symbol of sexuality in Japanese society. In this painting and others, the influence on modern manga and anime is undeniable. Fun fact is that Yomiuri Shimbun had served as the sponsor of a Tokyo exhibition of post-war artwork, but withdrew the following year as the content had become too controversial. The exhibition will run through February 25 and various lectures and gallery talks are offered, so make sure to check it out.
In conjunction with this exhibition, a film series called Art Theater Guild and Japanese Underground Cinema: 1960-1986 is taking place. On Friday night I had the honor of Read More
I’ll Make It Myself!: Whole-Wheat Ginger-Squash Muffins with Chocolate Chips
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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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
One last(?) squash purée recipe for the season!
I live in a country where the only cold cereals available at regular grocery stores (Tokyo Metro, you don’t count) are frosted flakes and cocoa puffs.* As a result, I’ve learned to make a variety of breakfast foods. I’m actually not sure how I only ended up with one muffin recipe on the blog onsidering the frequency with which we eat them at home. Muffins are the ideal food for the Japanese kitchen: their size means they cook through easily, unlike some quick breads; silicone muffin cups are easy to find; and the infinite variations you can make means you can adapt them to whatever flours (including gluten-free), milk, or seasonal fruit you can find in your area. Plus, they’re just fun to eat.
JET alum Bruce Feiler’s latest NYTimes column on Maria Popova, creator of Brain Pickings
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Here’s the latest NYT column by JET alum Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90), author of Learning to Bow, The Council of Dads, and, most recently, The Secrets of Happy Family, as well as several books on the Middle East including Walking the Bible, Abrahamand Where God Was Born. To read prior columns, please click here.
This Life: She’s Got Some Big Ideas
By Bruce Feiler
SHE is the mastermind of the one of the faster growing literary empires on the Internet, yet she is virtually unknown. She is the champion of old-fashioned ideas, yet she is only 28 years old. She is a fierce defender of books, yet she insists she will never write one herself.
CLICK HERE to read the full column.
I’ll Make It Myself: “Kitchen Library – 2012.11.26”
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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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Thanksgiving Part 2 (at a friend’s house) went smashingly! I made Naturally Ella‘s Twice-Baked Butternut Squash (with quinoa and Gorgonzola) as the vegetarian main dish. With the exception of the turkey, which was expertly cooked by the hosts, all the other dishes were vegetarian: mac & cheese made with Cougar Cheese, a sharp canned cheese from Washington State (glorious); vegetarian cranberry-mushroom stuffing; fresh green-bean casseroles; vegetarian bean gumbo (spicy!); root vegetable purée; bourbon cranberry sauce made with reconstituted dried cranberries (and arcane magicks); and lots of pie: pecan, pumpkin, and chocolate.
JETAA DC Newsletter seeks writers and submissions
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Via JETAA DC Newsletter Editor Sarah Howe:
I’ll Make It Myself!: “Cornbread”
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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.
New Rice Cooker Chronicles submissions always welcome. Just e-mail it to jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Are you guys sick of kabocha and kabocha purée yet? I never am*, but let’s change it up a bit today.
My first encounter with a vegetarian cookbook of any sort was my dad’s copy of Anna Thomas‘s The Vegetarian Epicure, a memento of a few months in the ’70s when he dabbled in meatless cooking. I have no recollection of my dad (or my mom) ever using VE for anything but the cornbread recipe that we brought with us to every Thanksgiving dinner. I find vintage (sorry, parents) cookbooks really fascinating from a social-history standpoint, so perhaps I’ll peruse the book again when I’m home next.
