JETAA ACTIVITIES

2002 JETAA Canadian Conference
Winnipeg, May 3rd to May 5th
The second annual Canadian JETAA
conference was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
over the first weekend in May. Two representatives from each of the seven JETAA
chapters in Canada were in attendance,along with the Canadian country representative. They were joined by officials from theJapanese consulate in Edmonton and staff
members of the JLGC/CLAIR offices inboth New York and Toronto.
The Edmonton Consulate General
hosted a Friday night reception at theManitoba Japanese Canadian Cultural
Center. The next morning, Saturday,
attendees presented individual chapter reports, and also
heard a JETAA International
update presented by
Elizabeth Stephen Baba, theCanadian Country
Representative,
as well as a talk by Peter
Jordan, a Canadiantelevision personality.

— Pre-departure orientation handbooks andprograms.
A creative and historic Saturday night
reception was hosted by CLAIR at the Maison
de Bourgeois in a reproduction of an old frontier trading post, Fort Gibraltar.
On Sunday morning attendees took partin additional sessions led by CLAIR and by
the Consulate General in Edmonton beforemoving on to a brainstorming session andwrap-up at 12:30. Major topics this year
included the unveiling of a new logo for
JETAA Canada, standardization of email andIn the afternoon,
there were several highlyinteresting sessions.
Session topics included:concern, given the scale of the preparations
required and a complete lack of budget andplanning information for Vancouver chapter
members to work from. The Japanese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CLAIR
promised to provide whatever information
they could; however, JETAA London had still
not issued a conference report from the previous year as of the 2002 Canadian conference,and had not responded to requests for information to help with budgeting and planning.
The guest speaker, Peter Jordan, showedsome clips of TV spots he had done for
Canadian television during the Nagano
Olympics, having fun
with some of the culturaldifferences encountered byforeigners when they visited
Japan, and he generously
gave permission for
Canadian chapters to use
these materials in their predeparture orientations, sovideo copies were promisedfor distribution to allchapters.

An action plan withdeadlines
was agreed upon,
Enjoying the Spring sunshine, Canadian JETAA National Conference attendees posed
for a commemorative photo during their busy and constructive meeting in Winnipeg.
and tasks were assigned andconfirmed during the final— A Canadian federal
brainstorming and wrap-up
government initiative to
Web addresses, and the initiation of a project
sessions. There was widespread agreementlink schools in Japan and Canada
to amalgamate all of the various pre-departure that the national conferences have provenusing the Internet;
handbooks previously used by the different
quite useful, and chapters were invited to subchapters into one unified “Pre-departure
mit bids by August 31st so that a host location— Development of a unified, national Web
could be chosen for the third annual conferstrategy for Canadian chapters, including Orientation Handbook for Canadian JETs.”
ence planned for 2003. Voting on the 2003
email and website addresses and formats;This year’s International Conference, tovenue was scheduled to be completed by
be held in Vancouver, was also an issue of
September 30th.
— Membership issues;

JLGC Newsletter

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Summer 2003

JETAA ACTIVITIES

2002 JETAA US National Conference
Chicago, June 14th to June 15th
The American chapters of the JETAlumni Association held their first national
conference in Chicago in mid-June.
Representatives from 14 of the 18 US
chapters attended, along with Country
Representatives and officials from theConsulate General of Japan in Chicago andJLGC/CLAIR New York. The conference
was largely devoted to communications,
within and among chapters, with current
JETs, and with supporting Japanese
government offices.

Saturday’s session started at 9:00 am, andevidently the previous evening’s nijikai (celebration) and sanjikai (follow-up party) werefairly subdued, because everyone seemed to bequite well rested and attentive. Several topics
were discussed, in preparation for the voting:
JETAA International and its relationship toJETAA; confirming that all chapters receive
updates and communications; term periods,eligibility, election procedures, and roles andresponsibilities for Country Representatives;

representatives are eligible to serve as Country
Representatives; US Country Representatives,
although divided into East and West positions,can be members of any chapter, even if nottechnically within that region; future Country
Rep elections will be held at the National
Conference; Country Reps will serve forone-year-terms, with no limit on the numberof times they may serve; and the current“buddy system” will remain in effect toimprove communication.

Mr. Maruhashi, fromthe Consulate, and Matthew
Welcoming remarks
Gillam, from JLGC New
were given by Dave
York, spoke about funding
Shumaker, president of theand other issues of concern
Chicago chapter which hostto JETAA. Mr. Gillam also
ed the conference; Jiro
gave a brief report on theMaruhashi, consul and direcCanadian Conference justtor of the Japan Information
held in Winnipeg. The
Center in the Chicago conremainder of the afternoon
sulate, and Naofumi Hida,
was spent on discussion
director of the Japan Local
and voting on unfinished
Government Center New
business, including a searchYork. The keynote speaker
for the host of next year’s
was Jerry Mayeroff, aconference; a provisional
Chicago consultant on media,
arrangement to vote for newmarketing and communicaCountry Reps at the 2002
tions, who discussed efficientInternational Conference tocommunication both in interSome of the JETAA members attending the productive and enjoyable U.S. 2002
serve until the 2003 National
cultural contexts and within
National Conference took time for a group picture.
Conference; debate overJETAA. The rest of the day
national versus international
was devoted to workshops on
chapter representative roles and responsibiliconferences; and consideration of creating aorganizational communications and webties; and development of operational guidelines US JET logo, as the Canadians had just done.
sites, chapter communication with people
for US chapters.
inside and outside the chapter, and breakout
The day was topped off with a dinner ofsessions on better serving chapter members
One attendee from each chapter was
Chicago deep dish pizza and a sunset cruiseand functioning more effectively. The condelegated to vote on proposals brought up
on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan tosulate hosted a very pleasant evening recepduring the previous discussions. Voting results
enjoy the architecture and ambiance of thetion at their offices near the landmark
included: Past and current chapter officers or
Windy City.
Watertower.

JLGC Newsletter

5Issue 43

Summer 2003

JAPAN TODAY

Experiences of an English Girlat the 2002 FIFA World CupTM
continued from page 1Japanese victim. At first, the course participants were shocked and, by all accounts, alittle scared, but they soon became aware
that, like the Japanese fans, England fanswere coming to Japan to enjoy the footballand to have a good time.
The course participants learnt phrases
to help them communicate with the fans,including phrases such as “You can buy foodand drinks in the stadium” and the extremely
useful “The bars are open all night,” and also
learnt popular English football songs. The
group performed its skit outside Omiya Station
for the general public, and was invited to perform at the British Embassy in Tokyo and theBritish Consulate in Osaka. The skit andcourse were both great successes, proof ofwhich were the scenes outside the stadium of
GUEST COLUMNEngland fans and Japanese volunteers singing
England football songs together.
In spite of applying for tickets throughall the usual channels and smiling at anyone
I saw who was involved in the World Cup in
any capacity whatsoever, I was not lucky
enough to get tickets for any of the England
matches. However, watching the games in bars
surrounded by Japanese fans wearing David
Beckham shirts and with England flags painted
on their faces came a close second (even ifEngland did not come even close to second
place in the competition).
Reading stories in the British media andseeing that the England fans had nothing but
praise for their Japanese hosts also made me
realise what a success the World Cup had beenon so many different levels. England fans who
would normally have been involved in a few

scuffles even before the match started werequoted as saying that with the friendliness andrespect shown to them by their Japanese hosts,
why would they even consider making any
trouble? Having been shown nothing but
friendship, the England fans reciprocated byshowing what true England fans are really like,breaking the stereotype that so many Japanesefeared before the competition.
Both the Japanese hosts and the English
guests gained the respect of each other and,I like to think, of all the other countries
involved in the World Cup. For the monthof the competition, one could be forgiven forthinking that 90% of the Japanese footballfans were actually England fans in disguise.
And the sheer number of David Beckhamstyle “soft mohican” haircuts that appeared
after the competition was a sure sign thattrue internationalization had taken place.

DESIGNATED CITY

Thanks to CLAIR

Yokohoma — The Future is Herecontinued from page 2

continued from page 3

participants throughout Japan. CLAIR’sobjective, to foster mutual understanding andfriendship through international cooperation
at the community level, was certainly accomplished both in Tokyo and in Ishikawa
Prefecture. The highlight of the trip to Japanfor me was the stay with a host family withwhom we quickly developed mutual understanding and a lasting friendship.

its New York office supports the activitiesof Yokohama firms in North America andencourages development of business in
Yokohama by North American firms.

My sincere thanks to CLAIR for theirgreat generosity and well accomplished organization of this wonderful visit to Japan.

JLGC Newsletter

For more information, see the NY officewebsite: http://www.coyokohama.org/
Connections with other cities and ports
Yokohama has established sister- orfriendship-city relationships with eight othercities around the world, including San Diegoand Vancouver. The city participates in a6

number of programs of international interchange in order to deepen ties of mutual
understanding and cooperation with theseand other cities.
Yokohama has also forged bonds offriendship with six ports in other countries,
including Vancouver and Oakland. Interchangewith these ports includes the sending andreceiving of trainees and delegations.
For additional information on theforward-looking city of Yokohama, please
visit its website at:
http://www.city.yokohama.jp/indexE.html

Issue 43

Summer 2003