Job Opening: Public Relations Coordinator at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Paula

job opening - 5The Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations is seeking a Public Relations Coordinator at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

  1. Coordinate logistics for special events, conferences, meetings, briefings, receptions, and other official functions
  2. Draft and edit letters, diplomatic correspondence and speeches
  3. Research topics related to the United Nations as required by the Mission officers and give oral or written briefings to senior diplomats upon request for information
  4. Attend UN meetings with senior diplomats, take accurate and quick notes, keep records and write up summaries as required
  5. Keep up-to-date with relevant UN news, appointments, press conferences, etc.
  6. Assist the press team from Japan who accompany the high level government officials during the UN General Debate
  7. Act as the official photographer / videographer upon request
  8. Maintain close partnerships with United Nations offices and staff, including the Department of Public Information, Management, Protocol, Media Liaison Unit, Security, etc.
  9. Research and maintain partnerships with academic institutions, arrange student briefings and lectures as required
  10. Provide support and input for outreach activities including website and social networking updates
  11. Respond to telephone calls, both incoming and outgoing, with efficiency and professional etiquette
  12. Update and develop contact information databases
  13. Manage the official email account and respond to inquiries in an appropriate and timely manner
  14. Assist in any other duties as requested

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Kinokuniya Haiku Contest 2013

Posted on April 24, 2013 by LM

Deadline: postmarked by May 31, 2013
Cost to enter: free

Text details after the image.

Image via Kinokuniya Seattle.

Image via Kinokuniya Seattle.

Compose an English-form haiku (5-7-5 syllable format) on one of the following topics: nature, work, or baseball.

Submit to
Kikokuniya Haiku Contest
1073 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10018

Postmarked no later than May 31, 2013

Who can enter:
The contest is open to the public, except for employees of Kinokuniya and their families.

All entries must be in English, never before published or presently under consideration for publication.

Limit of 2 entries per person. Haiku must be about one of the three topics noted above. Submission must include your name, address, and email address (for notification purposes). Entries cannot be returned.

The contest will be judged by the Metro North East branch of the Haiku Society of America. Members of the HSA are prohibited from entering the contest.

Cost to enter: FREE!

The winner will be notified by email. The results will be announced on our website (www.kinokuniya.com/us/) on June 17, 2013.

See http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/index.php/fho002 (you may have to scroll down) or Kinokuniya USA’s post on Facebook.

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Job Opening: Assistant or Associate Curator of Japanese Art, Minneapolis

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Travis

Position: Assistant or Associate Curator of Japanese Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Type: Full-time
Deadline: May 30, 2013

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts seeks a dynamic and experienced museum professional to serve as Assistant or Associate Curator of Japanese Art. The incumbent will develop, research, exhibit, and publish the MIA’s collections of Japanese and Korean art.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Job responsibilities include: interpret the museum’s collections of Japanese and Korean art through permanent collection gallery displays and didactic materials; conduct supportive research on and publication of the collection; speak publicly about the museum’s collection and provide training for museum guides; oversee the care and preservation of the collection by ensuring proper and responsible handling and installation of objects; locate, research and propose acquisition of Japanese and Korean works of art that significantly augment the museum’s existing collections; develop and coordinate lectures and activities pertaining to Japanese and Korean art for the museum’s Affiliate Groups; cultivate relationships with donors, professional colleagues, partner organizations and the community in furtherance of the MIA’s strategic goals.

QUALIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS

*Master’s degree in the field of Japanese art studies, with some knowledge of Korean art (Ph.D. preferred)
*Proficiency in Japanese
*Minimum of one year (Assistant level) or three years (Associate level) employment in a collection-based curatorial department with direct experience in the area of Japanese and Korean art including proven record of organizing exhibitions and producing publications of high quality(or reasonable experience)
*Demonstrated skill at strategically building a collection through gift and purchase desirable
*Ability to work independently and coordinate complex projects to completion
*Ability to write interpretive material
*Significant art historical research skills and experience
*Excellent written and verbal communication and organizational skills
*Team skills and ability to work effectively and positively with staff, trustees, and all other internal and external contacts

CONTACT

To apply, send a cover letter and resume.

MAIL: Attn: Human Resources
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
2400 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404

FAX: (612) 870-3263
EMAIL: miajobs@artsmia.org

See original posting on Springboard for the Arts.

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Conference: New England Association for Asian Studies Conference

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]Bridgewater State University, a suburban campus south of Boston, is pleased to host the annual meeting of the New England Association for Asian Studies on October 11-12, 2013. The NEAAS Program Committee welcomes proposals for panels, roundtables or individual presentations that address the history, societies, political and economic systems, languages and literary/visual cultures of Asia in different regional and global contexts. Panels and roundtables that take an innovative approach to format (interdisciplinary, pedagogical, creative, mixed media) are welcome, as are traditionally organized academic panels. We also encourage roundtables that address the state of the field.

Submissions of proposals are now being accepted on the conference website.  http://vc.bridgew.edu/neaas
The deadline of application is July 1.

For questions, please contact Wing-kai To, Conference Program Chair, at wto@bridgew.edu

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Fellowships: Postdocs at Oriental Institute in Prague

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Paula

money [150-2]Oriental Institute is offering one-year fellowships to outstanding scholars (with a preference on non-Czech residents) of history and cultures of the countries of Asia (with a preference on Middle East and North Africa, South  Asia, East Asia) for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Eligibility: This position is open to recent PhDs (as a post-doctoral position). PhD must be completed by September 1, 2013.

Terms: The position is open beginning by September 2013 (negotiable). The annual salary will be in the 12.000-14.500 EUR range. Researchers are expected to be in residence at the Oriental Institute in Prague. During their residence, researchers are required to produce academic publications (ideally turn their doctoral dissertations into monographs) and participate in all Oriental Institute seminars and other events. We reserve the right not to fill this position.

Deadline for applications: May 31, 2013.

Notification: June 30, 2013. Inquiries: Please direct inquiries to Ondrej Beranek at beranek@orient.cas.cz or call 00420 – 266 052 488.

Application: Please submit all of the following materials: 1) CV and Publication List 2) Project proposal a. In three to five pages (double spaced  12 pt. font) please explain the project you would undertake in the starting  stage of your residence. In addition please include a separate bibliography of  works to demonstrate how this project relates to the current state of research.  b. A strong proposal articulates a clear hypothesis and methodology; outlines a clear and realistic work plan; and demonstrates how this contributes to an original understanding of Asian regions. 3) Writing Samples a. Please include a  writing sample of no more than 20 pages. b. Please include a Dissertation  Abstract of no more than 2 pages. 4) Two letters of Recommendation a. Please  list the names, addresses and occupations of the two persons, not related to you, who will submit letters of recommendation on your behalf. Letters of recommendation must be submitted by the deadline for the application to be complete.

Mailing Instructions: Please send the application and letters either electronically to: beranek@orient.cas.cz or mail it to:

Dr. Ondrej Beranek
Orientalni ustav AV CR (ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, ASCR)
Pod vodarenskou vezi 4 182 08
Praha 8 Ceska republika (CZECH REPUBLIC)

http://www.orient.cas.cz/sd/novinky/hlavni-stranka/news_0040.html

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Book Announcement: Beyond the Western Liberal Order: Yanaihara Tadao and Empire as Society

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Paula

Beyond the Western Liberal OrderBeyond the Western Liberal Order: Yanaihara Tadao and Empire as Society

The Palgrave Macmillan History of International Thought
Ryoko Nakano
ISBN: 978-1-137-29050-2, ISBN10: 1-137-29050-1,
5.500 x 8.500 inches, 216 pages

Beyond the Western Liberal Order explores the international thought of Yanaihara Tadao (1893-1961), the most prominent Japanese social scientist of empire, population migration, and colonial policy during the 1920s and 1930s. Nakano provides a detailed analysis of Yanaihara’s study of empire, including global migration, economic disparity and hierarchy, ethnic conflict, and regionalism. This comprehensive work concludes by demonstrating the contemporary relevance of Yanaihara’s ideas to current debates and discussion in International Relations.

Palgrave Macmillan:
http://us.macmillan.com/beyondthewesternliberalorder/RyokoNakano
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Western-Liberal-Order-International/dp/1137290501

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Call for Papers: Architectural Histories of Maritime Asia

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Travis

call for papers [150-2]Call for Papers: Architectural Histories of Maritime Asia
Society of Architectural Historians Annual Conference
April 9-13, 2014 Austin, TX

Long-distance maritime travel and trade have connected coastal societies for millennia, and nowhere is this borne out in the longue duree more strongly than in the network of seas, bordering the Indian and Pacific Oceans, that connect the coastal regions of southern Arabia, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Historians have long explored the rich and deep maritime connections in different parts of the world that preceded the advent of European imperialism and the “modern” world. Their works reveal the limits of a historiography that is premised on a continental conception of the world, i.e. a world divided according to the principle of land masses. With perhaps a few rare exceptions, the architectural and urban historiography of Asia has not adequately addressed the spatial connectedness–linking regions separated by area studies specializations–and temporal depth–from pre-colonial to the post-colonial contemporary world–that the study of maritime connections in Asia offers. For example, vernacular architecture studies in Asia tend to assume vernacular architecture as a timeless, geographically bounded entity and ignore the dynamic influences of broader maritime networks. Although studies in colonial architecture in Asia have been attentive to how extra-local colonial networks shaped the colonial architecture of a place, they have been silent on the influences of “indigenous” maritime connections.

This session seeks to address these oversights. We welcome situated
architectural studies covering any time period on any sites in maritime
Asia. Papers should foreground how the dynamic interactions across maritime
Asia influenced architectural and urban cultures. This emphasis on
connections and interactions is aimed at questioning existing
classifications that assume geographically bounded and temporally static
Asian architectural traditions and cultures.

Session chairs: Imran bin Tajudeen, National University of Singapore,
imran.tjdn@gmail.com; and Jiat-Hwee Chang, National University of
Singapore, jiathwee@gmail.com.

To submit an abstract, please see instructions on conference website —
http://www.sah.org/conferences-and-programs/2014-conference—austin

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Announcement: NCC’s Team-Building Workshop in Japanese Studies

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Paula

Do you:
·     Want to offer more undergraduate Japanese studies courses?
·     Need more Japanese digital resources?
·     Want to use interlibrary loan or document delivery from Japan?
·     Want to infuse Open Source materials into your teaching and research about Japan?

If you answered YES to any of these questions Team UP and
Take Part in NCC’s Team-Building Workshop:

Where and When?  August 12-15, 2013 at Harvard University, cosponsored by NCC and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.  (Arrival in Boston, Sunday, August 11, 2013)

Workshop Content: An intensive four-day, small-group program with lectures by leading scholars, discussion sections, and hands-on training in Japanese digital resources.  Trainees will gain hands-on knowledge of freely available and subscription-based databases, learn to use international ILL, get visual images from Japan, use the Japan Digital Archive of the 2011 Disasters in teaching, and make non-print media more central to instruction and student projects.  All instruction will be in English.

Who should be on your team? Teams should include 2-3 members who are Japanese and/or Asian studies faculty and librarians (preference will be given to librarians who are NOT Japan-specialists themselves).  Teams may come from the same institution or neighboring institutions, which are jointly developing the Team’s resources on Japan.  Teams may come from any institution where undergraduate Japanese studies if offered, worldwide.

What kind of projects should your team develop? Team projects may include undergraduate courses on Japan, instructional websites or webinars, strategies for infusing Japanese digital resources into the curriculum, materials for language learners at any level, multi-media resources on Japan, and projects that expand your teaching to better promote understanding of Japan in your community.

Who to Contact? Please contact NCC Executive Director Victoria Bestor vbestor@fas.harvard.edu before applying, and to learn about limited travel and lodging support for eligible trainees.

What should applications include: Applications should contain a background paragraph on your institution, a brief summary of your existing Japanese and Asian studies programs, details on your Team-Members, a short proposal (1-3 pages) summarizing your Team-Project, and information on the travel/lodging needs of your team.  Funds are limited and applicants are asked to seek institutional and/or individual matching funds.

Workshop Sponsorship:  NCC is offering this Workshop with principal funding from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.  Supplemental and logistical support will come from the Japan-US Friendship Commission, Toshiba International Foundation, and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University.

Application deadline: April 30, 2013

Visit the NCC Website at http://www.nccjapan.org/ to learn more about NCC
and its freely available resources and services.
Victoria Lyon Bestor
Executive Director
North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources
149 Upland Road
Cambridge, MA 02140
Tel: 617-833-0755
Fax: 617-812-5854
Website: http://www.nccjapan.org/
Email: vbestor@fas.harvard.edu

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Fun Link Friday: Tokyo’s “Shrinking” Building

Posted on April 19, 2013 by LM

The 40-story Akasaka Grand Prince Hotel is being demolished, but how does one demolish a building in downtown Tokyo without making a mess? Taisei Corporation has a unique solution: “shrinking” the building by removing one layer at a time from the bottom up.

Image via Japan Property Central. "Left: The hotel in early November, 2012. Right: The hotel one month later in December, 2012."

Image via Japan Property Central. “Left: The hotel in early November, 2012. Right: The hotel one month later in December, 2012.”

This process has to be seen to be believed! CNN and the BBC both have short videos online, and The Escapist has an overview article. For more on the process, check out Japan Property Central‘s in-depth look on the “Taisei Ecological Reproduction System”: “A look at the demolition of the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka,” which includes plenty of photos.

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Fellowship: Fulbright Scholarship Opportunities East Asia and Pacific, South and Central Asia Studies

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Paula

money [150-2]The 2014-2015 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program core competition is now open.

The Fulbright Scholar Program offers teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in over 125 countries for the 2014-2015 academic year. Opportunities are available for college and university faculty and administrators as well as for professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others.

This year, there are over 50 awards available for those interested in East Asia and Pacific, and South and Central Asia Region Studies. Included are All Discipline awards, offered in all regions of the world welcome teaching and/or research proposals in any area of study, including interdisciplinary projects.

In order to meet the changing needs of academia and develop new options to better accommodate the interests and commitments of today’s scholars, the program has introduced several innovations to the 2014-2015 program, including: Fulbright Flex Awards http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards/catalog/2014-2015/FLEX/, Fulbright Postdoctoral/Early Career Awards http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards/catalog/2014-2015/POSTDOC/, Salary Stipend Supplements http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards/catalog/2014-2015/Salary-Stipend-Supplements/, and Teaching English as a Foreign Language http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards/catalog/2014-2015/TEFL/ Awards.

Interested faculty and professionals are encouraged to learn more about these opportunities, and hundreds of others, by visiting the Catalog of Awards http://catalog.cies.org/.

The application deadline for most awards is August 1, 2013.  U.S. citizenship is required.  For other eligibility requirements and detailed award descriptions visit our website at http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards/ or contact us at scholars@iie.org.

The Fulbright Scholar Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is administered by CIES, a division of IIE.
Twitter https://twitter.com/FulbrightSchlrs

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/fulbright

LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3709849
Google+https://plus.google.com/111585226276527305578/posts
Vimeo https://vimeo.com/fulbright

Blog http://fulbrightscholarblog.cies.org/
My Fulbrighthttp://www.cies2.org/

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