Vol. 7 No. 6 - June 2012 |
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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.
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- Reminder: Submit Your MEXT Scholarship Applications by June 13!
- JET Memorial Invitation Program Participants Selected
- June 3: Japan America Society of Minnesota 40th Anniversary Concert
- June 9-10: Cherry Blossom Tree Plantings and Celebrations in St. Paul and Winona, MN
- June 9-10: Mid-America Japanese Club's 30th Annual Japan Festival
- June 12: Japan America Society of Indiana Gala Dinner
- June 14: Japan America Society of Chicago's 82nd Annual Dinner
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- Opening June 1: Hirokazu Kore-eda's I Wish at the Music Box Theatre
- June 3 & 17: Malott Japanese Garden Family Sundays at the Chicago Botanic Garden
- June 7: Japanese America Service Committee in Chicago presents "Living Our Culture"
- Opening June 8: A Studio Ghibli Retrospective at the Gene Siskel Film Center
- June 21: Japan America Society of Chicago Sake Tasting
- June 25: Japan America Society of Minnesota Sake Tasting
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- Monthly Economic Report (May, 2012)
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- G8 Summit 2012 in Camp David
- Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba 23 May 2012 - Including (1) Foreign Minister Gemba's Attendance at the Meeting on Afghanistan on the occasion of the NATO Summit Meeting
- Opinion Poll: 2012 U.S. Image of Japan
- Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba 16 May 2012 - Including 1.Question concerning the realignment of the U.S. Forces in Japan
- G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (Overview)
- Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Visit to the United States of America
- Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting (Summary)
- Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba
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- Last Month in Japan
- Website Highlight
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 Hopefully, you have all begun your applications for the 2013 Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) Scholarships for Research, Undergraduates, and Specialized Training for College Students! It is probably too late to start them now, so let this article serve as a reminder: the applications must be in the Consulate's possession no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, June 13. Go here for all the information you need, including recommendation and application forms, and the address to which you should have your application sent by the 13th.
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 Last year, Virginian Taylor Anderson and Alaskan Montgomery Dickson both lost their lives during the Great East Japan Earthquake while teaching English in Japan as part of the JET Program. In their honor, the Japan Foundation and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) are sending around 30 American high school students to Japan every year until 2015 for an intensive, 2-week language training and cultural exchange trip.
This year's 32 paticipants have been decided, and I am proud to say that 6 Midwesterners will be going! They are:
- Hilary Uyen-Phuong Nguyen, Lockport Township High School, Lockport, IL
- Kathryn Dene Lasseter, Olathe North High School, Olathe, KS
- Susan Zhao, Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, Chicago, IL
- Carolyn Hyojin Jeon, Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, IL
- Stephanie Jean Krakow, Lincoln High School, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
- La'Tia Kiara Smith, Lafayette Jefferson High School, Lafayette, IN
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As of this year, the Japan America Society of Minnesota has been bringing the best of Japanese culture to the shores of Lake Superior (and about 9000 other lakes) for forty years! To kick off a season of anniversary celebrations, the Society will be hosting a free reception and concert on Sunday, June 3rd. Join Twin Cities Japan fans at St. Paul's Hamline University for an afternoon of Western and Japanese music. The program will cover music from across centuries and styles, including a performance by Ladyslipper, an international baroque music ensemble based out of St. Paul. RSVP at the below link to reserve your space!
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Events and celebrations for the Centennial Celebration of the Gift of Trees continue in June as two Minnesota cities will be planting Japanese cherry bnlossom trees. If you missed it these last few months, this year Japan and the United States are celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Japan's gift of sakura trees to Washington, DC. In honor of the milestone, Japan is sending thousands of sakura to cities across the United States, so that people don't have to visit DC to experience the beauty of a Japanese spring!
This month, St. Paul, Minnesota and Winona, Minnesota will join the many Midwestern cities that have already planted their cherry blossom trees. On Saturday, June 9, Minnesota's capital city will host a delegation from the Consulate for a tree-planting ceremony at Como Ordway Park. The ceremony will feature performances from a local dance troupe, a shakuhachi (Japanese flute) musician, and more! Then, on Sunday, June 10, Winona, Minnesota, sister-city to Misato City in Japan, will host a planting ceremony at Lake Park, including a visit from the mayor of Misato!
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The Mid-America Japanese Club is holding it's 30th Annual Japan Festival this June! Growing from a small gathering to celebrate the Japanese gardens at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, MAJC's yearly fete now attracts upwards of 8000 guests over the weekend. Come this year for Japanese drums and dancing, kids' activities, Japanese food, and more!
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This year's Japan America Society of Indiana Annual Gala Dinner will be on Tuesday, June 12. Journey to the Indiana Roof Ballroom in downtown Indianapolis, the gala's usual haunt. This year's keynote speaker will be JETRO Chicago's Chief Executive Director, Tatsuhiro Shindo, who will speak about Japan's road to recvoery following last year's earthquake. The featured artist, meanwhile, will be Jake Shimabukuro, the ukulele prodigy. RSVP today!
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The Japan America Society of Chicago, meanwhile, will be having their Annual Dinner on Thursday, June 14. Join Society members for a lovely dinner and cocktail reception, as well as a keynote speech by Ambassador Russ M. Deming, former Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs.
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 Minazuki, the old Japanese name for the month of June, means "water month." Considering the 6.5 inches of rain that typically fall on Tokyo this month, Minazuki certainly seems appropriate.
There are no official holidays in June, but June 4th is Cavity Prevention Day ( Mushiba no hi ) and kicks off Dental Hygiene Week. During this time, dentists visit schools to talk about proper care of the teeth. Also, the 3rd Sunday of June is celebrated as Father's Day, though it's not as widely observed as Mother's Day. |
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New Japanese Fiction in English from the Japanese Literature Publishing Project!
Are you familiar with the Japanese Literature Publishing Project (JLPP)? It's an endeavor sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan that releases English translations of current Japanese literature to be enjoyed all over the world. Why don't you try reading one of these new JLPP novels we've recently added to the JIC Library?
Call#552417 Manazuru by Hiromi Kawakami. Manazuru is a meditation on memory--a profound, precisely delineated exploration of the relationships between lovers and family members. Both startlingly restless and immaculately compact, Manazuru paints the portrait of a woman on the brink of her own memories and future. Recipient of the 2010 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature.
Call#552418 The Shadow of a Blue Cat by Naoyuki Ii. Excerpt: "Perhaps I should start with a disclaimer. I am not some fresh-faced kid of seventeen or twenty, or even a relatively green thirty, which some people actually argue should be considered below the age of majority these days. No, the fact is, I've already slid right on past the big five-oh--a milestone no one thinks is very pretty and few are eager to reach--to become a man of fifty-one. Now if a reader were to say that it's unsettling to have someone who's passed the half-century mark presenting himself as the narrator of a novel styled after the young writers of a generation ago, I would have to agree he has a point. But however much I may agree, I expect to press ahead in exactly such a style, for as I struggle to come to terms with my fifty-something self, it has become all too uncomfortably clear to me that a style more suited to a man my age simply does not exist."
Call#552419 Isle of Dreams by Keizo Hino. "Though it has a lovely name, the real 'Island of Dreams' is actually a hunk of reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay where the city dumps its garbage . . . and yet, Shozo Saka, a middle-aged widower, does indeed find the place beautiful: gravitating more and more, since the death of his wife, toward the Island's massive piles of trash. One day, however, his refuge is invaded by Yoko, a mysterious woman in black, who visits the Island on her motorcycle for no other reason than to treat it as her own private obstacle course..."
Call#552420 Laughing Wolf by Tsushima Yuko. Excerpt: "Mitsuo murmured in my ear, 'By the way, you've gone to all this trouble to become a boy, Yuki-Chan. So let's think of a name to call you. How about Mowgli? That's perfect for a brand new boy.'"
Call#552421 A Room Where The Star Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard by Levy Hideo. "Set against the political and social upheavals of the 1960s, A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard tells the story of Ben Isaac, a blond-haired, blue-eyed American youth living with his father at the American consulate in Yokohama. Chafing against his father's strict authority and the trappings of an America culture that has grown increasingly remote, Ben flees home to live with Ando, his Japanese friend. Refusing to speak English with Ben, Ando shows the young American the way to Shinjuku, the epicenter of Japan's countercultural movement and the closest Ben has ever felt to home."
Happy Reading!
What's New in the Library is a monthly feature by esteemed JIC librarian Bianca Jarvis. Stop by the JIC anytime to ask for book recommendations!
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| Below is a list of many other Japan-related events coming up in the Midwest this May. Please click through to our new Event Calendar for links to information about all of the events listed here, as well as more about future events coming up this summer! |
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Monthly Economic Report (May, 2012)
http://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai3/getsurei-e/2012may.html |
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G8 Summit 2012 in Camp David
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/summit/2012/index.html
Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba 23 May 2012 - Including (1) Foreign Minister Gemba's Attendance at the Meeting on Afghanistan on the occasion of the NATO Summit Meeting
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm_press/2012/5/0523_01.html
Opinion Poll: 2012 U.S. Image of Japan
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2012/5/0522_04.html
Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba 16 May 2012 - Including 1.Question concerning the realignment of the U.S. Forces in Japan
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm_press/2012/5/0516_01.html
G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (Overview)
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/jfpu/2012/05/0514-01.html
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Visit to the United States of America
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/pmv1204/index.html
Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting (Summary)
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm_press/2012/4/0404_01.html |
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Here are three new questions about current events in Japan. The first person to answer the most questions correctly will receive a bit of Consular merchandise.
- Who is the oldest person to climb Mount Everest?
- How did Penguin No. 337 spend his spring break?
- How tall is the newly-opened Tokyo Skytree?
To submit your answers by email, click here: jic@japancc.org and write "Japan News Quiz" in the subject line.
Answers to April's Quiz:
Congratulations to Daniel Honzik!
- What major project did architect Sou Fujimoto complete at the beginning of April? The world's largest public toilet
- Who won in the Rangers/Yankees Japanese pitcher showdown? Yu Darvish
- What great distance did Japanese astronomers in Hawaii recently traverse with a telescope? 12.9 billion light years
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 The Web Kanazaki
The Web Kanazki is a charming scrapbook of Japanese culture and technology articles on the internet, adorned by a sketch of a man playing cello. The catch-as-catch-can nature of the compendium is also its great strength: spend an afternoon browsing photo galleries of Japanese life, or a Japanese-language summary of the history of western music, or, I dunno, an appreciation of conductor Roger Norrington. It's like an old-fashioned Sunday afternoon spent at the library. |
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As we have put our monthly haiku feature on hold for a few months, I will now fill the void with my own haiku. Send in your own, and I will feature them in future editor's notes!
The first line has five
The second line has seven
The third line has five
Daniel Drake, Editor |
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| You are receiving this email webletter because you have signed up to receive information about Japan and Japan-related events from our office. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please email the Japan Information Center at jic@japancc.org. |
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Like the Consulate on Facebook!
Follow the Consulate on Twitter!
Hopefully, you have all begun your applications for the 2013 Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) Scholarships for Research, Undergraduates, and Specialized Training for College Students! It is probably too late to start them now, so let this article serve as a reminder: the applications must be in the Consulate's possession no later than 5:00 PM on Wednesday, June 13. 
Last year, Virginian Taylor Anderson and Alaskan Montgomery Dickson both lost their lives during the Great East Japan Earthquake while teaching English in Japan as part of the JET Program. In their honor, the Japan Foundation and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) are sending around 30 American high school students to Japan every year until 2015 for an intensive, 2-week language training and cultural exchange trip.
Minazuki, the old Japanese name for the month of June, means "water month." Considering the 6.5 inches of rain that typically fall on Tokyo this month, Minazuki certainly seems appropriate. 
New Japanese Fiction in English from the Japanese Literature Publishing Project!
