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BREEZE #42

FALL, 2010: BREEZE ISSUE #42
A FREE E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OF JAPANESEJOB SEEKING IN JAPANESE LANG. & LIT.
By: Janet Ikeda

The 2010 ATJ Annual Conference Professional Development Special Interest Group (SIG) Session, which
was held in Philadelphia this past March, was titled “Hiring and Job Seeking: Two Sides of the Academic
Job Search in Japanese Language and Literature.” It was designed to complement a similar panel, “The ‘iro ha’ of finding a Japanese-Language Job,” which was held at the 2007 ATJ Annual Conference in
Boston. The 2007 panel focused on three areas for Japanese-language job applicants. Kazumi Hatasa of
Purdue University covered “First Impressions: Cover letter and curriculum vitae,” Yasuhiko Tohsaku of the
University of California at San Diego spoke about “Developing an Effective Teaching Portfolio” andRebecca Copeland, along with Ginger Marcus and Shino Hayashi of Washington University in St. Louis
presented “The Job Interview for a Language-Teaching Job: Dos and Don’ts.” A mock interview at the endof the session allowed the audience to observe some of the common mistakes made in interview
situations and introduced strategies in presenting one’s strengths. The aim of the 2010 panel was toreach out to applicants, in particular recent Ph.D.s in Japanese literature, who find themselves competingfor jobs that require both language and literature teaching. Panelists were selected to represent a wide
range of institutions of higher education. Jan Bardsley from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Jeremy Robinson from Grand Valley State University, Ann Sherif from Oberlin College, and panelorganizer Janet Ikeda, ATJ President, from Washington and Lee University shared their experiences in aroundtable discussion format with the audience. The panelists focused on the portfolio, the search Privacy - Terms

committee perspective and the campus interview and ended with a Q&A session. We were pleased that
this important topic attracted a large and diverse audience. Although the focus was on the language andliterature job search, many of the points raised by the panelists could be applied to the language job
search as well. I feel this type of session is always important to the ATJ membership and contributes tothe professional development of a continuous stream of job seekers. There are institutions that prepare
their graduate students for the job market with guidance about putting together a dossier and preparing
for a campus visit, but there is undoubtedly a noticeable need for more professional workshops on this
topic.
I will give a summary of each of the presentations and include comments from all the panelists. It is
important to remember that some of this “advice” can be a matter of opinion, depending on theexperiences of each panelist or the nature of their home institution. The audience was warned that adifference of opinion is not uncommon when taking into consideration the uniqueness of institutions andtheir hiring practices.
Preparing a job application begins with a close reading of the job notice and the university anddepartmental webpage. The applicant needs to fully understand the nature of the institution in terms of
size, type and focus, and present a unique packet for each job. There may be a tendency to save timeand send out the exact same set of materials to each institution, but writing a cover letter that specificallyaddresses what the applicant can bring to the needs of that particular department is more effective. It is
crucial to understand that there are different kinds of departments, ranging from small East Asian Studies
or East Asian Language and Literature units to larger Modern Language Departments that encompass all
the languages offered on campus. Search committees can sometimes include colleagues from otherdepartments or from other language and literature disciplines. Remember that one is part of a larger
community of professionals. Being a member of professional associations, such as the ATJ, tells the searchcommittee something about you. Some institutions may require a recorded example of your teaching,along with the cover letter, letters of recommendation, syllabi, and teaching philosophy statement. Make
sure that the format is one that is easily accessible to the search committee, so that they do not need tosearch for special equipment to view the recording. The clarity, sound and angles of the recording should
be fully considered. One panelist recommended taking the highlights of your teaching, as it is rare that asearch committee will watch the entire hour-long recording. You will be requesting letters ofrecommendation from graduate school faculty members and former or current colleagues. It is yourresponsibility to send gentle reminders and make sure those letters are submitted on time. An incomplete
job application file can easily put you on a secondary list of viable applicants. Each institution wants tothink that you are a serious candidate for their job opening. Simple mistakes such as forgetting to cut andpaste the correct institution’s name in your cover letter can be disastrous. It is worthwhile to invest as
much time learning about the institution as you hope they will invest time in learning about you. You wantto know where the program and or university is going and how you can be a part of their future.
The second part of the discussion moved to understanding a search committee’s perspective. When one
is on the job market, it is often difficult to visualize what is happening on the hiring side. First of all,envision yourself as a colleague and engage your interviewers in discussing how you can best contributeto the department. There are three basic kinds of interviews that can take place. A telephone conference
call interview or interview at a conference can often be a way for a committee to make their short list
before inviting you to campus. Telephone interviews are surely the most uncomfortable. You need toreduce background noises (neighbors, colleagues or children) and make sure you convey enthusiasm withyour voice. If invited to a campus interview, be aware that your search committee may want you to meetwith a wide range of constituencies on campus. You could have an itinerary where you will meet not onlywith members of the search committee, but with members of HR, the International Studies program on
campus, the director of a media center or language lab, language and literature students andPrivacy - Terms

instructors/teaching assistants. You need to make sure you customize your best questions for eachindividual or group. Asking good questions means that you have already done some preliminary
homework. It is discouraging from the search committee’s perspective to have a job applicant’s firstquestion be about the size of the student body. This kind of general institutional information is easilyfound on their homepage. A more pertinent type of question might be about recent news about the
department or program that has appeared on the university homepage or information found on thedepartmental webpage. If textbook information is not available on the homepage, be sure to ask andmention what textbooks and teaching methods you have used.
If you have made it to the campus visit stage of the job application process, then you represent a big
financial investment on the part of the institution. Take care of yourself and be sure to get a lot of rest.
Often times a candidate may stay up late preparing the night before a trip to a campus interview. Getting
up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight, possibly being delayed and forced to miss a meal, arriving only
to confront sudden changes in your appointment schedule; all these kinds of situations can and really dohappen. The panel talked about seeing candidates who arrived exhausted from the time they stepped off
the plane. While you anticipate heading to the hotel to sleep, you may be scheduled to have dinner thatevening with members of the department. While a search committee tries to schedule with consideration
for the applicant, they are challenged by having a limited amount of time in which to coordinate theschedules of multiple parties. If the dean is going out of town for the next two days, you may need tomeet with her the afternoon you arrive. Taking care not only to be prepared, but rested and in good healthsounds like obvious advice, but is well worth being repeated. Slipping an energy bar or extra bottle ofwater in with your job talk notes is not a bad idea. It may also be productive to take a leisurely walkaround campus, if you find yourself with free time in the evening or morning. As you walk around campus,
be sure to pick up the student newspaper and catch up on the current hot topics or read notices onbulletin boards. And, most importantly, think of every encounter as part of the official interview. Whether
you are chatting in the car from the airport to campus, walking to the next venue with a student, having
breakfast with a search committee member, or waiting for your appointment in the presence of an
administrative assistant, be sure to be friendly and professional to everyone you meet. One department
head at my institution says she always asks the administrative assistant what kind of impression theapplicant gave when out of sight of the search committee members. Every single moment is part of thelarger interview.
The job applicant should also realize that while on a campus interview, the search committee is
responsible for “selling” the institution. They want to show their best side and advantages, which may
include a strong department, generous university funding, clear information about tenure and promotion, amentoring program, faculty workshops and opportunities for development, and even the benefits of living
in a big city with all the conveniences or a scenic rural town. The job talk and teaching demonstration are
two very big moments during the campus interview. The research talk is critical and needs to bepresented clearly and concisely. More than one colleague has mentioned attending a job talk where theapplicant went into too much detail or rambled on with great expertise about something that held little
interest for the audience. Be sure to ask about your target audience and whether you should aim yourtalk for the level of the specialist or the informed listener. Teaching demonstrations for a language andliterature position may possibly mean teaching in both settings and utilizing very different methods andtechniques. A simple reminder to speak up while addressing the class, especially when the searchcommittee may be sitting way in the back, is also obvious but sometimes easily forgotten under stress.
The department wants you to ask good questions that reflect your deep interest in taking this position.
You should ask not only about benefits, tenure and promotion guidelines and teaching load, but about thenature and achievements of the students. While teaching the demonstration classes, be sure to showa - Terms
Privacygenuine interest in the students and praise them for their accomplishments. The students are probably just
was nervous as the applicant. They are unaccustomed to your teaching style and some may feel that they,and not the applicant, are the ones being scrutinized by departmental faculty members.
The end result one hopes for is a job offer. As our panelists shared, the negotiations for a job may be justas stressful as the campus visit. It is easy to feel so grateful about being offered the job that one forgets
to ask about important details. Before accepting the position, you can ask about salary, medical anddental benefits, moving expenses, on-campus housing for new faculty, spousal opportunities, campus
childcare, mortage assistance, tuition benefits for family members, research funds, pre-tenure leave andfunding opportunities, a shorter tenure track, a reduced teaching load in the pre-tenure period, officeequipment such as computer, printer and or scanner, office furniture and perhaps more important at someinstitutions than others, a parking permit! It is sometimes a shock to find out when you arrive at a large
institution that you may be on a waiting list for months or even years in order to get a parking permit near
your building.
In closing the session and before taking questions, I shared with the audience a list of “10 common
mistakes” that I collected from experienced colleagues at my home institution and elsewhere. Theseshould be taken as opinions and not as blanket statements. Each interviewer has his or her own bias andeach institution has a certain personality that they wish to match with an “ideal” candidate.
1. The cover letter is a genre in itself so you should study and know that genre. Never put extra
personal information such as a photograph or the number of your children in the cover letter or on aCV.
2. Ask for a letter of recommendation from a faculty member who really knows you. Getting aboilerplate letter from someone who is particularly famous may not serve you well, especially if thatfamous, busy person writes the exact same letter for two candidates applying for the same job.
3. Be sincere when you apply for a job. The committee is extra cautious about an applicant who
appears to be applying in order to negotiate a raise at their current institution, or who applies
insincerely to a small, liberal arts college in a rural area when they really want to be at a big
research institution in a city.
4. If there are gaps in your CV, be sure to explain why you have had three visiting positions in the past
few years. Do not leave circumstances up to people’s imaginations as they may assume the worst. If
you have taken visiting or adjunct positions elsewhere, demonstrate how you have taken advantageof teaching or grant-writing workshops during your “rōnin” period.
5. During the job talk or teaching demonstration, watch out about giving a handout or power point
presentation that has too much information.
6. If provided teaching materials ahead of time, be sure to prepare meticulously
7. Know the institution where you are applying. One department head looks for a convincing paragraphin the cover letter that shows enthusiasm for the kind of teaching and research expected at thatparticular institution.
8. Look up information about the people in the department and note their specialties and course
offerings. A job applicant wants to fill in the perceived gaps in the curriculum. It may be seen as athreat if the applicant wants to offer the same courses that are already being offered by anotherdepartment member.
9. Keep your answers short and be aware of your listener.
10. Unfortunately, there are search committees who have members at odds with each other or who haveone member known for asking inappropriate questions. Have a strategy in mind and practice inadvance so that one is not thrown by an unexpected remark or question.
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2010 ANIME EXPO – ALL JAPAN BOOTH
By: Thomas Lin

This was our second year working in conjunction with the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles aswell as the Japan National Tourist Organization to host the All Japan Booth at Anime Expo (AX). North
America’s largest gathering of Anime and Manga fanatics lasted from Thursday, July 1st 2010 to Sunday,
July 4th, 2010. New from the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles was the display of our matoi, which is anobject use by ancient Japanese firemen to notify people of a nearby fire. These are no longer used inpresent day Japan and only serve as a ceremonial item. In addition to our matoi, we also brought both our
O-Yoroi costumes for display purposes and also to let attendees try on. A raffle was held three times a day
to provide attendees with the opportunity to wear and model the infantry O-Yoroi costume in front of ourbooth.
We also provided attendees with short lessons on how to write their names in Katakana. This activity wasstarted last year and has become very popular with all the guests, especially children, who dropped byour booth. All three organizations provided brochures and other give away items that supported theoverall mission of our booth which is to share the Japanese language and culture of Japan with Americans
as well as promote tourism to Japan. At the end of the four day show, we had given out all the literature in
our booth making this one of our most successful events during the year.
All over the world, Anime and Manga is synonymous with Japan and this event certainly shows that the
popularity of Japanese pop culture is still very strong with the youth in the United States. The majority of
the attendees at AX were in their teens so we hope that their interest in Anime and Manga will eventuallylead to an interest in studying Japanese language and culture in school. Events like this allow America’s
youth the opportunity to connect with the culture of Japan so they can better understand the country, its
people, their history, and hopefully be able to travel there someday. Being able to fulfill one of our
foundation’s missions of promoting language and culture exchange has definitely made this opportunity
invaluable to our cause and we hope to be back again next year.

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FUROSHIKI: BOUNDLESS CURIOSITY FROM
THE WORLD OF SQUARE-CLOTH A LECTURE
AND WORKSHOP
By: Thomas Lin

In July of 2010, the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, invited three members of The Furoshiki Study Groupto present a lecture and workshop on the Japanese square cloth known as Furoshiki. The three instructors
Ms. Akiko Sakai, Ms. Naomi Ando, and Ms. Keiko Fukuda were invited from Japan, to present their
newfound uses of the Furoshiki to promote environmentalism and to reduce waste by reducing our use ofplastic bags. This lecture and workshop was conducted in three cities on the west coast including Los
Angeles, Denver, and Portland. We received much interest for this event and the seats quickly filled up
with more than 210 RSVPs for this rare opportunity to learn about this oft forgotten item in the history ofJapanese culture.
The lecture focused on the history of the Furoshiki detailing its origins as a bath mat to that of a gift
wrapper to present day uses such as a tote bag. This was followed by explanations of the many different
colors and designs that were dyed into the cloth, each with special meaning and symbolism. Finally, thehands on portion of the workshop allowed participants to practice working with a Furoshiki. They learned
to tie the two fundamental knots that are essential to using a Furoshiki and also wrapping various objects
such as a bottle, book, and ball. Afterwards, the participants were able to look at the specialty Furoshikis
that were brought from Japan and used during the lecture.
By bringing back the Furoshiki and conceiving new uses for the square cloth, the Furoshiki Study Group’s
goal is to use this recyclable tool to combat the environmental crisis facing the world today. Their belief isthat if everyone started using Furoshiki to carry around groceries instead of plastic bags, we would be
more environmentally friendly as a whole and be able to reduce our use of harmful plastics.
All the participants enjoyed this event and were surprised to learn about the rich history and the many
uses and meanings of the different Furoshiki designs. “I never knew there were different styles ofFuroshiki for different occasions.” “I was unaware of the use of the Furoshiki as a gift wrap. I appreciate
the use of this as an environmentally advantageous practice.”
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This event was very successful for us and was in line with our mission of promoting Japanese language
and culture with the United States. We look forward to presenting our next event and hope to see you all
there.

FIRESIDE COLLOQUIUM: ART OF JAPANESEFOLDING FANS
By: Thomas Lin

On Wednesday, August 4th, 2010, The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, hosted the first event in theFireside Colloquium series for the 2010 fiscal year. This series was started last year in cooperation with
Shigeharu Higashi of Cultural News. The purpose of Cultural News is to connect enthusiasts andpromoters of traditional Japanese culture in Southern California. Mr. Higashi publishers a monthly
newsletter and also periodic email blasts to announce opportunities to experience Japanese culture.
Fireside Colloquium was the brainchild of Mr. Higashi to allow professionals in the field education to learn
about unique areas of traditional Japanese culture from specialists in various fields. The format of thisevent included a lecture followed by Q&A time ending with networking time allowing attendees to mingle
with each other and talk to the guest speaker.
For this event, JFLA invited 5th Generation Art Fan Maker, Mr. Kanji Ishizumi, to talk about the history andcultural significance of the Japanese fan. The Ishizumi family has been making fans since 1881 and before
that, they were renowned Tea Masters with his ancestor Sekishu Katagiri being the Japanese Tea Coachfor Shogun Ietsuna Tokugawa during the 17th Century. Mr. Ishizumi compared the Japanese folding fan
with the Iphone in that it was a communication tool during the ancient times. The way women held theirfans indicated their interest and writings and artwork on a fan communicated messages between two
people just like a cell phone. He also talked significantly about the history of the folding fan as well as theprocess that he goes through to make a fan including all the individual parts. Many examples were
provided of modern uses for the traditional Japanese fan and Mr. Ishizumi along with his wife evenbrought displayed many fans from their personal collection.

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There were over 30 people who reserved a seat for this event with everyone who attended enjoying thelecture on Japanese Art Fans. “Very interesting and informative information provided about traditional
crafts.” “I was amazed at the complexity of the process.” Attendees ranged from students, to teachers, toprofessionals in photography, film, and art. This was a very successful program for JFLA as the event
served a dual purpose of introducing a facet of Japanese traditional cultural and also to open up our
Nihongo library to attendees. We hope to organize another event as part of the Fireside Colloquium seriesin our office in the near future and hope to continue this event for many years to come.

2010 NEBUTA PARADE
By: Thomas Lin

This year, members of the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, volunteered several weekends over a month
before the parade to help prepare the floats for the event. Although all the decorations for the float were
saved from the event last year, the actual rolling platforms for the main Nebuta float, taiko float,
advertising float, and sound float had to be rebuilt from scratch. In order to have the floats ready in time,
work on the floats started in early July and lasted up to the day of the parade. Work took place in the
Mikawaya parking lot on weekends with anywhere from 15-20 people, including members of the JapanFoundation, who volunteered their time to create and decorate the floats. There was also much support
from the community as everyone was eager to see the Nebuta floats again this year at the Nisei Week
Parade that was held on August, 15th.
As the weekend of the parade drew nearer, work ramped up to move the empty floats to the Union Churchof Los Angeles parking lot, which was the starting point for the parade. Moving the floats required police
escorts as the floats were too big to be moved on the city sidewalks and needed access to local streets tomove them 3 and a half city blocks. About 20 volunteers showed up late at night on Friday, August 13th –two days before the parade, to help with the move, which was completed with any problems. The next day,the sound engineering team showed up to mount all the necessary electronics to make sure the music canbe heard by everyone on the parade route. This year, additional speakers were added to increase theacoustics on both the sound float and advertising float and it had a big affect compared to last year. Privacy - Terms

On the day of the parade several hundred volunteers showed up to help with the Nisei Week activities andalso to help with the climatic Nebuta Parade. Each float required several people to operate and there
were over a hundred Haneto Dancers that accompanied the float during the parade. Specialists from
Aomori were also present to help out with the setup making sure everything was just like how they did it
at home. The Nisei Week parade started at 5:30PM and the Nebuta floats were the last to go at 7:00PM. It
took about 2 hours to push the floats around the parade route, which was roughly 8 blocks around Little
Tokyo. Afterwards, all the audio equipment was removed from the floats and there was a small celebration
at the Miyako Hotel conference room to mark another successful Nebuta Parade. The next day, all thefloats were torn down and the decorations were moved for display. This marks the third year that we wereinvolved in the Nebuta Parade and if it wasn’t for the sponsors and volunteers for this event, it would nothave been possible.

2010 MORIO HAMADA MINI WORKSHOP
By: Thomas Lin

On Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, Mr. Morio Hamada from the Japan Foundation’s Japanese-Language
Institute, Kansai, presented a mini workshop detailing their work. Recently, the Kansai Center has released
several website, for leaners of Japanese, including Nihongo e な、and the Anime Manga no Nihongo
website. Participants were from all levels of education including primary, secondary, and post secondary
levels of education as well as Japanese language schools in Southern California. Most of the participants
have never been to the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, and this opportunity gave them a chance to learn
about one of our missions, which is to provide learners of various backgrounds with the necessary
materials to acquire the language.
The first part of the workshop covered the activities of the Kansai Center and the research that went intocreating the Nihongo e な website. Nihongo e な is a search engine like site that retrieves websites
related to learning Japanese based on the criteria the user inputs. It was developed based on surveys
taken by the Japanese Language Institute, Kansai, to find out what kind of sites learners use to study
Japanese and also how they choose the sites. Some of these criteria included how often the site was
updated, the reliability of the information, if it cost anything to use the site, the amount of advertising, and- Termsthe content. What the Nihongo e な wanted to do was review these sites for the learners and presentPrivacythemwith a portal with the most useful Japanese learning websites available. After the presentation,
participants of the workshop were given time to try out the website to get their impressions on theusability of the site.
The second part of the workshop covered print and online materials developed by the Japanese
Language Institute, Kansai, and focused more on the Anime and Mange website. This was created due inpart to the popularity of Anime and Manga around the world and appeals to those who enjoy this aspect ofJapanese pop culture. Original characters were created for this website to teach learners the different
ways that Japanese is spoken in Japan by different groups of people. For example a child will use a
different set of words and politeness compared to a servant or someone who speaks Kansai dialect. This
website also features character expressions, original manga scenes, word quizzes, and Kanji games. Afterthe presentation, participants were able to play around with the websites and provide constructive
feedback to Mr. Hamada on their experiences and how the materials can be improved.
Overall, this event was very successful with everyone who attended commenting that the information
provided was very useful and they were grateful for the opportunity. We hope to have more opportunities
like this in the future and look forward to seeing you all there.

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