WIT Life #84: 国勢調査
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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.
We are rapidly coming up on the deadline for the 国勢調査 (kokusei chousa) or national census, so I hope everyone has already filled in and returned their forms. Every morning during the Japanese news there are advertisements running in Japanese advocating participation in the census as one’s civic duty. Also, I have come across some interesting Japanese language print ads that I would like to share.
The one on the right shows Read More
Job: Copywriting & Bloggers for Japanese tech blog
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Want to write for a Japanese electronics/gadgets retailer? Read on for some freelancing opportunities:
We at CScout Japan are currently looking to recruit some new copywriters for one of our clients, an online retailer based in Japan. This is a great opportunity to hone your copywriting skills editing content in several areas.
Job 1
Japan Trend Shop sells select Japanese gadgets, cool designer accessories, wacky toys and more to customers all around the world. Your job would be to write copy that accurately describes products in an exciting way. Sometimes these products might be hard to understand for non-Japanese audiences, so part of your job would be using words to traverse those cultural gaps. You would also be preparing images and video links to accompany the text.Job 2
As above you would be writing copy for products, but this time for Kanojo Toys, a specialist adult online store. We are also looking for people who can write for the shop’s blog, in which you will report on the seedy Tokyo underworld, covering unique stories, idol news, and JAV gossip.Who
We want you if you are based in Japan (preferably Tokyo) and are enthusiastic about Japanese products. You may be a geek, a design fan or just adore hi-tech gadgets. Whatever you are into, you will love writing about it. You are a web-savvy person who likes blogging and image editing. As you will be researching in Japanese, your language skills should also be good.Requirements
You need to have a valid working visa and be based in Tokyo (or least Japan). Equally important, though, is having a good ear (and eye) for how to sell cool Japanese stuff to an overseas market.Payment
You’re not going to get rich, but payment will be per piece. Strong experience and skills will be rewarded with higher reimbursement. Further, there may be opportunities to expand into working with us in other projects from research to marketing.Apply
Please email your information to contact (at) cscoutjapan.com, with “Copywriter application” in the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you!
Jobs: Sales Associates at Japanese Firms (Los Angeles, San Francisco)
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In Japan, the month of April means the start of corporate recruiting, 就職活動, especially for college graduates. For those interested in traditional Japanese trading companies like Mitsui or Itochu, for the large international Japanese firms like Sony, or American companies like Abercrombie & Fitch that are opening new branches in Japan, Career Forum is your best source for job listings and events.
Here are two U.S.-based positions for entry-level, full-time sales representatives:
Bilingual Japanese Sales Associate for NISHIMOTO TRADING in Los Angeles (and others)
Sales Representative for TRUE WORLD FOODS in San Francisco
For more information on qualifications, salary bases and how to apply, please click those two links above. Registration is required to apply.
Bankruptcy Man vs. Mortgantua, Part 7 – by Steven Horowitz
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Bankruptcy Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons 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.
Do you work in bankruptcy or restructuring? Now you can join the JET Alumni Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group on LinkedIn.
Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post. Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.
WIT Life #83: Japan in the news and in film
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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 Wall Street Journal had some interesting Japan coverage this week. One article from earlier in the week discusses tactics being employed to get the Japanese populace turned on to fish again, as its popularity has declined due to factors such as smell, price and preparation. It has gotten to the point where fishery officials have started sending instructors to schools in order to teach children how to eat fish with chopsticks, and fish is being promoted in pop culture by characters such as Sakana-kun (on right saying “Let’s eat delicious fish with Sakana-kun!”).
Another article focuses on Japanese-Americans who were interned during WWII, and how they got through this ordeal by forming swing bands. This legacy is being preserved through a tribute band called Minidoka Swing Band, with members who were internees as well as others who have no ties to the camps (check out the video, they’re talented!).
Speaking of the internment, this weekend was the 3rd annual New York Peace Film Festival which featured Read More
Tom Baker reviews “Cirque du Freak” manga
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
He recently reviewed manga series “Cirque du Freak” by manga artist Takahiro Arai, comparing it to the series of novels on which it is based, and also commenting on the recent Hollywood movie version, which opened in Japan this month. Here is an excerpt:
Mangaka Takahiro Arai probably doesn’t look like a frog in real life, but he draws himself as one in the autobiographical bonus pages at the end of each volume of his manga series Cirque du Freak.
The manga is based on a series of kids novels by Darren Shan (the pen name of Irish author Darren O’Shaughnessy), and the poor little frog is shown sweating bullets at the thought of adapting the popular works–especially at such length. “I had only drawn self-contained short stories before this,” the Arai-frog confesses.
The material he had to work with is the story of a boy, also named Darren Shan, who gets mixed up with a traveling freak show that includes a vampire named Mr. Crepsley. Darren is basically a good kid, but he engages in a bit of juvenile delinquency that includes stealing the vampire’s pet spider–a life-changing mistake. It leads to his indenture as the vampire’s assistant, a position that takes some getting used to.
Reading the manga also takes some getting used to, as the big-eyed cuteness of the characters, and the silliness of Mr. Crepsley’s stage outfit, which makes him look like a cross between a flamboyant X-Man and the Cat in the Hat, initially neutralize the story’s darker elements.
Darren has to become a “half-vampire” to work with Mr. Crepsley, an arrangement he agrees to only to get the vampire’s help in saving the life of a friend whom Darren has accidentally allowed the venomous stolen spider to bite.
In the first novel of Shan’s series, the scene in which Darren is transformed by Mr. Crepsley is slowly drawn out. The reader has plenty of time to reflect that a strange man coercing a barely adolescent boy into exchanging bodily fluids and then running away from home is seriously creepy on more than one level. But the same scene is quick and perfunctory in the manga.
Fortunately, Arai more than hits his stride as the series continues.
Some of Shan’s humor is very black, such as in a scene when a misguided animal-rights activist named R.V. lets a wolf-man out of its cage and is dismembered for his efforts. Arai’s pacing here is much improved: He builds tension over several pages as Darren tries to stop R.V., and then lets the reader turn one more page to see the scene suddenly climax in a spectacular eruption of gore.
But later the escaped beast kills one of Darren’s friends, an event that the book and the manga treat as not funny at all. Here those big eyes that Arai has been drawing finally find their purpose, brimming over with tears in a scene that really is touching.
Arai shows the monster grabbing his victim by the ankle in a frame that visually echoes an earlier one in which the doomed boy had grabbed Darren in the very same way as part of a practical joke.
And as Darren loses consciousness, exhausted by his failed fight to save his friend, we see his view of the world fade out in a series of tilted frames that get smaller and darker as they literally tumble off the bottom of the page, in a highly effective example of the frame-manipulating techniques that Osamu Tezuka was also known for.
Many scenes, such as Darren’s first date with a girl, are made more believable by Arai’s well-drawn facial expressions than by Shan’s bare-bones prose.
Read the rest of the article here.
Doing Business with China / Asian Networking (03/29)
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Jon Hills runs JETAANY’s Nihongo Dake Dinner. It’s one of the few regular Japanese events in New York City designed to bring both Japanese and non-native Japanese speakers together. He’s also the founder of Hills Learning (http://www.hillslearning.com), a language school based in Grand Central, New York City, that runs Asian Networking Events monthly.
On March 29 2010, Hills Learning will host an Asian Networking Event called “Doing Business with China.” This is to promote the exchange between people who are interested in Asian languages and cultures. Hills Learning is a language school that teaches Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English.
To RSVP, please send an email to events@hillslearning.com. For more information, please visit Doing Business with China
The guest speaker is the CEO of US China Partners, a company that has advised Fortune 500 companies on entering the Chinese market. His commentary will include the recent experiences with Google and China, and past experiences of what has worked when building US / China strategic partnerships.
Co-sponsor, Two Rivers Associates, was established in 2008 to assist small- and medium-size business owners grow their businesses between Asia and North America. “Two Rivers” represents not only our location, in Manhattan between the East River and Hudson River, but also our client and our staff, the convergence of creative ideas and actions, and the resulting synergy that is generated toward the creation of a better future.
JQ Magazine’s March/April 2010 “Go East Issue” Online Now!
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JETAA Chapter Beat 3.25.10
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Freelance writer/editor Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) takes us on a walk around the JET Alumni community for another edition of JETAA Chapter Beat.
- Houston Karaoke-kai – Friday, March 26th, 6:30 at Sushi Jin Japanese Restaurant. Get vocal with the gang in Houston and practice your singing in Japanese.
- Kabuki Club – Saturday, March 27th, 2:00 at the Rockridge Library in Oakland. JETAANC is forming a new Kabuki Club and the first meeting is in two weeks, so check it out if you’re interested in Kabuki theater or just want to try something new.
- Hanami Picnic – Saturday, April 10th, 11:00 to 3:00 at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Celebrate the coming spring Japanese style with JETAANC.
- Happy Hour – Friday, April 2nd, 6:00 at Wann Izakaya. Get together on the eve of Sakura Con for a drink with friends and fellow JET alumni.
- Quiz Night – Tuesday, March 30th, 6:30 at UWA Tavern. Win prizes and make new friends as you test your knowledge at this year’s Quiz Night.
- UWA Japanese Study Society River Cruise – Thursday, April 8th, 7:30 to 10:30, UWA JAPSSOC are holding their annual “Stars on the Swan” River Cruise.
- Kaiwa – Thursday, April 8th, 5:30 at 43 Below. Practice Japanese with old friends and some tasty snacks.
- Dimsum Outing – Sunday, March 28th, 1:00 at Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant in Flushing, NY. JETAANY is heading out for some Chinese style Dimsum this Sunday, don’t miss it.
- Taiko Showcase and Class – Saturday, April 10th, 12:30 to 2:00 at the PMT Studio. Professional Taiko Drumming group Cobu will be performing as well as passing on a little of their knowledge to the audience.
- Sakura Sunday in Philadelphia – Sunday, April 11th JETAANY and the Philadelphia Subchapter will be gathering underneath the cherry blossoms. More details to follow.
- March Happy Hour – Friday, March 26th, 6:00 at Kingston Station, Downtown. Celebrate St. Patty’s Day a week late with the gang over at JETAANE.
What happened at your chapter’s event? If you attend(ed) any of these exciting events, JetWit would love to hear about them. Just contact Jonathan Trace with any info, stories or comments.
Event: JET alum authors Roland Kelts and Karl Taro Greenfeld to speak in Philadelphia – March 26
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After a quick jaunt back to Tokyo, Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99), author of Japanamerica, is back in the U.S. and on the road this week for a short stint for the Association of Asian Studies’ (AAS) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, where he will appear on Friday, March 26 for a discussion panel called “The Japan Knowledge Industry Outside the Academy“ with fellow author and JET Alum Karl Taro Greenfeld (Kanagawa-ken, 1988-89) (Speed Tribes: Days and Nights With Japan’s Next Generation), author William M. Tsutsui (Godzilla on my Mind), journalist Misako Hida (The Wall Street Journal Japan), and Professor Laura Miller (Bad Girls of Japan).
The discussion takes place this Friday, March 26, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown Hotel. More info can be found under “# 69” here: http://www.aasianst.org/annual-meeting/2010/Friday.pdf
Philly-area JET alums are encouraged to swing by and say hello.
The latest issue of JQ (JETAA NY Quarterly) Magazine has hit the stands, and now Editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2000-01) working on the next issue and seeking writers. Read on for more info. (It also actually stands on its own as a great list of JET-relevant things and interesting JET alums.)
Hi, Brainstorm Crew!
Hope everyone’s enjoying the start of spring (a link to JQ’s new issue is here in case you haven’t seen it yet).
Thanks always for your contributions and ideas and feel to link the new issue to your own sites/blogs to help promote us.
We are also taking on new writers if you’d like to provide some “local international coverage” of your chapter to appear in our pages. Contact me at magazine@jetaany.org for details.
Some of you have already signed up for stories at our quarterly meeting in February, so the below deadlines are the same (let me know how those stories are coming along). Here are the ideas needing takers for our May/June 2010 issue and beyond. De wa…
Deadlines are as follows:
FRIDAY, APRIL 2: Registering a story assignment with me at magazine@jetaany.org, or pitching an idea of your own for approval. First come, first served, and all suggestions are welcome. We’ve been picking up more new writers with each issue, and I encourage all first-timers whether you consider yourself a seasoned writer or not. (Just mind the deadlines!)
FRIDAY, APRIL 23: Deadline for submitting a final draft of your story. Extensions will be granted on a case-by-case basis, less so for new writers.
I would also greatly appreciate added assistance for the following:
REVIVE THE SOCIETY PAGE!: Are you a superJET who’s up-to-date on what’s happening in the lives of our members here in New York and elsewhere? I’d like to bring back the JETAANY Society Page with your help. I would carry this feature in every issue, to run at least half a page (600 words). E-mail me for more details and we’ll talk.
COPY EDITING/PROOFREADING: For those of you who like reading this thing cover to cover. Multiple times.
AD SALES CALLS: More sales means more JETAANY-sponsored events. It takes under two minutes to get an answer in most cases. Write for more info.
YOUR OWN STORY IDEAS: Anything’s fair game! Some of our most interesting material comes from suggestions from our more dedicated readers.
Now the fun stuff. Below are the story ideas. Thanks for reading and providing your support, and e-mail at magazine@jetaany.org with any other questions/ideas.
Summer Internship Opportunity @ Keio Academy of NY
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Internship Announcement (July 21st – August 8, 2010)
Keio Academy of New York, a not-for-profit private co-educational boarding school located in Purchase, New York, will be holding the 3rd annual “English-Japanese Bilingual/Bicultural Residential Summer Program” for students (boys and girls between ages 12- 15). We are anticipating to have 40 students from Japan and 40 American students to join this program. For the details of the program, please visit our website http://www.keio.edu/summerprogram/
We are currently seeking college and graduate student interns for this program.
Keio Academy of New York will provide to all the interns, on-campus housing, free cafeteria privileges and extra meal stipend. The school will also reimburse (up to $500.00) domestic transportation costs.
Please visit our web site for details. Application closes Friday April 2, 2010.
Any questions regarding our summer program should be directed to:
Carleen Ben (Oita JET 2006-2008)
Keio Academy of New York Summer Program 2010 Administrative Office
E-mail: keiosummer@keio.edu
Job: Youth For Understanding seeks Japanese Culture and Language Teachers for two orientation sessions (Berkeley, CA)
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Shared with JetWit via JET alum Livy Traczyk:
Youth For Understanding USA (YFU) is one of the world’s oldest, largest, and most respected international exchange organizations. YFU oversees global exchange programs that prepare young people for their responsibilities and opportunities in a changing, interdependent world.
In June of 2010, Youth For Understanding USA will conduct two short orientations for US high school students who will be spending the summer in Japan . We are looking for several qualified candidates to serve as Japanese Culture and Language Teaches at these orientations. The Culture and Language Teachers will teach YFU’s Japanese Culture and language curriculum and assist with non-classroom responsibilities as needed. Culture and Language Teachers play a huge role in helping prepare students for their upcoming study abroad experience in Japan , both culturally and linguistically.
This is a paid contract position that will last from June 5-15 (tentative dates – see job description below). Additionally, YFU will pay for travel expenses to and from the orientation site in Berkley , California , as well as all room and board while on program. The application deadline for this position is Friday, April 2, but hiring decisions will be made on a rolling basis, so applicants are encouraged to apply earlier. To read a position description that includes more information about this position and explains how to apply, visit the following link:
Japan Pre-Departure Orientation Job Description
http://my.yfu.org/dept/eandt/Orientations/JPDO/Teacher%20Position%20Description%20-%202010.pdf (if you have trouble opening this link, please send an e-mail to ltraczyk@yfu.org)
If you have any questions, please contact Livy Traczyk by phone (240-235-2131) or e-mail (ltraczyk@yfu.org).
JET alum David Boling to run for Congress
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Thanks to JET alum Harlan Rosacker of Washington, D.C. for passing along this information:
JET alum David Boling has announced his candidacy for the 2nd Congressional seat in Arkansas. You can see David’s website at: www.bolingforcongress.com and you can follow his blog at: www.bolingforcongress.com/blog.html.
Harland adds:
“We have known David since the mid-1990s. Our association grew as a result our having lived in Japan ourselves from 1969 to 1976. Our son Andrew (born in Tokyo) was a JET in Kanagawa-ken from 1996 to 1998.”
Here are a few JET-relevant snippets from David’s bio:
- David Boling, 45, is a fourth-generation Arkansan. He is a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Department of Justice; a one-time lawyer at the Mitchell Williams law firm in Little Rock; and, until last month, the Chief of Staff to Congressman Vic Snyder (D, AR-2).
- Boling is married to former Fuji Television reporter Mine Sasaguri; he and his wife are the parents of two children, Christopher (7) and Ellen (5).
- Fulfilling a desire to learn more about the Japanese educational system, David took a one-year break from law school, 1988-1989, to teach English to students in Fujishiro. He was later selected for a competitive Rotary scholarship which he used to master the 1800 character Japanese language, visit Pine Bluff’s Sister City, Iwai and, most importantly, gain an understanding of the Japanese legal system and trade between Japan and the United States – specifically, about trade between Japan and Arkansas.
- David passed the Arkansas Bar Exam in 1993 and then completed a Masters in Law (LL.M) at Columbia University School of Law in 1994, where he focused on international and Japanese law.
- In 1995, David joined the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division as a lawyer. He worked there for 10 years, spanning both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. As they increasingly litigated cases against Japanese firms, David’s background was a strong asset to the Justice Department, but he also worked to investigate alleged illegal monopoly behavior in the concert ticketing business and on criminal investigations to crack down on international price-fixing cartels, which steal from American consumers. He helped prosecute a Japanese executive and Japanese company for obstruction of justice in two separate antitrust investigations. In 1999, Janet Reno signed an international antitrust agreement between Japan and the US to further open the Japanese market and improve antitrust enforcement that Boling helped to negotiate.
- Boling was selected for a Mike Mansfield Fellowship at Justice, during which he worked in the Japanese Justice Ministry and other government agencies, deepening his understanding of their legal system.
David-san, ganbatte kudasai!
Tom Baker reviews “Sherlock Holmes,” interviews Jon Foo
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Tom Baker (Chiba-ken, 1989-91) is a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri. He usually writes for DYWeekend, the paper’s arts and leisure section. You can follow Tom’s blog at tokyotombaker.wordpress.com.
Last Friday he had two movie articles in the paper: a review of “Sherlock Holmes,” which you can read here, and an interview with martial artist Jon Foo, who stars in a new movie based on the “Tekken” series of video games. Here is an excerpt:
“My mom, she does judo, and my dad did karate, so I learned a lot from them growing up,” Foo told The Daily Yomiuri in an interview in Tokyo last week. “My mom used to do throws; tomoenage was her favorite. She’d pick me up, kick me in the air and I landed on the bed. And I’d do conditioning. And then I moved on to kung fu, tae kwon do, Muay Thai. Just take the best from each and mix it [considering] whatever suits my body, and I’ll take that and I’ll use that to perform to my best.”
Foo, 27, has had supporting roles in action movies in several countries, but Tekken puts him in the lead for the first time.
He plays Jin Kazama, a young man who makes a living as a fleet-footed courier in a postapocalyptic world ruled by corporations, one of which is Tekken (a name that translates as “iron fist”)…
…Tekken’s top boss, Heihachi Mishima, is an elderly man–but a mean fighter–whose shiny bald dome is framed by an erect ruff of gray hair that looks like a set of tail fins from a 1950s Cadillac. The hair and makeup people did a hilarious job of replicating this look on actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, but they were more restrained when it came to just hinting at Jin’s swept-back hairstyle with Foo. We’re probably meant to laugh at some parts of this film, but Jin has to hold the audience’s sympathy.
Read the rest of the article here.
