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JLGC News & Blog

Taste Nara “Nara Jikan (It’s Nara Time)”

Nara is famous for Japan’s first permanent capital and one of the country’s most historical destinations with eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Nara is located in the Kansai region and less than one hour from Kyoto and Osaka. The City of Nara released a new travel and food website which guides you to unique destinations and lifestyle experiences in Nara. It invites you to taste the delicious strawberries, fine teas, and sophisticated sake brands that are special to Nara City. The website, “Nara Jikan (It’s Nara Time)” (http://narajikan.jp/en/) viewable website in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean and French. It reveals the stories behind the making of Nara’s premium quality produce, sharing… Read More »Taste Nara “Nara Jikan (It’s Nara Time)”

Urban Agriculture in New York City – Part 1: Roots

Background The popular image of New York City, aside from Central Park, is usually of towering office buildings in Manhattan or densely packed brownstones in Brooklyn. In reality, though, there are considerable amounts of open land in the five boroughs, not all of which is parkland. Increasingly, some of this land harkens back to a time when the city had many working farms and grew much of its own food. Now, however, growing food is about much more than simply growing food. New York City was formed through the consolidation of numerous scattered cities, towns, and villages in 1898. For most of its history, large parts of the area that… Read More »Urban Agriculture in New York City – Part 1: Roots

New York City Focuses on Inclusion

We attended a briefing and training workshop recently on New York City programs for its immigrant communities, co-hosted by the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs and the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs, along with the New York Public Library. The session was primarily for consular staff to learn about these programs and how they can partner with the City to inform their constituent communities about available services and facilitate access to them. Representatives from several consulates attended, including Switzerland, Ukraine, Bolivia, and Angola. International Affairs Commissioner Penny Abeywardena opened the session along with Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Nisha Agarwal and Ms. Caryl Soriano, head of the Mid-Manhattan Branch of the NYPL.… Read More »New York City Focuses on Inclusion

PEACE ARCH HIROSHIMA Update Their Web Site!

As you may know, we posted previously about the project “PEACE ARCH HIROSHIMA” . Today, we would like to announce that the website is updated! You can check the recent information and even get more through this. Please see the attached file and check it out! Peace Arch Hiroshima

Results of the JET Program Video Contest

As we’ve reported before, CLAIR has been gathering videos from current and former JET participants through the JET Program Video Contest. Recently, a panel of judges consisting of experts in a variety of related fields has decided the 10 winners of the contest in Tokyo. Congratulations to all of the award recipients, and thank you to everyone who participated in the contest! The 10 winners will be presented with their awards and prizes at the JET Program 30th Anniversary Ceremony, to be held on 7 November, 2016. The award-winning videos, as well as the other submitted videos, can be viewed on the JET Program’s website at http://jetprogramme.org/en/videocontest/. Please enjoy all… Read More »Results of the JET Program Video Contest

A New Focus on Sustainability and Resilience at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

We received a tour of the new Shelby White and Leon Levy Water Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which had its grand opening on September 15th. It is a 1.5 acre wetland and riparian environment that forms the heart of the Water Conservation Project, a series of improvements at BBG to increase sustainability and resilience with a system to recirculate and reuse water from the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and the new Water Garden pond, as well as absorb runoff from a significant portion of BBG’s 52-acre watershed. In the next phase of the project, the existing narrow stream system that runs from the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden south and out of… Read More »A New Focus on Sustainability and Resilience at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

New JET Experience video

Embassy of Japan made a new JET Experience video. Current and former JETs share their experiences on the JET Program. Revolutionary. Adventure. Unforgettable. Transformative. Sugoi. Epic. Excitement. Life-changing. Kizuna (絆). Ichigo-ichie (一期一会). These are how they sum up their JET experience in one word. Please take a look using the following Youtube link! Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjTHcz0JQw

5th Annual Manga kingdom Tottori International Comic Art Contest

Tottori prefecture calls for submissions to the Comic Art Contest. Please see the following link for the details. http://www.pref.tottori.lg.jp/238597.htm (It’s Japanese website. But you can go to the English site through a link on the page.)

Hida Takayama Contemporary Woodblock-Prints Triennale 2017

Takayama city, Gifu prefecture calls for submissions to the Contemporary Woodblock-Prints Triennale. Please see the following link for the details. http://www.city.takayama.lg.jp/kurashi/1000021/1000118/1006776/1006777.html

JET Arigato Campaign

CLAIR will be holding an Arigato Campaign to share messages of thanks to the people who have grown close to through the JET Programme, or to the JET Programme itself. The campaign is for current JETs, JET alumni or Japanese people that have connections with the JET Programme. You can submit your messages between May 18, 2016, and August 31, 2016 in one of the three following formats: 1) A text message and photos ( up to 3 ) 2) An audio message and photos ( up to 3 ) 3) A short video message → Written message should be no longer than 70 words. → Audio and video messages… Read More »JET Arigato Campaign

Parks Without Borders Summit

Several of our staff members were able to attend the first ever Parks Without Borders summit, held at the New School on May 24th, hosted by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Attendees included people from numerous civic and parks advocacy groups along with design firms and other private and nonprofit sector entities involved in a broad range of issues. The City’s new Parks Without Borders program has received $50 million in City funding and seeks to more effectively and comprehensively integrate greenspace into the lives of New Yorkers. The all-day summit included keynote speeches on the evolution of public space in New York and the role… Read More »Parks Without Borders Summit

The Japan Society – Hiroshi Nakaso, Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan, on Monetary Policy and Structural Reforms

Recently, staff of the Japan Local Government Center (CLAIR, New York) was fortunate to attend an event at the Japan Society that featured Hiroshi Nakaso, the deputy governor of the Bank of Japan. He gave an insightful talk about what the Bank is doing now and how Abenomics is progressing, together with an idea of what is needed to spur the Japanese economy in the near future. Mr. Nakaso has been with the Bank for almost 40 years and has seen much and has been responsible for crisis management in the financial markets. So, his talk was timely and instructive in these uncertain economic times. He began by discussing what… Read More »The Japan Society – Hiroshi Nakaso, Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan, on Monetary Policy and Structural Reforms