May 2001 Volume 7 Issue 2

➥ IN THIS ISSUE

JETAA Canadian Conference Report....................1 Editor’s Rant....................2 Welcome to the JET Preparation Seminar........2 Summer BBQ!!.................2 Consulate News...............3 New Webmaster Needed 3 Survival Cooking Class....3 Hikes! Hikes! Hikes!........ 3 Japan Day & Suitcase......3 New Re-Entry Website.....4 Speaker Event.................4 JET Mentor Network........4 CLAIR News....................4 JETAA Canadian Conference (continued)..............5 Yahoo eGroups News......5 Wacky Japan News..........6 Japan Suitcase................7 Important Events..............7 Japanese Lessons...........8 Newsletter Online.............8 Alumni News... ................8 What is JETAABC?......... 8 Contact Information.........8

2001 JETAA Canadian Conference REPORT

by Boleyn Relova, JETAAi Canadian Representative

On April 27th – 29th, 2001, seven JETAA Canadian Chapters, along with representatives from CLAIR and MOFA met in Edmonton, AB for the inaugural JETAA Canadian Conference. We discussed many issues unique to Canadian Chapters affecting over 1,000 JETAA Members across the nation.

Our goals for having this Conference were: -Discuss challenging issues facing JETAA Canadian Chapters -Provide a forum to strengthen relationships amongst Chapters -Discuss how Chapters can work with Embassy/Consulates -Exchange and share ideas to make Chapters stronger -Brainstorm how to serve as a resource for the community I feel that we accomplished all of these goals because all Chapters were very keen and prepared to share their successes and to find solutions for any challenges. The meetings were handled very professionally and with much ease from all the participants and guests.

Over a two day period, about 30 of us discussed local Chapter activities, JETAAi issues, CLAIR Grant-in-Aid, JETAA Technology Issues, JET Recruitment and Selection, JETAA Re-entry Services, Sony Foundation’s Project, MOFA/Consulate/Embassy issues, JET Pre-Departure Orientations, Brainstorming and Perspectives from Canada-Japan Business.

www.jet.org Next Issue Deadline: July 5th, 2001

All Chapters have a commonality in which we are very much involved, as advocates, along with our respective Consulates or Embassy in recruiting, selecting and training new JETs. Most Chapters have a Re-entry or Resettlement Workshop and Career Workshop in the Fall or Spring to accommodate JETs coming back to Canada.

Some interesting Canadian Chapter activities include cooking classes for new JETs and Alumni, Financial-planning Seminar for new JETs, Japanese lessons, Dragon Boat Race participation, Photo Exhibition, Film festival, Ikebana classes, Iron Chef Competition, ski trips and so on.

Editor’s Rant A big welcome and congratulations to all the new JETs! I’m always envious of all the fresh faces since I’d do it all over again if I could!

Fortunately, in April I had the chance to head back to Japan and accomplished one of my longtime goals, conquering the summit of the revered and mysterious Mt.Fuji. “Officially” only open in July and August, two friends and myself thought we would climb out of season to avoid the brutal heat and hoards of people in the summer. Armed with ice axes, crampons, and lots of fleece, we started our journey from Station 1 at midnight, in hopes of making the summit at sunrise. I now have huge admiration for those brave and somewhat crazy souls who climb Mt. Everest! The snow, wind, and -30degree temperatures were more than I bargained for, however 8 hours and 7500 vertical feet later we stood on the summit of Japan’s legendary peak.

The sun was beaming down and the views were spectacular. We had the whole mountain to ourselves!! A few hours later, soaking in an onsen at the base of Mt. Fuji, we were still grinning after our wonderful & crazy adventure.

The 2001 JET Preparation Seminar Saturday, June 2nd & Sunday, June 3rd at the Canadian College of English Language 1477 Pender St. (at Nicola St.) Vancouver, BC Many JETAABC Alumni have graciously volunteered their time for this year’s event. Thank you!! This is JETAABC’s biggest event of the year, and this year we will be hosting over 140 keen soon-to-be-departing JETs. The advice of the Alumni will hopefully answer many of the thousands of questions we all had before departing across the Pacific. Do I really need to bring Kraft Dinner? Do I shake hands or bow when I meet my supervisor? How BIG to those cockroaches really get?! Stay tuned next newsletter for an update! The schedule for the weekend is as follows: Saturday, June 2nd Main Group Speeches: · From Now ‚Til Tokyo Orientation · From Tokyo Orientation ‚Til September · Culture Shock & Adaptation · Money & Taxes Small Group Speeches: · Packing & Shipping · Computers & the Internet · Being a Married/Family JET · Being a JET of Asian Decent · Being a Female JET · Alternative Lifestyle JET · Japanese For Beginners · Japanese For Further Study · Travel In Japan · Travel Outside of Japan · Your Health In Japan · Food In Japan · Japanese Culture In Your Free Time

Sunday, June 3rd For CIRs: · CIR Meetings · Giving Speeches in Japanese For ALTs: · Japanese Education System · Team Teaching · Doing A Self-Introduction For All: · Etiquette in Japan for the First Timer · Etiquette in Japan for the Experienced

The departure dates for new 2001 JETs are July 28th and August 4th (evenly split between the 2 groups) Ganbatte!!

Saturday, June 23rd Lower Mainland Summer BBQ! Come on out for a stellar day in the sun at Locarno Beach! New JETs and all JET Alumni, friends, and family welcome. BBQ with food and beverages is $5 for all, and feel free to bring other drinks if you like. Bring your frisbee, volleyball, or other fun stuff too!

Starts at 4pm, at Locarno Beach west of the concession stand.

Rain out location TBA. Contact Liz Stephen at yaliz@ultranet.ca or call 738-3360.

News From the Consulate Hello from the Consulate, I'm updating my JETAA mailing list. If you finished your contract last year and returned to Canada, please email me following information.

Also, if you are not on my mailing list (if you are not getting a bimonthly JETAABC newsletter and wish one), email me!

I need following information from you: full name, mailing address, tel/fax, email, years on JET (start year and end year, e.g.1999-2000) assignment place, ALT or CIR Thank you!

Ellie Nakano Consulate General of Japan Tel: 604-684-5868 ext. 240 Fax: 604-684-6939 email: programs@consuljpnvan.com Consulate-General of Japan in Vancouver has launched New Website! www.japancg-vancouver.org

JETAABC Webmaster Needed!

Our web site has been described as the 'Mercedes' amongst the JETAA chapter web sites. We love this honour and hope to see it improve to the Ferrari or even Rolls Royce of sites. To do this we need you. If you are Web Design/Graphic Design friendly please contact Paul at paul@donovan.sh

Hikes! Hikes! Hikes!

Below is a tentative monthly hiking schedule for the coming year. We're trying to build up to bigger and better hikes so now's the time to get off the sofa you couch po-ta-tosu (you know who you are!). If you have any questions or suggestions for outdoor activities (such as ocean kayaking at Deep Cove, any interest?) give me (da new JET hike meister, Marcus Lem) a call at 738-6315. I prefer telephone to email because I'm a spaz and typing is painful for me. And I will sign passport applications, but won't look at rashes unless they're really interesting. Marcus (editor’s note: he’s a MD if you’re wondering...)

April: Seymour Demonstration Forest May: BC mountain Club Trail/Goat Mountain (back route) up Grouse - wusses like me can take the cable car down June: Lynn Headwaters Regional Park (Lynn Peak or Nairn Falls) July: the Chief (bom bom, ba-ba pom, da-da dada da-dum pom) Aug: Black Tusk (tusk, tusk, tusk) option for an overnighter if sufficient interest Sept: The Lions (grrr baby, grrrr) Oct: Burnaby Lake Nov: Campbell River Valley Dec. No Hike

JAPAN DAY & JAPAN SUITCASE PRESENTERS

The Consul-General of Japan is seeking interested JET Alumus to present lectures to schools which help promote and explain various aspects of Japan.

Survival Japanese Cooking Class The Program is called “Japan Day” and consists of At the National Nikkei Heritage Centre a series of lectures and demonstrations which take

By Naomi's Cooking School part at the Consulate in downtown Vancouver..

What: A three-hour class to orient you with some JETAABC has also been gathering Japanese “stuff” very easy-to-cook Japanese rice dishes. for a similar program called “Japan Suitcase” which When: Saturday, July 14th , 2001 would be more of a road-show idea. It is a great Where: National Nikkei Heritage Centre, 6688 opportunity to share your Japan experience with a Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby, BC V5E 4M7 very enthusiastic audience. An honorarium that in(at the southeast corner of Kingsway & Sperling) cludes transportation fees is provided to presenters (5 minutes from Edmonds Skytrain station) for their efforts. Interested JET Alumni should conTime: 10am - 1pm tact Ellie Nakano at the Consulate regarding “JaMenu: Curry rice, Fried rice, Chicken rice, Curry pi- pan Days” at 604-684-5868 ext. 240 Fax: 604-684laf rice, Miso-shiru soup 6939 email: programs@consuljpnvan.com Contact Cost: $15.00 per person, maximum 20 people Angela Tan at: angelkeik@hotmail.com if you interTo register or for more information, please contact ested in “Japan Suitcase” or have anything to doNNHC at 777-7000. nate.

JETAABC Speaker Event DATE: Tuesday, June 26th, 2001, 5:30 p.m.

LOCATION: Consulate General of Japan 8th Floor, 1177 West Hastings Street GUEST SPEAKER: The Consul General of Japan, MR. YUICHI KUSUMOTO will present his views and insights into current trends in Japan, including the economic and cultural climate of today, and predictions for Japan's future. It is a great chance for JET Alumni to discuss various issues with the Consul General and to strengthen relations between the Consulate and JETAABC. Please join us for this golden opportunity! (Refreshments will be served following the presentation.)

RSVP: Please RSVP directly to Wendy McAvoy at wendymcavoy@yahoo.com by June 22nd.

If you have any questions about this or other JETAABC events, or if you have any ideas for future JETAABC events, please contact me at this email address.

The JET Mentor Network

NEW RE-Entry Website Coordinator!

Carl Brodie has accepted to be the Re-entry Website Coordinator. Let's help him out with some topics returning JETs may be needing!

Here are topics on the list so far...

- where to live...different areas in the BC esp. Van. area -rent costs -where to buy Japanese food and appliances -how & what to pay as far as taxes go -good Japanese restaurants (cheap or not) -where to take Japanese lessons -where to study martial arts -where to meet Japanese people -any other cool ideas or information!!

E-mail him, please!! zashi_kyoto@yahoo.com

CLAIR NEWS Did you get your 2001 JETAA Directory?

The latest issue of JET Streams was mailed out in January 2001 along with the JETAA Directory.

If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to send your updated address information to CLAIR to ensure you receive copies of the “JET Streams” Newsletter and the JET Alumni Association Directory. Send your updates to: CLAIR: JETAA Liaison Shin Kasumigaseki Building, 19F Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, Japan, 100-0013 Fax: +81-3-3591-5350 E-mail: jetaa@clair.or.jp

Developed by Dan McKelvey & Linda Kennedy

JMN, located on the Internet at: http://cheno.com/mentor, is a network of present and past JET Programme participants interested in professional networking to gather career information, find a foothold for future employment, or simply seek a "senpai" for some advice.

Free to all JETs, JMN offers registered users the opportunity to search a database of JET mentors - JET Alumni who are users themselves - in order to network with people working in a preferred job function, industry, etc.

Users can browse an entire list of mentors, or they can limit their search based on their personal preferences.

A list of mentor matches is displayed after each search, and the user can send a message to any mentor through the web site.

www.clair.nippon-net.ne.jp

(continued from page 1)

All Consulates/Embassy have many Japan-related resources, which can be used by educators such as the “Japan Video Topics”, slides on Japan and monthly publications such as Pacific Friend, Nipponia, etc. Should any organization be interested in borrowing videos or slides, they may contact the Consulate/Embassy directly.

All Canadian Chapters agree that we should be using ourselves as resources for each other by sharing information, for the Consulates/Embassy by helping with recruiting and training new JETs and for the community by providing information and services as Cultural Ambassadors.

As part of the JETAAi goal, when the community hears about JETAA, we want them to know who we are and refer to us as a group of hard-working individuals continuing to form positive relations between Japan and our communities.

JETAA Canada has a number of planned initiatives such as standardizing a JETAA database, website & email addresses for each chapter; selling “Canada-jin” t-shirts & JETAA Canada hats as a fund-raising project; setting national standards for grants/honorariums for Alumni involvement; creating a “National Reference Guide for Returnees”; spearheading a creative writing project on our Japan experiences and re-focusing on what JETAA has to offer its members through target marketing.

As more Canadian JETs are sent to Japan each year, more and more are joining JETAA upon their return home.

JETAA Canada has been very involved in the first steps of a new JET and his last steps as a JET before taking on the next step as an Alumnus. We would like to understand the needs and wants of each Alumnus, then tailoring each Chapter’s activities in order to keep an active membership. As with any organization, we would like to increase active membership because this is a vital part of our existence.

The JETAA Canadian Conference has been a success in bringing all Chapters together to brainstorm on our future. We look forward to implementing all of our ideas in the next few months and will be sharing the outcome with each other. This Conference would not have been possible without the leadership of the Northern Alberta JETAA Chapter and the generous support of the Consulate General of Japan in Edmonton, MOFA and CLAIR. We hope to re-group and re-focus again at the next proposed JETAA Canadian Conference.

If you’d like a copy of the ‘Official 2001 JETAA Canadian Conference Final Report’, please contact Boleyn Relova at boleyn@canada.com.

Special Announcement regarding eGroups As you may already know, eGroups merged with Yahoo! in August 2000, now becoming Yahoo Groups. This is the email broadcast service JETAABC uses to communicate messages to JET Alumni Members who have subscribed to this service. It’s goal is quick and easy communication regarding JETAABC business and events.

Don't worry, all the features you know and love about eGroups have carried over and we've added some new functionality that we hope you'll enjoy.

- All eGroups email and web addresses will continue to work.

- All of your group information and membership has been maintained.

You will continue to receive and post mail, just like you always have in the past. If you haven’t joined our Yahoo e-mail group yet, send an e-mail to the Subscribe address below and we will add you to our mailing list.

Post message: jetaabclist@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: jetaabclist-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: jetaabclist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com URL to JETAABC Yahoo Groups Page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jetaabclist

This Week’s Tales of the Weird and Wacky from Japan! - Tokyo Q Magazine The Imperial Household Agency officially recognized that Crown Princess Masako is three-months pregnant, but said that there will be no attempt to determine the sex of the baby before birth.

Mitsubishi Corp., Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsui, Nissan, Toyota, and JAL all reported healthy, even record, profits, but Mitsubishi Motors lost 278 billion yen and recalled 203 thousand cars to check their gas tanks.

Isuzu chopped 3,000 jobs and the Post Office 14,000. The price of tickets on the bullet train was cut 30 percent. Sales of apartments were down 28 percent and Misawa, the home builder, announced it is prepared to build houses for half its usual price using cheap lumber from Finland. Jusao said it has sold 80 thousand suits made in China for 10,000 yen each. A convenience store only for women opened in Nagoya.

An editorial in the Asahi Shimbun suggested Japanese are no longer slurping their noodles because foreigners found slurping indelicate. Tokyo police announced they would install 50 zoom-in cameras on street lights in Kabuki-cho, Tokyo's renowned red-light district. Twenty-six old Nagoya street cars were shipped to Buenos Aires.

In a first, a Tokyo publishing house teamed up with a South Korean publisher to publish "Weekly Comic Bunch" in Japanese and Korean. The Ministry of Public Management ruled that foreigners should not be allowed to join the ranks of volunteer firefighters because the job is "a position of authority." A Tokyo insurance company announced they have developed a system which will send you an e-mail if anyone tries to break into your car. A company in Shizuoka set up an Internet site which will allow people who for whatever reason cannot attend a funeral service to log in as a mourner and send flowers or condolence money.

Violated Geisha Sues "Memoirs" Author Wednesday, April 25, 2001 (Reuters News) NEW YORK — One of Japan's most famous geishas has sued the author of the best selling book "Memoirs of a Geisha," accusing the writer and his publisher of defamation, breach of contract and copyright violations.

Mineko Iwasaki, of Kyoto, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday against Arthur Golden, seeking a percentage of the $10 million in sales generated by Golden's book as damages for using her life story as its basis and violating an agreement to keep her identity secret. The lawsuit also named publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House Inc. According to the lawsuit, Iwasaki, one of the most famous geishas in Kyoto's most prestigious geisha district upon her retirement in 1980, met Golden in 1992 and agreed to be interviewed on the condition of complete anonymity for her and her family and total confidentiality regarding her personal stories and her family's experiences. But Golden broke his promise, the suit alleged, and also disparaged her reputation in interviews to promote the book, which remained on the best seller list for 58 weeks, by "repeatedly stating that Ms Iwasaki was sold into the geisha world by her parents, and that her virginity was auctioned to the highest bidder when she came out as a geisha."

Both stories, the suit said, are "patently untrue," although Golden represented them as fact in the book, which sold over four million copies. Golden, who the suit said agreed not to use personal information supplied to him by Iwasaki during more than 100 hours of interviews, named her by her first name in the book's acknowledgments, saying he was "indebted to one individual above all others ... Mineko."

He also acknowledged her contributions during interviews and speaking engagements, the suit alleged.

The suit charges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and copyright infringement and asks for unspecified damages of a percentage of the book's $10 million in sales "to be determined at trial."

A spokesman for Random House said the publisher had not yet received the papers filed with the court on Tuesday, "but from what we've been told, these allegations are totally baseless and completely without merit."

Events, Events, Events This year JETAABC has planned a very busy schedule of activities that offer Alumni many chances to get involved. The schedule is always subject to change, so be sure to check our website: www.jetaabc.bc.ca or subscribe to our Yahoo Group for the latest updates (see page 5). Please note that some events require an RSVP so we can make reservations in advance. Thanks!

June Date & Time Saturday, June 2nd, & Sunday June 3rd

Place Canadian College of English Language (see page 2 for details)

Event JET Preparation Seminar (contact Liz Stephen yaliz@ultranet.ca)

Monthly Steering Committee Meeting. BYOB-M-SBS (beverages, meat, something to share, bathing suit) Locarno Beach, Vancou- Lower Mainland Summer BBQ - $5 for all. Everyone ver welcome Hike with Mokuyokai Lynn Headwaters Re(contact Marcus Lem) gional Park

Saturday, June 9th, 3 p.m. @ Albert’s (It’s a BBQ! Albert to send address and directions later via elist) Saturday, June 23rd, 4pm Sunday, June 24th, AM

Saturday, July 7th, 7pm TBA Sunday, July 22nd, AM TBA

August

Date & Time Long weekend TBA

So you've been back from Japan for a while now and you still have a lot of cute, little Japanese items, which you couldn't bear to part with or couldn't give away as "omiyage" to your friends. They're lying around your place, cluttering up your place and basically collecting dust.

Well...here is the answer to your problem!

You can donate these wonderful items to JETAABC to go into the "JAPAN SUITCASE".

What is this, you ask?

Well, the JAPAN SUITCASE is a new program which we hope to be starting Place Event soon. It is basically a suitPub & Social Night TBA (see JETAABC case full of Japanese items homepage for updates) and information about Japan Liz’s Place, #4 - 1839 W. Monthly JETAABC Meeting which could be used to 5th Avenue Everyone welcome educate children in elemenThe Chief Hike with Mokuyokai tary schools in the Lower (contact Markus Lem) Mainland.

Mariners Baseball Game Seattle (contact Liz Stephen) If you would like to get involved, or like to donate a few items, Place Event please email us at angelkeik@hotmail.com (see July Newsletter for Powell Street Japanese Thanks! more details) Festival Liz’s Place, #4 - 1839 W. Monthly JETAABC Meeting 5th Avenue

July

Date & Time

NEED TO GET RID OF SOME OF YOUR JAPANESE STUFF?

August 18th & 19th

Camping trip to Alice Lake (3 cars going)

August 26th, AM

Black Tusk

JETAABC Summer Camping Trip (contact Ryan tootsbsl@hotmail.com) Hike with Mokuyokai (contact Markus Lem)

NEWSLETTER ONLINE!

JAPANESE GANBATTE!

You can view the JETAABC Newsletter online in full colour at www.jetaabc.bc.ca! Download as a PDF file. If you would NOT like to receive a paper version in the future, e-mail the membership coordinator Albert Ngai <albngai@home.com> so we can save a few trees.

Interested in brushing up on your Nihongo? Day and Evening classes are available through UBC Continuing Education, Vancouver Japanese Language School, and Nikkei Place throughout the year.

Thank You to this month’s contributors!

Bruce Clarke - NAJETAA Paul Donovan Markus Lem Wendy McAvoy Daniel McKelvey Ellie Nakano Adele Pransky Boleyn Relova Liz Stephen-Baba Angela Tan David Wallace Tokyo Q - www.tokyoq.com

Alumni News Elizabeth Marty is moving to Kelowna! Donna Shaw got married and is now Donna Winterburn, living in Courtney, BC. That’s it! How about some more juice, people!

2001-2002 Steering Committee Contact Information

President - Elizabeth Stephen Home: 738-3360 E-mail: yaliz@ultranet.ca Past President - Paul Donovan Home: 608-4345 Work: 837-7953 (cell) Fax: 608-6331 E-mail: paul@donovan.sh Secretary - Carolyn Ali E-mail : mike&carolyn@telus.net Treasurer - Ryan Butt E-mail: tootsbsl@hotmail.com Newsletter Editor - Matthew Fedoruk Box 174, 6335 Thunderbird Crescent, Vancouver, BC, V8S 2V5 Home: 228-2160 Work: 875-4111 ext. 68485 E-mail: mfedoruk@interchange.ubc.ca Director at Large - Newsletter - Angela Tan Do you have any exciting E-mail: angelkeik@hotmail.com news to share with Programs and Events Director - Adele Pransky JETAABC? E-mail: adelesky@hotmail.com Are you getting married?

Director at Large - Programs and Events - Wendy McAvoy New job? Moving? Please E-mail: wendymcavoy@yahoo.com let us know!

Membership - Albert Ngai Send an email to: E-mail: albngai@home.com angelkeik@hotmail.com Island Representative - Alida Abbott E-mail: genkiali@yahoo.com and we'll announce it in the Chapter and JETAA Canadian Representative - Boleyn Relova JETAABC newsletter!

Home: 522-8761 Work: 522-8761 Fax: 522-2937 E-mail: boleyn@canada.com Consulate General of Japan Contacts 900 - 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 2K9 Tel: 684-5868 Fax: 684-6939 Mr. Hideaki Kawai - koho@consuljpnvan.com Ms. Ellie Nakano - telephone ext. 240 E-mail: programs@consuljpnvan.com

questions or comments? Info@jetaabc.bc.ca

What is this organization called JETAABC? So, you’ve signed up for JETAABC, now what? Luckily, you’ve signed on with one of the most active and organized JET Alumni associations in Canada.

This is a rough list of what we do: • Produce a newsletter every two months.

• Sponsor a pub night each month.

• Join the Mokuyokai on a hike each month.

• Organize an orientation seminar for new JETs in May. • Organize a re-entry and career prep seminar in November.

• Sponsor two roundtable discussions a year.

• Hold major gatherings in September, January, and June.

• Send a delegate to the JETAA international conference.

• Help produce the Cross Canada newsletter once per year.

• Keep a website up to date (for which we could use someone to help!!!!!!).

We do a lot, but we can always stand to improve. What are your ideas? What else would you like to see JETAABC do?

One thing I’d like to see is more contact with other Alumni chapters. Does anyone have contacts they could use or ideas on how we can interact more?

Let me know! Contact Liz Stephen our fearless President. yaliz@ultranet.ca

JETAABC CONTACT INFO: JETAABC Bentall Centre PO BOX 48121 Vancouver, BC V7X 1N8

WEB ADDRESS www.jetaabc.bc.ca Editor’s Telephone: (604) 228-2160