2022 Great Lakes JETAA Career Fair

January 29, 2022, 1:00-5:00 PM EST

(12-4 CT/11-3 MT/10-2 PT/9 AM -1 AKT/8 AM-12 HT)

The 2022 GLJETAA career fair is Saturday, January 29, 2022. Candidates who understand the Japanese culture or the Japanese language are welcome to attend. Job seekers have the opportunity to attend a presentation on marketing their Japanese skills, ask panels of industry insiders questions, network, and submit their resumés to select companies. Business casual attire is recommended.

Please also join our sister organization’s event, Transitions, by PNWJETAA, focused on careers within Japan.

Schedule of Programming

1:00-1:15 PM EST
- Welcome remarks/About the JET Program
1:15-2:00 PM EST
- Ikigai Connections with Kasia Lynch – How to Market Your Japanese Language/Cultural Skills in the US Job Search
2:15-3:00 PM EST
- Networking in breakout rooms (Practice your elevator pitch!)
3:15-4:00 PM EST
- Panel 1 – Daniel Stone (ESL tutoring company), James Wilson (Japanese trading company), Jamie Graves (Japanese cuisine)
4:15-5:00 PM EST
- Panel 2 – Faye Valtadoros (Japanese teacher), Scott Kuehn (economic development), Caleb Cook (manga translator)
5:00-5:10 PM EST
- Closing remarks
5:10~ PM EST
- Open chat

↓ About the Keynote Speaker and the Panelists

This event will be held online. It is free of charge and open to anyone with an interest in Japan-related jobs, regardless of career status or location.

Resumés will be collected after the event (optional) through February 7th, compiled into a packet, and sent to companies/organizations interested in bilingual/biculturally aware talent. The list of companies will be announced prior to the start of the career fair. If your company/organization is interested in receiving the resumé packet, please contact us.

↓ Associated Companies and Resources

Registration

(NOTE: Ticket types are only for our reference. All are equal and provide access to the same event. If you not currently a college student or a JET alum, please choose “General Audience.”)

About the Keynote Speaker and the Panelists

Kasia Lynch is the founder of Ikigai Connections

Kasia Lynch (Keynote Speaker)

Kasia (カーシャ) is a trilingual American who spent 8 years in Japan, including high school, college, graduate school, and her professional career. She earned her Bachelor’s from Boston University and Master’s from Tokyo’s Ochanomizu University.

Kasia’s career utilizing Japanese language and cultural skills began in 2003 with concert promotion and later moved to interpreting/translating, electronics, and the automotive industry. She was able to do this while living in Japan, Poland, Italy, and the US.

Since starting Ikigai Connections in 2018, Kasia has been featured in various Japan-related podcasts, websites, and webinars, including USJETAA, Small Business Japan, Laurasian Institution, Japan Expert Insights, and BFF Tokyo. Her goal is for NihongoJobs.com to become the go-to job board for all Japanese jobs in the US.

Find more information about Ikigai Connections here.

Daniel Stone

Born in Tennessee and raised in Upstate South Carolina, Daniel Stone was first introduced to Japan as a junior enlisted sailor in the US Navy with duty on an aircraft carrier in Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2004, Stone returned to Japan on the JET Program and was an Assistant English Teacher for three years in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. Upon returning to the US, Stone opened a language school on Ohio Dominican University (ODU) campus for the Japanese parent company, Berlitz Corporation. He holds an MBA from ODU in Columbus and founded Two Birds One Stone Learning in 2014. TBOSL is an after-school program that helps youth learners who speak English as a Second Language adjust to the American school system and their parents with Survival and Business English. In addition, Stone lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he serves as an educational consultant for the Troops to Teachers program. This program helps transitioning veterans interested in a second career as public school teachers. Since 2019, Stone has been a licensed teacher and teaches Technology to elementary school students at a charter school in Columbus.

Find more information about Two Birds One Stone here.

James Wilson

My name is James Wilson (he/him) and I’m a 32-year-old sales & business development specialist working for a Japanese trading company passionately pursuing sustainable options for the plastics industry. Despite my surefire career plans during college, my path has been a bit… erratic. Originally planning to pursue a career as a second-language educator and graduating Indiana University with Dual Bachelor’s Degrees in East Asian Languages & Cultures (Japanese) & Classical Studies (Ancient Greek), the JET Programme was my dream springboard after college. However, during my time teaching on JET (2014-2017, Niigata Prefecture), I realized that the classroom was definitely not my shtick. When I returned adrift from Japan, my first job at a Japanese automotive plastics manufacturer piqued my interest in the polymer industries eventually leading me to my current company, Toyota Tsusho America, where I’m involved with a myriad of industries from sleeping products, 3D printing, semiconductor fabrication, food packaging, and the location & implementation of carbon-neutral solutions. In my free time, I enjoy baking, cycling, lifting, & watching Netflix with my wife.

Find more information about Toyota Tsusho America here.

Jamie Graves

Jamie Graves has been working in Japanese cuisine in various areas since 2003. After spending one year as a teacher on the JET Program in Shizuoka he took a job cooking at the in-house restaurant of organic foods importer Alishan Foods in Hanno, Saitama. That led to jobs and externships at various restaurants in Japan. In 2007 he moved to New York and started a career as a freelance translator and became the manager of noted Japanese fine dining restaurants including Kajitsu, Brushstroke, and Sakamai. In 2014 he placed fourth in the world at the International Sake Sommelier Competition in Tokyo. Since 2017 he has been the Japan Portfolio manager for Manhattan-based Skurnik Wines & Spirits, overseeing importing and distribution of craft sake, shochu, and spirits from Japan to the US.

Find more information about Skurnik here.

Faye Valtadoros

Faye Valtadoros is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, with a major in Japanese Language and Culture Education. After doing a year-long study abroad in Kagawa-ken, she then returned to Kagawa-ken as a JET from 1998-2000. Upon returning to Michigan, she immediately got involved in the JET Alumni Association. She was a member for many years, then moved up to Vice President, then President, and then became a US Country Representative for two years. Her teaching career started when her time on JET was done, she returned to Michigan, and for the past 16 years, she has been teaching Japanese at Clarkston Community Schools. Along with being the only Japanese teacher, she has continued an established and amazing sister-school program with Chiba Higashi High School since starting to teach. She has also worked with companies and tutored Japanese to their employees, as well tutoring on the side and teaching Japanese at Macomb Community College.

To this day, Faye helps with JET interviews, has many students who have continued their study for Japanese in college, and has seen lots of former students who are currently on, or who were on the JET Program. Spreading the news about JET is something she is passionate about.

Scott Kuehn

I lead our business attraction team, which supports prospective commercial and/or industrial customers by identifying and gaining competitive advantages when considering a site in our service territory.

My work is informed by over 20 years of experience in the public and private sector serving international businesses. Fluent in Japanese, I lived and worked in Japan for the better part of a decade. I also served in the public sector for seven years in a variety of positions culminating as director of global markets for the former Ohio Department of Development.

I earned my master’s degree in economics from Kyoto University in Japan and graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s in international studies from the University at Buffalo.

Find more information about EAP Economic Development here.

Caleb Cook

Caleb was a JET ALT from 2011-2013 in Miyagi Prefecture, and upon returning to the US with few skills besides Japanese language ability, he became a freelance Japanese-to-English translator with a focus on manga. The titles he translates include Dr. Stone, Dragon Ball Super, Yowamushi Pedal, My Hero Academia, and its endless spinoffs, in addition to 12 or so other ongoing series at any given time. Somehow or other, Caleb has survived on nothing but contract work for eight years and counting, but he does not recommend this lifestyle to anyone else, really.

Find more information about Caleb Cook here.

Companies

Submit your resume to GLJETAA VP Kyle Belanger at if you would like us to share it with our participant companies.