Update 5/9/11: CLICK HERE to read “Stories from the JET-Tourist Tally Project“
Update: We’ve set up a Google Form to collect responses as an alternative to doing this via e-mail.
*******
Thanks to the Japan National Tourism Organization for its help in spreading the word about this project.
The “JET-Tourists Tally Project“
Last updated: 05/09/2011 (Thanks to JETAA UK and JETAA DC for letting its members know about the survey!)
- Tourists brought to Japan by JETs: 2,009
- Visitor Days: 22,574
- Respondents: 347
- Estimated tourism revenue (¥10,000/day): ¥225,740,000 (about $2,687,381 @ US$1=84yen)
- Estimated tourism revenue per JET respondent: ¥650,548 (about $7,745 @ US$1=84yen)
- Conclusion? At a minimum, JETs generate the equivalent of 1/5 to 1/6 of their salary for the Japanese economy. This is in addition to other returns on investment (e.g., diplomatic, financial and cultural) provided to Japan by participants in the JET Program.
(See further below for breakdown by prefecture.)
Here’s a simple way for every JET and JET alum to do their part to support the JET Programme and the JET Alumni Association.
- Just fill out this simple Google Form that we set up: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFFPeW5zdUZjQ3RZbEJJQ2IzNHJCZHc6MQ&ifq
or, if you prefer….
- E-mail visitors [at] jetwit.com and
- Tell us how many people you are personally responsible for causing to visit Japan (both during and since JET).
Please make sure to include:
- Number of tourists (e.g., Mom + Dad + two brothers = 4 people)
- Total number of days they stayed in Japan (e.g., If Mom & Dad + two brothers each stayed for 10 days, that’s 40 total days of tourist travel)
- Your name + position on JET (ALT/CIR/SEA)
- Your Prefecture + city/town and years on JET (e.g., 2006-10) (this is vital info!)
- Any comments, stories or additional info you want to share
Nearly all of us had relatives and friends come and visit us in Japan. Some of us have brought student groups and organized other exchanges. All of this has provided tourism revenue for the Japanese economy. The goal of this project is to determine, at a minimum, the amount of tourism revenue for which JET is directly responsible.
This information is particularly important amidst ongoing discussions of costs associated with the JET Programme and the JET Alumni Association. Many of the short and long term benefits have simply not been factored in. So email visitors@jetwit.com with your responses and let’s make sure this info does get factored in to future discussions.
We will continue to update the numbers in this post. Please check back periodically for updates.
Note: We are assuming a rather conservative estimate of Y10,000 per day (approximately $100) for all tourism expenditures combined (e.g., lodging, travel, food, entertainment and other tourist expenditures). Some people flew Japanese airlines, others did not. Some stayed in hotels, others stayed for free on the couch. All in all, 10,000 yen/day is a very low-end estimate.
Special domo arigatou for their ongoing help with this project to Joe Silvagni (Nagasaki-ken, 2008-10), Mike Shu (Hyogo-ken, 2005-08) and Sam Lederer (Shizuoka-ken, 2005-07).
*******************
JET alums: Help AJET with “Life After JET”
Uncategorized 
Comments Off on JET alums: Help AJET with “Life After JET”
Share Your Expertise with Current JETs
The National Association of Japan Exchange and Teaching is hoping to make the transition from JET to…whatever comes next just a little less daunting. Our new monthly column, “Life After JET,” will feature former-JETs now working in a wide range of fields and share how they found a job, what they’re doing now and any advice they may have for current JET Programme participants.
Now we just need a few willing former-JETs. ..please contact Kathryn Kovacs at pr@ajet.net if that’s you! You’ll just have to answer a few questions about your JET and work experience via email to be featured in “Life After JET” in the AJET e-Bulletin, website and facebook page.
For more information about National AJET, please check our website: http://ajet. net or follow us on Facebook: www. facebook. com/AJETJapan
Japan America Society Round-up 12.7.10
Japan Society Round-up Comments Off on Japan America Society Round-up 12.7.10
JET alum Gail Cetnar Meadows (ALT, Hiroshima-shi 2007-10), co-founder of Hiroshima JET webzine the Wide Island View, shines a light on some of the upcoming events of Japan America Societies…
Hatsuharu no Kai (New Year’s Celebration) — Don’t forget to eat your mochi! (Who needs Ovaltine, anyway?) Join students from the Japanese School of Denver as they greet 2011 by pounding rice into mochi, practicing calligraphy and demonstrating a tea ceremony.
- Date: Sunday, Jan. 9
- Time: Noon to 3 p.m.
- Place: Arapahoe Community College, Littleton campus
- For more information, click here.
Outdoor Film Series — Check out this series of free events in Japantown Peace Plaza over the next few months. Events include film screenings and karaoke contests. December’s film presentation is Tokyo Godfathers, a film set in Tokyo at Christmas. Three homeless friends—a young girl, a transvestite, and a middle-aged bum—are foraging through some trash when they find an abandoned newborn. Hana, the transvestite with delusions of being a mother, convinces the others to keep it overnight. The next day, using a key found with the baby, they start tracking down the parents, with many adventures along the way.
- Date: Saturday, Dec. 11
- Time: 7 p.m.
- Place: Peace Plaza in Japantown, Post Street at Buchanan Street, San Francisco
- For more information, click here.
Does your Japan America Society have an upcoming event that you’d like to share with JetWit readers? Email Gail the info.
New LinkedIn group for JET Alum HR Professionals (and those interested)
Career, Networking Comments Off on New LinkedIn group for JET Alum HR Professionals (and those interested)
I’ve set up a new LinkedIn group for JET Alum HR Professionals:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3709611
The purpose is to enable those JET alums and Friends of JET in the field to connect. And also to provide a resource for JETs and JET alums interested in the field.
Paul Benson (Fukui-ken, 2006-08) is a New York-based freelance translator who has handled assignments ranging from securities laws to cook books. A Translator’s Life follows some of Paul’s experiences as he makes his way in the J->E translation world.
On Monday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a small informal interview–all in Japanese–hosted by Shūkan NY Seikatsu (週刊ＮＹ生活), a free, weekly Japanese newspaper available in New York. They wanted to get a few JETs together to talk about our experiences for a special New Year’s issue to be published in a few weeks.
A little background: I was in Japan (Fukui-ken) for two years and returned in 2008 to immediately enter graduate school for Japanese at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While many returnees feel the need to constantly talk about their incredible experiences, I could not have felt more differently. In my first year I was surrounded by students interested in applying for JET (they didn’t want to talk about anything else) and in my second year I was so busy researching and writing I didn’t really think about my time on JET. In some ways this had the disservice of leading me to devalue my time in Japan, to shelve it and move on.
There were six JET alums in total at the interview: Steven Horowitz, Kia Cheleen, Jon Hills (who provided the venue at his company, Hills Learning), Tamar Entis, Stacy Smith and myself. Shūkan NY Seikatsu‘s Publisher & CEO Ryoichi Miura and and reporter Kaoru Komi asked us what we learned from Japan, what we loved about our areas, what we thought was cool about Japan, and what are reactions were to some of the criticisms Japanese teachers have of JETs (all of which you can read about in their upcoming free publication).
I found myself pleasantly surprised at how unique and special each JET’s experience was. I also recalled what I was told countless times before I went: “ESID” (Every Situation Is Different), and it’s still true. Time passing hasn’t made my JET experience any less unique. The only difference is that now I like it that way.
I hope many of you get the chance to check out the article in Shūkan NY Seikatsu when it comes out December 28. (I’ll be sure to post a summary translation of it on the JetWit site for those who need it.)
Design the Nengajo New Year’s Postcard for JETAA Northern California
Contest, JETAA Chapters Comments Off on Design the Nengajo New Year’s Postcard for JETAA Northern California
Via JETAA Northern California:
JETAANC is looking for one of our talented alumni to design our 2011 Nengajo New Year’s postcard.
The card will be sent out to all of our members later this month, so alumni across two states will enjoy your work. Put your creativity to good use and add a piece to your portfolio!
Send your conceptual design in PDF format to communications [at] jetaanc.org by this Friday, December 10.
We will select a design this weekend and ask the designer to finalize it early next week for print.
Design in black & white for the front of a standard sized postcard.
2011 is the Year of the Rabbit, so make sure this lucky animal is the focus of your design!”
Job: IT Helpdesk Position (Bi-lingual English/Japanese)
Jobs Comments Off on Job: IT Helpdesk Position (Bi-lingual English/Japanese)
via The Japan America Society. 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.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Job Position: IT Helpdesk (Bi-lingual English/Japanese)
Job Details:
S&K Global Solutions has at least 1 job opening coming up in January for a person fluent in Japanese and English to work on the IT Helpdesk at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton WA. This position requires US citizenship and the ability to obtain a DOD security clearance.
How to apply:
See S&K Global Solutions website for more information http://www.skgs-llc.com/Careers/CareerOpportunities/tabid/105/Default.aspx
JET Alum J.D. Sparks elected Magistrate and Justice of the Peace in Kentucky
JETs in the News, Notable JET Alums Comments Off on JET Alum J.D. Sparks elected Magistrate and Justice of the Peace in Kentucky
Thanks to JET alum Terry Vo of the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville for sharing this press release. Terry also serves as President of JETAA Music City (i.e., Nashville).
Pewee Valley, Oldham County, KY – November 2, 2010 J.D. Sparks, A former JET participant and current JETAA member, was elected as Magistrate and Justice of the Peace to Oldham County’s Fiscal Court for Oldham County’s fifth Magisterial District.
JD ran as a Republican in the Primary against incumbent Iva Davis and won the slot as the Republican Candidate on the ticket. He was then unopposed in the General Election. This is JD’s first election for public office. The duties will include evaluation of budgets for the county, new ordinances, taxing issues and a host of other public duties to insure the welfare of the community. In addition the Justices are able to marry people in the County. The position includes the traditional title of Squire.
Along with Mr Sparks there were a number of first time nominees that won their elections and a new Judge Executive. While the position is considered full time most members traditionally maintain their regular jobs and serve as part time citizen legislators. JD will maintain his position as Executive Vice President of Public Equity Group, a firm that does international financing. JD says, “I hope my years of international business operations and political volunteerism will help me in this position.” And goes on to say, “I want to be the People’s voice on the court and uphold the ideals that I was elected under.”
JD and the others in this new administration will be sworn in on December 3rd at the Oldham County Court House. Their first meeting will be the following day to discuss the business of the Community and his position has a four year term. He will represent the 5th Magisterial District, which encompasses the southern part of Oldham County to include the outlying areas of Pewee Valley, Crestwood and the Worth districts. Oldham County is recognized in Kentucky as the county with the highest mean income per household and best schools in the Commonwealth.
While on the JET program, JD was a member of the AJET national Council as Vice Chair and served on his local AJET board for 3 years. He is married to Japanese national and former Middle school teacher Yuko Sunaga Sparks of Ogama-machi, Japan. She currently teaches at the The Greater Louisville Regional Japanese Saturday School hosted at Indiana University South East. They are also members of the Japan Club of Greater Louisville. They have two sons: Manabu and Kenta Sparks. JD is very proud of his Japanese Heritage (his family came from Kitsuki Japan in 1905) and has a minor in Asian American Studies from Loyola University Chicago.
Job: Google Tokyo Product Manager
Jobs, Uncategorized Comments Off on Job: Google Tokyo Product Manager
via The Japan America Society. 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.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Job Position: Product Manager
Job Details:
You will join Google’s product management team as a talented, ambitious, self-directed technologist and will guide our products from conception to launch. You are eager to improve information access for millions of people and have a proven track record of excellence. As a Google product manager, your responsibilities will include gathering requirements, helping to define a product vision and strategy, and working with world-class engineers to execute that strategy.
Responsibilities:
1. Initiate new products and product enhancements to meet existing or anticipated market needs
2. Engage closely with the engineering team to help determine the best technical implementation methods as well as a reasonable execution schedule, prioritize projects and track development
3. Work with a cross-functional internal team (e.g. sales, client services, marketing, legal, etc) to ensure smooth and successful launches
4. Establish short and long term product goals and strategies
Requirements
1. BS degree preferred with strong academic record (MS or PhD in Computer Science or related field a plus)
2. Demonstrated experience in shipping products (concept to launch).
3. Good understanding of user needs in Japan and an innovative history of addressing them.
4. Market knowledge of Internet-related industries.
5. Excellent organizational skills including the ability to build effective working relationships with colleagues and partners.
6. Fluent English communication skills is a must. (Japanese is desirable but not essential)
About Product Management at Google:
One of the many reasons Google consistently brings innovative, world-changing products to market is because of the collaborative work we do in Product Management. With eyes focused squarely on the future, our team works closely with creative and prolific engineers to help design and develop technologies that improve access to the world’s information. We’re responsible for guiding products throughout the execution cycle, focusing specifically on analyzing, positioning, packaging, promoting and tailoring our solutions to all the markets where Google does business.
Contact:
To apply for this position, please contact Ray Tsuchiyama at rtsuchiyama (at) google.com
Job: Human Resource Specialist (Bi-lingual English/Japanese)
Jobs Comments Off on Job: Human Resource Specialist (Bi-lingual English/Japanese)
via Jet alum Bianca Jarvis (CIR Kyoto-shi, 2002-05). 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.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Job Position: Human Resource Specialist (Bi-lingual English/Japanese)
Job Description:
AON Hewitt are looking for a full-time Human Resource Specialist (Bi-lingual English/Japanese). The job is based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. This position supports the Asian offices of an existing global client. Shifts are overnight, 7pm – 5am, Sunday – Thursday nights. The work week begins Sunday evening and ends Friday morning. Hours will start 7:30pm – 4am until Japanese Daylight Savings time in October, then will be 8:30am – 5am.
This associate would work all American holidays (except Christmas and New Years); Days in Lieu of the American holidays are coordinated within the month of the holiday.
For more details, click “Read More”.
Sake World e-Newsletter by John Gauntner (December 2010)
Books, Celebrity, Notable JET Alums Comments Off on Sake World e-Newsletter by John Gauntner (December 2010)
The December 2010 issue of the Sake World E-mail Newsletter by JET alum and the leading non-Japanese sake expert in the world, John Gauntner (aka “The Sake Guy”), is now available online. In this issue:
1. Greetings
2. Rice to Sake: How Much?
3. Did You Know?
5. Sake Basics
6. Announcements and Events: Sake Professional Course in Japan
7. Sake Education Central
Additional Links:
Help CLAIR revamp its “After JET” Handbook
Uncategorized Comments Off on Help CLAIR revamp its “After JET” Handbook
Via JETAA International Secretary Kay Dunkley.
CLAIR is in the process of re-vamping the After JET Handbook. Would you like to see any changes?
Go here to see what the handbook looks like: http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/current/pubs/after.html
Deadline for input: Saturday, December 11, 2010.
Click here to e-mail responses to Kay Dunkley.
Help CLAIR revamp its Newsletter
Uncategorized Comments Off on Help CLAIR revamp its Newsletter
Via JETAA International Secretary Kay Dunkley.
CLAIR is ready to revamp JET Streams, it’s annual newsletter. The aim is to make it look good, maximise the readers out there, making sure ALL JET Alums get it, and make it more interesting so more readers will be tuned to what JETAAI and CLAIR are doing.
Here is the list of articles that CLAIR would like to include:
1. Interesting JETAA Chapter activity articles.
2. Articles from 3 JETAA Alums, stories they would like to share about JET and Japan.
3. Articles from 3 JETAA Alums specifically talking about if they are involved in anything now that has kept up with their former contracting organisation, school to school, sister city events, etc. (or prefecture) (this is actually the hottest topic that we can use to promote the JET programme in Japan as well)
Please respond by December 27, 2010.
Click here to e-mail Kay with your input/submissions.
WIT Life #139: 60′s Japan film festival
Events, Film, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WIT Life #139: 60′s Japan film festival
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.
On Friday night I attended a free screening of the movie Yearning, which was being shown as part of the Japanese Cinema 1960’s film series at Asia Society. This organization is co-sponsoring the event along with Japan Foundation, and they have been offering complimentary tickets to the five films that were being shown over a span of a little over a month. You had to sign up ahead of time by indicating which film you wanted tickets for and officially you could only pick one, but when I went there was a stand-by line so if you go early on the day of the show you are likely to get in even without tickets.
Although Yearning was the English title of the movie, it came from the Japanese title of 乱れる (midareru), literally meaning Read More
Foxhound87: Kyoto Joy!
Uncategorized Comments Off on Foxhound87: Kyoto Joy!
Joshua Small is a First Year JET currently living in Ikaruga-cho, Nara-ken and has been chronicling his experience on his blog Snorlax87.
Last Saturday, I went to Kyoto with some Japanese friends and Rogue, a Nara JET. I woke early (on my effing weekend) and hopped the train to Nara. From Nara, I met up with Rogue and we took the train to Inari Station in Kyoto together. We had to take a local train to Inari Station so it took about an hour to get there.
Side Note: Living in Nara is amazing. Not only is Nara the cultural capital of Japan, but Nara is smack-dab in the middle of the Kansai Region. To the north, Kyoto. To the West, Osaka and Kobe. I live less than an hour from all the wonderful places in Japan. Awesome.
Rogue and I met up with the rest of the crew and we ventured into Fushimi Inari Taisha (a shrine). This shrine is amazing. The entrance is adorned with a LARGE orange gate. Once we reached the inside, we partook of some shrine rituals…
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
http://snorlax87.blogspot.com/
