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Comments from CLAIR Fellowship Exchange Program Participants
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JET Program cited in Proclamation by Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado
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A JET Alumni member has been helping the rebuilding in Tohoku by providing useful information!
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A new CLAIR Report, “Learning from successful financial reform in St. Lucie County, Florida”, has been released!
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Governor Yuji Kuroiwa gave the inaugural talk of his US visit at the Nippon Club on Monday, May 6th, speaking on Kanagawa Prefecture’s recent efforts to develop a Special Zone (tokku) devoted to medical research and the development of new technologies and new approaches to improving the health of and healthcare provision for Japan’s rapidly aging population, with the ultimate goal of being able to export these innovations around the world.
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Japanese calligraphy, swordsmanship, tea ceremony, and other arts and crafts were on display Friday, May 3rd in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall as 40 citizens from the City of Inuyama set up in the plaza to share Japanese art and culture with the citizens of Brooklyn.
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To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the sister city relationship established in 1988 between Saga City and Glens Falls, NY, a delegation from Saga City visited Glens Falls and New York City from April 10th to 15th, 2013. The delegation was composed of 27 members, including the Mayor of Saga City, Mr. Toshiyuki Hideshima, a Chairman of the City Council, Mr. Hisao Fukui, and city residents.
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“A Taste of Tohoku : Food, Sake, Recipes & Stories” was held on April 11 at the Japan Society in New York.
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The global recession has severely affected not only the business community, but also local governments in the U.S. from the latter half of 2008. Despite the fact that a large number of local governments faced serious financial difficulties, some of them could avert or overcome financial crisis. St. Lucie County, Florida, is one successful example, due to their rapid response to the unfolding crisis.
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The Japanese premier of LIVE YOUR DREAM was held on March 4th at the International House in Tokyo. The film tells the story of Taylor Anderson, a JET Program participant from Virginia who worked in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, and perished in the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The film is 85 minutes long and has been subtitled in Japanese. It consists of interviews with Taylor’s family, former teachers, classmates, JET colleagues from Ishinomaki and Miyagi Prefecture, and many of the Japanese people that she came to know, along with photographs and news footage. It relates how she fulfilled the dream arising out of her passion for Japan and how much she grew as a teacher and contributed to the community after she got to the country.
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On February 22nd, around 15 JET alumni were invited to the reception held by Japan’s Prime Minister Abe in Washington, D.C.
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Perhaps those who visited Japan might have seen some of these “city mascots.”
Yes. Believe it or not, these mascots dancing to the tune of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” in the following videos are sponsored by Japanese local governments to promote each jurisdiction, local tourism and local products. They are called “Yuru-Chara”, meaning relaxing mascots. (FYI, the following videos were officially produced by the Japan National Tourism Organization.)
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A group of 35 students from Kozukata High School in Iwate Prefecture and Toride-Shoyou High School in Ibaraki Prefecture visited San Francisco in mid-January to talk about their experiences during and after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami (“3/11”) that devastated much of the Tohoku region of Japan. As part of their visit, the students met with representatives of the JET Alumni Association of Northern California, where Mark Frey, vice president of the chapter, gave a presentation on what current JETs and JET alumni have done since 3/11 to support the people of Tohoku.
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On the occasion of the annual National Day Reception, hosted by the Consulate General of Japan in Denver, the State of Colorado presented Consul-General Ono with a Proclamation signed by Governor Hickenlooper announcing 2013 as “THE YEAR OF OPPORTUNITY FOR ENHANCED RELATIONS, FRIENDSHIP, AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE STATE OF COLORADO”. The Proclamation cites this as being the 100th anniversary of Japan’s gift of cherry trees to the United States, the inauguration of non-stop flights between Colorado and Japan, and the ongoing success of the JET Program, with strong participation by Coloradoans, as contributing to ever-richer relations between the two peoples.
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Executive Director Takaaki Ogata was pleased to welcome Mr. Paulo Ziulkoski, President of the Confederação Nacional dos Municípios (CNM, National Confederation of Municipalities of Brazil), to Japan Local Government Center / CLAIR, New York, on December 18th for a discussion on the activities carried out by our respective offices and how CLAIR might help CNM to promote greater international cooperation among local governments in Brazil. Mr. Gustavo Cezário, Director, also joined the meeting via Skype from Brasília.
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Within the first hours after Hurricane Sandy left the New York City area, family, friends, and neighbors were already helping one another to look for survivors, take in the homeless, deliver food and water to those people who had none, and begin to pick up whatever personal possessions could be salvaged from the wreckage. In the days immediately following, volunteer groups such as Occupy Sandy started to organize relief efforts, moving into the storm-ravaged neighborhoods along the shore to bring supplies and check on survivors.
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On June 8, Mayor Matsui from the City of Hiroshima visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu. He dedicated flowers and gave a speech for visitors. It was the first speech by a Japanese mayor at the Memorial.
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In early September, Four Nagasaki JET alumni participated in an exchange meeting with a delegation from Nagasaki Prefecture (led by the incumbent Governor Nakamura) and the Nagasaki Association in New York (New York Batten-kai).
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The Rocky Mountain JETAA chapter has been busy with two recent events helping out their various Colorado sister cities.
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The Board of County Commissioners’ special meeting on July 19, 2012 adopted a resolution expressing appreciation to Naomi Maki with the Japan Local Government Center for choosing to visit and study St. Lucie County, Florida to learn more about its success story relating to its financial and budget challenges, organization restructuring and public/private partnerships.
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‘Parklet’ is the term for a tiny piece of land that is dedicated for use as a park in an urban environment. Started in 2005 as a project of the design firm, Rebar, in San Francisco, the idea has caught on in Chicago and Philadelphia as well.
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Japan’s five major political parties reportedly agreed to introduce a bill which enables local governments of a certain population size to change their governing structure. Japan has a two-tier local government system in which the upper tier governments are called prefectures and the lower tiers are cities, towns and villages.
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It is always difficult to balance efficient local government administration with open discussion with those residents affected by local government policies. This is particularly important for Japanese local governments where such a balance is not always obvious. The purpose of this short article is to describe what may be termed as ‘how not to engage your residents’ on matters that affect their personal lives.
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Each local area has its own special food. Especially in Japan, there are various kinds of local food and some of them are very famous. The residents love the food, and many tourists visit such places to explore a special local taste, which enriches their travel experience.
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Annually, since 1998, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (PRC) conducts a poll of Americans to gauge their opinions, favourable and unfavourable, toward American federal, state and local governments. Though questions vary somewhat from year to year, certain basic themes are kept constant. Also, the Center’s focus tends to be mainly on state and federal governments. Finally, the results of its surveys, generally, make news nationally and are often featured prominently on the television and in the press.
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One way that the many JET alumni chapters in the US work to stay connected to Japan is through their support for prefecture and local governments and their involvement with communities here that have links to Japan. Alumni are active in contributing to sister city and sister state relationships, assisting groups or officials visiting from Japan, helping out at events and exhibits to promote tourism and local products, and participating in kenjinkai and other Japanese groups here in the US.
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This year marks the 100th anniversary of trees given to the United States from Japan which are planted in Washington, DC. On May 19th, Sunday, a tree planting ceremony was held at the Novi Civic Center. The City of Novi, which has the largest Japanese population in Michigan with nearly 2,500 community members and more than 65 Japanese-owned businesses, has been chosen as a recipient of the Centennial Gift of Trees.
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JET alumni have been deeply engaged in supporting Japan after the multiple disasters of march 11, 2011. Here is a far from somprehensive roud-up of these activities in the United States and Canada.
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A New and Controversial Municipal Tax on Vehicles Crossing the Bridge
～ One Aspect of Japanese Municipal Tax System ～
On April 11th, 2012, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) approved a controversial tax by the City of Izumisano, Osaka.
The city will impose a 100 yen tax on every vehicle which crosses the bridge connecting the mainland to Kansai International Airport (KIA) Island. The tax is in addition to an existing 800 yen toll on the national bridge.
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Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department announced on March 5, 2012 that its traffic control policy has been updated significantly. Almost one year has passed since the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, when the central part of the Tokyo metropolitan area experienced heavy traffic congestion with people trying to return to their homes. As a result, there were instances when emergency vehicles could not arrive quickly to places where people needed them.
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The National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Japan-America Society of Washington DC have invited 13 students from the Yamakiya Taiko Club in Fukushima to perform at the centennial celebrations for Japan’s gift of flowering cherry trees to the United States. The students will travel to Washington from their new, post-evacuation homes in Japan, after being forced to leave their hometown of Yamakiya, part of Kawamata Town in Fukushima Prefecture, in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The Yamakiya drummers meeting with Ambassador John Roos before leaving for Washington.
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- Tokyo Metropolitan Government supports the overseas study and training of 10,000 youth.
In December 2011, Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) issued its long term comprehensive vision titled “Tokyo Vision 2020”. The plan is to show the residents of Tokyo how to move forward and tackle many kinds of urban issues after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
This plan addresses “8 Goals”; including becoming a disaster- resistant city, creating a highly efficient and independent energy system, stimulating industry, transportation, welfare and education. As well as the “8 Goals”, the plan also describes “12 Key Projects” to achieve the goals. Among the “12 Goals”, you can find an interesting project called “Let Your Child Experience the World”.
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Report on the Fellowship Program 2011 updated.
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In November, Sakai City announced the open recruitment for the Mihara Ward Mayor. It is said to be the first case that a designated city accepted candidates for ward mayor from anywhere in the country.
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The Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education (BOE) conducts bus excursion tours for young people for a reasonable price. These bus tours are unique because the sites visited are not the usual sites such as; the Tokyo Tower, Imperial Palace, or the aesthetic water front area, but the city’s schools!
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Nowadays, the increase in traffic accidents involving bicycles is one of the biggest problems in Tokyo. Cases of bicycle collisions with pedestrians, causing serious injuries to the pedestrians, and of bicyclists riding recklessly and being killed by cars are both occurring frequently.
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Now European countries are discussing joint issuance of government bonds. But Germany, needless to say the most financially stabilized country, is against the proposition partly because Germany can issue its government bond for itself at less expensive cost. This is quite a similar situation seen in Japanese local government bond market.
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Speaking of sightseeing in Tokyo’s downtown (Shitamachi), some popular spots are Ueno, Asakusa and Ryogoku. Public transportation in Tokyo is so convenient that you can travel all across Tokyo by railway, subway and bus. However, they are all operated by different organizations such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Metro Company, JR East and so on. Some travelers from foreign countries feel a bit of confusion when they calculate fares or change trains. So the Tokyo Shitamachi Bus could be the solution, since it connects all of the above-mentioned downtown sightseeing spots.
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In September 2011, Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education (BoE) and Fukushima Prefecture Board of Education signed an agreement so that the Tokyo BoE could conduct the recruitment exam for Fukushima.
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The March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and catastrophic tsunami is an event no one will ever forget. In one split second, we lost our family, friends, employment, property and memories. Smiles vanished from our faces. Anguish and despair overran our emotions.
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～Ganbaro, Iwate! Let’s stick together, Iwate!～
We will slowly but surely proceed towards reconstruction, such as building temporary housing in the affected areas.
Here we will introduce the current state of Iwate, step by step towards reconstruction.
*The newest one: No.16 (March 15th, 2012)
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The Rocky Mountain JETAA chapter recently participated in the Kizuna Reception hosted by the Consulate General of Japan in Denver and the Japan America Society of Colorado, representing the JET Program and bringing a bit of Japanese fun to the festivities by way of rajio taiso.
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