Japan Bowl Set for April 12-13, 2007

The National Japan Bowl, the competition for high school students of Japanese from across the country, will be held on April 12-13, 2007.

The announcement was sent to high schools from Guam to Maine. You can read it here:
http://www.us-japan.org/dc/education/2007NationalJB/2007JBAnn.pdf

Next year is the 15th anniversary of the Japan Bowl, which is organized by the Japan-America Society of Washington DC.

The Society believes that it is important to recognize and encourage those high school students who have chosen Japanese as their foreign language. By inviting them to Washington at the time of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, we hope to strengthen their interest in Japan. We want to encourage them to continue their study of Japanese at the university level -- and to encourage them to continue their Japan connection in their adult lives, whether in business, academia, or public service.

Japan in a Suitcase Starts the 2006-7 School Year

Japan in a Suitcase, the Society's popular hand-ons learning experience for students in grades 1-3, is back for the 2006-2007 school year. A training session for the "Suitcase Volunteers" was held on October 14, and the first in-school program was held during the Leesburg Christian Academy's international festival week in Leesburg, Virginia on October 24.

Volunteers already are scheduled to visit 14 more classrooms throughout the Washington DC metropolitan area.

The Japan in a Suitcase program is organized by Cheryl Ames, the Society's educational coordinator.

More information about the program is available at a special website address, http://jisdc-jas.blogspot.com/.

Members and friends who wish to volunteer for the program can email Cheryl at jis@us-japan.org.

Teachers who would like to request a "Suitcase Visit" also should email jis@us-japan.org

Reischauer Scholars Program for High School Students

The Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) is inviting interested high school juniors and seniors to apply to the Reischauer Scholars Program (RSP). Named after the former U.S. ambassador to Japan, Edwin Reischauer, the RSP will select approximately 25 exceptional high school juniors and seniors from throughout the United States to engage in an intensive study of Japan. Selected students will participate in an Internet-mediated course on Japan from February to June 2007.

Currently in its fourth year, this course provides students with a broad overview of Japanese history, literature, religion, art, politics, and economics, with a special focus on the U.S.-Japan relationship. Ambassadors, top scholars, and experts throughout the United States and Japan provide lectures via the Internet as well as engage students in online dialogue. These lectures and discussions are woven into an overall curriculum that will provide students with reading materials and assignments. Concurrent with the Internet-mediated course, students will develop individual research projects. Final research projects will be printed in journal format and students will be required to lead two presentations on Japan at their schools or in their communities. Students who successfully complete the course will earn Stanford Continuing Studies Program (CSP) credit and a Certificate of Completion from SPICE, Stanford University.

Selected students will participate in 10 "virtual classes" via the Internet between February and June 2007. Students should expect to allot 2-6 hours per week to complete the lectures, discussions, readings, and assignments. Since this is a distance-learning course, however, students will be able to structure most of their work around their individual schedules. Although intensive, the RSP will equip participants with a rare degree of expertise about Japan that may have a significant impact on their choice of study and future career.

Completed applications must be postmarked by November 6, 2006. For more information and to download the application, please visit www.reischauerscholars.org.

Rakugo at the Sackler

On Sunday, November 5, 2006 at 1 pm, come to the Meyer Auditorium of the Sackler Gallery to laugh along with the Japanese version of stand-up comedy.

Or should it be called "sit-down comedy?" It is the venerable tradition of rakugo. Rakugo demands tremendous versatility from solo performers who portray dozens of comic characters drawn from a repertoire of more than three hundred traditional and original stories.

The November 5 performance features stars from the Rakugo Arts Association, including the comedian Sanshotei Charaku and Japanese television legend Katsura Utamaru.

For more information, see http://www.asia.si.edu/events/performances.asp

Teacher Fellowships to Japan

The Keizai Koho Center of Keidanren, Japan's most famous business organization, is again providing fellowships for American high school teachers to visit Japan .

The Fellowship allows teachers to learn first hand about contemporary Japanese society and enhance their classroom teaching of global perspectives. The tour date will be sometime in June or July 2007.

The ten day itinerary in Japan will include time in Tokyo; tours of major industrial and corporate facilities; meetings with key business leaders; meetings with government officials, educators, and business people; school visits; discussions with teachers and students; and a home stay with a Japanese family. Typically, there is at least one scheduled visit to a destination outside of Tokyo.

The Fellowship is open to high school classroom teachers of economics, social studies and history (grades 8-12), supervisors, specialists, and school administrators at the district and state levels; and faculty associated with 4 year colleges who are directly concerned with the training of K-12 teachers.

For further information about eligibility or to request an application, please contact: Keizai Koho Fellowship Program, Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, 600 Grant Street, Room 444, Pittsburgh PA 15219-2703 or see the NAJAS website at www.us-japan.org)

The application deadline is Feb. 15, 2007.

Toyota Also Offering Teacher Fellowships

In 1998 Toyota partnered with the Institute of International Education to develop its first study abroad program for U.S. teachers in Japan.

Now in its eighth year, the Toyota International Teacher Program offers a new generation of professional development opportunities. In the 2006-2007 school year, Toyota will offer study visits to Japan, the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica. Each program will offer country-specific themes to help educators expand their professional skills, increase cultural awareness, and enhance their understanding of environmental issues around the world.

The fellowships are open to high school teachers in grades 9-12. The Toyota program includes a fully-funded 12 day professional development experience in Japan. It will take place June 22 - July 7, 2007 and provide 40 educators with an opportunity to bring ancient and modern Japan back to their classrooms. Participants will travel through Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and surrounding rural areas to examine Japan's history, education system, environment, and industry.

The application deadline is January 8, 2007. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Beautiful Day at the Aki Matsuri

The weather was perfect on October 1 as nearly 2,000 people gathered in Gaithersburg, Maryland at the Aki Matsuri, or Fall Festival, organized by the Japan Commerce Association.

The Fall Festival, with its combination of food, children's activities, and entertainment, continues to grow in popularity every year.

The Festival was supported by the Embassy of Japan and a number of Japan-America Society volunteers. Reiko Hirai and Marc Hitzig of the Japan-America Society (pictured above) again served as the emcees for the stage program.

Reminder - Madame Butterfly at the Kennedy Center

Placindo Domingo will conduct Puccini's classic opera Madame Butterfly during several November performances at the Kennedy Center.

The performances by the Washington National Opera will be on November 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, and 19.

Ticket prices for the opera, which lasts for three hours, range between $45 and $300.

For more information, go to the Kennedy Center website at http://www.kennedy-center.org/.

Visualizing Japan

Professor John Dower of MIT has created a series of visually-stunning internet presentations on Japanese history, called "Visualizing Cultures."

The presentations use contemporaneous woodblock prints, postcards, and drawings to describe four periods in the history of Japan's interaction with the outside world:

-- Commodore Perry and the Opening of Japan
-- Boomtown Yokohama - Foreigners in a Treaty Port
-- Throwing Off Asia, Asia Rising, Yellow Promise/Yellow Peril - Japan's Wars with China and Russia
-- Ground Zero 1945 - Survivors Drawings of Hiroshima

The exhibits can be seen at:
http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027j/menu/index.html