Volunteer Opportunity: Japan Academic Challenge @ KSU

Volunteer Opportunity! The organizers of this year's Japan Academic Challenge are again looking for 1-2 JETAA volunteers to assist in judging the competitions. The commitment would be for a full day on Saturday, March 7 at Kennesaw State University.

The Japan Academic Challenge is a high school team competition which will challenge students’ knowledge of Japanese cultural aspects, including: history, geography, language, and current events. For more information, please visit this website: http://www.atlanta.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JACJSP2015.html.

If you are interested and available, please contact Mellissa at mellissa.takeuchi@aa.mofa.go.jp.

Japanese Lessons at the NC Japan Center (Raleigh, NC)

The Japan Center is still accepting registrations for their spring Japanese lessons. Classes range from beginning level to JLPT preparation courses with classes for adults and children.

For more information, please visit NCSU.edu/NCJapanCenter/courses

We Are Tomodachi Autumn 2014 Edition

Greetings to all members of JET Alumni Association from the staff of the Prime Minister's Office of Japan

We hope you are well. Here in Tokyo the trees are taking on their autumnal hues as we move deeper into the autumn months.

We have just issued the Autumn 2014 edition of our We Are Tomodachi magazine and published it online. We hope you will take a look.

In this edition, we would like to once again share with you a broad variety of contents, from rich autumnal produce and colorful autumn leaves from around Japan, to the 50th anniversary of the Shinkansen, Japan’s contribution to infrastructure development in Myanmar and Palau, how Tokyo keeps tap water safe and delicious.

From November, the Japanese Government has started the full-fledged operation of its official English-language website, JapanGov (http://www.deliver.mofa.go.jp/c?c=1029&m=631&v=e884d83b), on which we have decided to publish We Are Tomodachi, starting with this edition.

The link to the webpage is as follows:

http://www.deliver.mofa.go.jp/c?c=1028&m=631&v=73f732ef

We strongly hope that as many people as possible find the time to read this magazine and deepen their understanding about Japan. We therefore ask that you please share this magazine widely with others, through social media and other means.

Please feel free to send us any comments.

We will continue to publish We are Tomodachi magazine to coincide with the changing seasons. Please also look forward for the next exciting and interesting articles.

Daily Yomiuri: Japanese government announces increase for JET Programme

According to a Daily Yomiuri article, the Japanese government plans to increase JET Programme participants by 2,300 between 2015 and 2019 with an eye towards eventually increasing the program to 20,000. This seems to be in line with LDP policies announced back in April.

Read an English version of the article over at Jetwit.com!

Announcement about IUC The Nippon Foundation Fellowship

Friendly Forward: Mr. Tatsuaki Kobayashi from The Nippon Foundation:

"[T]he IUC (Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies) is one of the leading Japanese language institute for highest level of Japanese. Since 2013, the Nippon Foundation has offered fellowships to 10 promising graduate students of Japan Studies doctorate courses in the US, who participated 10 months Japanese language training course in Yokohama.

The Nippon Foundation has decided to expand the number of grantees from 10 to 20, and also to extend the scope of the program from Japanese Studies to Professional Schools such as law, MBA, governmental officials, journalists and so on. This is a new initiative that will start from 2016, and IUC has recently made announcement for the application from potential candidates. I suppose that this program will be appealing to some of JETAA members who want to seek for their professional career paths that are related to Japan...

You may find more details about the program in the following website:

http://web.stanford.edu/dept/IUC/cgi-bin/programs/nippon-foundation.php

If you have any questions, please contact IUC secretariat: iucjapan@stanford.edu."