Well, not really, but kind of. The Ethel Tory Language Scholarships provide up to $2500 to cover travel costs for overseas language study (sorry, Tasmania doesn’t count). But you must act fast, the deadline for the first round of applications is 26 June! See the website for all the details on eligibility and how to apply.
Students who wish to participate in the Year in Japan program from April 2010 are reminded that their applications must be submitted to either Mark Gibeau (bpb e3.43) or Peter Hendriks (bpb e3.33) by 5 pm Friday, June 5th. You can download your application here or pick up a paper copy in front of Peter’s office. Any questions should be directed to Mark Gibeau.
The Japan Foundation is seeking submissions for the third volume of its academic journal, New voices. The journal is published in print and online formats and specifically targets submissions from early career researchers. For the third volume of the journal they are soliciting papers from people who have completed their Honours or Masters thesis at an Australian University between 2006 and 2008.
If you fall into that category, please look through the journal at http://www.jpf.org.au/newvoices/index.html and download the submission guidelines
As the attached indicates (click on the pretty picture), we will be holding an information session for all students interested in participating in the Japan Centre’s Year in Japan program from 2-3 pm in the Staff Common Room (BPB 4th floor) on Thursday April 2nd. In addition to a short talk by the coordinators of the program several recent participants of the program will be on hand to answer questions and talk about their own experiences. Anyone interested in participating is strongly urged to attend.
A selection of advanced, graduate level courses is now also available in online format. Offerings include a variety of advanced Japanese language classes, Japanese law, Japanese economic development, and modern Japanese society. Click below for more information.
Rebecca Marshall, a software engineering graduate whose hobbies are Japanese and Kendo, was recently featured in the Canberra Times (click photo for article). Rebecca took Japanese up to the advanced level in her spare time and has applied to teach English in the JET program. We wish her all the best and woe unto anyone who tries to mug her while she has an umbrella in her hands…
Well, sort of.
The Japan Centre will be hosting a talk by two (that’s right, two!) grand Karakuri ningyo masters. on November 10th, 17:30 - 19:00 in Sparke Helmore Theatre 2 (FREE).
Karakuri ningyo is a kind of mechanical doll, an art with a tradition going back over 400 years in Japan. This is a rare opportunity to hear about this fascinating from two of its most prominent practitioners: Shobei Tamaya XI and Dr. Yoshikazu Suematsu. The talk is sponsored by the Japan Foundation, the Embassy of Japan and Questacon. All are welcome (and encouraged) to attend.
Click the image for more details!
Students from Mark Gibeau’s Surasura Japanese class swept away the competition in the ACT speech contest.
The annual competition was held at the University of Canberra on August 23rd and saw over fifty speeches presented in high school, open beginner, open and background speaker divisions. Japan Centre students Bethany Clark, Madeleine Firth and Chris Higgins beat out a field of nearly thirty contestants in the open division to take First, Second and Third prizes respectively while Karlis Tebescis took First prize in the background speaker division. A panel of Japanese language teachers and representatives from the Japan Foundation and the Japanese Embassy rated speakers on the basis of the content of their speeches, presentation and language ability.
As a part of the Japan Foundation’s 39th National Japanese Language Speech Contest the two first place winners will go on to the national competition to be held in Sydney in October. We wish them the best of luck and our congratulations go out to all of the ANU students who participated in the contest & a special thanks to Jun Imaki for all her help in correcting and critiquing the speeches.
The Japan Centre will be hosting a lunch in honor of Dr. Royall Tyler’s Order of the Rising Sun on 15 August (Friday), with food, beverages and music supplied. Please RSVP if you would like to join us in congratulating Dr. Tyler and celebrating his impressive achievements. (Click the picture for more details)
Alum Rebekah Clements writes on how her time at the Japan Centre and beyond.
Rebekah Clements
I came to the Japan Centre in 1999 after deferring my Bachelor of Asian Studies/ Bachelor of Laws for one year in order to work for a company in Japan. When I returned the ANU and took their language placement test, the Japan Centre put me in 3rd year Japanese language classes, which, although a nice ego boost, was pretty panic-inducing at first. After much encouragement by the Centre staff, and much frantic cramming of kanji by me, the advanced placement turned out to be a great thing. Apart from being challenged to aim higher than I might otherwise have done, at the ANU you have to take a full three years (or, depending on your degree, four years) of Japanese classes even if you are placed in third year from the start, and the Centre were happy to provide advanced students with tailor-made readings classes if they outgrew the levels usually on offer. This means very small class sizes, with personalized attention and students having a big say in what texts they study. You also get to meet some great people this way – I’m still in contact with many of my old classmates and teachers.
ANU also has the Distinguished Scholars Program which aims to provide talented students with greater administrative flexibility in their degrees. Through this program I was able to bend the rules a bit and take a wide range of subjects in my non-language major. Also, this program, combined with the Japan Centre’s willingness to provide small readings classes, meant I could take several individualized, one-on-one Japanese readings classes with world-class scholars in which I was the only student. Those are opportunities for which I’ll always be grateful.
In third year, the Japan Centre arranged for me to spend one year on exchange at Waseda University in Tokyo, with a mind-bogglingly generous scholarship thanks to the Heiwa-Nakajima Foundation. The year in Japan was a great opportunity to improve my Japanese, meet people from all over the world, and study Japanese literature at a first-class Japanese university. I almost didn’t want to come home!
After returning to the ANU, I completed my degree, doing honours in Asian Studies, writing my thesis on elements of Buddhist End Times philosophy in classical Japanese literature. During the honours year, and throughout my whole degree, the Japan Centre staff particularly my supervisor Dr Peter Hendriks, were wonderfully supportive. I really recommend honours to anyone considering, even just a little bit, going on to further study. Again the Distinguished Scholars Program came in handy and I received permission to complete the one remaining unit of my law degree at the same time as doing honours in Asian Studies, something which would not have been possible under normal circumstances.
After graduating, the excellent language training at the Japan Centre enabled me to go on to complete an M.A in classical Japanese literature at Waseda University in Tokyo, sponsored by a Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho). I completed the M.A in March of 2008 (my advice: grab the chance to wear hakama to your Japanese university graduation ceremony! I wish I had), and in October will begin a PhD in East Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge sponsored by a Fulton Australia Scholarship courtesy of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. While I was studying in Japan, and then when I was applying for PhD positions, the Japan Centre teachers and former teachers were wonderfully supportive, providing advice and many letters of recommendation, without which gaining a PhD position and sponsorship would have been very difficult. Of course, pretty much everything I’ve done scholastically since graduating from the Japan Centre would have been impossible without the grounding I received there. Taihen osewa ni narimashita!
Rebekah Clements
Bachelor of Asian Studies (Japanese) (Hons first class)/Bachelor of Laws.
University Medal in Asian Studies 2004.
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