Congratulations, Hiroshima JETs! National AJET has announced the winners of its 2010 Awards, and the Wide Island View has been named Best Online Resource of 2010. Three cheers to all of you! The Wide Island View would not be what it is without your contributions. The Best Online Resource Award was given to “the AJET Group that provides the most outstanding online services to its members, including websites, online magazines, bulletin boards, forums, or any other kind of online medium. Points of consideration include readership, content, design, reliability, regularity and educational resources.”

Attention all JETs! National AJET is currently holding elections for new block leaders to represent regions around Japan. There are three candidates campaigning to be the National AJET representative for Block 9, which includes Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori and Yamaguchi prefectures. The three candidates are Jonathan Fisher of Hiroshima Prefecture, Erin McBride of Shimane Prefecture, and Kholofelo Nkoe of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Votes can be cast now through Feb. 26.

Our adopted hometown’s holiday illumination certainly has it’s own quirky charm, but if it’s an elegant and classy display you’re looking for, look no further than Kobe. Perhaps you’ve seen the ubiquitous advertisements for Kobe’s annual Luminarie in train stations. While not billed specifically as a Christmas display — it ran Dec. 3 to 14 this year – this winter illumination is sure to put you in the holiday spirit. For 12 days each December, the lights commemorate Kobe’s rebirth following the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which devastated the city in January 1995. The installation, donated by the Italian government and created by an Italian designer, is made up of a series of arches with lights arranged to resemble a kind of cathedral. Seen from afar, these arches combine into a long tunnel of light that indeed is quite admirable and unlike any other lights display I’ve seen.

One way you can take advantage of your time in Japan is to get involved in some of the structured leadership positions available on JET. Several opportunities exist to build leadership experience at both the local and national levels, from becoming a Prefectural Advisor to taking on responsibilities through Hiroshima AJET or National AJET (Association for Japan Exchange and Teaching). These can be excellent resume builders and networking opportunities. I talked to many of the people in these leadership roles to learn more about how they got their position and what they do. For the first-year folks, this article will be a bit of a primer on what opportunities are available, and for everyone else this may clear up how things work and what the jobs actually entail.

Following on from the great success of the Tyler Battles the Cactopus gig in July, Jimo Cafe and PEPY present a live performance from JindaLee Lehmann. The event will be 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, at Jimo Cafe in Hatchobori, Hiroshima city. The event was organized by Hiroshima city JET Laura Graham. JindaLee is musician from Montreal, Canada, and currently a JET in Fukuyama.

In 1865, the world marveled at Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a groundbreaking work stretching the borders of our imagination. But it seems that the author’s vision of perplexing insanity has never been pushed to its limits until now. No, I’m not talking about the new film version starring Johnny Depp to be released in March 2010. I’m talking about a little known children’s musical version set to run in Hiroshima-ken’s city of Shobara on Oct. 18.

It’s been almost a year since I climbed to the summit of Mt. Fuji (富士山), an unforgettable journey I made alongside my fellow Hiroshima JETs in early September. To those JETs considering the climb this year, I’d like to offer a little background on the significance of the mountain, as well as some friendly advice about the climb, should you decide to take the challenge (and I hope you do!).

Acting on a gut instinct, Keiko Ogura’s father kept her home from school the day the atomic bomb devastated Hiroshima. Just 8-years-old at the time, she was outside her house, 1.5 miles away from the center of the blast. She recalls a bright flash that knocked her off her feet, followed by a loud sound, violent wind, darkness and black rain. Climbing a hill by her house after the blast, she was astonished to see the flattened city laid out before her. Ms. Ogura is one of four hibakusha – atomic bomb survivors – who will tell their stories in English following the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park on August 6.

Reflecting on Hiroshima’s Lantern Festival, Hiroshima City JET Michael Bacon shares his thoughts on the significance of this time both as the anniversary of the atomic bombing and as a time of change for JETs entering and leaving Japan.

I discovered Hiroshima’s famous Toukasan Festival last year, when my students’ journals suddenly became peppered with desperate pleas for new yukata. Before long, Japanese teachers and students alike were asking to dress me up in yukata and eagerly telling me all about Hiroshima’s huge annual Toukasan Festival. Downtown, the stores on Hondori were bursting with colourful yukata, lightweight summer kimono. Instantly, I was hooked!