JASA will have a table at Alabama's Largest Anime and Gaming Comic - Con! Come and see our fan table on Friday night and Saturday morning of the 3-Day event! We'd love to see you there.

Kami-Con Dates: February 22-24 2019

For more information about Kami-Con, follow this link.

EngageAsia is administering the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teaching award to one exceptional teacher in the humanities category (the 2020 award will focus on Japanese language). The Award recognizes exceptional teachers who further mutual understanding between American and Japanese people. The award consists of a $2,500 monetary award and a $5,000 grant provided by the United States-Japan Foundation. It is named in honor of Elgin Heinz for his commitment to educating students about Asia as well as for the inspiration he has provided to the field of pre-college education.

To learn more about the award and application procedures, please link here:

https://www.engageasia.org/programs/

Eligibility Requirements

The award is open to current full-time K-12 classroom teachers of any relevant subject in the United States. There are two award categories, one in the humanities and one in Japanese language. The 2019 award will only be open to candidates in the humanities category.

Previous award recipients often have over 10 years of teaching experience and have been engaged in teaching their students about Japan for a substantial period of time.  Candidates must demonstrate sustained commitment to improving mutual understanding between Americans and Japanese, and must have made a significant contribution to enhancing students’ knowledge of Japan.

Applicants for the Japanese language category must have excellent command of the Japanese language and may be contacted by members of the selection committee to verify this.

Nomination Procedures

Applicants for the Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award need not be nominated to apply. However, the Foundation is always seeking to encourage the nation’s top educators to consider applying for the award. Therefore, we welcome nominations of individuals qualified to apply for the Award.

Letters of Nomination should briefly highlight the qualifications of the candidate and must include his/her name, contact information, and indicate the school at which the candidate currently teaches.

EngageAsia, which is administering the award, will accept Letters of Nomination at any time and will inform candidates that they have been nominated for the Award. Those nominated must submit a full application as indicated below.

Nominators should keep in mind the deadline for applications is in early May. Therefore, it is recommended that nominations be submitted by early March in order to provide potential candidates the time needed to compile their applications.

Deadline: May 15, 2019

Letters of Nomination should be e-mailed to EngageAsia at: info@engageasia.org

We'd like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who came to the Okonomiyaki class yesterday! We had tons of fun, made new friends, and rekindled with old ones!

Contemporary interpretations of the traditional Japanese woodblock print by:

Katie Baldwin, Annie Bissett, Mariko Jesse, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Serena Perrone, Julie Shelton Snyder, and Richard Stockham

The show opens Friday March 8 from 5:30pm-7:30pm and is open Saturdays 11am-4pm. The show will close April 27 with a Japanese tea ceremony at 1pm hosted by the Chado Urasenke Tankokai Birmingham Association. 

The show will be held at the PaperWorkers Local studio located at 2717 Seventh Avenue South, Suite 203 Birmingham, AL

Paperworkers Local will also participate in the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on March 16 from 10am-4pm, they will have demos and encourage the public to try moku hanga printing.

The Naganuma School is widely considered as the pioneer of modern Japanese language training in Japan. Although officially established as a school in 1948, its birth occurred almost two decades earlier as its founder, Naoe Naganuma, had begun publishing Japanese language texts books and performed as instructor for the US Embassy diplomats in the years prior to WWII. As such, Naganuma is regarded as one of the world’s longest continual providers of Japanese language training. In addition to sustaining the publication of its highly regarded Naganuma text books today, the School continues to employ the groundbreaking teaching techniques which came to be known as the Naganuma Method.

Naganuma offers courses in University Prep, Graduate University Prep, Business Japanese, Private Lessons, JLPT Prep and more! Click on this link to find out more!

This illustrated guide to common courtesy, acceptable behavior, and manners is essential for any visitor to Japan. By knowing how to act in every situation you'll gain the respect of your hosts and in the end get even better service and enjoyment during your travels.

Covered here are all the essentials—like travel, greetings, dining—plus subtle niceties like tone of voice, body language, cell phone usage, city vs. country styles, and attire (and what to do about your tattoos!).

Sections include:

10 Things You Should Never Do in Japan

10 Things You Should Always Do in Japan

Greetings

When to bow

Asking for help

Apologizing

Money

About tattoos and piercings

Gift-giving

Dating

Train etiquette

And more!

For more information click here!

Interview with companies, participate in panel discussions, networking lunch and much more!

Only at the Career Forum, are you able to interview with various companies at once. At this year's San Francisco Career Forum, there are many benefits for those who just started job searching to those already mid-way through their job search. There is also a travel scholarship and a financial incentive for IT and Engineering major students. Registration and attendance is free so take full advantage of this opportunity to see what the San Francisco Career Forum has to offer! 

A minimum of beginner ability in both Japanese and English and one of the following:

• Student recently graduated from or currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. program outside of Japan or with at least one year of study outside of Japan
• Professional with work or study experience outside of Japan

Date: February 16th (Sat.) & 17th (Sun.), 2019

Time: 10:00AM －6:00PM (Registration closes at 5:00PM)

Place: 1800 Old Bayshore Hwy, Burlingame, CA 94010

For San Francisco Career Forum, business casual is recommended. For more information, click here.

JASA hosted a Japanese Calligraphy class with professional calligrapher, Ayako Suzuki. We'd like to extend a warm thank you for making our Japanese Calligraphy class a success! We had a wonderful time as she shared her passion for the Art of Writing! Guests of all ages came to participate in the relaxing and informative class and we'd love to have her again some day.

Do you practice Calligraphy at home too? Like us on Facebook and tag #JASA when you post your art so we can see! 

https://www.facebook.com/Japan-America-Society-of-Alabama-666560433494927/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Did you know that this Japanese native flower is an official state symbol of Alabama? It was adopted 60 years ago in 1959 and we want to celebrate the anniversary with all of you!

This weekend event will also be part of our Alabama Bicentennial celebration, honoring 200 years of statehood. How better than to celebrate one of our state symbols? The biggest public event will be Saturday, February 17, attended by dignitaries like Governor Ivey and other leaders at the Mobile Convention Center. A public ribbon cutting at 1:00 pm will start a “second line” marching band that will lead us into the show – where Camellia Japonica will be the star! 

Place: Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel, Mobile Alabama.

Ayako Suzuki was born and raised in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. She began learning calligraphy when she was 8 years old. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Daito Bunka University, Tokyo, Japan, An institution well known for its  Department of Calligraphy. Her concentration was Japanese calligraphy, and she acquired a wide range of perspectives on calligraphy through the mastery of history, theory, and artistic appreciation. While also studying calligraphic techniques to achieve artistic expressions.

She established her professional career as a calligraphy artist in New York where she both collaborated with other calligraphers, and held a personal exhibit from 2007 to 2008, then held a group exhibition in Paris, France in 2011. Ayako now teaches calligraphy to children to pass the tradition of the Japanese culture down to future generations. In her session, she will demonstrate calligraphy and explain its history, and social and academic role in Japanese contemporary society. Ayako is recognized internationally as an expert Japanese calligrapher.

The event is Wednesday February 06, 2019 2:00p - 3:00p at UAB's Humanities Building, room 424.

This event is free and open to the public.