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.
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.
Thanks to all those who came to the Major Fair tonight to show your support! The Chinese teachers were like: "Wow, you guys are like a family. You help and support each other." Indeed, one student looking to minor wanted some advice and Marshall and Natasha (right) were talking to him giving him pointers--Yeah, avoid bungo at... all cost!--and the Chinese teachers were so envious to see our Japanese majors pitching in without having to be asked! I felt like a proud papa. :-P
CCAS is holding a Major Fair to help students decide on a major. They want a couple of current majors to come to explain to potential majors what its like to... Um... Fall in with love bungo? Eat three big serving of curry rice? er... ask for a letter of recomendation THREE weeks in advance? :-)So if you're a major, in the area and have the time, come on by, say hello and support the Japanese Major at the Marvin Center Great Hall March 8, 7-9PM.
Just want to note that one of our Japanese majors (2008) was recently accepted into the PhD program at UC Berkeley and Yale University for Japanese Literature. Marjorie Burge did excellent research at a level that rivals what I did as a graduate student in premodern Japanese Literature when she studied with me last year. She had spent a semester in Korea and a year in Japan and was researching classical documents that she believed provides linguistic clues to the close relationship between Paekche (Korea) and Japan. She maintained high standards throughout her academic career here that got her recognized by GW for Outstanding Achievement. She was nominated as a Distinguished Scholar (ESIA) and recognized as a member of what Vice President Lehman referred to as the "2% Club", the top two percent at GW. [photo]
Congratulations Margi.
Mere words cannot express how moved I am at how our J majors grow. Good job, Jacob Heller (2007), even if is was only for a day. :-P
This semester has been hectic. My colleague has been reassigned and most of the work we had divided between the two of us has been placed in my lap. It's the end of the 4th week, and I can't wait 'til Christmas. But then, I always say that around the 4th week.
Anyway, this weekend was Alumni Weekend at our school. I started this Friday participating in a workshop on the issues of teaching Chinese characters. It was interesting enough as the faculty members from Chinese, Japanese and Korean all had different approaches and methods of teaching. The basic philosophies are so different. In Chinese, there are a kazillion characters to learn, but they are usually read in one way, whereas in Japanese, each character maintains its original Chinese pronunciation--although it has been altered significantly by the Japanese--as well as a Japanese pronunciation that was applied for semantic meanings. To make matters worse, depending on when the character and concept arrived in Japan, there can be two different Chinese pronunciations, and if there are related semantically there can be two (or more!) different Japanese readings.
女： female. Chinese: nyu. Japanese: (Chin) nyou, jo; (Japn) onna, me.
Anyway, the workshop was nice enough. From 3 PM, I signed up to stay in our department to welcome any alumni who decided to drop by for Alumni Weekend. But as we were setting up our conference room, we noticed a large suitcase tucked under the desk we keep in the hallway. A colleague and I asked the others if they knew anything about it. No one knew. The suitcase was rather dirty, pushed beck beneath the desk in an obvious attempt to conceal it, and had a sticker on its side that read: "Screened: Dubai International Airport." We decided that maybe security should take a look at it.
When the campus police came, they immediately determined that it was suspicious, they blocked access to the area--which actually blocked us into our corner of the building--and contacted their supervisors who then came to confirm the threat. The building was evacuated and we descended down the back emergency stairwell. Soon, the campus police presence was everywhere, sirens whirred as police vehicles cordoned off the streets around the building, and explosive-sniffing German Shepherds went in and out the building.
After two hours it was safe to return. As we waited, my colleagues and I talked with a member of the Homeland Security response team--yes, they took this very seriously--and he said they had identified the owner of the suitcase. I suppose we'll read about who and why soon enough in the school newspaper--I don't expect it to be even a blip on the media radar on a day when the Obama-McCain debate dominated the news cycle.
I was hoping to get some grading done while waiting for any possible alumni to show up, but the events of the afternoon squashed that plan. 
PostScript: I did get to meet two alumni this weekend--Allison and Clark Munson. They seem to be doing fine, enjoying married life and successful careers.
