 From Straderあけましておめでとうございます！今年も宜しくお願いします！ In June, I started work as a producer at TV Tokyo's Washington, DC Bureau. We cover American politics and international issues for TV Tokyo's news programming. We have a small office (me and 3 others), so my responsibilities run the gamut from basic office work, to reporting (I have not been on air yet, but I should be able to tick that box soon), covering developments on Capitol Hill, at the White House, at the Pentagon, at the State Department, etc, research, translation and interpretation, and developing and planning feature stories. I have only been here six months, but feature stories are by far and away the best part of my job. Being the only native English speaker in the office, I have substantial responsibilities for these stories, including: research, initializing and managing relationships with interviewees and other sources on location, conducting interviews, logistics, assisting with post-production, and developing story ideas. |
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Strader Payton
Monday, November 20, 2006
On Friday, Oct. 27, 2006, the Japanese language program sponsored an information session about studying abroad in Japan, led by Alex Chwat and other GW students who have already studied in Japan. This meeting allowed students, who are thinking of studying in Japan, to hear their peers talk about their study abroad experiences in places such as Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya--a great opportunity to get the most updated and accurate information about study abroad options.
If you are planning on going to Japan in a few years, don't miss the opportunity next year!
Scholarships and Financial Aid to Study Abroad in Japan
The following are excerpts from the respective programs offering scholarships to those studying in Japan.
Freeman Asia
Freeman-ASIA (Freeman Awards for Study in Asia) is designed to support American undergraduates with demonstrated financial need who are planning to study overseas in East or Southeast Asia.
In the past, there have been few funding opportunities for study abroad in Asia. However, with the generous support of the Freeman Foundation, the Institute of International Education (IIE) now administers the Freeman-ASIA Awards in order to give more American undergraduate students the means to study in East and Southeast Asia.
Freeman-ASIA Award recipients are expected to share their experiences with their home campuses to encourage study abroad in Asia by others, and to spread greater understanding of Asian peoples and cultures within their home communities. Since the launch of the program in 2000, Freeman-ASIA has supported over 2,500 U.S. undergraduates with their study abroad plans in East and Southeast Asia.
Bridging Scholarships
The Association of Teachers of Japanese Bridging Project offers scholarships to American undergraduate students participating in study-abroad programs in Japan. Funding from private foundations and major U.S. corporations has made it possible for ATJ to award 100 scholarships annually to assist students with the travel and living expenses they will incur while studying abroad in Japan for a semester or an academic year. Contributors to the scholarship fund include Citigroup, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Estee Lauder Group of Companies, The Freeman Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin, Morgan Stanley, Nishimoto Trading Co., Shinsei Bank, The Starr Foundation, Teradyne, Toyota Motor Sales USA, and Weyerhaeuser.
Undergraduate students majoring in any field of study are eligible to apply for these scholarships. Japanese language study is not a prerequisite. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must be enrolled as undergraduates in a college or university in the United States before and during the time they are studying abroad.
National Cherry Blossom Festival® Goodwill Ambassador Program
Students of the Japanese Program have served as Goodwill Ambassadors for the National Cherry Blossom Festival, including Jocelyn Campanaro, Mario Depeine, Max Brown and Mellissa Blackmon. The following is an excerpt from the National Cherry Blossom Festival homepage.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival Goodwill Ambassador Program began in 1994. Since then, over 50 young men and women have served the National Cherry Blossom Festival as a national representative of the event.
The NCBF’s official Goodwill Ambassadors serve as cultural liaisons, representing the festival at various events while promoting the goodwill and friendship between the United States and Japan. These individuals may be engaged in the study of Japanese language and culture and should be concerned with the cultural exchange between the United States and Japan.
Each year since its inception, the Goodwill Ambassador Committee has selected two or more ambassadors depending on the applicants' qualifications. In 1998, the first male Goodwill Ambassador was chosen - Stewart Ueno, a student at Yale University. In 1999, NCBF was able to provide one Goodwill Ambassador a one-year scholarship for study in Japan, valued at $10,000. The 2003 Festival saw by far the greatest diversity to date, with 2 men and 4 women from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Major in Japanese Languages and Literature
GW undergraduates can double-major across schools. Students in the Elliott School of International Affairs or the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. may now major in Japanese or Chinese without fulfilling the graduation requirements of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. Why minor when you can major?
Contact advisors at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures for further details.
Below are the requirements for the Japanese Major. Please check the 2002-03 Bulletin for a list of classes. Remember that you must fulfill the requirements as stated in the GW Undergraduate Bulletin of the academic year you declared your major.
The following requirements must be fulfilled:
- For students of the Columbian School of Arts and Sciences: The general requirements stated under the Columbian School. OR For GW students in schools other than the Columbian School: The general requirements as stated under the student's school, permission from the student's advisor, and petition to double major through the dean's office of the Columbian School.
- Prerequisite courses: Japn 1-2 Basic Japanese. Japn 3-4 Basic Japanese.
- Required for the major: Japn 105-106 Intermediate Japanese. Japn 109 Bungo, Introduction to Literary Japanese Japn 111-12 Japanese Literature in Translation.
- 15 hours selected from following electives: Japn 107-8 Readings in Modern Japanese. Japn 110 Readings in Classical Japanese. Japn 162 Japanese Culture Through Film. Japn 185-86 Directed Readings; availability limited. Japn 198-99 Proseminar: Readings for the Japanese Major.
- 9 hours in related courses outside department: (e.g., Art 187; Chin 163-4; Econ 170; Hist 127, 189, 195, 196; Kor 111-12; PSc 175; Rel 160).
Friday, October 15, 2004
Fall 2004, v. 9, no. 2
GWの日本語プログラムへようこそ
Welcome to the Japanese Program at GW
We would like to welcome the new first-year stu-dents in Japanese language. Ours is a program that strives to broaden your horizons and open your mind to a new and different culture. Currently we offer language courses at all levels—from basic to ad-vanced—as well as humanities courses such as Japa-nese Literature in Translation (Fall and Spring) and Japanese Culture Through Film (Spring). We hope you find the language challenging and the program inviting.
This is the eighth year of 「日本語にゅーす」 the Japanese Language Program newsletter. We strive to provide you with information of recent and up-coming events. Students are also a large part of this
newsletter and we encourage them to participate in this collective endeavor—as Elizabeth Butler, Jon Gaspar and Ben Robbins have in this issue. If you have any comments or experiences you would like to share with your fellow students concerning Japanese language learning, please contact your professor about your ideas. We look forward to hearing from you.
今年もがんばりましょう
留学情報会
Thinking of studying in Japan?
by Mona Camacho, Japanese Major
The Japanese language department is sponsoring its own in-formation session about studying abroad in Japan. Unlike other information sessions offered by GWU’s Office of Study Abroad, this session will be run by GWU students who have studied all over Japan. This meeting will allow students, who are thinking of studying in Japan, to hear guest speakers talk about their study abroad experiences in places such as Kyoto, Tokyo, and Nagoya. Moreover, Japanese foreign exchange students, who are currently studying at GWU, will be available for any questions and con-cerns you may have about studying in their home universities.
This is a great opportunity to get the most updated and accurate information about your study abroad options. In addition, there will be a slide show presentation that will highlight the fun things you will get to do while being abroad. If you want to learn more about studying in Japan or if you just want to meet students from the Japanese language department, come and join us on Friday, Oct. 22, 2004, at Phillips 209, from 3:30 to 4:30pm. There’s FREE food and we promise that you’ll have a great time! (Don’t worry, you don’t have to understand or speak Japanese. We promise!) RSVP by Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 via email to cettenom@gwu.edu or ysasaki@gwu.edu.
Blogs from Abroad
by Kirsten Sandquist
Recently, I’ve tried (and failed) a number of times to put into words exactly what it is about Japan that makes me feel slightly uneasy, why it is that I can’t feel comfortable in this city as I can in most others. It doesn’t take much, I promise. The only city I have found myself in that I couldn’t quite handle so far is New York. There’s some-thing about the strict grid of the streets, the height of the buildings, the abundance of people, the sheer staggering *hugeness* of it that just makes me feel overwhelmingly small and alone. However, I can’t chalk it up to the popu-lation of the place, because I didn’t have that problem in Istanbul, which is even bigger.
After some time here, I have come to this final conclu-sion: It isn’t the size of the place that matters, it’s the aura. Europe is what I know, and Europe feels *old* in a warm, welcoming way. It feels aged, but still pulsing with vitality. I find the same kind of comfort in a European city as one feels in a stately old house. It’s as though it breathes, it speaks, it has a memory and a forbearing dignity all its own. Washington DC has this too, to a large extent, though it can feel somewhat manufactured, as in the classi-cally designed buildings and monuments, in the carefully planned capriciousness of the state avenues and round-abouts which, with the negligible degree of frustration they cause bring to memory the haphazard forms of the Old World, and preserve Washington from the atmosphere that has befallen New York. Far from being old, New York feels youthful and energetic, reckless and institutional at the same time, impetuous within the bounds of the estab-lishment, like an enterprising young executive racing hell for leather up the corporate ladder. New York has some-thing frantic about it, like the measured tick of time is more rapid there; hot-headed young ambition to Washington’s educated idealism and Europe's seasoned hedonism.
Japan is an entirely different case altogether. Neither frantic nor sedate, Japan feels embarrassed, as if the place itself isn’t quite sure how to reconcile what it is with what it wants to be. It's as if the self-conscious shyness of the people has permeated the buildings themselves, emanating from garish plastic signs and neon lights and misspelled foreign words. People are so concerned with image here, with being thought highly of, and they try just a little too hard, making it impossible to take them seriously, like an dejected prostitute whose gaudy clothing and extravagant make-up, meant to enhance her desirability, only make her look more awkward. I hate to use that metaphor, but I can’t seem to find another that fits what I want to say. Japanese cities are trying to sell an image that some-how doesn’t fit on top of what they had to start out with, and I end up feeling just as uncomfortable as they seem to be.
Of course, I haven’t been here that long, and who knows how my opinions will change with time?
Saturday, October 02, 2004
by Chris KeyashianThe Misadventures of Chippy:So as you can tell it is now October 2nd. I am currently in a net cafe somewhere in Kyoto. I figure now’s as good a time as any to relay my initial feelings and experiences of this place.
The flight over here was LONG. But that's stating the obvious. Upon sitting down in my seat, fantasies and hopes swirled around in my mind. ::::maybe some hot Japanese girl will sit next to me:::: etc. Unfortunately I was surrounded by men. To make matters worse, the people to my right were Americans and one of them pro-ceeded to make himself completely and utterly drunk. He achieved this not very far into the flight, so I had to keep my headphones on and the music loud to not hear him hum or sing out random tunes... It was embarrassing. Oh well, what's a guy to do?
"Things will be better once I land" I told myself... Well that was sort of true. After making my way through im-migration I walked to the JR rail ticket counter and with the help of a woman near by I managed to purchase my express ticket to Kyoto. When I found the platform for my train, I watched in dismay as it pulled away. I had just missed it. "No matter" I though and proceeded to a nearby bench. A few minutes later, a man in uniform came up to me and we started exchanging friendly ban-ter in Japanese. We talked about Ichiro and how his kids go to school in Seattle and we talked about the weather. The entire time he kept assuring me that I could relax and that another train would be along soon but that it would have to be cleaned when it arrived so I should just continue to stay sitting at my bench. The ride on the train was surreal, I kept feeling like I was going to wake up and find myself in my bedroom in good old California, unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, no such thing happened.
The friendly man who had made conversation with me was, as I later found out, the conductor for my train. An upstanding guy if you ask me. =) Every time the train stopped, he would walk from the caboose, where I was seated, to the very front of the train. Each time he en-tered and exited a car he would bow. I thought that was very interesting and was thus kept entertained. Right around when I was supposed to get off the train for Kyoto, another drunk man entered my life. This time, the man was a very, very drunk salary-man. He could not even manage to stay on his seat and instead was laying prostrate on the ground in front of his chair. When the conductor made his usual bow and entered the car, he stopped to tell me that the next exit was Kyoto and that I should prepare to get off. Immediately following this, the drunk man started cursing and muttering under his breath about his 社長 (thats shyachou) and kicking the wall very loudly. The conductor gave me a very embar-rassed look and tried to talk to the man. After telling him that he was on the wrong train and that he needed to get off, the conductor left into his booth. From this point on until we had reached Kyoto, the drunken man repeatedly kicked the wall with great force. It was kind of disturbing actually. Regardless I made it off the train and after tak-ing a deep breath navigated my way to the taxis.
Upon arriving at the taxi area, a car door opened automatically for me to get in. But before we could be off, I had to put my luggage in his trunk, a very tough task if you ask me... First of all, the guy couldn't pick up either of my suitcases. (they weighed 65 pounds each) And af-ter I put one in his trunk, we discovered that the other wouldn't fit in his trunk without a rope. After watching him fumble about with his rope and hook for the trunk, (he even tried hooking the rope to his exhaust pipe... was he crazy or what?) he came to the conclusion that we didn't need to tie his trunk shut and that everything would be ok... I entered the car and had my fingers crossed the entire time. Having done my bit of physics in high school I was certain that on a turn or when he ac-celerated off a stoplight, one of my suitcases would fall out of his trunk and be hit by the car behind us. Luckily this did not happen and everything in fact did work out. We soon thereafter arrived at my hotel.
Let me tell you, for a hotel with the word “Rich” in its title, I was expecting a little more. The room was so small that I'm sure lamangust would have sustained ma-jor head trauma were she to use the rest room... But that’s another story... Anyhow, after settling myself into my room and taking a shower I figured it would be a good time to look for a net cafe to recount my journey. While I walked on the street it was strange, roughly 70% of the people would turn their heads to get a look at me. I suppose I am quite a sight right now. White guy in a bright yellow Caesar's palace t-shirt walking briskly down the streets of Kyoto at 10:00 at night... I guess I kinda stick out. Did I mention that I’m white? I think I might stick out any time of day... Oh well nothing wrong with that really...
I'm really tired right now so I think I'm going to call it a night. Anyway, that pretty much catches me up to the present. More to come tomorrow or the day after... It all depends on when I can get to a net cafe again as this one is nowhere near my school.
Wish me luck on the walk back to my hotel,
Japanese Poetry in English
is as vast as my will here,
oh kingdom divine,
let me look upon you now.
Shiny dagger leaves
evergreen in Autumn's grasp
line concrete vistas,
tread on by one thousand feet
who know this land not.
Foggy Bottom glen,
province where steel giants reign,
lie bare before me.
Fair maiden, disrobe this night,
shed your gold raiment
amidst gossamer heavens
of Western periphery.
The 4th (starts with: let me look) and 12th (starts with "lie bare before") line should be indented if you want to keep the poem true to original form. It's just annoying to indent stuff in email.
Oh, and the "thousand feet" is another specific image of GWU. :P Think about all the international and transfer stu-dents "who know this land not". ;)
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Fall 2004, v. 9, no. 1
Blogs from Abroad
Wednesday, September 30, 2004
by Carolina HarperJapan. Visiting and living seem to be two things that are different entirely. While visiting, as hard as you might try to be otherwise, you are still restricted to the tourist side of things. Where as when doing study abroad, you actually get to live in Japan. That in itself is a daunting thought but many overcome that to the point of curiosity and actual interest. I was one of those GDub Japanese Majors who did so and now finds herself studying Japanese for a year while living in Nagoya.
Nagoya seems to be neither here nor there which is good because it means people do not treat you like a tourist but rather just a foreigner. Though that may seem harsh in certain ways, Japan has its own unique ideas on foreigners much as Americans do. We all treat people who are different from us in different ways. The positive side is that there is a great deal of kindness given to foreigners as they make their way, but this is mainly an asset for tourists. As someone who is trying to live in Japan, I’d rather not be coddled the way that people try to do sometimes.
As many Japanese people have tried to explain, they see us Study Abroad Students like their own children and Japanese parents tend to be overprotective, in contrast to the majority of American parents. It is far more common to live at home or in a same sex dormitory (not even sure co-ed dorms really exist) while going to college in Japan. A curfew is common and so is calling home and letting your parents know your plans; meaning, if you live at home you are expected to eat dinner with the family unless otherwise arranged. This can be a very different experience when compared to life at GDub where you live in a dorm with no curfew and your neighbors are usually of the opposite sex. Not to mention that even remembering to eat dinner is a feat in itself. One approach to Japan could be to reject all the foreignness that it presents to a study abroad student but another one is try and find the root and reason of the things that seem strange to us and thereby gaining understanding and eliminating its 'strangeness'. This seems to be the best approach with social interaction and living situations, but business and the politics of Japan are another matter entirely...... hmm too much to say.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
by Kirsten SandquistSo it's just October, but my yearly "November Rain" listening marathon has already begun... I wonder how long it will last this time.
I ended up talking with my host mother for about 3 hours yesterday, about all kinds of things, to the point that she forgot about dinner and I forgot about my two tests today until my host sister came home around 8. I've realized that my host mother is one of the few people who doesn't dumb down her Japanese when she talks to me, and I'm very grateful for this. Apart from what good practice it was, I learned a lot of surprising things...
For example, she is a licensed pharmacist, but stopped working when she got married. She wants to work once her children are older, but her eyes are getting worse, and she might not be able to... Sad. Also, her marriage was arranged... Weird!! Anyway, I'm finding myself getting along better here.
Going to work today for the first time today, to the Italian school, but unfortunately, because of the rain and the late night to make up for the bonding time when I should have been studying, I'm not as genki as I could be. Ah, whatever...
Still missing Milan and DC, but the rain has stopped making me feel nostalgic and started making me feel comfortable/relaxed. I love rain, despite the lethargy it creates in me. Apparently, it is uncommon for Nagoya to have such a rainy autumn, but I definitely don't mind it making this one exception.
Earthquake this morning... They have been getting more frequent. Scary. My heart starts pounding like a rabbit and my hands shake for 15 minutes afterwards. This is something I have never had to deal with before. Used to solid ground being... well... solid, the idea that the Earth itself is not dependable makes me nervous...