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BREEZE #95

SEPTEMBER, 2015: BREEZE ISSUE #95
Like 0ShareA Free E-Newsletter for Friends of Japan & Teachers of Japanese

GREETING FROM THE DIRECTORGreetings! I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people involved - our partners, volunteers,and participants - in some of our major events this summer, namely the Daidengaku performance at theNisei Week festival in LA and the Little Glee Monster’s live concert at the J-Pop Summit in San Francisco.
Without them, these events would not have been that successful and we feel sincerely indebted to theircommitment.
The Japan Foundation Los Angeles will not lose this momentum and will continue to provide a wide varietyof opportunities for you to keep in touch with Japanese culture this fall. First, we will invite a renowned
architect and designer from Japan and together with OTIS College of Art and Design, we will hold alecture on Japanese design just before the Labor Day weekend. Our regular Japanema will be kicked up anotch with lectures, and even go mobile to places like Pasadena and Torrance in order to reach out toaudiences who could not make it to the Miracle Mile every other Wednesday.
JF Nihongo also goes ‘back to school.’ Our Japanese language classes will resume on September 12th
and the registration for the 2015 Japanese Language Proficiency Test is now open through September
25th. There has never been a better chance to begin, continue, or restart studying the Japaneselanguage.
I also want to hear from you. It has been 5 months since I came to LA and I want to know how we’ve been
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doing so far. Your ideas for our future events and projects will be greatly appreciated.

Hideki Hara, Director2015 JLPTTEST DATE: 12/6/2015
REG. CLOSE: 9/25/2015 9PM ET
COST: $60
The Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is an internationally accredited language examination thatis offered in five different levels, designed to measure a person;s Japanese-language skills. In the UnitedStates, it is administered by the American Association of Teachers of Japanese and will be held at 15 cities
across the country. For more information, please visit the site below.
Read MoreJAPANESE DESIGN TODAY: UNIQUE, EVOLVING, BORDERLESSTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 @ 4PM
THE FORUM, KATHLEEN HOLSER AHMANSON HALLOTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGNFREE ADMISSION, RSVP NOT REQUIREDIn this lecture, Professor Kashiwagi of Musashino Art University, and Yoshifumi Nakamura, an architect andfurniture designer, will discuss the evolution, distinguishing characteristics, and current state of Japanesedesign today. They will delve into these topics and more in Los Angeles followed by a lecture in New Yorkon September 8th.
Read More

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JAPANEMA: FREE JAPANESE CINEMA SCREENING"HOUSE" (88MINS, 1977)
Q&A WITH DIRECTOR NOBUHIKO OBAYASHIWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 @ 7PM (JFLA AUDITORIUM)
How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi's indescribable 1977 movie House (ハウス)? As a psychedelic ghosttale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Mario Bava?
Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmatesto her ailing aunt's creaky country home and comes face-to-face with evil spirits, a demonic house cat, abloodthirsty piano, and other ghoulish visions, all realized by Obayashi via mattes, animation, and collage
effects. Equally absurd and nightmarish, House might have been beamed to Earth from some other planet.
This film is one of the most exciting cult discoveries in years.
Watch Trailer

JAPANEMA: FREE JAPANESE CINEMA SCREENING"THE LEGACY OF FRIDA KAHLO" (89MINS, 2014)
DIRECTED BY TADASUKE KOTANIQ&A WITH PHOTOGRAPHER MIYAKO ISHIUCHIWEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 @ 7PM (JFLA AUDITORIUM)
This documentary film is about Hasselblad Foundation International Award winning photographer Miyako
Ishiuchi's encounter with iconic Mexican painter Firda Khalo's personal belongings that were uncovered
58 years after her death.
The film shows Ishiuchi shooting photographs of Frida's belongings, Ishiuchi's exhibition at the "ParisPhoto," and art exhibition at the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris featuring Frida's and her husband Diego
Rivera's works.
By capturing the production process of Oaxaca's traditional embroideries used for the tribal costume that
Frida left, a local festival Day of the dead (Dia de los Muerto), and a Mexican funeral in a small town,
Ishiuchi pursues the sign of how Frida lived and depicts the view of life and death in Mexican culture.
Watch Trailer

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COME AND VISIT US AT TARFEST 2015
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 @ 1-6PM (LA BREA TAR PITS)
TARFEST is a premiere arts and culture event in Los Angeles and the Miracle Mile District. Dozens of thenation's most distinctive emerging artists, performers, and cultural innovators come together andshowcase their talents and ideas at historic and notable venues along the Miracle Mile. At the JapanFoundation, Los Angeles tent, you can enjoy Japanese cultural activities for all ages!
Read MoreJAPANEMA @ USC PACIFIC ASIA MUSEUM"THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA" (137MINS, 2014)
DIRECTED BY ISAO TAKAHATASUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 @ 4:15PM
MUSEUM ADMISSION REQUIREDLegendary Studio Ghibli cofounder Isao Takahata ( Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko ) revisits Japan’s most
famous folktale in this gorgeous, hand-drawn masterwork, decades in the making. Found inside a shining
stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite younglady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her – but ultimately she must confront her
fate, the punishment for her crime.
From the studio that brought you Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro , and The Wind Rises comes apowerful and sweeping epic that redefines the limits of animated storytelling and marks a triumphanthighpoint within an extraordinary career in filmmaking for director Isao Takahata.
Official US Trailer

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JFLA LECTURE SERIES 31: FRAGILITY IN PHOTOS- A PHOTOGRAPHER'S INTIMATE STUDY OF THE BODY AND SOULFRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 @7PM (JFLA AUDITORIUM)
SAVE THE DATE!
Get ready for a captivating behind-the-lens discussion with a master of modern photography, the prolificand provocative photographer, Ishiuchi Miyako who will be in L.A. this October for the opening of herbrand new photo exhibition titled Postwar Shadows at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Read MoreJAPANESE COURSES FALL TERMSEPTEMBER 12 - NOVEMBER 18
REGISTER NOW!
Our courses are designed for new Japanese-language learners, as well as those who are interested inimproving their existing language skills. Each course focuses on specific themes and learning goals, suchas inviting friends or business e-mail.
Read More

CALL FOR APPLICATIONSPERFORMING ARTS JAPAN 2016-2017
DEADLINE: OCTOBER 20, 2015 @ 5PM ESTThe Japan Foundation is now accepting project proposals for Performing Arts Japan (PAJ) touring andcollaboration grants for the 2016 - 2017 fiscal year. For details, including guidelines and application,please visit here.

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FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016 JAPANESE LANGUAGE GRANTS
We are still accepting applications for the following grants:
1. Japanese Teaching Material Purchase Grant (Deadline: 9/15/2015)
2. Japanese-Language Education Project Grant (Deadline: 2 months prior to project start date)
Read MoreJAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION UPDATE 22:
SPEAKJAPAN.ORG BROCHURE VIDEO
Advocacy is a hot topic in the language education field. At the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles we try to
make it as easy as possible for teachers to spread the word about their language programs with freeadvocacy resources like our promotional website, SPEAKJAPAN.org. The site lists fun facts about Japanand reasons to study the Japanese language.
There is also a free, printable SPEAKJAPAN.org brochure for those teachers who like to pass out flyers attheir Japan-related events. In fact, the brochure is customizable! You can even add information about yourschool’s Japanese program, including a teacher profile. For a quick step-by-step video on how tocustomize and print the SPEAKJAPAN.org brochure, check out this link. And don’t forget to visit our Howto Use SPEAKJAPAN.org page on our main website!

HIRAGANA MEMORY HINT SMART PHONE APP JUST RELEASEDPrivacy - Terms

The Japan Foundation, Japanese-Language Institute, Kansai developed a new app to provide a fun way tostudy Hiragana using mnemonic pictures. It includes plenty of quizzes for you to test your understandingof the 46 characters. This app is recommended for both beginners in Japanese or anyone with aninterested in learning Japanese syllabary. For more information including links to the Android and Iphone
apps, please visit the link below.
Download PDF

JFLA AWARDS $15K GRANT TO ROSWELL HIGH SCHOOL IN GEORGIA
On August 27, 2015, Consul General Sunaga from the Consulate General of Japan in Atlanta visited theRoswell High School (Roswell, GA) and presented the Japan Foundation’s grant payment check to PrincipalJerome Huff in the support of their Japanese language program. The students had a chance to introduce
themselves in Japanese and welcomed Consul General Sunaga to their Japanese classroom.

WHAT IS J-LEAP AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
Do you want to improve your teaching and are you willing to do what it takes to make it more exciting,meaningful and effective in order to grow your program? Are you looking for an affordable two year
program that offers one of the best professional development training workshops in the US taught bynationally recognized trainers? Are you a department of one Japanese teacher? Do you wish you had
another teacher to collaborate and team-teach with in Japanese so your students have the advantage oflistening to and communicating with a young, native speaker who has received some training in teaching
Japanese and knows the current culture of Japan?
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2015 JET MEMORIAL INVITATION PROGRAM: PARTICIPANT ESSAYS PART 1/8
In July of 2015, 32 US high school students participated in the final JET Memorial Invitational Program(JET-MIP). They travelled to Japan for a two week study tour of the Tohoku region, focusing on the cities ofRikuzentakata and Ishinomaki. These were the cities that Montgomery Dickson and Taylor Anderson wereassigned during their tenure as JET Assistant Language Teachers. Sadly, they lost their lives during theGreat East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March, 2011 and JET-MIP was created to commemorate theirwork. Participants took part in exchanges with local elementary, middle and high school students as well
as local community groups with the purpose of fostering friendship and goodwill between both countries.
Each month, we will feature four essays written by the participants describing their experiences in Japan.
Click below to read about their memorable journey.
Madison Ball
Raphael Barnes
Mary Burke
Megan Chandler

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