Jan 27

Job: Director of International Students and Scholars – City University of New York

Via Chronicle of Higher Ed international education jobs page:

http://chronicle.com/jobs/id.php?id=0000589974-01&pg=r

Position: Director of International Students and Scholars

Salary: $70,000 to less than $90,000
Institution: City College of City University of New York
Location: New York
Date posted: 1/22/2009

Read More


Jan 27

Job: Freelance writing for Tokyo mag

Via Tokyo Craigslist.  Note what it says about how the first article is uncompensated.  Is that normal?

Contributors for Established English Tokyo Publication

Reply to: submissions @weekenderjapan. com [?]
Date: 2009-01-26, 10:21AM JT

Japan’s oldest English magazine, recently re-vamped and re-launched is currently looking for freelance feature, dining, and travel articles.

-Please send professional/published writing samples (minimum 2) with inquiry. Blog/online samples accepted.
-Looking for innovative, pitches on Tokyo and Japan with a twist that will appeal to a wide demographic of readers.
-Writers with a focused knowledge on a particular industry, niche market or culture with a Japanese element most sought.

  • Compensation: First published article uncompensated. Subsequent contributions 15-20cents/word.


Jan 27

Job: Peace Corp Country Desk Clerk (D.C.)

Via JETAA DC:

Peace Corps Country Desk Assistant, FP-0303-7/6 (Equivalent to GS-07/08)

ANNOUNCEMENT NUMBER:  DPC9-0009-JP
APPLICATION DEADLINE:   2-12-2009
JOB LOCATION: Washington, Dist of Columbia
WORK SCHEDULE:  Full Time
SALARY RANGE:  $41,629.00-$ 68,385.00
OPEN DATE:  1-23-2009
TIME LIMIT: Term, not to exceed 30 Months Read More


Jan 26

JETAA Chapter Beat 1.26.09

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

JETAA Northern California

  • Book Club Discussion of Yukio MIshima’s After the BanquetWednesday, January 28th, 6:00 at the Samovar Tea Lounge in Yerba Buena Center. Whether you’ve read the book or not, come join in the discussion at the first meeting of the Book Club.
  • 2009 JET Programme Interview Volunteers Needed – Wednesday, February 11th through Thursday, February 19th. The Consulate General of Japan is looking for JET Alumni to help serve as interview registration assistants.
  • Economic Earthquakes: Conversation with Yasumasa Nagamine, Consul General of Japan – Wednesday, January 28th, 5:45 at USF Lone Mountain Campus. Explore the economic future of Asia and the world during the current economic crisis.

JETAA Pacific Northwest

  • Shinnenkai – JETAA Pacific Northwest will be hosting their late “Shinnenkai” in early March to kick off 2009. This family-friendly “shinnenkai” combines the ever popular chapter governance issues and annual officer elections with a cultural presentation and lots of delicious food. Stay tuned for more details!
  • 2009 Washington State High School Japanese Speech Contest Volunteers Needed – Thursday, March 26th at McEachern Auditorium, Museum of History & Industry. Help out the community and meet new people by volunteering at this fun and educational event.

JETAA D.C.

  • Sakura Matsuri Volunteers Needed – The annual Sakura Matsuri in DC is on April 4th this year and they are looking for volunteers to help with the performing arts team. Work with musicians, dancers and martial artists and be a part of the festival.

JETAA Canberra

  • Multicultural Festival 2009 – Saturday, February 7th JETAA Canberra will be running its beer and gyoza stall at the festival. If you have free time come down and help out at this year’s event.
  • Japan Festival in Sydney – Saturday, February 14th, 12:00 to 8:00 at Darling Harbour. JETAA Sydney is helping to organize this year’s event so be sure to come over and share in the Japan-related festivities.
  • JETAA Oceania Logo Competition – JETAA Oceania is looking for logos. Help promote the JET Programme and embrace your creative side. Entries due by March 1st, 2009.

JETAA Western Australia

  • 2008 JET Returnees Reception – Friday, February 20th at the Consulate General. Meet the newly returned and reflect on times past at this year’s Returnees Reception. There’s only enough room for the first 20 ex-JETs, so don’t delay.
  • Family BBQ – Saturday, February 21st, at Kings Park(dates and locations tentative). Come to this family event and share in some tasty barbecue and friendly conversation.

JETAA Florida

  • Kimono Exhibition – Sunday, February 8th, at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

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.


Jan 26

WIT Life #22: Consumers’ What’s Hot and What’s Not 2008

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.

The start to a new year always invites reflection on the previous one. Some of this delving is not so pleasant (i.e. 2008 fourth quarter earnings), but looking at other aspects such as best sellers from the year can be very enjoyable. The magazine Nikkei Marketing Journal annually examines the latter and uses sumo rankings for its classification system. 

They came up with 36 items for last year, and appropriate of 2008’s declining economy a theme running through the list was low price and good value. For example, the top rankings of Yokozuna East went to clothing store Uniqlo and Yokozuna West went to Seven Premium Top Valu, an in-house discount brand from the retailer Aeon (i.e. Jusco). Ozeki East was captured by Read More


Jan 26

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Manga Contest: Meredith Hodges-Boos’ submission

Writer and artist Meredith Hodges-Boos (Ehime-ken, 2003-05) recently submitted the below entry for the manga contest sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a contest which I’m guessing ties in with Prime Minister Taro Aso’s “manga diplomacy” (explained in more detail in NPR’s 10/3/08 interview with Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99).  I encourage everyone to take look at Meredith’s wonderful work that pays homage to the JET Program as well as to the world of manga.  (Suggestion:  Click the button at the bottom of the video player to expand the screen so you can read the dialogue.)


Jan 26

Growing Pains: A freelancer’s follow-up – by Devon Brown

Devon Brown (Tokyo-to, 2002-04) is a freelance writer with a focus on food.  You can read more of her writing at TravelingTastebuds.blogspot.com.

In a recent post titled “Growing Pains”, she sought some perspective on the business of freelance writing.  In a subsequent JetWit post, we aggregated the responses of writers in the JET alum community in response to Devon’s question.  Below she shares her new perspective:

Growing Pains: A follow up on an over edited piece by a newbie freelance writer

The jury is in and it seems I’ll just have to man up.

The freelance writing world can be a cold hard place and the fact that I’m getting paid and will have a byline in a national mag is going to have to be consolation for my hurt ego.  The rational part of me knows that magazines have their own voice and until I’m so big and famous that they’re willing to pay me $5 for every single word I type, I’m gonna have to deal.

Thank you to everyone who offered up some insight.  I  heard of some horror stories that I hope to never experience myself.

On the upside, I did get a final PDF of my piece.  Seeing it in print was awesome!


Jan 26

JetWit says: “Internet Explorer, bad. Firefox and Safari, good!”

If you’re looking at this site using Internet Explorer as your browser (as opposed to Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Chrome), then you most likely can’t see the interesting and helpful items along the sidebar.  Also, some posts might look incomplete or just plain weird.

To see the sidebar items you can

1) click on any post (such as this one),

2) scroll all the way down to the bottom of this homepage where the sidebars have been pushed for fushigi na reasons, or

3) Use a different browser to view JetWit.com.  (Firefox, Safari and Chrome are much better browsers than anything created by Microsoft , in terms of speed, security and functionality.  So a good long term move as well to download a new browser if you can.)


Jan 25

10TECOMAI: YOSA-KOI DANCE PROJECT AUDITION

Greetings Fellow Former JETS!

Do you know what yosa-koi is? Good for you.

Do you love nothing more than flailing about with naruko? (wooden instrument, NOT some girl’s name! ^^)  Are you an aspiring performer/dancer with an interest in Japanese culture?  Are you a non-performer/dancer with an interest in Japanese culture? Do you just really miss Japan and dream of becoming one of the crazy sexy cool people in this flier?

Then fantasize no more!

Hi, I’m Kirsten, a former ALT based in Niigata Prefecture 2005-2008.  One of the things I missed most about my life in Japan was an awesome and energetic festival dance called yosa-koi that I used to perform together with my students.  I missed it so much when I came back that I Googled “NY” and “Yosa-koi” and found 10tecomai. For a JET with raging Japan withdrawal like myself being a member of 10tecomai was like a dream come true.

Like the flier says, no dance experience is necessary. I can attest to that, folks.  I have zero background in performance or dance but I quickly found this was not required.  You will be expertly and patiently trained, no matter what level you are and you will have TONS of fun in the process. However, team spirit and serious dedication are an absolute must. My experience with 10tecomai has been truly rewarding and fulfilling on so many levels. I’m sad I no longer live in Japan but I am overjoyed to be a part of 10.

So come on down and try out if you fancy? It can’t hurt. Tell your friends!

[Editor’s note:  Kirsten also wrote a wonderful article about the Mitsuwa department store in Edgewater, NJ for the Fall 2008 Issue of the JETAA NY Quarterly Newsletter.]


Jan 24

*******

In his latest recurring column “Soft Power/Hard Truths” for the Daily Yomiuri, Roland Kelts (Osaka, 1998-99) attempts to explain the phenomenon that is Afro-Samurai.

See his column here:  http://japanamerica.blogspot.com/2009/01/afro-samurai-anime-and-game-follow-soft.html


Jan 24

The Chopsticks NY – JET Alum Intersection

FYI, the February issue of Chopsticks NY (The “Exploring Japan” Issue) is out and contains articles by:

Stacy Smith (CIR Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03) – Focus*Culture:  Learning the Meanings Behind the Rituals of Shintoism.  Stacy also translated the issue’s lead feature article on actress and calligraphy expert Yoshiko Sakuma, written by Chopsticks NY editor Noriko Komura, and wrote the unsigned “What’s New” articles (JoostKari Kari cookies, Anime Castle, Dainobu).  (Stacy is a professional interpreter, translator and writer and also writes the WITLife series on this site.)

and

Nori Akashi (Friend of JET and Writers Interpreters Translators Group member) – Welcome to Japan:  Traveling Through the Sub-Zero World by Train. (Nori is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and writes for the Japan National Tourist Organization as well as well as for freelance assignments.)


Jan 24

Job: Japanese Business Development Manager Needed (DC area)

Via JETAA DC from a JET alum who works at the Japan-America Society and received the below request:

FW: Japanese Business Development Manager needed

Microstrategy Inc. is currently recruiting for a bilingual (English/Japanese) person to fill a Business Development Manager position in McLean, Virginia.

Basic Function: The Business Development Manager will be responsible for setting up appointments for MicroStrategy Account Managers and Account Executives, and preferred resellers, within both existing and prospective accounts.  The BDM will position MicroStrategy’s products and services to key decision-makers within accounts, with the goal of scheduling presentations/product demonstrations for our field staff. Read More


Jan 24

Good Translators Website: Honyakuhome.org

I just learned about what I think is a great resource for Japanese -> English translators and posted it on the Translation Agencies & Relevant Websites page.

Honyaku Home – Website:  http://honyakuhome.org/ and Google Group:  http://groups.google.com/group/honyaku/

It seems to be a well-established site for Japanese translators with very good information and resources.  Then again, I’m not a translator myself so hard for me to judge.  Anyone else out there want to confirm my sense?

Update:  There’s now a widget in the sidebar on the right with links to the latest translation job listings from HonyakuHome.org. (If you can’t see anything in the sidebar, it’s probably b/c you’re using Internet Explorer rather than Safari or Mozilla Firefox.  Try clicking on the title for any post on JetWit and I think the sidebar will suddenly be visible.)


Jan 24

Jobs: Various bilingual jobs (NY)

I saw this on the JETAA Pacific Northwest email list, though it’s for jobs in the NY area.

From: esarmiento@ misicomp any. com
Sent: Thu Jan 22 18:20
Subject: Fwd: Japanese Fluent Opportunities

If you or anyone is FLUENT IN JAPANESE and interested in the following positions I have full descriptions and will send out after receiving resume in word format.

USA citizen or resident (Green card holder) and we sponsor all visas.
MUST BE FLUENT IN JAPANESE NYC AREA
12 months on going or Fulltime.

Job Titles include (again all require Japanese fluency):
1) Business Analyst with Accounting experience
2) Unix Administrator
3) Post and Pre Sales
4) Project Manager
5) Java Developers
6) Cobol/Legacy Expert

Cheers,
Efrain Sarmiento
MISI Company 830 Third Avenue 3rd Floor New York, NY 10022


Jan 23

Job: Japanese House and Garden Site Manager – Philadelphia

Via Therese Stephens, former JETAA Philly subchapter rep:

Japanese House and Garden

Site Manager

Position Profile

Overview

The Site Manager is a full time seasonal position, March through October 15, at the Japanese House and Garden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Japanese House and Garden is a 17th century style Japanese house in the west section of Fairmount Park.  This position is an integral part of the museum’s day-to-day operations and serves an important role in interacting with the public and as a liaison with other professional staff members. This position is ideal for a person who has earned a college degree or has significant life experience.  The successful candidate must also have a strong interest in and/or knowledge of Japan, Asian studies, museum studies, education or the hospitality industry. Read More


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