ATJ Seminar 2008

The 2008 ATJ Seminar, held in Atlanta on Thursday, April 3, was attended by almost 200 members, who listened to more than 60 paper and panel presentations, participated in meetings of most of the Special Interest Groups, and had a chance to talk with colleagues from all around the country and the world.

As part of the larger Association for Asian Studies (AAS) meeting that took place the same weekend, ATJ sponsored a special roundtable session in honor of the late Hiroshi Miyaji, who served from 1990-96 as (in the words of one audience member) ATJ's "first activist president." Panelists Maggie Childs, Carole Cavanaugh, Mutsuko Endo Hudson, Bill Kelly, Nobuo Ogawa, and Seiichi Makino celebrated Miyaji-sensei's life and career while also discussing changes in the Japanese language education field over the past several decades.

The session was recorded on both video and audio tapes, and MP3 files of the audio recording have been made available through the ATJ website (see the link from the homepage, or go directly to www.aatj.org/seminar2008/2008highlights.html.

If any member is interested in obtaining a copy of the video DVD, please contact the ATJ office (atj@colorado.edu).

ATJ Japanese for Specific Purposes (JSP) SIG Meeting at ATJ Seminar 2008

The first ATJ JSP SIG business meeting took place on Thursday from 11:30-12:55 p.m., during the ATJ 2008 Seminar. Present were: Tomoko Takami (U of Penn), Ichiro Noguchi (U of Wisconsin), Yuka Kumagai (U of Southern California), Miki Murakami (Portland State U), Mami Harano (Portland State U), and Sachiko Aoshima (American U).

JSP coordinator Tomoko Takami's greeting included the SIG slogan: "Empowerment, Enlightenment, Encouragement, Enjoyment" and "Go-En (Good Network)." The JSP SIG empowers, enlightens, and encourages its members to become better and more effective JSP teachers by sharing the ideas and challenges inolved in teaching JSP and learning from each other. The members will enjoy the learning opportunity and the network (go-en) offered by the SIG.

The group members introduced themselves and shared their interests and challenges. They discussed possible topics for the next JSP SIG panel at the ATJ Seminar in 2009 and the idea of setting up a members-only blog site where members can exchange ideas throughout the year.

Takami suggested activities that the JSP SIG might like to pursue: (1) The SIG hopes to hold a JSP SIG panel at ATJ session next year (and every year, if possible). (2) The SIG will issue a newsletter, which will be posted on the ATJ SIG webpage. The newsletter will include not only SIG announcements but also information about conferences, workshops, and grants which may be helpful and interesting to members. (3) In order to foster a network among the SIG members, contact lists will be issued to members only.

Culture SIG Meeting at 2008 ATJ Seminar

The Language and Culture SIG met during the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) conference in Atlanta on Friday, April 4, 2008, from 7:00-9:00 p.m., in the Vancouver Room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The meeting was attended by seven people. There were four presentations: 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 US college Japanese language programs"; Ichiro Noguchi (Carthage College), "On perspectives, practices, and products: How to explain the Japanese culture with three P's"; and Hitoshi Tajima (Brown University), "Nihongo ni okeru ai-hansuru tokusei o bunkateki kanten kara koosatsu." Seiichi Makino, the presider, led a discussion after each presentation. The SIG will meet again next year, so please contact Makino (smakino@princeton.edu) if you want to read your paper and get feedback from the participants in a relaxed and informal setting.

Japanese National Honor Society-College Chapter

The first Japanese National Honor Society-College Chapter (JNHS-CC) inducted 148 students from 15 new college chapters for the 2007-08 academic year, under ATJ sponsorship. Each chapter received Certificates of Excellence for their students to be presented at their spring graduations. The following are the names of the chapters, the faculty sponsors, and their inducted students.

Colorado College - Joan Ericson
Drew Foster, Ashley Mendez-Kestler, David Pinto-Carpenter.

Eckerd College - Eileen Mikals-Adachi
Jeffrey Ackley, Michael Becker, Ali Finn, Amanda Hilsenbeck, Mitchell Hoffman, Hee Kyung Kim, Nikolas Krauchi, Kelly O'Connor, Zachary Ostroff, Erin Woodell.

Franklin & Marshall College - Ken-ichi Miura
Meredith Habermann, Brandon Ito, Duy Phuoc Nguyen.

Kalamazoo College - Rose Bundy
Janelle M. Butner, David M. Kudzia, Elisabeth L. Pardee, Michael F. Thompson.

Lehigh University - Kiri Lee
Taylor Cassidy, Gary Keng-Yu Chen, E. Glenn Denison, Duho Jung, Thomas Ludlow, Nicole Most, Deborah Ou-Yang, Danny Safi, Nestor Serrano, Richard Sypeck, Wan-Ying Vicky Yen.

Michigan State University - Mutsuko Endo Hudson
Kristen Barrett, Larry Butz, Andrew Casino, Joshua Friedman, John Grandy, Seung-Lee Han, Peter Hedderich, Christian Jungnam Husby, Andrew Keller, Howard Lim, Laurel Marie Lindemann, Maitland Marsh, Grace Bernadette Ruch, Kendra Slayton, Andrew Smith, Shaun Jiro Smith, Lyndsay Stiff, Kaman Tai, Courtney Whitmore, Adam Wilson.

Old Dominion University - Mieko Ishibashi
Brennan M. Durham, Christopher O. Nanco.

The College of New Jersey - Holly HK Didi-Ogren
Brian Glaz, Sean Hickey, Talia Mishkin, Erica Smith, Kelly Tubridy, Thomas Winnicki.

The Ohio State University - Kaori Nakata
Laura Suprock, Kimberly McCabe.

University of Colorado - Faye Yuan Kleeman
Amanda Hotovec, Tammy Sedberry, Wyatt Duea, Mi Kyong Park, William Bret Oliver.

University of Delaware - Rachael Hutchinson
Dean Carter, DiNisha Guy, Ben Lenoir, Nathan Kiracofe, Marisa Porgpraputson, Timothy Wilder, Michael Winkler, Sarah Woody.

University of Hawai'i, Manoa - Terry Klafehn
Siyan Chen, Jennifer N. Hendrix, Ryan Y. Higashi, Nathaniel P. Hynson, Helen W.Y. Lau, Song Hyun Lee, Airi Logan, Michael L. McDermott, Laura Ann L.M. Nohara, Jordan K. Rivera, Bobby D. Singh, Weng Seong K. Siu, Michael N. Taguinod, Erica Y. Taomae, Katie R.K. Young.

University of Maryland, College Park - Lindsay Amthor Yotsukura
Danielle Allor, David Baasch, Neil Bernardo, Minhang Bui, James Cahill, John Carter, Melissa Clarke, Ryan Davies, Kimberly Henderson, Laura Jacob, Wooyong Jung, Daniel Kim, Jaydeb Mukherjee, Nadav Rosen, Su Hyon So.

University of Michigan - Mayumi Oka
Karlin W. Albindo, Christopher M. Bral, Megan R. Breslin, Peter T. Brock, Alan N. Bunney, Mimi Campbell, Hui Ying Chin, Michael Shiao-Cheng Chu, Jennifer M. Eusebio, John Chee Keong Foo, Mara Rae Gamble, Ju Hyun Han, Jeffrey D. Hinojosa, Ivy C. Horng, Eui-Min Jung, Michelle Kang, Brian Kay, Julia A. Khakhaleva, Seulgi Kim, Yena Jeong Kim, Amanda Lai, Stephanie Law, Alyssa Nelson, Zara M. Schulman, Yu Ri Seo, Annette Sham, Stephen Shen, Rayn Chay Beng Tan, David A. Tay, Ashley L. Thurston, Brian Yagi, Woo Young Yang, Emily Yao.

Washington University in St. Louis - Ginger Marcus
Robin Chisnell, Jonathan Clark, Jonathan Friedman, Margaret Mann, Clara Park, Jessica Polak, Lucas Schwartze, Benjamin Trevor, Melanie Veale.

Congratulations to all of the students for their outstanding scholastic achievement and excellence in the study of the Japanese language.

ATJ Members Directory

In order to protect the privacy of members' information, and for reasons of cost, the ATJ Board has decided to end the annual practice of printing and mailing a Directory of Members. The office can produce a listing of current members (with mailing and email addresses) as a PDF file and send it to any member who requests this information. The possibility of an online members directory is being investigated, but the technical and cost factors seem to make this a less attractive option than an on-demand electronic directory. Please let the office know (atj@colorado.edu) if you wish to receive a listing of members.

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 Kimiko Abramoff, Dan Dewey, Kazumi Hatasa, Ryuko Kubota,Kiyoko Morita, and Masumi Reade. Please consider donating when you next renew your membership, or by mail at any time. For more information, contact the ATJ office.