CLAIR-NY’s Hanzawa-san on his life in NYC
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For those who don’t know him, Taichi Hanzawa (Miyagi-ken) works for CLAIR-NY (also known as the Japan Local Government Center or JLGC) and this past year served as the JETAA USA Liaison. That’s the position responsible for coordinating with all 19 JETAA USA chapters to help them with their funding. Takusan shigoto yo. Cantan de ha arimasen. Yet Hanzawa-san has worked very hard and served admirably.
Recently, he wrote a short article for the Miyagi Ken Prefectural Newsletter where he reflected on his life in New York. By way of context, Hanzawa-san and most of his colleagues at CLAIR-NY are part of a sort of inverse version of the JET Program. They are all local government workers in their city or prefectural governments. And they’ve all been selected to be part of a three-year program that starts with one year of training in Tokyo followed by a two-year assignment in a CLAIR office in the U.S., UK, Australia or elsewhere.
Below is the article by Hanzawa-san (along with a picture of him at a recent JETAA NY executive meeting held at the JLGC). If anyone would like to post an English summary in the comments section (assuming you can make out the print below), that would be more than welcome. (If you’d like a PDF version, e-mail jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.)
JETAA Chapter Beat: Author Robert Whiting Coming to Seattle
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Freelance writer/editor Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) brings us a special edition of news from the JETAA Pacific Northwest for JETAA Chapter Beat.
The Japan-America Society of Seattle is pleased to announce best-selling author Robert Whiting as the featured speaker for an August 13 evening cocktail reception. Mr. Whiting will speak about his new book You Gotta Have Wa 2009(Vintage Departures). The event is being held on Thursday, August 13th at FOX Sports Grill.
Mr. Whiting first wrote You Gotta Have Wa (Macmillan) in 1989, reflecting on the cultural conflict between Japan and America as seen through the common sport of baseball. It was written at the height of US-Japan trade difficulties and received considerable media attention, including 3 reviews from the NY Times and a feature in Time Magazine. Mr. Whiting has appeared on such TV shows as Larry King and the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour. Along with being required reading at the Japan Desk in the State Department and a frequent feature in American Universities, it was also a best seller in Japan and named one of the best non-fiction books of the year.
The new book is a celebration of Wa‘s 20th anniversary, containing a new introduction and afterward describing the changes in US-Japanese relations and how it can still be seen in the sport of baseball. Special focus is given to the influx of Japanese stars to the MLB, like Daisuke Matsuzaka, as well as the recent unprecedented migration of American managers to Japan, led by Bobby Valentine and Trey Hillman.
In his talk, Mr. Whiting will address the subject of whether Japanese and Americans understand (and like) each other more than they did two decades ago and the how baseball remains an interesting reflection of culture.
Mr. Whiting is the author of several highly acclaimed books, including The Meaning of Ichiro (Warner Books) and Tokyo Underworld (Pantheon), a book about organized crime in Japan currently being made into a film directed by Martin Scorsese.
Doors open at 5:30, with the Presentation and Q&A session held from 6:20 until 7:00, followed by Mariners vs. Yankees, presented on 3 big screen plasma TVs.
Bankruptcy Bill #17: BAPCPA Man (cameo by Roland Kelts)
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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall. For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.
A twist in the plot! (Also, note the Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) reference as the esoteric worlds of manga and bankruptcy find a rare intersection.)
*BAPCPA = Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, i.e., the 2005 Bankruptcy Law.
Roland Kelts on Australian radio
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Check out this interview on Australian radio (ABC) with Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, about the anime industry in Japan, financial foibles and hentai habits.
Roland recently finished a speaking tour in Australia where made several appearances.
- July 13-16th, Sydney, AU, JSAA Conference, University of Sydney
- July 17th, Sydney, AU, The Japan Foundation: Panel w/Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
- July 20th, Brisbane, AU, The University of Queensland: Panel w/ Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
- July 22nd, Melbourne, AU, The University of Melbourne: Panel w/Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
He also hosted a talk with Hayao Miyazaki in Berkely, CA on July 25. Click here to see video clips of Roland speaking at the JETAA NY Alumni Author Showcase event held back in March 2009, here for photos from the event and here to read a review of the event.
James Scanlon-Canegata returned from JET last year and, in addition to pursuing research on religious studies, he’s also started working as a professional translator. Recently, after taking a freelance job from a large translation company, he learned that he was expected to use translation software to aid his work. This led him to the honyaku Google group to seek advice and perspective on the software issue.
JetWit thought it would be interesting to hear what James has learned so far and share it for the benefit of the JET and JET alum community. Read on for his experience so far:
I was also completely unaware that translators used any kind of translation software when I first started thinking about doing it. I have a friend who does English-Portuguese translation and I first found out from her that this is something most professional translators use. When I did my first paid translation I just worked on Word and excel and it was very slow-going and tedious at some points. That’s when I started to wonder if translation software could help move things along.
I have a Mac and so I tried a couple of free translation programs that I saw recommended on online forums. I ended up feeling mostly confused about, well, everything. But specifically, I had the most trouble with the actual interface of the applications. The program would isolate a small area to be translated automatically and the idea is that you would go along and translate the parts until you’re through. But, with Japanese of course you have to start from the tail-end of the sentence and translate backwards a lot of times and it seemed like the application just wasn’t programmed for that type of translation. The same would go with sets of sentences where the meaning just won’t come out right if it is translated into English word-for-word in its original order. The program also seemed to break sentences up into seemingly random segments without any regard for periods or commas or common sense (on terms of a Japanese-English translation type of common sense).
This may just be because I’m an inexperienced translator, but my theory was that the software was geared Read More
Learning to Bow…in Iraq?
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Just heard an NPR interview with Wesley Gray, the fluent-in-Arabic author of Embedded: A Marine Corps Advisor in the Iraqi Army, and it struck me that it might be the Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan for current day Iraq. Learning to Bow by best-selling author Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90) was the original “JET book,” describing the experience of living in Japan and making sense of the cultural differences.
I think it would be interesting to hear some JET perspectives on the book, perhaps contrasting Gray’s experience with their own cross-cultural experience in Japan. Please feel free to post your comments below. Also, if anyone wants to write a review of the book, just get in touch.
Here’s a summary of the book from Amazon:
From Publishers Weekly
In this illuminating memoir, Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Gray recounts his eight-month tour as part of a Military Transition Team, working as an advisor to the Iraqi Army on location. Gray was fluent in Arabic prior to deployment, giving him enormous insight into the culture and worldview of Iraqis as citizens and soldiers and obvious advantages over colleagues (and competing memoirists) relying on translantors On many occasions, Gray encounters an Insh’ Allah philosophy, a mantra of “If God wills it” or “God willing” can strike Americans as lazy or unmotivated. Among other startling lessons, Gray discovered that loyalty to tribe supersedes duty to the state; the Iraqi Army soldiers he was training were spending their monthly leave in the ranks of local tribal militias. Gray details the cultural nuances and interpersonal relationships of occupied Iraq with such care and clarity, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in the the reconstruction, especially those set to deploy.
Zorgamazoo in China too! (sort of)
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Following up on the post about Robert P. Weston’s (Nara-ken, 2002-04) rhyming children’s novel Zorgamazoo being translated into German, it turns out Zorgamazoo is also being translated into Chinese. And by the Chinese translator who did Dr. Seuss!
This, apparently, is not new news. Rob did a post on his Way of the West blog back in November, 2008 unveiling the news. But JetWit didn’t know Rob back then. In fact, JetWit barely existed at the time.
The important thing is that we know now and as a result, so do you.
And to Rob we simply say, “Gong shi, gong shi!” (That’s “omedetou” in Chinese, fyi.)
JetWit Blog Beat by Crystal Wong (Iwate-ken, 2002-04) is a recurring item featuring posts from the blogs of various JET alumni. Crystal is a formerEnglish-language writer for Kyodo News. She now works as a media planner in Chelsea and sorely misses all her favorite midtown ramen joints.
Hello, JET alumni! We trust you have all been having amazing summers. From the latest look at the blog rolls, it certainly looks that way. Let’s take a look:
Writer Kelly Luce (Kawasaki, 2002-2003) shares her latest adventures in writing from Fishtrap, a writing conference in Eastern Oregon.
Congratulations to Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), the Toronto-based author of the rhyming children’s novel Zorgamazoo, who has just announced that Zorgamazoo has been selected as a contender in One Book One Brampton.
Check out JET alum Chen Reichert‘s cool new boto attack ukiyo-e designs here.
Having trouble with figuring out what to wear for those warm summer days and cool nights? Check out Janice Momoko Chow‘s (Saitama, 2005-2006) write-up of StyleCaster, a great new site and app for anyone who loves to shop.
Last but not least, congratulations once again to James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06) on his victory versus Neil Gaiman for the 2009 Newbery award. Read the full details here.
The latest from Way of the West, the official blog of Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04), the Toronto-based author of the rhyming children’s novel Zorgamazoo:
Good news, everyone: I’ve had an offer to publish Zorgamazoo in Germany!
Jacoby and Stuart wants to have the book out in Spring of 2010, and in hardcover, no less. Because of the challenging translation presented by Zorgamazoo, they’re currently on the search for a well-known, well-experienced translator.
Whoever they find, may I wish them the very best of luck! I don’t expect it’ll be easy.
(JetWit is still stuck on the question of how one would pronounce “Zorgamazoo” in German?)
Job: Translation of the Kurodahan Press’ Speculative Japan Series
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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following freelance translation opportunity through the Honyaku E <> J Mailing List and thought it might be of interest to former JETs. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.
The contents of the second volume of the Kurodahan Press’ Speculative Japan series of anthologies has been finalized, and they are looking for good translators. If you would like to be considered for one of these stories, please contact either Mr. Edward Lipsett or Mr. Stephen Carter by e-mail.
See the list of available works for more information.
If you have never worked for the Kurodahan Press, you should probably take a look at their FAQ for prospective translators, because it is highly likely that you will be asked to demonstrate your ability as a translator and a writer before you are contracted to handle a story.
Suzanne Kamata interview in The Telegraph (UK)
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Yesterday The Telegraph (UK) ran a nice interview with Suzanne Kamata (Tokushima-ken, 1988-90), who lives in Japan and is the editor of LiteraryMama as well as the author of books such as Losing Kei and Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (which recently won several prizes in the 2009 Indie Book Awards including the Grand Prize for non-fiction overall).
Read the interview here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/5833776/Raising-a-mixed-race-family-in-Japan-can-be-hard.html
For additional interviews and information about Suzanne:
- Interview with Suzanne by fellow JET alum Cristy Burne (Hyogo-ken, Kawanishi-shi, 1998-2000), author of the soon-to-be-released children’s book Takeshita Demons.
- Also, another JET alum writer, Liz Sheffield (Hokkaio-ken, Sapporo-shi, 1993-95), has an interview with Suzanne about the book on her blog motherlogue.wordpress.com.
- To learn more about Suzanne you can visit her website at http://www.suzannekamata.com or her blog at http://gaijinmama.wordpress.com (RSS feed here).
- Read an interview with Suzanne Kamata on children’s books and diversity by the blog Kabiliana.
- Go to the Authors/Books section of the JetWit Library to see a complete list of JET alum authors (at least to JetWit’s knowledge).
James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06), author of The Order of Odd-Fish continues to redefine the standard job description for “author.” In his latest adventure, he gave a speech at the American Librarians Association where he forcibly took the Newbery Award from “Neil Gaiman.” And that’s not even the most shocking part.
After watching the video clips below, you may find yourself contemplating the young Japanese students James once taught. What has become of them and how have their lives been affected, or perhaps more appropriately, distorted? Perhaps a film-making member of the JET alum community could set out to produce a documentary on the subject.
Until then, watch and enjoy below. Or watch and read the post on James’ site: “I Win the Newberry”
Video 1: James announces his intention to strip Gaiman of his Newbery.
Video 2: Freya and Erin act out a scene from his novel The Order of Odd-Fish.
Video 3: Neil Gaiman and James fight for the Newbery.
Need a little more James Kennedy? Click here to see video of him reading at the JET Alumni Author Showcase.
Sake World E-Newsletter by John Gaunter (July 2009)
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The July 2009 issue of the Sake World E-mail Newsletter by JET alum and leading sake expert John Gauntner (aka “The Sake Guy”) is now available online. In this issue:
- All I Really Need to Know…
- Did You Know?
- Guided Sakagura Tours
- Sake Professional Course
- Sake Events
- Learn More About Sake eBooks
- Odds-n-Ends
Roland Kelts Australia tour
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Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, is en route to Australia where he’ll be making several appearances. For JET alums in Australia, here are the dates and locations where you can catch him. And if you do happen to see him, by all means go up and say “G’day.” He really appreciates meeting other JET alums out there.
- July 13-16th, Sydney, AU, JSAA Conference, University of Sydney
- July 17th, Sydney, AU, The Japan Foundation: Panel w/Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
- July 20th, Brisbane, AU, The University of Queensland: Panel w/ Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
- July 22nd, Melbourne, AU, The University of Melbourne: Panel w/Susan Napier and Rebecca Suter
Roland will be back in the U.S. to host a talk with Hayao Miyazaki in Berkely, CA on July 25. Click here to see video clips of Roland speaking at the JETAA NY Alumni Author Showcase event held back in March 2009, here for photos from the event and here to read a review of the event.
Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) signs a copy of his book at the JETAA NY Author Showcase held in NYC in March 2009.
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
Echigo Koutsuu spoiled the ever-living fuck out of me.
If I was ever for any reason required to place myself in Tokyo, I had four options:
1) The Shinkansen. Though I will forever be devoted to the miracle and blessing of the bullet train, one way on that horse cost 9,000 yen and required a trip to Nagaoka. Fast, clean, and idiot-proof, riding the Shink is kind of like God giving you a shoulder rub as you magically transport to any major Japanese city in .14 nanoseconds-mit snacks.
2) My Taxi: This was one of a few van shuttle services that picked you up from your front door and dropped you off exactly where you needed to be. Using this option required a keitai and a fairly efficient amount of Japanese as you had to be able to make the reservation and let the driver know where to find you in the terminal. Yes, once upon a time my Japanese was serviceable.
I often used this option when I was coming home from Narita. I could just as easily have taken the Shink but Read More
