Justin’s Japan: Michael Jackson Covers J-pop Classic on New Album
Celebrity, Justin's Japan, Music 
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'Michael' hits stores Dec. 14. (Sony Music)
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.
According to Billboard, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s 1979 electropop smash “Behind the Mask” will appear on Michael, the first posthumous album from the late recording megastar Michael Jackson.
Penned by YMO’s Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto with Chris Mosdell, “Behind the Mask” was first brought to Jackson’s attention by legendary producer Quincy Jones during the Thriller sessions in the early ’80s. The King of Pop cut the Japanese group’s song, adding an extra melody line and additional lyrics. Legal battles barred it from making the album, and the tune languished in the vaults until now.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Joshua Small is a First Year JET currently living in Ikaruga-cho, Nara-ken and has been chronicling his experience on his blog Snorlax87.
I recently went to my school’s Bon Enkai to celebrate the end of the fall term! It was amaaaaaaaazing!
A brief preface: The definition of “enkai” is merely “party; banquet” but it is also what greases the wheels of social communication in Japanese culture. The enkai is usually a work party with a lot of drinking.
My school’s enkai was held at a major shrine in the city of Kashihara. Kashihara is the 2nd largest city in Nara, with Nara City being it’s largest.
Given the terrible weather conditions, Storm and I received a ride from S-Sensei to the enkai. After we arrived, we were told to pick a table number out of a box to determine where we would sit for the dinner. I thought I was being funny when I did the ol’ “reach my hand into the mysterious box and pretend like something grabbed it” routine, but apparently my humor doesn’t reach across borders sometimes. Storm and I pulled different table numbers, so we wouldn’t be sitting together. After we pulled our number we were given scratch lottery tickets. We were also told not to scratch them until the enkai starts…
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
http://snorlax87.blogspot.com/
JETAA Chapter sites with JetWit Links
JETAA Chapters Comments Off on JETAA Chapter sites with JetWit Links
A.J. the JetWit Elephant
Just want to quickly thank the below chapters for including a link to JetWit on their sites. Our goal is to have all JETAA Chapters to include a link to JetWit. And if they want, also have an image of A.J., the JetWit mascot (who was created by web and graphic designer Zi Mei (Saitama-ken, 2002-05) Click here to read about A.J.’s background and origins).
- JETAA UK: http://www.jetaa.org.uk/links (BTW, if you ever plan a trip to London, take a look at JapaneseLondon.com which is run by JET alum Vanessa Villalobos)
- JETAA Southern California: http://www.jetaasc.org/ (Including image of A.J.)
- JETAA South Island, New Zealand: http://www.southisland.jetalumni.org/information_links/information_links.htm (Including image of A.J.)
- JETAA Sydney: http://www.sydneyjetaa.org/index.php?pg=7 (Under “JET Programme and Related Organizations”)
- Pacific Northwest JETAA: http://www.pnwjetaa.org/?p=1057 (A full-on blog post about JetWit!)
- JETAA New England: http://www.nejetaa.com/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=35%3Ajetaa&Itemid=48
- Music City: Tweeted about the JET-Tourist Tally Project. Chapter website coming soon.
Also, a reminder that all content on JetWit may be used by JETAA chapters and any other official JET-related organizations (e.g., AJET) on their websites, in their emails & newsletters, etc. No permission necessary. Just copy and paste. (Or link. Whatever makes your job easiest.)
Special thanks to Sam Lederer (Shizuoka-ken, 2005-07) for gathering the info. If your chapter has a link to JetWit, e-mail sam [at] jetwit.com and let us know.
WIT Life #141: 今年の漢字
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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.
The end of the year is upon is, which means that it is time for 今年の漢字 (kotoshi no kanji) or the kanji of the year. It is selected by popular ballot and is supposed to represent the events of 2009. The announcement was made this weekend at Kyoto’s Kiyomizu Temple, and the winner with 14,537 votes was 暑 (sho) or hot. According to Daily Sun, the reason this character was chosen was due to average temperatures this summer hitting historical highs (and many people getting heat stroke as a result) and for the 33 Chilean miners who survived the mine’s hot conditions.
This year had the most cumulative votes ever with 285,406, and the 2nd and 3rd place picks were Read More
Job: Senior Program Coordinator (8 months), Center on Japanese Economy and Business
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via Columbia University. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika currently works as an in-house translator for PFU (a Fujitsu company) in Kahoku-shi, Ishikawa-ken. She is also the vocalist for the Japanese hardcore punk band DEGRADE.
*Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JetWit. Thanks.
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Job Position: Senior Program Coordinator, Center on Japanese Economy and Business
Job Details:
***Position start date around January 10, 2011***
The Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) at Columbia Business School seeks a strong candidate for an 8 month temporary position to cover a team member on leave.
Reporting to the Director of Administration of the Center on Japanese Economy and Business, the Senior Program Coordinator is responsible for administering the Center’s finances and budget, handling correspondence and transactions with corporate sponsors and supporting the directors and associate directors in their functions. The employee will assist in the organization of programs and events held by the Center.
Responsibilities:
1. Financial administration, including preparation and reconciliation of all revenue and expenses; coordinate all incoming funds for Corporate Sponsorship program, endowment and gifts; preparation and maintenance of budget; preparation of all grant financial reports and any other financial projections.
2. In consultation with the Academic and Administrative Director, development of budgets for Center events and research projects.
3. Handling of paperwork of temporary staff of the Center and student interns. Processing of expense reports for staff and affiliated
faculty.
4. Support of visiting fellows, scholars, and other affiliates, which may include the administrative processing of paperwork for visas and housing.
5. Help maintain all Center publications including website, promotional brochures, annual report, and event reports.
6. Helping to organize and implement the Center’s annual international conferences in Tokyo, including the development of program agenda and budget, correspondence with participants and attendees, coordination with cosponsoring organizations, publicity efforts, and compilation of related program materials.
7. Administrative support of ongoing academic and research projects as necessary.
How to apply:
For more details, and for how to apply, go to https://jobs.columbia.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1292045175857
Job: Japanese Translators (Cleveland, Chicago, DC, NYC or Southfield, Mich.)
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via JET alum Gail Cetnar Meadows (Hiroshima-shi 2007-10).
*Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JetWit. Thanks.
Job Position: Kelly Law Registry seeks translators to translate Japanese documents into English.
Job Details: Kelly Law Registry is currently seeking resumes from individuals who have a strong ability to translate Japanese documents into English. Candidates must be available to work able to work on site at the client’s location for the next 1-2 months in either Southfield (Michigan), New York City, Chicago, Cleveland, or Washington, DC. Candidates may also need to travel to Southfield for a few days of training. Candidates should be comfortable working with the computer and possess a strong attention to detail.
For more information and to apply, click here.
Inequality: Why the Tuition Bubble and Student Debt Matter
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates a think tank of one, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill. For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.
In Japan, young people who’ve been having a tough time finding work are criticized as “parasite singles” or “herbivores,” regardless of whether there actually are living wage jobs for them. The same thing is happening in the U.S., but to make things worse, $850 billion dollars in student debt is hidden from calculations of income inequality, meaning young people are unemployed and not making families, AND America is also less egalitarian a society than people might think.
WIT Life #140: Hibakusha Stories
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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.
This week I had the unique opportunity to work as a volunteer interpreter for a project called Hibakusha Stories. Hibakusha (被爆者) is the official designation for atomic bomb victims, and this is the second time this organization has invited them to come to America to tell about their experiences. The program involves visits to NYC high schools, where groups of students gather to hear what these amazing survivors have to say. I had the honor of working with a beautiful woman from Hiroshima, 72-year old Toshiko Tanaka
, who was generous enough to share her story.
Toshiko was almost 7 when the bomb was dropped and managed to make her way home. Her own mother didn’t recognize her, and she was in a coma for a week but somehow miraculously survived. Besides burns throughout her body, she experienced Read More
This edition of Japan Fix actually happened when I emailed JETAA Florida’s Tampa Subchapter rep John McGee (Nagano-ken, 2004-05) to let him know that I would be visiting family in Tampa over Christmas and asked him for the most authentic Japanese experiences in the Tampa area, i.e., where the JET alums go. What he wrote back was perfect for Japan Fix.
1. Yoko’s Japanese Restaurant is in South Tampa (3217 South McDill Ave.) It’s owned by the mother of a JET from years ago. (http://www.yokosrestaurant.com/Pages/about.htm)
2. Kaisen Sushi in Northdale. (http://kaisensushitampa.com/) (14841 North Dale Mabry Highway) This is owned by a locally famous character…he’s a bit of a rocker and a good sushi chef. He made some waves when Hideki Matsui’s press guy asked if he would rent the place out for Matsui to make an appearance since he’d heard about the place and wanted to try it. But he told them that Matsui was welcome to eat, but he wouldn’t shut out his regulars on one of his best nights because they would keep coming back while Matsui would only be there once.
3. Wasabi Japanese Steak & Sushi in New Tampa. (http://www.japanesesteakandsushi.com/) (19601 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard) This is a Japanese owned steakhouse with sushi. The owner is Fumi Doi. He hosted one of our Tampagumi Pre-Departure Q&A’s for new JETs and is a likely sponsor for Tampa Natsumatsuri in 2011. (Apparently his wife encouraged him to sponsor the matsuri when she saw our sad little hand-cranked kakigori maker.) It’s definitely the fanciest and most expensive of the three I’ve mentioned.
Outside of food, perhaps, the best way to get your Japan Fix in Tampa may be to simply attend the Tampa Tsudoi Japanese language meet-up which meets the first Friday of every month from 7pm to 8pm at the Panera in the Brandon Town Center Mall.
Tell us where JETs should go in your area to get their Japan Fix. E-mail jetwit [at] jetwit.com.
Justin’s Japan: Carnegie Hall to Kick Off JapanNYC 2010 Concert Week
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- Maestro Seiji Ozawa, artistic director of Carnegie Hall’s JapanNYC festival. (Mark Corke/New York Observer)
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.
Starting this Saturday, Carnegie Hall’s JapanNYC festival will unveil its first citywide series of musical performances. Led by artistic director Seiji Ozawa, who is best known for his record-setting 29-year career as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the festival’s musical highlights next week will see Maestro Ozawa helming rare overseas concerts by the Saito Kinen Orchestra with conductor Tatsuya Shimono, pianist Mitsuko Uchida and others, plus tributes to the legendary late composer Tōru Takemitsu, considered by many to be Japan’s greatest composer.
Additionally, as part of the Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum, a series of performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf—performed by the Juilliard Ensemble and George Manahan with visual art by Rei Sato of Kaikai Kiki and narration by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi—will surely delight music fans of all ages.
The performances follow other city exhibitions and ongoing events under the JapanNYC banner that run through next year, including Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody’s Fool at Asia Society, The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin at Japan Society, and On Becoming an Artist: Isamu Noguchi and His Contemporaries, 1922-1960 at The Noguchi Museum in Queens.
JapanNYC returns in March and April 2011 with three weeks of events across New York City, including performances of classical, jazz and traditional Japanese music; contemporary theatre and visual art; noh theater and kyogen plays; modern dance; film; taiko drumming and more.
Click here for the complete performance schedule.
Write for JETAA Pacific Northwest e-Newsletter
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JETAA PNW is beginning to put together our first Electronic Newsletter to distribute early next year. As we are now printing with electrons, we have loads of extra pages we can layout for you this year. (Desktop publishing based humor!?! Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? )
We welcome any submissions of pretty much anything related to JET, Japan, your experience on the program or with the alumni group. This can come in many forms, such as pictures, poetry, restaurant reviews for those of missing the taste of home: really the sky is the limit!
Please send any submissions to media [at] pnwjetaa.org. Questions? Send em’ that way too. Written submissions can be up to about 500 words, but we’re pretty flexible.
Submissions prior to December 20th greatly appreciated, but late-arrivals are A-OKAY! (I just can’t guarantee they will get in)
Yours in Electron Printing, Web-site-ing, and Tree-Skiing (VIVA LA NINA!)
–Ben Erickson
PNWJETAA Media Coordinator
Job: Cultural Assistant at Sakura Educational Exchange USA
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via JETAA DC. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika currently works as an in-house translator for PFU (a Fujitsu company) in Kahoku-shi, Ishikawa-ken. She is also the vocalist for the Japanese hardcore punk band DEGRADE.
*Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JetWit. Thanks.
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Job Position: Cultural Assistant
Job Description:
Sakura Educational Exchange USA, a nonprofit international student exchange organization in Rockville, Maryland is seeking energetic, international-minded, fun-loving, dedicated people interested in working with visiting Japanese high school students in March and July 2011.
Dates:
1st Program:
Hours: vary depending on the day’s activities but basically 24/7 except occasional mornings off
2nd Program:
Salary:
Duties and Responsibilities:
Requirements:
Positions available: 13
How to Apply:
If interested, please email your resume and letter of interest to:
Attn: Stephanie Libonati, Program Manager
Sakura Educational Exchange USA
slibonati@seeusa-ryugaku.com
Job: English Instructor at Sakura Educational Exchange USA
Jobs Comments Off on Job: English Instructor at Sakura Educational Exchange USA
via JETAA DC. Posted by Dipika Soni (Ishikawa-ken, 2003-06). Dipika currently works as an in-house translator for PFU (a Fujitsu company) in Kahoku-shi, Ishikawa-ken. She is also the vocalist for the Japanese hardcore punk band DEGRADE.
*Note: If you apply for this position, please let them know you learned of it from JetWit. Thanks.
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Job Position: English Instructor at Sakura Educational Exchange USA
Job Details:
Sakura Educational Exchange USA, a nonprofit international student exchange organization in Rockville, MD is seeking energetic, international-minded, fun-loving, dedicated people interested in working with visiting Japanese high school students in March 2011.
Dates and Hours: Approximately 15 total teaching hours during 6 weekday mornings in March 2011
Exact Dates: TBD
Orientation (unpaid): TBD
Location: Based out of Hotel in Rockville, MD
Salary: Hourly salary commensurate with experience
Duties and Responsibilities:
Requirements:
Positions available: 8
How to Apply:
If interested, please email you resume and letter of interest to:
Attn: Stephanie Libonati, Program Manager
Sakura Educational Exchange USA
slibonati@seeusa-ryugaku.com
Internships for Grad Students in International Development
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Stephanie Boegeman (ALT, Akita-ken, 2006-09) gets her kicks from finding fun crazy ways to see the world and getting paid to do it. She is constantly in search of job, internship, and travel ideas to add to her site Playing With Hire, in the hopes that more JET alumni and like-minded souls join her in her quest to find creative, inspiring, and unique ways to make ends meet.
This opportunity is tailor-made for JETs who find themselves inextricably pulled toward the world of international development after their years in Japan. If you’re a grad student looking to live abroad again while racking up some experience in service of your studies, you may want to check into doing some field work with Mercy Corps. More details on available internships can be found here.
Justin’s Japan: Interview with author Hideo Dan on ‘Lipstick Building’
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- Meet ‘Lipstick Building’ author Hideo Dan at Manhattan’s Kinokuniya Bookstore Saturday, Dec. 11. (Courtesy of Hideo Dan)
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.
Hideo Dan is a vice president and attorney at law of a New Jersey-based healthcare company who is now a debut author. Published by NY Seikatsu Press, Lipstick Building is a fast-paced suspense novel based on the author’s 30-year real-life experience in New York as a shosha (trading company) man and a corporate attorney with an international law firm.
Kenji Kadota, who works for a Japanese trading company in New York, is introduced at a party to Suzanna, a beautiful businesswoman from Peru. She proposes a big business opportunity to Kenji—an attractive prospect of exporting Japanese machinery to a major Peruvian construction company. Is this a great business chance, or is something ominous ahead? The story develops quickly into intrigue and adventure, with Kenji and Suzanna crisscrossing through South America and Europe, providing readers entertainment and thrills to the end.
The author will be the subject of a special talk and book signing event Saturday, Dec. 11 at Manhattan’s Kinokuniya Bookstore. I caught up with him to learn more.
How did you come to the U.S.?
The first time I came to the U.S. was in 1971, when I attended Indiana University for a year to study journalism. I could not land a job in journalism, so I started to work for Nissho-Iwai, a trading company, a.k.a. shosha, upon graduation from Osaka University with a law degree. In 1979, Nissho-Iwai sent me to its New York subsidiary as legal manager.
Lipstick Building is based on your three decades of experience at a Japanese trading company. How long did it take to write this book?
Actually, I was with the trading company for 14 years, seven years each for Japan and New York. After that, I left the company and joined a law firm in New York, having had passed the New York Bar Exam while I was with Nissho-iwai American Corporation. After almost nine years with the law firm, I joined Eisai, a Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company, as general counsel for its U.S. operations.
It took nearly one and a half years to write this book. I was able to do it since I was asked to manage Eisai USA Foundation, a charitable organization on the part-time basis, two years ago.
What is your personal experience with Peru? Are there any other international experiences that helped your writing?
Unfortunately, I have never been to Peru—I was planning to do so this year but because of the flood at Machu Picchu, my trip was cancelled. So I did lots of research on Peru on Google and at a library. I had met a very attractive Peruvian student when I was attending Indiana University, which gave me some inspirations for this book. In fact, Europe (Spain and Switzerland) plays a much larger part in this story than Peru. I have been to Spain and Switzerland on business and pleasure on numerous occasions and have been attracted by culture and scenery in those countries. Especially in Spain—I was fascinated by flamenco and its dancers. Flamenco is an important element in this novel.
What are the big differences between working at a trading company in Japan versus the U.S.? Did these differences shape the story?
At the trading company in New York and also at the law firm where I worked, naturally I interacted heavily with non-Japanese people, colleagues and clients, which constantly reminded me of cultural and linguistic differences between Japan, the U.S. and many other different cultures. As someone who is very curious about anything, I enjoyed learning those differences on daily basis. At the same time, I got impressed with striking similarities at a deep human level. My book certainly reflects those experiences and observations.
Click here for the rest of the interview.
