Akemashite omedetō gozaimasu! I hope 2003 is off to a good start for you and that it will bring peace and happiness. I have several bits of good news to start the year off.

In November of last year, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Raige outlined new priorities for international education in a speech to the States Institute on International Education in the Schools. Saying that “we need to put the ‘world’ back in ‘world-class’ education,” he noted that a priority of the Department would be “increasing U.S. knowledge and expertise about other regions, cultures, languages and international issues.” If you are writing representatives or administrators, you may find it useful to refer to these Department of Education priorities. The full text of the speech is online at www.ed.gov/PressReleases/11-2002/11202002.html.

Over the holidays we received a letter from Prof. Nishihara Suzuko, President of the Nihongo Kyōiku Gakkai, inviting ATJ members to participate in a conference on “21 seiki no nihongo kyōiku genba o kangaeru—Kyōūsei to sōisei no tankyū” to be held in Tokyo at Shōwa Joshi Daigaku August 8-9, 2003. This conference will build on one entitled “Chikyū jidai no Nihongo kyōiku nettowaakingu” in which I participated in 1998. That conference, which focused on the need for cross-border sharing of information and research collaboration in the teaching of Japanese, was very stimulating. The following year, Mizutani Osamu, then President of NKG, and other representatives of Japanese teachers’ professional organizations around the world were invited to participate in an international panel at the ATJ Seminar.

Proposals for presentations, which may be in Japanese, Chinese, English, or Korean, are solicited from members of NKG or other cooperating organizations such as ATJ. Presentations, which must not have been given previously, should last thirty minutes (twenty minutes for the presentation itself with ten minutes for questions). Proposals should be written in Japanese on A4 paper in 10.5 point horizontal type, 40 lines of 40 characters per page. The proposal should be no more than two pages: Page 1 should include a) title of the presentation and b) presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, address, phone, fax, and email. Page 2 should include c) the title of the presentation and d) an abstract of the presentation.

NKG members and ATJ members should submit proposals by 3/31/2003 directly to Nihongo Kyōiku Gakkai, Tōhō-Gakkai New Building 2F, 2-4-1 Nishi-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, Japan. Tel.: 81-3-3262-42-91. Fax: 81-3-5216-7552. Email: office@nkg.or.jp. Proposals may be sent by mail, fax, or email. Presenters will be chosen by April and will be expected to submit a manuscript of no more than six pages by 6/30/2003. Conference charges will be ¥1000 for presenters from overseas, ¥3000 for presenters from Japan, ¥4000 (¥5000 after 7/1) for non-presenters, and ¥2000 (¥3000 after 7/1) for student attendees.

Finally, it gives me great pleasure to announce that Professor Donald Keene, Professor Emeritus of Japanese literature at Columbia University, author of innumerable books on Japanese literature and culture, and winner of every imaginable prize, has agreed to present the keynote address at the 2003 ATJ Seminar. Professor Keene will speak at 5:00 p.m. in the Regent Parlor on the second floor of the New York Hilton. Please join your fellow ATJ members at this exciting event!

Laurel Rasplica Rodd

Greetings for the new year to all the members of the ATJ. As the lunar new year approaches, I see various groups on campus and in the community preparing to celebrate Asia in all its diversity.

A reminder to those of you who haven’t renewed your ATJ membership: please review your accounts and, if you haven’t sent in your renewal form, send it at your earliest convenience. I feel sure that most lapsed members have simply forgotten to do so, but the organization relies on your active participation and support. A second notice will go out in March; if you receive one, please come back into the fold!

Many of you are making plans for the annual ATJ meeting held in conjunction with the Association for Asian Studies, this year to be held in New York City. The ATJ Seminar, as always, will take place on Thursday before the opening of the AAS conference: March 27, 2003. The selection committee is to be congratulated for the excellent array of papers and presentations that it has chosen for this year’s seminar. That schedule is included with this Newsletter. The Seminar is not only an excellent opportunity to hear what fellow members are working on in their research; it is also a chance to meet your colleagues and discuss in a relaxed setting the issues that you care about. We hope that those of you who are coming to New York will come early enough to stop by the seminar on Thursday.

The ATJ also has an opportunity each year, as a special courtesy of the AAS, to schedule panels and roundtables that are of particular interest to our members. This year, we will be holding a roundtable on study abroad: “Asia in Situ.” It will take place on Thursday evening (March 27), beginning at 7:00 p.m. We expect a lively discussion and hope to welcome many of you.

Let me also mention that the ATJ will have its own booth in the exhibit hall at the AAS in New York. Please feel free to stop by—Booth Number 3071—and say hello!

You should have received your election packet by the time you receive this Newsletter. Please cast your ballot and participate in the ATJ election. The officers and board rely on you, our members, for energy and incentive for activities. You make an enormous difference simply by taking the time to vote.

Finally, I am looking forward to assuming my role as president at the March membership meeting in New York, which will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 29. Please join us there, when new board members and the president-elect are announced. With this election, the ATJ will have a complete roster of past president, president, and president-elect, as specified in the constitutional changes that took effect last year. We all look forward to a productive year ahead.

Pat Wetzel