ATJ Thursday Seminar, Embassy Hall, International Tower, Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel, April 3, 2008

Sponsored Panel in Memory of Hiroshi Miyaji (part of AAS Anual Meeting), Dunwoody Room, Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel, 3:15 p.m., April 4, 2008

The full schedule for this year's ATJ Seminar on Thursday, April 3, 2008, including times and room assignments, can be found in the centerfold of this issue of the Newsletter (Click here), as well as on the ATJ website. The Seminar will feature a full day of concurrent sessions with presentations by more than 60 ATJ members on linguistics, pedagogy, second language acquisition, and literature. This year's keynote speaker will be Professor Haruo Shirane, of Columbia University, whose talk is entitled "Sennen no Genji monogatari: Why the Tale of Genji Matters."

The venue for the Seminar will be the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. Sessions will be held concurrently beginning at 9:40 a.m. in the Cairo, Montreal, Vancouver, Manila, and Singapore Rooms on the Embassy Hall level of the hotel's International Tower. Registration will be required in order to attend the Seminar. If you plan to attend the Seminar, please register early, online. The registration fee is $15 for members of ATJ and our sister organization the National Council of Japanese Language Teachers (NCJLT) ($10 for student members of ATJ). Registration fees on-site for all members will be $20 (cash or check only). For non-members, the registration fee will be $50. To register in advance, go to: www.aatj.org/seminar.html. Please be sure your membership is up to date! (If you would like confirmation of your membership status, please email the office at atj@colorado.edu; we will check our records and let you know whether you need to renew at this time.)

ATJ's annual General Membership Meeting will be held Saturday, April 5 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. in the Hanover E Room of the Hyatt Regency. The meeting will feature a tribute to the late Hiroshi Miyaji, a former president of ATJ and sempai to many members; remarks from ATJ's incoming President, Mari Noda; reports on new initiatives and projects of the Association; a report from the recently formed Special Interest Group on Japanese for Specific Purposes; announcement of the results of the annual election of new Board members and a new President-elect; and an assortment of fabulous door prizes.

Most of ATJ's Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have scheduled meetings and activities in conjunction with the ATJ Seminar and the AAS Conference. The Language and Culture SIG will meet on Friday evening, March 23, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., in the Vancouver Room: three papers will be presented at this SIG meeting (see details on page 3). The Professional Development SIG will sponsor a panel session on the AP Japanese Language and Culture program during the Thursday Seminar and will also hold a business meeting. The Japanese as a Heritage Language SIG will sponsor a panel session at the Seminar on the characteristics of Japanese heritage students and will also hold a business meeting, with a special presentation on curriculum for enhancing cultural awareness among K-12 JHL and JFL students, during the Seminar's lunch break, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. The Community College SIG, Study Abroad for Advanced Skills (SAFAS) SIG, and Japanese for Specific Purposes (JSP) SIG will also meet during the lunch break. For further information on any of the SIG meetings, contact the ATJ office.

Each year ATJ sponsors one panel session during the larger AAS conference, which takes place from the evening of Thursday, April 3, to the morning of Sunday, April 6. This year's sponsored session is a Roundtable: "A New Era in Japanese Studies: The 1980s-1990s and Beyond. A Discussion in Honor of Hiroshi Miyaji." It will take place on Friday, April 4, from 3:15 to 5:15 p.m., in the Dunwoody Room. The panelists are Maggie Childs, Chair, Carole Cavanaugh, Mutsuko Endo Hudson, William Kelly, Nobuo Ogawa, and Seiichi Makino. There will be ample time at the end for comments, reminiscences, and sharing of memories of Miyaji-sensei among those who attend.

Invitation to Atlanta for the ATJ Seminar and the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Meeting

The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) conference is an opportunity to attend panel sessions on a variety of subjects, find out what is happening in the fields of Japan and Asian Studies, see the latest books and instructional materials in the exhibit hall, and meet colleagues and friends. Of particular interest to ATJ members at this year's conference will be the roundtable session sponsored by ATJ: "A New Era in Japanese Studies: The 1980s-1990s and Beyond. A Discussion in Memory of Hiroshi Miyaji (1925-2007)," which will take place Friday, April 4, from 3:15-5:15 p.m. Also endorsed by ATJ are two other panels: "High School to College Articulation in Language Courses: What We Can Learn from the New Advanced Placement Courses in Chinese and Japanese" (Friday, April 4, 8:30 a.m.) and "Enriching the Asian Experience: Wan Integrated Approach to Maximize Linguistic and Cultural Gain through Experiential Learning" (Friday, April 4, 3:15 p.m.).

Other sessions at the AAS conference will focus on a variety of aspects of Japanese language, literature, history, and culture. Sessions of potential interest to ATJ members include "Realizing Voice and Identity through Style-Shifting in Japanese" (Thursday, 7:00 p.m.); "Challenging Borders in East Asian Literature" (Friday, 8:30 a.m.); "Theorizing Poetry in Premodern Japan" (Friday, 10:45 a.m.); "Youth in Japan" (Friday, 10:45 a.m.); "Translating Japan's Culture: Strategies and Issues of Translation in Premodern Studies" (Friday, 1:00 p.m.); "Masculinity, Nation, and Urban Space in Japanese Literature and Visual Media, 1967-2007" (Saturday, 8:30 a.m.); "What's Left? What's Right? Social Movements and Politics in Contemporary Japan" (Saturday, 10:45 a.m.); "The Conditions for Literary Production in Modern Japan" (Saturday, 10:45 a.m.); "Representations of Warriors in Premodern Japanese Narrative and Performing Arts" (Saturday, 2:45 p.m.); "The Translation and Publication of Contemporary Japanese Literature: Strategies and Resources" (Saturday, 5:00 p.m.); "Reading Shimazaki Toson beyond Japan" (Sunday, 8:30 a.m.); "Life on the Margins in 1950s Japan" (Sunday, 8:30 a.m.); "Inside/ Outs: Inventing Foreign Origins for Japanese Traditions" (Sunday, 10:45 a.m.) The complete program is available online at the AAS website (www.aasianst.org). As always, the exhibit hall will feature the latest publications in Asian studies from a large number of university presses and other publishers.

Information on registering and attending the AAS conference is also available on the AAS website. The home page has links to the full conference program and to registration and hotel accommodations. The ATJ office can also supply information on conference registration. We encourage ATJ members to register and attend the AAS conference, as the support of AAS makes our Seminar possible.

All of the conference events will take place at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel, 265 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30203. If you wish to stay at the Hyatt Regency while attending the ATJ Seminar and/or the AAS conference, please register online through the link on the AAS website or phone the hotel at 404-577-1234; when registering, mention the Association for Asian Studies conference to receive a special discounted room rate.

Language and Culture SIG Meeting in Atlanta

ATJ's Language Culture SIG will meet on Friday, April 4, from 7:00-9:00 p.m., in the Vancouver Room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in conjunction with the annual ATJ Seminar and the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies. The main topic for an informal discussion will be "Strategies of Cultural Education." Three presentations will be featured: Masako A. Dorrill, Dillard University, "Toward an Assessment of Cultural Understanding in the First Two Years of Japanese Language Instruction"; Hitoshi Horiuchi, Brown University, "Conflict Resolution and Teaching Culture in U.S.-College Japanese Language Programs"; Ichiro Noguchi, Carthage College, "On Perspectives, Practices and Products: How to Explain the Japanese Culture with Three P's." The SIG welcomes anyone who is interested in cultural education for a discussion of the issues raised by the three presenters.

Japanese National Honor Society-College Chapter

The Japanese National Honor Society-College Chapter (JNHS-CC) recognizes and encourages scholastic achievement and excellence in the study of the Japanese language. The Association of Teachers of Japanese (ATJ) is pleased to assist teachers with a way to recognize their outstanding students, to maintain high standards in Japanese language education, and to promote activities that give students ways to use their language skills on their campuses and in their communities. Students who are nominated for membership receive Certificates of Excellence and are recognized on the ATJ website and in its newsletter. Sponsoring instructors also receive recognition.

Criteria for student membership in JNHS-CC are: 1) completion of five semester or seven quarter courses of Japanese language study (or their equivalent) at the college undergraduate level. All five semester courses or seven quarter courses must be language study taken for a grade (as opposed to audit or pass/ fail). Transfer credits from post-secondary institutions other than the institution from which the student will receive the undergraduate degree may count toward these credit requirements up to a maximum of two semester courses or three quarter courses (or their equivalent); 2) a GPA of 3.5 in Japanese language courses; and 3) an overall GPA of 3.0.

In order to form a chapter of JNHS-CC and nominate students for membership and recognition, instructors must be members in good standing of ATJ. Sponsoring instructors then file a chapter application together with a list of students and the applicable fee (a $20 charter fee and $10 per nominated student) by the deadline of April 10 (postmarked). Application form: www.aatj.org/jnhs/JNHS-CC.html. It can also be found on page 17 of this issue of the Newsletter (Click here). Once a campus chapter has been formed, a packet including certificates for the students who are to be honored, suggested guidelines for a recognition ceremony, and a list of possible activities for the JNHS-CC chapter will be sent to the instructor. For more information, contact ATJ Board member Masumi Reade (masumi.reade@gmail.com) or Susan Schmidt at the ATJ office (atj@colorado.edu).

ATJ Endowment Is Growing

ATJ has joined the ranks of other non-profit organizations in establishing an endowment fund. Contributions of any amount to this fund, which are tax-deductible, will help to ensure that the Association can continue to provide services to members in the future. Contributions have recently been made to the Endowment by Yukie Aida, Lori Brau, Linda Chance, Osamu Kamada, Joan Ericson, Charlotte Eubanks, Motoko Ezaki, Sabine Horn, Akemi Katayama, Robert Khan, Shigemitsu Matsui, Senko Maynard, Mari Noda, Pauline Oasay, Charles Quinn, Shelley Fenno Quinn, Susan Schmidt, Motoko Tabuse, and Tomoko Takami. Please consider donating when you next renew your membership, or by mail at any time. For more information, contact the ATJ office.