A weblog on the academic life of Onigiriman──literally "riceball man"──a pseudonym for a third-generation Japanese American who drifts through life in search of textual meaning and cultural identity.
The Asian Studies Starr Fellowship Committee was impressed by your academic preparation, and your commitment to research that crosses national boundaries in Asia. We hope to see you in the Fall.Well, Ryan, this is great news and I hope that it narrows down your options.
Just got the word recently that out Summer Institute for Japanese Language and Culture is a go. I will be adding information as we go along, but for now we have about 9 or 10 students. Six will be taking Intermediate Japanese with Seya Sensei, the rest will be taking Beginning Japanese with Kikuchi sense and me. All will be enrolled in the Japanese Culture through Film course with Heusch sensei. Students who have elected the residential option will be housed in Ivory Tower, much to the delight of our proctor, Miki Furuya, a rising junior who will be living with the students for tutoring and advice.
If there is anyone who is still interested, deadline for the residential option is Friday, April 30.
I'll keep posting stuff as information becomes available.
Congratulations to Marissa Lubong and Ryan Buyco, graduating seniors and Japanese majors, for being accepted into the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme. Spencer Barnes, another graduating senior and Japanese major--incredibly, double majoring as a student from GW's School of Business--was selected as an alternate. If past history is any indication, there is a good chance he will get in too. I'd congratulate him too, but I don't want to jinx him.
Unfortunately, not all of our students who applied got in, as this program has become highly competitive recently, particularly with the dearth of job opportunities these days. But each was outstanding and qualified, and I have no doubt that they will find other opportunities soon. So keep pluggin' away. Your time will come.
My brother is art director at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. He came by in January to set up an exhibit at the National Archives called Fighting Democracy. My brother invited me and the missus to the exhibit's unveiling and soiree. It was a nice exhibit called Fighting Democracy. Apparently, it is a "traveling" exhibit that has been to New Orleans, Tuskegee, and soon to Memphis at the Martin Luther King Museum.
While the exhibit was nice and the food adequate--actually much better than most of the fare I get at school functions--the highlight of the evening was meeting George Takei. Musubichan was so excited to meet a celebrity. I have to admit that meeting Sulu was more interesting than addressing Senator Dan Inouye in the elevator: "By all means, after you, Sir." Yeah, that's all I could muster.
Anyway, it was a nice evening, but even nicer was getting reacquainted with my brother who stayed at our place for a week. Living out in Virginia/DC, you kind of lose touch of the people who are important to you, especially family.
