The e-Japan Journal is the electronic webletter of the Consulate General of Japan at Chicago (CGOJ) and the Japan Information Center (JIC). We hope it proves useful, interesting, and exciting as a window into Japanese culture in the Midwest. As always, your feedback, comments, and suggestions are encouraged and can be sent to our editor, Daniel Drake, at jicchicago@webkddi.com.

On Thursday, February 26th, as part of 360 Degrees: Art Beyond Borders, its year-long series highlighting global culture in Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, together with the Consuls General of Chicago, will present local Japanese-American jazz vocalist Yoko Noge. A fixture of the Chicago music scene for more than 15 years, Ms. Noge will be singing jazz, blues, and the traditional Japanese folk form, minyo.

On February 28th and March 1st, Associate Professor of Japanese at California State University, Long Beach Masako Douglas will be running workshops at the Japan Information Center on Japanese language-teaching.

The February 28th talk is open to the public, and will focus on Japanese language curriculum development based on the current needs of children of Japanese parents (or "heritage speakers") in the Chicagoland area.

Then, on March 1st, Ms. Douglas will again run a workshop, this time focusing on the acquisition of Japanese literacy skills using the language experience approach. This event is not open to the public, an RSVP is required.

March 5th brings the annual Japan Fest at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This year's festivities will include karate, kendo, and calligraphy demonstrations, as well as a screening of the extremely popular film Bushi no Ichibun (Love and Honor).

Date	Thursday, March 5th 2009, from 3:30 to 9:00 PM
Place	Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center 313 N. 13th Street Lincoln, NE 68588 (Map)
Info	Open to the public

The University of Kansas and local school districts will also be holding their 11th annual Japanese Language Contest in March, this year on Saturday the 7th. The competition will include events in kanji and kana practice, as well as poetry recitation, a haiku contest, a calligraphy contest, and a Japanese talent show. The competition is open to high school, college, and independent study students of Japanese at the beginning and intermediate levels, with trophies and prizes to be awarded.

Each year since 1987, the Consulate General of Japan at Chicago sponsors a Japanese Language Speech Contest to promote the study of Japanese in the Midwest. We invite all to come to the auditorium of the Japan Information Center on Saturday, March 21st and listen to the contestants of the 23rd Annual Japanese Language Speech Contest.

Through March 2nd, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago will be showing both well-known and rarely seen films by Nagisa Oshima, famed Japanese director and provocateur. Titles to be screened (all of them prints shipped from Japan) include Diary of a Shinjuku Thief and The Ceremony.

Similarly, for those readers closer to Madison, the University of Wisconsin will also be screening the same series of Oshima films every Friday through March 6th. If you missed Death By Hanging in January at the Gene Siskel Center, you can still see it here on February 27th!

At this special tea gathering, a bowl of matcha, green powdered tea, will be offered in memory of Sen Rikyu. Following this, five members of the Urasenke Chicago Association will present Hirakagetsu, one of the Shichijishiki/Seven Exercises that are traditionally done on this occasion. The five participants will prepare and drink four bowls of matcha among themselves, which will be determined by the draw of special bamboo pieces. The Seven Exercises are a practice to develop one’s concentration and awareness, as each participant needs to respond quickly to the situation determined by the draw.

Following the presentation of Hirakagetsu, all guests will be served a Rikyu manju, a traditional sweet named in Rikyu’s honor, and a delicious bowl of matcha, green powdered tea.

Please join the Urasenke Chicago Association as it honors the life of Sen Rikyu.

For three days only in the Midwest, musicians from Nagoya's acclaimed Koto Ensemble Kyara will be presenting a repertoire of classical and contemporary music, all performed on the stringed koto. Try to catch them in their whirlwind tour across Indianapolis, Evanston, and Chicago.

Monthly Economic Report (February, 2009)
http://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai3/getsurei-e/2009feb.html

Statement by Prime Minister Taro Aso on the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/asospeech/2009/01/21danwa_e.html

Telephone Conversation between Prime Minister Taro Aso and Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/tel0901.html

Policy Speech by Prime Minister Taro Aso to the Hundred and Seventy-first Session of the Diet
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/asospeech/2009/01/28housin_e.html

Signing of the Agreement between the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America concerning the Implementation of the Relocation of the III Marine Expeditionary Force Personnel and Their Dependents from Okinawa to Guam
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2009/2/1188058_1128.html

Policy Speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs Hirofumi Nakasone to the Diet
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm/nakasone/speech0901.html

Here are six questions regarding news stories about Japan inJanuary and February. The first two people to send us the most correct answers wins a little Japanese prize. Don't forget to send us your mailing address with your answers.

1. What rare solar event was Japan's Kaguya lunar probe the first to ever record on video?

2. How are people who visit a museum in Odaiba, Tokyo, getting to explore other galaxies?
   
   
3. Why might Yojiro Takita have a little more to be excited about after February 22nd?
   
   
4. The same question, but for Kunio Kato?
   
   
5. Who is improving the lives of seniors Japan-wide with her book, "Best Ski Text for Seniors"?
   
   
6. What chilling discovery did astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan make with the Subaru Telescope?
   
   
To submit your answers by email, click here: jicchicago@webkddi.com and write "Japan News Quiz" in the subject line.

Answers from the November/December Quiz:
Well, it appears whatever answers we may have receivd were lost in the shuffle as we transitioned between editors. Sorry if you answered, but no one wins a prize this month!

1. There is a woman in Japan that REALLY likes soba, who is she? Hatsuyo "the witch" Sugawara


2. What popular toy from Japan in the 1980’s is making an Egg-citing comeback? Tamagotchi
   
   
3. What tire company thinks highly of many Japanese restaurants in Tokyo? Michelin

Metropolis

Do you live in, near, or, what the heck, far from Tokyo? Do you speak English? Yet you don't know what to do on the weekend?! Metropolis is Tokyo's premier English-language magazine, featuring exhaustive listings of every concert, movie, play, art show, and bizarre event going on in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. In addition, there is a wealth of feature material covering all areas of Japanese life and fashion. And finally, The Negi, sort of like The Onion for Tokyo.

Hello Subscribers!

My name is Daniel Drake and, like Kevin Greene and Chip Meyer before me, I will be editing the Japan Information Center's newsletter. I am humbled and a little intimidated to be following in their footsteps as, looking over the last five or so years of the newsletter, I can see they wrote a consistently infomative and interesting monthly missive. I hope you'll all bear with me as I learn the ropes. As a former JET in Saitama, and a sometime student of Japanese, though, I am excited to be the new editor. It will give me the chance to continue to learn about Japan and Japanese-American relations and, most importantly, to spread the word about the many fascinating events for Nipponophiles happening in the Midwest.

As you have no doubt noticed, the Japan Journal's "monthly" status has become nominal since November, for which I apologize, but starting with this month's special, double-stuffed "January/February" edition, we hope to be up to date for the rest of the year. The format will be the same as before, including the ever-popular "Last Month in Japan Quiz" which, you should note, is twice as long in this edition as it covers two months, and, importantly, will feature two prizes for two lucky winners.

As always, input, advice, questions, and any and all corrections are more than welcome; email me any time.

Yoroshiku, etc.,
Daniel Drake, Editor