Mar 11

Bankruptcy Bill #13 – Facebook 2

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Bankruptcy Bill is a cartoon created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall.  To see more strips as well as original bankruptcy haiku, go to bankruptcybill.wordpress.com.

Mar 11

James Kennedy “Librarian” essay sets blogosphere atwitter

Blogs, Books, Career, Celebrity, Humor, Interview/Profile, Roland Kelts, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on James Kennedy “Librarian” essay sets blogosphere atwitter

Following James Kennedy’s (Nara-ken, 2004-06) recent post of his essay describing the heretofore unpublicized lifestyles and rituals of librarians (a “cult” of which Kennedy’s own wife is admittedly a member) in connection with the American Library Association’s awarding of the “Best Book for Young Adults” to Neil Gaman, author of Coraline, rather than Kennedy’s The Order of Odd-Fish, the blogosphere was atwitter with commentary about Kennedy, who will be appearing in NYC March 22 for the JET Alumni Author Showcase along with Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) and Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04)).

The Handless Poet’s Maria Alexander said:

I’m buying James Kennedy’s book, The Order of Odd-Fish.  I’m buying it entirely because of this blog post.  James Kennedy could quite possibly be the funniest man in America. http://www.thehandlesspoet.com/blogger/2009/03/james-kennedy-is-all-growed-up.html

School Library Journal’s Elizabeth Bird wrote:

Bad news for my husband. I have just fallen head-over-heels in love with James Kennedy, author of the YA novel The Order of Odd-Fish. Ladies and gentlemen of the liking men variety, I advise you to be very careful in reading this blog post of his which tells (in a fashion) of his experience with the last ALA Media Awards. He had me at “conniving sidelong lope” and now I feel compelled to read every damn word the fellow has ever written, starting from the early scribbles he scrawled out as a toothless mewling babe. Ba-bump goes my little heart. I also feel inclined to give him a bad review with the sole intention of hoping that he will write about me and do complicated things with my name. As I read through it I almost want to dedicate this entire post solely in the purpose of getting you to read this blog. Go. Now. Read. This. Man.  I, for my part, am off to read his book.  Even if it is YA.  http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1130041713.html?nid=3713

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Mar 11

Jobs: English Teaching in Japan and Korea – Aclipse

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Aclipse is seeking English teachers for Japan and Korea.  More info below.  To apply go to:  http://www.aclipse.net/apply_now.html

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Mar 11

JETAA Toronto Art Exhibit

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JETAA Art Exhibit
Showcasing Japan-inspired art by former JET English teachers

JETAA Toronto is has put together a terrific event that both taps the JET alumni community’s talent and shows off the wonderful accomplishments as well.

When: Saturday, March 28 (7:30 pm)  & Sunday, March 29 (1:30 pm)

Where: Gladstone Art Bar, 1214 Queen St. W., Toronto, ONFeeling sentimental about the land of rice and the rising sun? Never been and interested in an artistic adventure?

Come join Toronto’s JET Alumni Association for our first ever art show on Saturday, March 28. The art exhibit, titled Natsukashii (Japanese for sentimental), will feature a wide range of Japan-inspired art by our talented alumni members.

Have a drink with us as you admire their creativity, listen to tunes spun by a deejay and reminisce about the good times you had teaching Japanese kids the difference between Rs and Ls.

Those not members of JETAA are also welcome.

Doors at the Gladstone Art Bar, located on 1214 Queen St. W., open at 7:30 p.m. Cover is $5.

For questions, please email Amber Hildebrandt at jetaatoronto.sports@gmail.com.

More info on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/event.php?eid=55540550813&ref=nf

Mar 10

JET Alumni Author Section at Kinokuniya – more photos

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Here are a few more photos from the photo-op last Friday to promote the JET Alumni Author section at Kinokuniya in anticipation of the JET Alumni Author Showcase (set for March 22; e-mail authors at jetaany dot org to rsvp).

The books featured include:

• Japanamerica – Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99)
• The Order of Odd-Fish – James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06)
• Zorgamazoo – Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04)
• Learning to Bow – Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90)
  
• Importing Diversity:  Inside Japan’s JET Program – David L. McConnell
• Hitching Rides with Buddha (originally titled Hokkaido Hitchhiking Blues) – Will Ferguson (Nagasaki-ken, 1991-94)
  

*See a more complete list of JET alumni authors and their works at https://jetwit.com/wordpress/library/authorsbooks/

Stop by Kinokuniya and take a look!

L to R: Noriko Furuhata (Consulate), John Fuller (Kinokuniya Store Manager), Toru Mukaikubo (CLAIR), Hirotaka Ono (Consulate), Tony McCormac, Steven Horowitz, Amber Liang, Roland Kelts, Akira Sugiyama (Japan Information Center), Ryoko Kobayashi (CLAIR)

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Mar 10

JETAA Chapter Beat 3.10.09

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Freelance writer/editor Jonathan Trace (Fukuoka-ken, 2005-08) takes us on a walk around the JET Alumni community…

JETAA Pacific Northwest

• Shinnenkai! – Friday, March 20th, 6:30 to 8:30 at REI Seattle. Ring in the new year in March with PNWJETAA. Bring the family for good food, lively conversation and a quick vote for a new president. Don’t miss this exciting event.
• Seattle Buddhist Temple Spring Bazaar – Sunday, March 15th, 11:00 to 3:00 at the Seattle Buddhist Temple. Come out for some home made Japanese food including sushi, barazushi, curry rice and apple pie.
• Seattle/Kobe Jazz Vocalist Audition – Monday, March 23rd, 6:30 at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley. The Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association is looking for one high school and one adult female jazz vocalist to perform at the Kobe Jazz Queen Vocalist Contest May 9th, 2009 in Kobe, Japan. Put those pipes to work and try out!
• Teaching ESL Information Sessions – Monday, March 16th, 7:00 at the Seattle University Eastside Center and Wednesday, March 18th, 7:00 at the School of Teaching ESL. If you want to learn more about teaching English either locally or abroad these information sessions are for you.

JETAA Southern California

• Nihongo Dake Dinner – Saturday, March 14th, 7:00 in Hollywood. Brush up on your Japanese and amaze your friends.
• Bowling and Dinner in Fountain Valley (OC Chapter) – March 22nd join the OC Subchapter of JETAASC for some bowling, food and maybe a bit of karaoke. Details are still in the works so stay tuned.

JETAA Western Australia

• Quiz Night – Thursday, March 19th, 7:00 at the UWA Tavern. Join in for the ever popular Quiz night. Food, drinks and some trivia. Don’t miss it.
• Annual General Meeting – Friday, March 27th, 7:00 at 43 Below. If you are interested in joining the JETAA committee this year please come by and participate.
• Kaiwa – Thursday, March 12th, 5:30 at 43 Below. Practice your Japanese with old friends and some tasty snacks.

JETAA Northern California

• JETAANC Book Club Meeting – Thursday, March 12th, 6:30 at Cactus Taqueria. Come out and discuss Miyuki Miyabe’s All She was Worth at this month’s book club. Even if you’ve fallen behind in your reading please come by and be a part of the discussion.
• Gardens of Kyoto with Peter Bowyer – Saturday, March 14th, 10:00 A.M. at the Cultural Exchange Center. Learn about the elements of Japanese garden design, construction and maintenance.
• Santa Clara International Exchange Concert with Okayama Gakugeikan High School – Saturday, March 14th, 6:00 at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre at Santa Clara University. Come see this Internationl Exchange Concert performed by the Ambassadors and the Santa Clara Honors Youth Symphony as well as the Okayama Gakugeikan Symphonic Band from Okayama, Japan.

JETAA New York

• Meishi Exchange – Thursday, March 19th, 7:00 at Aja in the West Village. Meet fellow JET alumni, their friends and co-workers , as well as Japan’s Local Government Office and members of the Japanese Consulate in this networking event.
• JETAANY Book Club – Tuesday, March 24, 7:00 at Kat Barnes apartment. This book in question is “In the Shade of Spring Leaves, The Life of Higuchi Ichiyo, With Nine of Her Best Stories,” a collection of short stories by Higuchi Ichiyo. Come and discuss.

JETAA Florida

• Haru Natsukashii Dinner – Saturday, March 21st, 6:00 at Koume Restaurant. Food, games and prizes to ring in the coming spring. Be sure to join in.
• Japanese Art and Anime Festival – Friday, March 13th and Saturday March 14th at the Orlando Public Library. Information can be found here.

JETAA Canberra

• O-Shaberikai – Wednesday, March 25th, 5:30 at the Holy Grail in Civic. Join in and meet Japanese people living in Canberra and other locals interested in Japan.

What happened at your chapter’s event? If you attend(ed) any of these exciting events, JetWit would love to hear about them. Just email Jonathan Trace with any info, stories or comments.

Mar 10

Roland Kelts on Japan’s News Zero interviewed by Sho Sakurai

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Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99) was recently interviewed by Sho Sakurai on Japan’s News Zero program.  Click here to watch the clip on YouTube.  (Good opportunity to practice your Japanese a bit as well. :-)

Mar 10

WIT Life #31: Bento Boys

Blogs, Cartoon/Illustration, Japan Trends, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, WIT Life Add Comment (1)

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

A little while back I profiled the trend of men and bento making, and it appears to be going strong with advocates receiving the new moniker “Bento Boys.” I was recently doing some copy editing of a market research report which discussed this topic, and though it would be interesting to share as a follow-up. Previously I mentioned the “Oyaji Bento” blog, and this report highlights a blog of a similar nature called “Kyo no Bento.” Below is an excerpt from the report:

“Previously in Japan, frugality was a virtue but stinginess was not welcomed. Now the Japanese do not think someone is necessarily stingy when they are saving money in the process. There are increasing numbers of Read More

Mar 10

Job: J->E In-house translator – Daiwa Institute of Research (Tokyo)

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Posted by Daiwa Institute of Research on the Honyaku Google Group:

In-house J-E Translation Position at DIR

Daiwa Institute of Research is looking for a full-time, in-house J-E  translator for analyst reports covering Japanese stocks for our Tokyo  office. A successful candidate should have some knowledge of economic  topics and a basic understanding of accounting. Securities industry  experience is also welcome. In addition to strong Japanese reading ability (Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 1 preferred), we seek candidates with strong writing skills and the ability to paraphrase difficult Japanese texts. Read More

Mar 10

KRAZY! Roland Kelts to speak at Japan Society (NY) this Thursday

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Mar 9

Translators Corner: Translating Obama, Audaciously

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Posted by translator and writer Jamie Graves (Saitama-Ken 2002-2003). JetWit invites other translators to post commentary on for Translators Corner as well.  Contact translatorscorner atto jetwit dotto com if interested.

While President Obama’s name has proved remarkably compatible with the Japanese language (I wish MY name were that easy to write in kanji), his eloquent rhetoric has proved a little bit more difficult. There is currently an excellent discussion on the Google Honyaku Group about how to translate the now iconic phrase “The Audacity of Hope“. The title of the official Japanese translation of the book conveys only one meaning of the phrase, meaning something like “Revitalizing America, By Embracing Large Hopes”. You can find the discussion on how to accurately render the poetic brevity of “The Audacity of Hope” here.

I thought the first suggestion “あえての希望” (Aete-no-kibo, “daring to hope”) best captured the succinctness of the original phrase. It was followed by many interesting, and occasionally very funny suggestions, as well as some fascinating digressions on what exactly the meaning and feeling of the word “Audacity” are in the original phrase.

Particularly interesting was how people were looking for something to convey the brash feeling of audacity, how the phrase relates to the already popular “Boys Be Ambitious” (青年よ大志を抱け), and the slightly dark (and prescient) joke that “オーダシティ” may soon enter the Japanese language as is.

For those who are interested, Dwight Van Winkle posted an interesting link to a list of official translations of the “The Audacity of Hope” in many different languages.

Mar 9

Job: Director of International Programs – Purdue University-Calumet (Indiana)

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Via Chronicle of Higher Ed’s international programs job page:

3/9/2009

• Purdue University-Calumet (Indiana) : Director of International Programs (Chief International Officer)

Mar 9

SWET Workshop: Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In! (Tokyo)

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Via the e-mail list for the Tokyo-based Society of Writers, Editors and Translators:

Problems with Presentations? The Doctor is In!

If you usually work with words, but are wondering how to make the most of your presentation software, this hands-on seminar is for you.

Date: Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:15 – 16:00 (lunch break 12:00-13:00)
Place: Sophia University, Library room 524
Price: 10,000 (SWET members), 15,000 (non-members)
Presenters: Hugh Ashton & Shuji Yoshida
Language: English
Participants: Up to 12 Read More

Mar 8

Kirsten’s World: “Home”

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By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)

The trip home was poetic. Trying to spare myself the tremendous charge for checking more than 2 bags on a flight, I condensed the entirety of my JET existence into three bags. One of them (a duffel bag to be precise) broke 30 minutes before the takyuubin people were due so we Macguyver-ed the fucker up with twine and a paperclip and hoped for the best.

How I thought that bag could not be the source of hilarious drama is beyond me.

You should have witnessed me getting it onto the plane. Narita is like some parallel universe where things have to go right even when they are noticeably falling apart. The lack of stress at Narita is downright fucking scary for an airport. Bless its hallowed grounds.

So let me present you with reason #718 of just how stupid I can be. Read More

Mar 8

Kinokuniya sets up JET Alumni Author section

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In anticipation of the upcoming JET Alumni Author Showcase (set for March 22; e-mail authors at jetaany dot org to rsvp), Kinokuniya has set up a table featuring books by JET alumni authors.  The table is on the ground floor in the main aisle, right by the magazine section and features the following books:

• Japanamerica – Roland Kelts (Osaka-shi, 1998-99)
• The Order of Odd-Fish – James Kennedy (Nara-ken, 2004-06)
• Zorgamazoo – Robert P. Weston (Nara-ken, 2002-04)
• Learning to Bow – Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90)
  
• Importing Diversity:  Inside Japan’s JET Program – David L. McConnell
• Hitching Rides with Buddha (originally titled Hokkaido Hitchhiking Blues) – Will Ferguson (Nagasaki-ken, 1991-94)
  

*See a more complete list of JET alumni authors and their works at https://jetwit.com/wordpress/library/authorsbooks/

Stop by Kinokuniya and take a look!

Other Kinokuniya-related information that may be of interest to you:

1. Kinokuniya now offers an Anime/Manga Membership Card – for $15 you get 10% off all of your purchases.  You can find the application form at the checkout desk in their stores.
2. Anime Day @ Kinokuniya – Sunday March 15  (1073 Avenue of the Americas & 40th St. in NYC) – 11am to 6pm – First 10 fans dresses as Zetsubou-Sensei will win Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Vol. 1 from Del Rey Manga!
3. Japanese Young Artists’ Book Fair_3rd – Feb 15 thru March 8 – Comics, graphic books, picture books, art books, phtoograph books, poetry books, art object books and more at 4 different locations in NY:  Kinokuniya (Midtown), Printed Matter (Chelsea), St. Mark’s Bookshop (E. Village), Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers (Williamsburg) and