Spring/Summer 2010 Volume 15 Issue 1

Newsletter Spring & Summer 2010 - Volume 15, Issue 1

In this issue…

1 2 2-3 3 4-5 6 7 7-8 8

Message from JETAABC’s President/ Member Survey JETAA Canada Conference JETAA Technology Regional Conference Upcoming Events Meet the 2010 Board of Directors!

You can take a girl out of Japan but… / Pottery Workshop / Support a JET Alum A Long Way Home J-dramas Adventures in Bento-Making

JETAABC Member Survey

by Megumi Johns In April this year, we launched an online JETAABC member survey to gather feedback and ideas from our members. The aim of the survey was to find out what alumni like about what we‟ve been doing, what they would like to see, and how they would like to get involved.

Overall, we had 45 responses and lots of good feedback. We discovered that the bulk of respondents were JET alumni who‟ve been around for a few years so we may have some work to do to raise awareness about JETAABC with recent returnees.

Message from JETAABC’s President, Greg Joughin!

Hello, fellow JET alumnus or alumna!

Chances are, we've never met. We're probably not the same age, like if we were high school friends in the same grade. We don't hold the same degree, like we might if we met in university. We probably like different music and TV shows, read different books, and vote for different candidates.

We're not from the same neighbourhood—not even the same -machi, -shi, or -ken. Our parents aren't friends, we've never been on the same soccer team, and we didn't meet during Christmas break in an air-conditioned 7-Eleven in Bali. OK, that last situation actually happened to me, but I think you're getting my point: out of all the possible ways you and I could be connected, chances are it's just the singular experience of having spent a year or more in Japan on the JET Programme that is the only common thread between us.

Now I challenge you: Here's a few hundred dollars—put on an event you think I'll attend! Let me up the ante: for that same budget, put on an event I'll not only attend, but enjoy enough to look forward to your invitation the next time! That, my friends, is the difficulty faced by your JETAABC Board of Directors, year after year. If that sounds vaguely depressing, well, I guess it sorta is. It's a tough gig, aiming to please an alumni group.

But I think it's worth it to try.

Personally, because I'm an engineer "in real life," and not a teacher or an aspiring diplomat or eikaiwa owner, I never thought the JET Programme would be anything that career-enhancing or life-changing. I was wrong: going on JET turned out to be one of the more significant features of my life thus far. I got involved with JETAABC as a way to "give back" to the Programme, both in terms of helping departing JETs get ready for a pretty amazing experience (hopefully a good one), and also in providing alumni with a chance to keep in their lives (and mine!) a little bit of what made the JET experience great. Even after more than 10 years since returning from Japan, I continue to think it's worthwhile to spend some of my free time doing just that, and I'm pleased that at least another dozen people agree enough to have joined our Board! Not to toot our own horn too loudly here, but I'm proud to be the (nominal) leader of an organization that offers its diverse membership an equally diverse calendar of activities and events. And I'm equally proud to be part of a membership that, in its own way and on its own schedule, comes out to enjoy the events we hold and support each year's new cohort of soon-to-depart JET participants.

Thanks for your continued support (especially those of you who have ever volunteered your time to help out), and I hope we'll be able to entice you to join us at an event (or more) this year! Until then, we hope you'll stay in touch through the newsletter, our wiki, on Facebook or via Twitter. Or maybe I'll catch up with you at a convenience store in some far-flung locale...?

So what can JETAABC do for you? Contact us!

*Twitter: http://twitter.com/jetaabc (@jetaabc)

*By Email: See www.jetaabc.ca/Main/BoardOfDirectors for a list of email addresses *On the Web: www.jetaabc.ca *By Mail: JETAABC, Bentall Centre, PO Box 48121,

*And now a Facebook Page! http://www.facebook.com/pages/ JETAABC/116941341652229 (tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/24q2vsr )

www.jetaabc.ca

News from the...

Canada Conference

by Susanne Milner

From May 14-16, JETAA Ottawa hosted the annual Canada Conference for all JETAA chapters from coast to coast. Each of the seven chapters sent representatives to discuss JETAA operations, create a national action plan and to exchange ideas. Representatives from CLAIR Toronto and New York, and the Japanese Embassy – Ottawa were also present at the three-day conference.

On Friday evening, all conference participants were graciously welcomed

by Ambassador Nishida at his private residence. The conference proceedings began early Saturday morning with a keynote speech by JETAA Ottawa alumni, Christa, on spinning your JET experience for Canada’s job market. We also had a chance to share chapter reports, which provided an opportunity to exchange ideas for events and projects. A bright spot in the reports was the success that chapters were having with Japanese language classes – an area of development for JETAABC.

Photo by Jamiena Shah

Technology was the theme of Sunday’s agenda. Improving JETAA Canada’s web presence is a goal for the upcoming year. Each chapter is committed to using social media effectively, along with maintaining and upgrading their webpages while contributing to the new and improved JETAA Canada webpage set to launch in late 2010.

A big thank you to our warm hosts from the JETAA Ottawa chapter! They made the conference a great success.

We look forward to the continual exchange of ideas and support from MOFA and CLAIR at the next conference in 2011 in la belle province, Quebec!

JETAABC’S ROADTRIP TO PORTLAND USA!

by Chris Bailey

From January 29 – 31st, 2010, representatives from JETAABC attended the inaugural JETAA Technology Regional Conference (JETAATRC) held in Portland, Oregon. On Friday morning, Greg (President), Eric (Technical Coordinator) and Bailey (Senior Advisor) loaded up the car and began the drive down to Portland. After a few pit stops at the outlets, we crossed the bridge from Vancouver, Washington, into Portland, Oregon – and with more than half a tank to spare in our borrowed Toyota hybrid!

We checked into the Mark Spencer Hotel in downtown Portland and went down to a meet-and-greet wine reception in the lobby. After meeting delegates from several other JETAA chapters in the US and Canada, and from the host chapter, JETAA Portland, we were taken to the Consul General‟s official residence on the outskirts of town for a reception along with a chance to network and mingle with various representatives from the JETAA chapters, other alumni, Japanese leaders of the community and yes, even a hopeful Republican congressman who was a former JET participant promoting his campaign and asking for support… only in America, I tell you!

Takamichi Okabe, Consul General of Japan in Portland, gave a gracious speech to all of the delegates and mentioned how he was looking forward to seeing our hard work pay off in terms of facilitating the growth of JETAA‟s online presence by creating a higher profile for alumni associations across the US and in Canada. He hoped that this conference would be “a vital endeavour and significant stride in the development of JETAA‟s interconnectedness and presence as a mechanism for sharing knowledge about Japan.”

Representatives from CLAIR New York including Hiroshi Sasaki, Executive Director of JLGC; Matthew Gillam, Senior Researcher for JLGC; Taichi Hanzawa, Assistant Director of JLCG; and Chizuko Kawamura, Assistant Director of JLGC, were present. From the JET community, we had Ryan Hart who is the US JETAA rep, JETAA NY, JETAA US Heartland, JETAA US Texoma, JETAA Rocky Mountain, JETAA PNW, JETAA Portland, JETAA Northern California, JETAA Southern California, JETAA Northern Alberta, JETAA Southern Alberta, and JETAABC. The working conference was spread over the weekend. Saturday began bright and early; after a few speeches and introductions, we rolled up our sleeves and got into our first session, Website Blueprints – Collaboration for Success. Session 2 dealt with Website Collaboration – Standardization in the Making. We then had a lunch break at Jake‟s Famous Crawfish, followed by an interactive keynote address entitled Utilizing Technology to Improve Communication, presented by Aaron Lovelace, former ALT and now CEO of an online learning startup company called Speekit. The afternoon saw sessions dealing with improving membership communications for both current and new members, improving membership communication for backend solutions, and utilizing social media for one‟s chapter.

What was interesting, from my standpoint as one who is hardly technologically-inclined (is this thing programmed in PCP? Thanks Greg and Eric), was that all attendees from varying levels of technological backgrounds were actively sharing, mentoring, and teaching each other about different things that each of their chapters were implementing or creating to enhance their communications with their membership. Being in an environment where the common goal was to offer more value to the alumni membership, retain members and engage them more - while using technology to assist and manage the process - was fascinating. At times, all chapters were in sync with their frustrations, having similar issues and problems. However, some chapters had creative ways for dealing with those issues, by Cont’d on next page

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implementing tech tools which they were eager to share with the rest of us.

After a lengthy but extremely beneficial first day, we finished around 6:30 and then headed to the evening reception at Portland City Grill, located on the 30th floor of a swanky building in the heart of downtown. After an amazing dinner, some of Portland‟s finest micro brews, and some good times, we then had a raffle for prizes. All chapters were asked to bring something indicative of who we were and where we came from. So, JETAABC brought down a few pairs of the famous red Olympic mittens as well as a few Olympic scarves – you know, because Canada is always freezing cold and covered in snow and ice, according to Americans. When it came time to draw the winners of our wicked gifts, Sasaki-san and Hanzawa-san from CLAIR NY were the winners! Needless to say, they were very happy – and our gift totally put all of the other chapters to shame! Next came more laughs, networking and then the nijikai at Bush Gardens for some karaoke. Good times indeed… the photos will never see the light of day again.

After a late night, day 2 started bright and early. Session 7 dealt with the Final Tech Collaboration – Open Exchange of Thoughts and Idea Sharing followed by Session 8 – Pay It Forward – Collaboration for all JETAA North America and JETAA. Following an intense session of brainstorming, all representatives felt accomplished and excited about the possibilities of taking what we learned and applying it to our local JETAA chapters.

What I found interesting was that we were all working together to steer our own ship in terms of managing things for our chapters on a technological side. Taking eleven chapters with varying degrees of technological prowess and streamlining processes to enhance everyone‟s chapters felt like a great accomplishment.

Coming up with an action plan for our chapters and the JETAA community as a whole, seemed like quite the milestone.

JETAA Portland‟s leadership, organization and commitment to this conference was greatly appreciated. Without them, this conference would not have been a success. Also on a side note, JETAA Portland‟s own Bob Schnyder is now the new webmaster for JETAAI. Way to go, Bob! We are thrilled for you and thank you for your support, leadership and for everything that you did to make this conference a success. We look forward to working with you in the future!

Lastly, something that came out of this conference which all chapters agreed on was the need to standardize programs and procedures throughout North America; this would allow us to build and maintain our networks for communication between not only ourselves as chapters, but with our alumni. Two tools presented to assist with this process were Joomla and Mail Chimp, which all chapters are considering implementing.

All in all, the JETAATRC was a fantastic opportunity for many chapters to get together, network and build solid relationships. I know that in terms of JETAABC, we learned many things that we are eager to implement, offering more value and communication to you, our valued alumni. In addition, we fostered ties with other JETAA Chapters – namely Portland and PNW – and hope to be able to host events with them in the future. We enjoyed our time in Portland and hope to learn even more the next time around!

Upcoming Events

by Megumi Johns

***JETAABC Post Prep Seminar Reception*** Saturday, June 26, 2010 All JET alumni are invited! A great opportunity to meet JET alumni and new JETs before the new JETs leave Vancouver. * Time: 5:30pm * Location: Downtown Vancouver, venue TBA * Check out www.jetaabc.ca for updated info.

Kurosawa Centennial 1910-2010 June 17 - August 10 Pacific Cinémathèque 1131 Howe Street http://www.cinematheque.bc.ca Pacific Cinémathèque presents a comprehensive retrospective of films by Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, one of the world's most important and influential filmmakers. See website for more details.

Tanabata (Japanese star festival) July 6 – 10, 2010 National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby http://www.nikkeiplace.org/ Celebrate this traditional summer festival by making paper decorations and writing your wish onto a colourful paper streamer, then hang the decoration onto the bamboo on display in our lobby. A fun activity for all ages!

Yukata Kitsuke Saturday, July 17, 2010 National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre 6688 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby http://www.nikkeiplace.org/ Would you like to wear your Yukata more often to the summer fireworks and festivals? This is your chance to learn step by step how to put on your Yukata and look good. See website for more details.

34th Annual Powell Street Festival Saturday, July 31 – Sunday, August 1, 2010 http://www.powellstreetfestival.com This year, the Festival will be returning to its newly renovated home in Oppenheimer Park (400 block of Powell Street).

Check their website for more info and volunteer opportunities.

National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre 10th Anniversary Gala - Saturday, September 25, 2010 Featuring keynote speaker Dr. David Suzuki.

Help us celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre by attending our Gala Dinner at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. For more info on corporate sponsorships, auction donations, or to purchase tickets, please contact Harumi Suzuki at (778) 835-1091 or by email at harumisuzuki@shaw.ca

www.jetaabc.ca

***Wanna be “eco”? Let us know so we can send you a PDF version of the newsletter instead of a paper one!

Send a note to newsletter@jetaabc.ca.

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On January 15, 2010, we had the JETAABC Annual General Meeting and Shinnenkai at the YWCA. The turnout was great and it was a chance to meet JET alumni, old and new. We also had the election for the 2010 Board of Directors—and they President: Greg Joughin (president@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Ishikawa-ken, 1996-1999 Hello, Alumni! This is Greg Joughin, JETAABC President, speaking. I was an ALT in Kanazawa, Ishikawa-ken, way, way back in 1996 to 1999. That's almost before Al Gore invented the Internet! I've been on the Board since 2002 or so (I could check, but that's close enough), and being president is only my most recent achievement; I've taken a crack at a number of other Board positions. When I can't run for President any more (i.e. in 2011), I'll probably try my hand at some other post. You're not going to get rid of me that easily... I'm a lifer!

Treasurer: Ann Yamashita (treasurer@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Shizuoka-ken, 2002-2005 Hi. I was on the JET Programme from 2002 to 2005 as an ALT (2 years) and a CIR (1 year) in Shizuoka prefecture.

This is my fourth year on the Board. I started out as the Secretary and currently, I hold the Treasurer position. I’m also a member of the alumni dragonboat team, Ready JET Go! If you’re ever interested in attending one of our events or trying out for the dragonboat team, don’t be afraid to come on out! We don’t bite! :) Secretary: Miyuki Erica Moizumi (secretary@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Osaka-fu, 2002-2004 Greetings JETs of past, present and future. Depending on who you ask, my name is Miyuki or 'Erica' incognito. Many moons ago, I worked as an ALT in Osaka-fu. When I'm not travelling the globe, I serve as JETAABC's secretary. As I can't seem to get enough of this group, I also previously served as Social Coordinator and Treasurer. So that's me in a nutshell!

Newsletter Editor: Dinah Linsangan (newsletter@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Aomori-ken, 2004-2008 I was an ALT in up in snowy Aomori for four years. I'm currently in my second year on the board as newsletter editor. After returning to Vancouver, settling back into life post-JET was difficult, but thankfully things have settled down now. Of course, I do still miss Aomori and my life in Japan. If you ever get that "natsukashii" feeling, come on out to one of JETAABC's events or put pen to paper and send us an article or two for the newsletter! Cheers!

Membership Coordinator: Carlos Tolentino (membership@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Nagasaki-ken, 2005-2006 My name is Carlos Tolentino. I spent one short but jam-packed year in rural Nagasaki from 2005-2006. This is my third year as the membership coordinator. Since returning to Vancouver, I've kept the connection by learning to cook various Japanese dishes and taking language lessons. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

Volunteer Coordinator: Lucky Herath (volunteer@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Kagoshima-ken, 2006-2008 Hi, my name is Lucky Herath and I miss onsens. I lived in Kagoshima from 2006 to 2008 as an ALT in 2 Junior High schools, 8 Elementary Schools and a Pre-School (I got around). My position on Board is Volunteer Coordinator. As volunteer coordinator I hope to help make the Pre-Departure Orientation a great experience for soon-to-be JETs. I returned to Vancouver in late Spring 2009 after spending some time volunteering in Cambodia and traveling a bit here and there on the globe, post-JET. I look forward to getting more involved in the JET alumni community as I continue to settle in back at home.

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A million merci beaucoups to the following Russell Aquino / Alana Blackadar / Chris Bailey / Eric Chan / Emi Do / Nick Hall / Lucky Herath / Megumi Johns / Greg Joughin / Lindsay Marsh / Erica Moizumi / Susanne Milner / Mark Montgomery / Carlos Tolentino / Ann Yamashita / Wanda Yee for your contributions to this edition. Thank you!

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Business Development: Mark Montgomery (bizdev@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Aomori-ken, 2005-2008 Gaijin there, gaijin here, too. Been on the board for a year-ish. Still learning but great fun so far.

I miss green flags on sticks with an obedient line of tourismos following behind. I miss smiling ladies saying こちらへどうぞ to me even when I didn't want to go that way. Hoping to expand on our links both in the Japanese community and with those interested in being involved, too. As a relative newcomer here, I would like to see more visible signs of Japan flourish in Vancouver.

External Liaison: Megumi Johns (external@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Miyagi-ken, 2005-2007 I'm pleased to be on the Board for the first time this year and to be working with such a great group of people. My role as External Liaison is to connect JETAABC with other Japan-related organizations, activities and events. I have lots of ideas for this year and hope to see many of you at our events! Look for: 2-kyu Japanese class, pottery workshop, member survey, bonsai class, macrobiotic cooking...!

Career & Personal Development: Susanne Milner (career@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Wakayama-ken, 2006-2009 From the time I was taking Japanese classes in secondary school, I knew that JET would be part of my career and personal development agenda. Since returning home in August 2009, I have been active in JETAABC by joining events and then the board this January. Returning home from Wakayama meant saying goodbye to mikans, onsens, umeboshi, and, of course, school life. But, it was also an opportunity to take those new skills and experiences and put them to use here at home. I hope to help all JET alumni find a way to channel our newfound skills and experiences into great career and personal development opportunities at home.

Senior Advisor: Chris Bailey (senioradvisor@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Aichi-ken, 2002-2005 Hi, everyone. My name is Bailey and I was an ALT in Nagoya, Aichi Japan from 2002 - 2005. Aichi-ken is famous for miso katsu, the Honen Matsuri and Aichi Expo (2005). I have been on the board now for 5 years; 3 years as Treasurer and now 2 years as Senior Advisor. I really miss my time in Japan, but am thankful for my life here in Vancouver. I encourage you all to come out to events that JETAABC puts on, network with other alumni and share your JET-related experiences with us! Cheers.

Technical Coordinator: Eric Chan (technical@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Aomori-ken, 2006-2008 Hi! I'm Eric Chan. This year, I'm serving my second year as the Technical Coordinator with JETAABC. Before coming back to Canada, I was an ALT in Aomori prefecture from 2006-2008. It's a blast being a part of JETAABC and meeting past, present, and future participants of the JET programme. Hope to see you at an upcoming event!

Social Media Coordinator: Wanda Yee (socialmedia@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Fukui-ken, 2001-2007 はじめまして！My name is Wanda Yee and I'm the new Social Media Coordinator for JETAABC. I was an ALT in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture for six amazing years (2001-2007). I ♥ my inaka and I'm looking forward to my visit back to Fukui later this summer. どうぞよろしくね。 Project Coordinator: Russell Aquino (projects@jetaabc.ca) Location & Years on JET: Aomori-ken, 2006-2008 Likes: reading, pizza, hanging out with people who don't roll their eyes at me when I begin a sentence with "When I was in Japan …", learning languages, laughing with (at) people, tofu, walking around town, Japanese dramas, biking around the seawall …

Dislikes: rude people, soggy eggplant dishes, and Moxie's.

Editor’s Note: Also on the board are Social and Cultural Coordinator Nathan Wawruck (social@jetaabc.ca) and Associate Director Phil Skipper (philskipper@jetaabc.ca).

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You can take the girl out of Japan, but…

By Alana Blackadar

In July 2006, I "kaeru-ed" to the Vancouver International Airport bewildered and homesick. I had just spent an entire ten hour flight choking back tears and wracking my brain for the reasons I had conjured up six months prior to not re-contract for a third year. I loved my job in Japan, adored my co-workers, and had gained the respect of my students. I cycled to work, awed by the landscape, and had a situation where I was able to enjoy life but also save money like Scrooge McDuck. And beyond all that I was surrounded by fellow-JETs whom I can only described as the most inspiring lifelong friends. Leave Japan? What had I been thinking?

It took a long time for me to adapt to life back in Vancouver, but eventually it happened. And eventually I sorted out my path. And while that transition period thankfully blurs in my memory, unfortunately so does my Japanese.

I was pretty good when I got home, and took every opportunity to eavesdrop on student conversations on the bus, and to order my sushi in "Nihongo". And then I rode the bus less frequently, and lost my confidence in striking up conversations with the sushi chef. I started borrowing Japanese films from the library, but quickly exhausted their collection.

Life got busy. Now it has come to the point that when I have a conversation in Japanese, I am miming more than talking. And it takes me hours to write a letter to the Itazu family in my old city. It's a good thing I enjoy a challenge...

My fiancé, Shaun, bought a Yamaha motorcycle last month cheap from some guy making a midnight move. It's a fixer-upper, but Shaun enjoys that sort of thing. I came home one day to see kanji and katakana staring up at me from a manual on the kitchen table. The katakana read "kya-bu-re-ta".

“Are you trying to figure out how to fix the carburetor?” I asked.

Shaun was in front of the computer, pulling his hair out, trying to find an English translation of this manual. He turned around, eyebrows raised, and we both knew we had just found a way to enjoy each other's hobbies. We spent the rest of the day going through that manual, and I translated everything he needed to know. It was a labour of love.

Recently, I got out my old external hard-drive and transferred all the photographs over to our new computer. In the process, I took a trip down memory lane; pausing at each photograph, and closing my eyes to recall the people, the conversations, the voices. Every photo had a story, which Shaun was kind enough to listen to, and also find the humour in. This summer we are travelling abroad to attend the wedding of one of my inspiring JET friends. I cannot wait to jump into flashbacks with Shaun at my side, and introduce him to some of the people who made my world while in Japan.

What is my point? Even though life gets busy and your language skills may fade, you will find pieces of Japan in the strangest places in your life. I never thought I would use my language skills to translate a motorcycle manual. Your experiences in Japan will also pleasantly infect others throughout your life, whether through the skills you gained, the stories you tell, or the people you met. I miss Japan terribly, but am thankful that, four years after the fact, I have been able to process my experience. And I am thankful that every time I make miso soup from scratch, I know that it wasn't just a dream.

Alana was an ALT from 2004-2006 in Gifu-ken.

Japanese Pottery Workshop

by Nick Hall Support a JET Alumnus!

JETAABC organized a Japanese Pottery Workshop on May 8th, 2010 at HiDe Ceramic Works. It was a full class with eight people attending, mostly ex-JETs. With the help of Tomomi-san, we first tried hand-moulding a Japanese-style tea cup and then got a chance to try throwing bowls on the wheel. We also got to meet Hide-san and get his input on our pieces. When our pieces were done, we decorated them and chose our glazes. The hardest part is waiting 4-6 weeks to pick up our finished items!

Hide Ebine has been working with pottery for over 25 years. He trained with master ceramic artists in Japan, and has held numerous exhibitions in Japan, Canada, the US and Europe. Examples of his work can be seen at restaurants and shops in Vancouver, Tokyo and Yokohama.

Nick was an ALT from 2003-2005 in Saitama-ken.

by Lindsay Marsh

From 2001 to 2004 in Saga-ken, I learned the subtle art of international volunteer coordination and fundraising on behalf of grassroots projects in Southeast Asia. As coordinator of the national Christmas Cards That Give campaign, promoted through Go Make A Difference (Go M.A.D.) organization, I worked with one JET card coordinator per prefecture to sell handdrawn cards to benefit ethnic minority children at Baan Unrak Children‟s Home in Thailand.

Back in Vancouver, I‟m now coordinating Vancouver‟s annual Bike 2 CAP AIDS Bike-a-thon. For every $200 raised, CAP AIDS will provide one new bicycle and other supports to an HIV AIDS outreach worker in Africa.

Please consider joining us as a JETAABC Alumni Team!

Please go to the Bike 2 CAP AIDS 2010 page: https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/LoginRegister.aspx?

EventID=43426&LangPref=en-CA For more details, please contact me. I’m excited to see you at our bike-a-thon on June 19th!

Sincerely, Lindsay Marsh Vancouver 2010 Bike2CAP AIDS Coordinator Tel: 778-388-4130 / Email: bike2capaidsvancouver@gmail.com www.capaids.org/b2capaids2010.html

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A Long Way Home

Text and Photos by Emi Do

Ours was a JET romance. A coming together of two somewhat similar personalities, with vastly different backgrounds and a yet undefined future. Toss in the fact that we did not share a common nationality and voila, a drama-filled departure. There were two things working in favour of our relationship: both of us weren‟t really attached to going „home‟, and we had both saved a bunch of money. So rather than letting a silly thing like citizenship get in the way, we decided to embark on a year long trip to find a new place to call home. A place where we could give love a chance (ugh, SO cliche!) and try to figure out our lives post JET. A little background: we met during the annual BEE Japan bicycle ride from the northern cape of Wakkanai in Hokkaido to the southern tip of Kyushu after our first (my last) year as JET ALTs. We bonded through our shared love of cycling fast and giant ice cream cones. He was a laid-back California boy, and I was an overzealous Eastern Canadian eco-holic. Needless to say, we balanced each other out pretty well. Thus it only seemed fitting that we do our geographical soul searching on two wheels. On August 4th 2009, we left Vancouver, Canada with our handlebars pointing south and the goal of chasing summer for the next twelve months, we pedaled into the horizon with hopes a-brimming. 10,000 km of cycling and eight months after embarking on our trip, we found ourselves back in Vancouver. We had made it all the way to Panama City, and had grown tired of admiring cities from the outside. We saw the great things communities could achieve, with effort, with cooperation, with time. Our nomadic ways made it impossible for us to invest ourselves in anything substantial, and sometimes „just the two of us‟ began to feel a little isolating.

And so we settled on Vancouver - where at the beginning of our trip we had witnessed countless community gardens, spirited farmers markets, and breathtaking views. We were ready to be a part of a community, and had boundless energy waiting to be directed towards something greater than ourselves.... but what? There we were, again two outsiders, looking in on happy communities of people. And just as panic started to well in our chests and we started to get the familiar itch to hit the road, we came across a JETAABC pub night announcement. We entered Smiley‟s Pub that night, two nervously excited JET alumni, feeling quite alone and disconnected with the city we were trying desperately to call our own. A few hours and a couple of pints later, we were networking leads for jobs, exploring potentials for a Japanese study group and volunteering opportunities. When I left Japan, I hadn‟t thought of JET as being a continuing presence in my life, that this one-year experience was going to be one I would be able to share with such a diverse and exciting group of people. It was a late realization, but one I am deeply grateful for. It‟s helped me find my home.

Emi was an ALT in Kasukabe, Saitama-ken during the 2007-2008 year. She participated in the 2008 BEE Japan tour where she met Nicholas Sutton, a Fukui ALT from California. You can read about their bicycle adventure at www.grab-a-wheel.org.

Add some dorama to your life

by Russell Aquino

In North America, when you say the word “drama”, you typically get one of two reactions: “Oh, god.”—and this would be in reference to the drama that occasionally happens in most people‟s lives, often involving family, relationships, friends, or even that boyfriend-stealing harpy who works at Starbucks. or “Ohmigod, I love [insert name of production here].”—usually coming from members of the drama club or theatre buffs, actors (aspiring or otherwise), the guy at the bus stop who looks like Andrew Lloyd Webber, the guy at the bus stop who may, in fact, be Andrew Lloyd Webber, and what have you.

In Japan, however, the word “drama” (katakana: ドラマ, or “J-dramz” in gaijin-speak) means something entirely different. The word usually refers to any number of television shows, typically short-lived (10-13 episodes a series, although there are exceptions), and starring the latest personality in the Japanese entertainment industry. Over the course of its life, a dorama‟s main goal is, of course, to get high viewer ratings, but the shows also work to develop a steady fan base for the main actors who eventually move on to do other things.

“Drama”, as a word to describe these shows, may, in fact, be a bit misleading. Sure, some of them involve familiar themes such as forbidden love, betrayal, unrequited feelings, relationship-y angst, and so on, but the scope of subjects covered by J-dramz is, for the most part, much, much wider (something that Days of Our Lives or Young and the Restless can‟t quite claim).

There are shows about high school life (Hana Yori Dango: a poor girl attends a school for super rich kids and gets bossed around until she stands up for herself and eventually makes the school‟s bad boy fall for her), aspiring singers (Taiyou no Uta: a young man meets and eventually falls for a girl—a street musician who has dreams of making it big, but suffers from a rare disease and can‟t be exposed to the sun), robots (Zettai Kareshi: a young woman fills in a survey to describe her perfect man and subsequently finds him delivered to her house in the form of a robot), ghosts (Ame to Yume no Ato ni: a father comes back from beyond the grave to look after his daughter), detectives (Tokyo DOGS: a Japanese-born Hana Yori Dango Cont’d on next page

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Adventures in Bento-Making

Text and photos by Wanda Yee

After experiencing 6 years of awesome school lunches in Japan that ranged from healthy and delicious (and sometimes not-so-delicious) to some that were just downright strange, coming back to the land of boring brown-bag lunches was just not the same. But since I can‟t cook, my options were limited.

I started out bringing sandwiches and snacks to work, but soon got tired of eating processed food every day. Eating out all the time would have been an expensive option and, arguably, just as unhealthy as eating my brown-bag lunches of processed meats and packaged junk. And so, just before the new school year started, I made a resolution to try to bring homemade bentos to work every day in an attempt to eat healthier lunches while learning to cook at the same time. I even downloaded a weekly bento planner to help keep me motivated.

Inspired by the Japanese “bento-mamas” who make cute and colourful „charaben‟ (キャラ弁 – short for character bento) for their children based on animals and popular animation characters, I too wanted to make my lunches fun, yummy and aesthetically-pleasing. If I was going to take the time and put in the effort to make a bento, I decided I was going to go all out – make it cute, or don‟t make it at all. But unlike the Japanese “bento-mamas” who wake up super-early and spend hours making their child‟s bento the envy of all mothers within a 5-mile radius, I don‟t have the time nor the energy to wake up early to cook. Instead, I spend 30-40 minutes preparing my bento (as well as my sister‟s bento, since it takes as much time to make one as it does to make two) the night before and, when it comes time for lunch the next day, all I have to do is pop it in the microwave.

Since I‟m all thumbs in the kitchen, I wasn‟t sure how long my little bento-making stint would last. Friends and family who were aware of my cooking skills, or lack thereof, made bets to see how soon I would give up my new „hobby‟. I have managed to surprise them, as well as myself by making and bringing bentos to work for the past 10 months with the help of various cookbooks, online recipes, and cute bento tools.

The greatest change I‟ve noticed since making/bringing bento to work (aside from being more willing to try to learn to cook) is in my eating habits.

I‟m by no means a health-nut, and I‟m not very health-conscious when it comes to eating, as I tend to eat pretty much anything as long as it tastes good (hurray for killer metabolism). However, since the beginning of my bento adventures, I‟ve had to rethink how and what I eat, and make it fit into the confines of my small bento box.

In my 2-level bento box, with the help from the weekly bento planner, I try to include a good mix of carbs/starches, proteins, veggies, fruit, and the occasional snack. Considering how much I am capable of eating, I initially thought that I would starve to death at lunch with my tiny bento and the much-smaller-than-I‟m-used to portions of food, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. The smaller bento box and the smaller, healthier portions of food allows for much more variety and tends to be more filling than, say…a sandwich and a bag of potato chips. I find myself satisfyingly „full‟ after lunch and I noticed that I‟m snacking less and having smaller-portioned dinners. More importantly though, I‟ve noticed I‟m eating a lot more fruit and vegetables – something I didn‟t do when I was just bringing sandwiches and snacks to work.

Ten months of bento-making have come and gone, and I feel the healthiest I‟ve been in a long time. It may seem like a lot of trouble to go through just to prepare lunch, but on hectic afternoons, it‟s especially nice to sit down at lunch to see your food making goofy faces and smiling back at you. Also, hearing my friends and co-workers (as well as my sister‟s co-workers) gush about how cute lunch is always brightens my day. So if you‟re tired of regular brown-bag lunches, why not try putting your artistic, culinary skills to work by packing a cute bento? If I can do it, anyone can.

Download a weekly bento planner here: http://justbento.com/handbook/downloads/weekly-bento-planner Cont’d from previous page

American detective goes back to Japan to pursue the man who killed his father—this, while teamed up with a local playboy and caring for a woman who lost her memory), and even samurai (Samurai High School: a high school student learns that he may be the descendant of a powerful samurai and magically transforms into one).

There are doramas that are really good (Tokyo DOGS, as listed above. This is my own opinion, of course, but whatever, it‟s my article) and doramas that are really, really bad (Boys Este: I can‟t even begin to describe it, so I‟ll let DramaWiki do it): “Akagi Hibiki is a high schooler who takes up a part-time job at an esthetic salon, and is said to have a „god hand‟ for his superb massaging technique. Romance begins after he meets another high-schooler named Koiwai Shizuka, who becomes insecure about her looks due to insensitive comments by her boyfriend.”

Enough said.

There are doramas that can make you cry (Denchi ga Kireru Made: the story of a teacher who gets assigned to teach classes at a hospital for terminally ill children), doramas that can make you laugh out loud (Hotaru no Hikari: a beer-guzzling, junkfood-bingeing OL wakes up one day to find out that she has to live in the same house as her supervisor), and doramas that make you go „what the heck?‟ (Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge: I‟ve seen only one episode, but from what I understand, it‟s about four guys who live in a boarding house run by a little boy, and who get tasked to transform a possibly undead girl into a “lady”).

So why watch doramas in the first place? Here are a few reasons: To have something to talk about with your Japanese friends. (Knowing about a few of these shows saved me from some awkward silences in the teachers‟ room when I visited some schools back on JET.) To learn more Japanese. (Some people aspire for JLPT 2-kyuu or even 1-kyuu, but none of them can hold a candle to someone who does fan-subs for these dramas … for fun.)

To become part of a community (because once you get hooked, it‟s very hard to turn back). Some doramas have loyal fans in Japan, but among many non-Japanese (ex-JETs included), some have developed almost cult-like followings. (Yes, http://wiki.d-addicts.com/, I‟m talking to you.)

So the next time that you‟re feeling nostalgic about Japan, and you can‟t find anything interesting to watch on TV, why not give a dorama a shot? You might just find yourself liking it.

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