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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The Consulate's Japan Information Center is looking for a Technology and Information Coordinator. Responsibilities include:

• Edit and manage all content on the Consulate’s English website
• Write, edit, and publish a monthly e-mail newsletter detailing Japan-related events in the Consulate’s 10-state jurisdiction
• Coordinate the Consulate’s social media presence on Facebook and Twitter
• Assist organizing cultural events and Japan-related presentations to local schools
• Draft speeches/remarks for Consul General and other staff
• General office responsibilities, including assisting for conferences/receptions and supporting other staff members as need arises

• US citizen or permanent residency holder (working permit holder)
• Majoring in information processing or related area will be highly desirable
• Excellent communications and writing skills
• Strong computer skills (database knowledge is preferred)
• English and Japanese are the working languages in the Japan Information Center. Fluency in oral and written English is required. Good working knowledge of Japanese is preferable

Note: If necessary, in-person interviews would be held for the shortlisted applicants in late January at the Consulate. If you have any inquiry, please send an e-mail to jicsaiyo@gmail.com. We won’t accept any inquiry via phone call.

The Consulate is now accepting entries for the 27th Annual Japanese Language Speech Contest in Chicago. The Contest, to be held on Saturday, March 16th, is a great opportunity for students of Japanese to demonstrate their hard work, but also a great chance to win the coveted grand prize: a round-trip ticket to Japan.

Visit this page to read about the requirements and procedures for entry. All applications must be received by the Consulate by Friday, February 15.

If you are applying to host a Japanese cultural ambassador through either the Japan Outreach Initiative (JOI) or the Japanese Lanugage Education Assistant Program (J-LEAP), you should already have notified the Laurasian Institution or the Japan Foundation of your intent. But it doesn't hurt to have a reminder, especially as applications are due very soon! Read on!

If you are looking to have a grassroots exchange ambassador in your community, someone who would travel hither and yon to teach children and seniors and all and sundry about Japan and Japanese culture, then you should be applying for a JOI Coordinator! Applications are due January 15. More information and application materials can be found here:
http://www.laurasian.org/joi/app_us_host_orgs.htm
and here: http://www.cgp.org/grassroots-exchange-and-education/japan-outreach-initiative-joi-program

Meanwhile, if you are looking to strengthen the Japanese language program at your K-12 school with a native speaker, applications for J-LEAP are due on January 31. More information and application materials can be found here:
http://www.jflalc.org/jle-j-leap.html

Meanwhile, if you'd like to read about the work of the 23 current participants in the program (3 of whom are in the Midwest, in Indiana, Iowa, and Minnesota), click through to these reports from three current teachers:
http://www.jflalc.org/pub-breeze50.html
http://www.jflalc.org/pub-breeze54-so.html
http://www.jflalc.org/pub-breeze62-ks.html

In 2011, Virginian Taylor Anderson and Alaskan Montgomery Dickson both lost their lives during the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 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.

The program, which was inaugurated in the summer of 2011, is open to 11th and 12th grade students from across the United States who are studying Japanese and have taken the National Japanese Exam. Applications are not due until April 17, but one of the primary qualifications is that applicants must take the National Japanese Exam, registration for which ends on February 8. More information, including all eligibility requirements and application materials, can be found below:
http://www.jflalc.org/jle-jet-mip.html

JETAA Chicago's Annual New Year welcoming extravaganza is right around the corner. Register today to join the festivities, which include Japanese food and drink (beer and sake! soft drinks!), craft activities like calligraphy, origami, and more, a trivia tournament, a rock-paper-scissor tournament, and oh so much merriment! The event is open to all, JET Alumnus or not, so if you like Japan and want to meet like-minded people in Chicago, this is your opportunity to start the New Year off right.

Date	Saturday, January 19, 5:00 PM
Place	Japan Information Center 737 N. Michigan, Suite 1000 Chicago, IL, 60611 (Map)
Info	Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $10 for children. Go here for more details

Acting Consul General of Japan at Chicago Hironori Sawada will give a lecture at Northwestern University's Harris Hall on Thursday, January 31. The speech, part of the University's Global Languages Initiative International Speaker Series, is titled "Foreign Policy and Language - The Experience of a Japanese Diplomat," and it will cover some of the many experiences Mr. Sawada has had in his decades-long career as a diplomat. There will be a twenty minute Q&A session and reception following the speech.

Date	Thursday, January 31, 5:00 - 6:30 PM
Place	Harris Hall 108 1881 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL, 60208 (Map)
Info	The event is free and open to the public. Information has not been posted on Northwestern's website, but should be up in the next few days here.

• Various Dates: Studio Ghibli Movies Touring the Midwest:
  at Film Streams in Omaha, Nebraska
  at University of Wisconsin-Madison Cinematheque
• January 20: Japan America Society of Minnesota Shinnenkai (New Year's Party)
• January 15 - April 14: Chicago's Timeline Theater Presents, Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West
• January 27: Heart of America Japan America Society Shinnenkai
• January 25-27: Winter Bonsai Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Monthly Economic Report (December, 2012)
http://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai3/getsurei-e/2012december.html

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's New Year's Policy Speech
http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/96_abe/actions/201301/04kaiken_e.html

Telephone Talks between Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Naoki Kazama and Acting U.S. Ambassador to Japan Mr. Kurt Tong on the Launching of a Missile by North Korea
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2012/12/1212_01.html

Telephone Talks between Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, and Ambassador Wendy R. Sherman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, US Department of State, on the Launch of a Missile by North Korea
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2012/12/1212_02.html

Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba, 7 December 2012 – Including 3. U.S. subcritical experiment
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm_press/2012/12/1207_01.html

Press Conference by the Assistant Press Secretary, 6 December 2012 – Including 5. The gift from the Japanese Government to the United States concerning the marine debris
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/press/2012/12/1206_01.html

Mutsuki, the old Japanese name for the month of January, means “month of harmonious good relations.” It marks a time when everyone can celebrate together regardless of age or rank.

The most important and widely celebrated holiday in Japan - and a national holiday - is New Year's Day. Schools close for about 2 weeks, and even many business close from December 29 through January 3. Common activities include visiting shrines and temples, eating special foods, sending and receiving nengajo (New Year cards), and, of course, spending time with family and friends.

The other national holiday during Mutsuki is Coming-of-Age Day, observed on the second Monday of January. Municipal governments host special coming-of-age ceremonies for 20-year-olds - the age of adulthood in Japan, which confers the right to vote, among others. To this ceremony, men will generally wear suits, while women wear a very formal style of kimono called furisode.

Did you know that many people are unaware that the JIC library even exists? It's true! No matter if they are Japanese or American, child or retiree, researcher or traveler, whenever a new visitor stops by, the response is always the same – "I didn't know this library existed. What a great resource!" Of course, since you are reading this article, you know about the library, but I bet you don't know everything! With this in mind, let me introduce some "hidden gems."

Did you know that the library's collection includes over 3500 books, 400 video/DVDs, and 150 CDs along with newspapers, periodicals, and journals? While the books are available to anyone in our ten-state jurisdiction, the visual media is available to schools and organizations. The newspapers (including Asahi Shinbun, Mainichi Shinbun, and The Japan Times), CDS (ranging from enka to J-Pop, anime to roudoku), and various periodicals and reference books can be enjoyed in the library during normal business hours.

Did you know that the JIC library has not only Japanese and English books, but several French ones as well? Included in this special group of books are Hayashi Fumiko's Ukigumo (Nuages flottants: Call number 552028) and Yumeno Kyusaku's avant-garde work Dogra Magra (Call number 552003). Additionally, you can find the Japanese versions of Albert Camus' La Mort Heureuse (Kofukuna shi: Call number 551724) and Jean-Jacque Rousseau's Les Confessions (Kokuhaku: Call number 551717).

Did you know that the library has multiple versions of the Tale of Genji, in both Japanese and English, as well as several guides to the iconic work? These analyses include Norma Field's The Splendor of Longing in the Tale of Genji (Call number 556009), William Puette's Guide to the Tale of Genji (556016) and the beautiful Iconography of the Tale of Genji by Miyeko Murase (Call Number 135036). Edward Seidensticker's Genji Days (Call number 556002) should also be mentioned as it is the diary he maintained during the almost ten years it took him to translate the work! Of course, reading the entire Tale of Genji is not for the fainthearted, so if you just want an overview (and some pictures) there is always the English manga version (Call numbers 560035-560038)!

Speaking of manga, did you know that the library recently acquired all twenty-one volumes of the female-favorite Nana (Call Numbers 560102-)? This award-winning series follows the lives of two roommates both named Nana as they follow their dreams in Tokyo. The JIC DVD library also has the 2005 film version. But, if shoujo manga isn't your thing, there is always Manga: The Complete Guide (Call Number 180016). With reviews of over 900 series, you are bound to find at least one that you like!

And lastly, did you know that the library always accepts suggestions for new acquisitions? Well now you do! Stop by, browse our shelves, and let me know if there is a "hidden gem" you would like to discover!
Emily Toelcke

What's New in the Library is a monthly column written by JIC librarian Emily Toelcke.

Here are three questions about current events in Japan. Email your answers for the chance to win a small prize!

1. Why is the annual Nozawa Festival so hot?
2. What exciting future awaits the Hayabusa 2?
3. What is the name of the 115 year-old Japanese man born while Queen Victoria was still Queen of England?

Answers from the November Quiz:
Congratulations to Chase Dorn for answering December's questions!

1. How is Honda's Hearbo Robot listening differently? He can distinguish sounds in a noisy location, and exactly where they are coming from. He can distinguish between and locate the position of up to four unique sound sources simultaneously to within one degree of accuracy.
2. What is the name of the taiko troupe composed of intellectually-disabled drummers currently starring in the documentary Inclusion: The Joy of Drumming? Zuihou Taiko
3. What's glimmering in the Christmas tree at the Ginza Tanaka jewelry store? 20 Disney characters made of Gold

Japan Robot Association

We like to promote a lot of cultural websites here at the Website Highlight section of the e-Japan Journal, but sometimes it's time to really get your hands messy, to really get into the nitty-gritty of work and industry, with just a sheen of culture to hook you. Welcome to the Japan Robot Association, you pragmatic Japanophiles. This industry trade group website has no pretensions towards cultural criticism, it is all about the robots and the robot business, all of the time. Do you want to know about the actual work of making, marketing, and using robots? Japan Robot Association website, my friend. Click on it.

You may have noticed the job opening listed at the top of this month's newsletter. (You didn't? Go look at it, it's a really great opportunity!) It is with a heavy heart that I announce that that job, with its attendant duty "Write, edit, and publish a monthly e-mail newsletter detailing Japan-related events in the Consulate’s 10-state jurisdiction," is, in point of fact, my job, and I am moving out of the Midwest this January.

This is, if you can believe it, the forty-fourth e-Japan Journal that I have written. Sometimes the words came hard, sometimes they flowed kawa no nagare no you ni, but they only ever flowed because of you, dear readers. I don't write this Newsletter for me! Thank you for reading, for writing in, and for making Japan a part of your lives. It's been a very fun four years, and I'll miss Chicago, and the Consulate, tremendously, so thanks, most of all, for reading!

I know you'll welcome the new editor as generously as you welcomed me, so be sure to keep reading when the new newsletter starts mailing,

Daniel Drake, Editor