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 jic@japancc.org.

Your contribution to the friendship between our country and the rest of the world through your proactive effort to promote mutual understanding between Japan and the United States of America is outstanding.

I pay you my deepest respect and commend you.

Elementary, junior high, high school, and college students: put down your textbooks! You are studying too much, all of you! Stop it for a moment as now is your last chance to apply for the 24th Annual Japanese Language Speech Contest in Chicago. You stand to win a round trip airline ticket to Japan, and other fabulous prizes. Fabulous! Prizes! Why are you still studying, when you could be applying for this?!

The deadline is February the First. The application must be in our hands on that day. The topic is: anything. As long as it's in Japanese, you can talk about it! I look forward to seeing all of you here, applying for it. Here is the address:

Japan Information Center
737 N Michigan Ave. # 1000
Chicago, IL 60611 (Map)

Over the next two months, the Japan Information Center is excited to be bringing four contemporary Japanese films to Chicago. Exploring the sometimes tenuous, sometimes unbreakable threads connecting people with nature, the movies cover a wide range of styles and approaches, from a studied documentary to a fantastical animation, with live action fiction somewhere in between. So journey to Columbia College's Film Row Cinema in the South Loop for a new look at nature.

As a kickoff to the celebrations for the Fiftieth Anniversary of Iowa's sister-state relationship with Yamanashi Prefecture, the Iowa Historical Museum is hosting an exhibit of traditional Japanese dolls. For anyone that has ever marvelled at a Hina-Matsuri (Doll Festival) display, or anyone that loves the precision and beauty of a well-made doll, this exhibit provides both a wonderful look at the extent of Japanese dollmaking, and, more generally, a chance to see some stunning craftsmanship. Giving an historical overview of their meaning, as well as a look at their many uses today, this travelling exhibit is comprehensive and fun.

The epic Heike Monogatari (The Tale of Heike), sometimes known as "Japan's Illiad," is one of the most important works in classical Japanese literature. Much like The Illiad, it was passed down through an oral tradition, often accompanied by the traditional stringed biwa. So if you're not up for reading it, trek on down to the University of Chicago to see it performed live! Just as it had been for centuries! Reknowned biwa player Ms. Yoko Hiraoka from Osaka will be performing this can't-miss show.

The Kansas City Japan-America Society will be celebrating the New Year this Saturday, February 6th, with a cocktail hour, dinner, silent auction, performances by Japanese musicians, and a special appearance by Chicago Consul General George Hisaeda! Moreover, longtime member Fran Lemery will be receiving the Foreign Minister's Commendation.

On Wednesday, February 10th, the Japan America Society of Minnesota will host a roundtable discussion about agricultural trade between Minnesota and Japan. Featuring a panel of three local trade experts, it will be an invaluable opportunity to learn about international trade regulations and the specifics of distributing in Japan. All are welcome!

Anchored by artifacts on loan from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, this exhibit at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa is, short of travelling to Japan, one of the best ways to see and understand the significance of the atomic bomb. Included are dozens of photographs chronicling the destruction, oral testimonies from survivors, and artifacts recovered from the sites.

Furthermore, at the opening on Tuesday, February 9th, Steven Leeper, chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, and Katsufumi Shintaku, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, will be talking live online from the exhibit; local residents are invited to attend the event to ask questions. Moreover, on Thursday, March 4, Drake Professor of History Michael Chiang will give a lecture entitled "Countdown to Peace: The A-Bomb and Japan's Decision to Surrender" at the exhibit.

With support from the Japan Foundation, the University of Wisconsin at Madison's superb Cinematheque this year brings "Tokyo Now: Contemporary Japanese Cinema," a look at four recent Japanese films that had hitherto received little to no American distribution. So for a chance to see some hard-to-find movies (for FREE!), travel to Madison, Wisconsin for the next four weekends. Or go to school there, and walk down the street.

Date Always—Sunset on Third Street: Friday, January 29, 7:30 PM The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: Friday, February 5, 7:30 PM Memories of Matsuko: Saturday, February 13, 7:30 PM I Just Did Not Do It: Friday, February 19, 7:30 PM Place Cinematheque 4070 Vilas Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706 (Map) Info Tokyo Now at Cinematheque FREE!!

Come see this touching story that follows the journey of a suitcase of personal memories, from Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz to Tokyo, during World War Two. Based on an internationally acclaimed book, it is a powerful story of the Holocaust, and its traces in Japan. After the screening, there will be a Q & A session with Dr. Fumiko Ishioka, Director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center.

Date Saturday, February 20, 5:00-7:30 PM Place DePaul University Arthur J. Schmitt Academic Center (SAC) #154 2320 N. Kenmore Ave. Chicago, IL 60614 (Map) Info Flier [JPG] FREE!!

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

Monthly Economic Report )January, 2010)
http://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai3/getsurei-e/2010jan.html

Submission of the information on Japan's willingness to be associated with the Copenhagen Accord and its quantified economy-wide emissions target for 2020
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2010/1/0126_02.html

Statement by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security of Japan and the United States of America
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/hatoyama/statement/201001/19danwa_e.html

Joint Statement Of The U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Signing of The U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/security/joint1001.html

Joint Announcement on United States-Japan GPS Cooperation
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/gps1001.html

Here are three questions regarding news stories about Japan in January. The first person 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 can slime mold tell Japanese engineers about their trains?

2. Why could Japan's Robovie-II win Supermarket Sweep?

3. What's unique about Zenshin Fujioka's bar in Shinjuku?

To submit your answers by email, click here: jic@japancc.org and write "Japan News Quiz" in the subject line.

Answers from the November/December Quiz:
And a new contestant enters the ring as Dick Dragiewicz gets every question right! Congratulations, Dick; good to have you here!

1. How did a Tokai University racing team win a "green" checkered flag? They were the winners of the Global Green Challenge solar powered automobile race in Australia.

2. What is the name of Tomotaka Takahashi's newest robot, notable because it can walk, run, and jump? Robid

3. Why are Kit Kat bars selling out across Japan as exams loom? The Japanese phrase "kitto katsu," which sounds suspiciously like "Kit Kat," is used to wish students good luck on their exams. As a result, Kit Kat Bar sales soar around exam time, as they are given as good luck charms.

The following is a list of all educational visits our office will make in the next month. For more information, or if you would like to register for a cultural presentation, please visit our website.

• February 8: North Shore Country Day School
• February 25: Wilmette Park District

Japan Rail Pass

In this, our next installment in the websites that can help your journey to Japan series, I bring you: Information About the Japan Rail Pass.

For the foreign tourist traipsing about Japan, the Japan Rail Pass is a Willy Wonkan Golden Ticket, a passport to adventure; the holder of the Japan Rail Pass can board any JR train, bus, or boat (there's only one boat, but you can board it!) at any time. This includes the fabled bullet train shinkansen (Nozomi Super Express excepted, but travelling that fast makes scenery-viewing impossible, and isn't that really why you're in Japan in the first place?)

Available in one-, two-, or three-week increments, the pass is an incredibly cheap way to flit about the countryside on one of the world's most advanced rail networks. Here's a question: are you a tourist? In Japan? On a tourist visa? Then buy the Rail Pass. Done.

And a Happy 2010 to all of you!

It's good to be back writing the e-Japan Journal. The long, dark nadir of winter is behind us, and as the days gradually grow longer, we find, it seems, more ways to fill them. I am referring, of course, to the human impulse for activity, but also, more importantly, to the Japanese Consulate's schedule of events coming up this late winter. We have a photography exhibit and a film series, and down the road, as the snow melts, Japanese theater performances, a speech contest, and all manner of surprises to be revealed in the thaw.

Daniel Drake, Editor