SEARCH

Contact Us

Site Map

BREEZE #111

JANUARY, 2017: BREEZE ISSUE #111
Like 0ShareA Free E-Newsletter for Friends of Japan & Teachers of Japanese

GREETING FROM THE DIRECTOR

Happy New Year to you all!
Last year was a wonderful experiment for us. We presented the films that were co-produced by
Japan and other Asian countries. We explored eroticism together with our neighbor theGoethe-Institute, LA. We changed the world with Onigiri (rice balls). We used acting as amethod of learning Japanese. We painted Hollywood red with the cinema screening of One
Piece Super Kabuki . Thank you all for enjoying all of our events through the year. Yourfeedback has always been a good source of inspiration for yet another new idea.
A new year is not a new year without Osechi , a traditional Japanese new year’s cuisine where
every ingredient has its own ritual meaning for celebration. Together with NHK World, we will
be holding an Osechi workshop as part of Japanese Culture Week to be held at the Echo Park
Film Center. We will also be partnering with the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) inPrivacy - Terms

celebrating Oshogatsu (New Year) by holding yet another Hello Kitty workshop by kawaii artist
Sebastian Masuda. If you missed the last one in November, this will be a good opportunity tocatch up.
This year will be both challenging and exciting for us. During the months of June and July, wewill be renovating our facilities, under which we have no other choice than to give up ourlibrary space for good, but we will come back stronger with a whole new array of exciting
programs in August. Please be forewarned that you will see Japan as you have never seen
before during the year of the Rooster!
Sincerely,Hideki Hara, Director

JAPANESE NEW YEAR'S CUISINESATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 5PM-6PM (ECHO PARK FILM CENTER)ADMISSION IS FREE AND NO RESERVATION REQUIREDIn Japan, people celebrate the New Year with specially prepared foods called Osechi-ryori (お節料理), which consist of a variety of dishes. A Japanese food specialist, Yoko Issasi, will guideus through Japanese New Year dishes and explain the meaning behind each dish and what
they represent for the new year.
This program is presented in conjunction with NHK World Japanese Culture Week in Los
Angeles. Click here for more information.
Read More

Privacy - Terms

WORKSHOP WITH ARTIST SEBASTIAN MASUDASUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 11AM-5PM (JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM)ADMISSION: FREE
Help kawaii artist Sebastian Masuda fill a gigantic Hello Kitty time capsule! Bring a cherishedpersonal item or write a letter to your future self, which you will work on and decorate at theworkshop before adding it to the capsule.
Read More

DIRECTOR MAKOTO SHINKAI'S SHORT ANIMATION DOUBLE FEATURE NIGHT
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11 AT 7PM (JFLA AUDITORIUM)"5 CENTIMETERS PER SECOND" (63MINS, 2007)
IN JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Takaki and Akari became best friends after transferring into the same elementary school.
However, the two are separated following their elementary school graduation. As they placed
their feelings for each other behind them, time simply passed by. Then one snowy day, Takaki
is about to be reunited with Akari. As he sits on the train from Tokyo, memories of the past rush
through Takaki's head, his meeting time with Akari drawing ever closer. Join Takaki on ajourney into three interconnected tales of love and lost innocence that span the minutes andmonths of their lives.
Read MoreWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11 AT 8:15PM (JFLA AUDITORIUM)"THE GARDEN OF WORDS" (46MINS, 2013)
IN JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
When Takao, a high school student dreaming of becoming a shoemaker, skips school one day
in favor of sketching shoes in a rainy garden, he has no idea how much his life will change
when he encounters the mysterious Yukino. Older, but perhaps not much wiser, she seems

Privacy - Terms

adrift in the world. The two strike up an unusual relationship through chance meetings in thesame garden on each rainy day. But the rainy season is coming to a close, leaving many things
left unshared between them...
Read MoreWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25 AT 7PM (JFLA AUDITORIUM)"MISS HOKUSAI" (90MINS, 2016)
IN JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
From award-winning director Keiichi Hara ( Colorful ) and Japanese powerhouse Production I.G(creators of Ghost in the Shell ) comes a remarkable story of the daughter behind one ofhistory’s most famous artists.
As all of Edo (present day Tokyo) flocks to see the work of the revered painter Hokusai, hisdaughter O-Ei toils diligently inside his studio. Her masterful portraits, dragons and erotic
sketches – sold under the name of her father – are coveted by upper crust Lords andjourneyman print makers alike. Shy and reserved in public, in the studio O-Ei is as brash anduninhibited as her father, smoking a pipe while sketching drawings that would makecontemporary Japanese ladies blush. But despite this fiercely independent spirit, O-Ei
struggles under the domineering influence of her father and is ridiculed for lacking the life
experience that she is attempting to portray in her art.

Miss Hokusai ‘s bustling Edo is filled with yokai spirits, dragons, and conniving tradesmen, while
O-Ei’s relationships with her demanding father and blind younger sister provide a powerfulemotional underpinning to this sumptuously-animated coming-of-age tale.
Read More

Privacy - Terms

OSHOGATSU FAMILY FESTIVAL
SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 11AM-5PM (JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM)ADMISSION: FREE
Welcome the Year of the Rooster with crafts, food, cultural activities, and performances!
Read More

2017-2018 J-LEAP: NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONSDEADLINE: JANUARY 10, 2017
Are you interested in inviting a Japanese Assistant Teacher (AT) to your K-12 classroom for up
to two consecutive school years? Do you want to give your students an opportunity to learn
and hear Japanese from a native speaker or an additional native speakers for some variation?
If so, make sure you apply for J-LEAP, which was started in 2011 with the help of the Laurasian
Institute (TLI).
Program Information

JAPANESE LANGUAGE COURSES
WINTER 2017 TERM: JAN. 14 - APRIL 4
REGISTER NOW!
Winter is nearly here, and the registration period for our JF Nihongo Winter Term has begun!
We are now accepting registrations for our popular Japanese courses which will begin onJanuary 14th. Our courses are designed for new Japanese-language learners, as well as those
who are interested in improving their existing language skills.
Privacy - Terms

Read MoreINTRODUCTION TO POLITE JAPANESEWINTER 2017 TERM: JAN. 21 - FEB. 4
REGISTER NOW!
Politeness in Japanese is essential for smooth communication in social settings. In this course,you will be familiarized with the system of honorifics (“keigo” in Japanese). Course of threemeetings. All applicants are eligible for a 10% Early Bird Discount if you register by January 9,2017!
Read More2017 NATIONAL JAPAN BOWL REGISTRATION EXTENDED!
DEADLINE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2017
The 2017 National Japan Bowl® will be held Thursday-Friday, April 6-7, 2017 at the National 4-H
Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The Sakura Matsuri, the nation’s largest one-day
Japanese cultural event, will be held on Saturday, April 8, 2017, the day after the National
Japan Bowl. Please visit the link below for the Study Guide for the 2017 National Japan Bowl,
the Administrative Guide, which contains a link to the online registration forms, and theApplication Checklist, which must be included in your application.
Read More

Privacy - Terms

2017-18 JAPANESE LANGUAGE GRANTS (COMING SOON!)
The application materials for our Fiscal Year 2017-18 grant programs (Learners Event Grant,Teaching Material Purchase Grant, Salary Assistance Grant, etc.) will be available by the end ofJanuary, 2017. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION UPDATE 38:
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE JAPANESE CLASSROOM
Last month at the 2016 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo in Boston, 2012
Teacher of the Year Mr. Yo Azama (North Salinas High School) and AATJ President Dr. Yoshiko
Saito-Abbott (California State University Monterey Bay), presented a session titled “Social
Justice in the Language Classroom: Impact on Global Citizenship.” The room was absolutely
packed with language teachers of all kinds.
Read More

NEW JFLA TWITTER HANDLE @JF_LOSANGELESJFLA has a new twitter handle to make it easier to search for us. Make sure to follow us@JF_LosAngeles!

Privacy - Terms

2016-2017 J-LEAP REPORTS
For the 2016-2017 school year, we invited twelve native assistant teachers (AT) to variousschools around the country as part of the Japanese Language Education Assistant Program (JLEAP). This is the sixth year of this program where schools around the country are given theopportunity to invite an AT for up to two years with the goal of strengthening their Japanese
language program. This month, we will feature the reports from the following ATs detailing theirexperiences at American schools.
Miki Inokuchi, Shaler Area High School (Pittsburgh, PA)
Kei Yamaguchi, Cabell Midland High School (Ona, WV)

SAYONARA JFLA LIBRARY
We are very sad to announce that the JFLA library will be closing at the end of January. The
last day to return books will be on the 28th. This spring, we will be renovating and downsizing
our office and the Nihongo Library, which was established in 1992, will not be part of ourofferings going forward. We will still be open for our usual movie screenings. cultural
events/workshops, and Japanese language classes until the completion of the current fiscal
year ending on March 31. We hope to re-open with a new look this fall and hope you willcontinue to support us in the new evolution of JFLA.

Past Issues (2020)

Past Issues (2019)



Past Issues (2018)

Privacy - Terms

Past Issues (2017)

Breeze #122Breeze #121Breeze #120

Breeze #119

Breeze #118

Breeze #117

Breeze #116

Breeze #115

Breeze #114

Breeze #113

Breeze #112

Breeze #111

Breeze Past Issues

Breeze Issues #1-#36 (PDF)

Headquarters

New York Office

ボランティア募集

Center for Global PartnershipJapan Related Links

Volunteer

Job Openings (Updated)

Privacy - Terms

5700 Wilshire blvd, Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90036
P. 323.761.7510

Annual Report© 2019 The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles
Web Design.

Privacy - Terms