Part 3 of J-Talks: Godzilla Edition with Aficionado, Gabriel Coronado on November 20th

This week, final installment of J-Talks: Godzilla Edition webinar series trilogy with our featured speaker, Gabriel Coronado (he/him) this Wednesday, November 20th at 7:00pm CT!

Thank you to many of our community members who joined us last week for Part 2 with academic, Dr. Yuki Miyamoto, Ph.D and/or for Part 1 with artist, Derrick Fields! We invite you to complete our trilogy (of course new attendees are welcome too!) with our third and final installment of the J-Talks: Godzilla Edition - Care & Consumption webinar series with aficionado, Gabriel Coronado (he/him), this Wednesday, November 20th at 7:00pm CT - RSVP Required via Guestlist:

RSVP FOR PART 3 with Gabriel Coronado

Gabriel Coronado (pronouns: he/him), Lifelong Godzilla fan & President of Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program Alumni Association - Chicago. Gabriel brings the aficionado perspective to our webinar series as his love for Godzilla is grounded in family connection and cultural understanding. Read more about Gabriel:

Born and raised in a mixed race family on the southwest side of Chicago, Gabriel Coronado has been watching Godzilla films as long as he can remember. Thanks to a father who spent his own childhood watching the original Showa era Godzilla  films, Gabe grew up with all of the classic Godzilla films on VHS that his family could find. The interest in Godzilla inspired a broader curiosity about Japan’s culture and history and led him to pursue studying Japanese language and literature at Whitney M. Young High School and DePaul University.

After spending a year post-undergrad on the Japan Exchange and Teaching(JET) Program in southern Japan, Gabe returned to Chicago and found a career in event production, project management and community impact programming. Eventually, he became involved in the JET Program Alumni Association of Chicago as a volunteer helping at events before becoming President in 2019. As a leader in the local Japan-America community for the last 5 years, Gabe works hard to build community through mutual respect and understanding of other cultures.

Random G-Fan Facts about Gabe:

• Favorite Kaiju - Anguirus

• Favorite Godzilla films - Minus One, Godzilla Vs. Biollante

• Favorite Non-film Godzilla Media - Marc Cerasini Novel Series

• Favorite Non-Godzilla Kaiju films - Rodan (1956), Gamera Heisei Trilogy

RSVP FOR PART 3 with Gabriel Coronado

The J-Talks: Godzilla Edition Trilogy is supported in partnership of Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program Alumni Association - Chicago and The Japanese American Citizen League (JACL) - Midwest District Council (MDC), Young Professionals Caucus (YPC). J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue, which centers around themes of identity, social issues, cultural understanding, and leadership as experienced by people with meaningful connections to Japan. In honor of Godzilla’s 70th anniversary, this year’s J-Talk Webinars are a series of interviews that center around the themes of Care & Consumption in relation to the King of the Monsters origins, history and cultural impact. Join us as we connect with JET alumni and members of the US-Japan community about how we interact with Japanese culture and how our perception evolves over time.

This online event is open to the public including our fellow JET Alumni, JACL members, community partners, and our Friends of JET/JACL (FOJ).

Questions? Contact mdc.ypc@jacl.org or vicepresident@jetaachicago.com

J-Talks: Godzilla Editions 2 & 3!

Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program Alumni Association (JETAA) of Chicago - Illinois, Wisconsin & Indiana will continue our partnership with the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) - Midwest District Council (MDC) on the return of our webinar series J-Talks: Strengthening Ties Through Dialogue, which centers around themes of identity, social issues, cultural understanding, and leadership as experienced by people with meaningful connections to Japan.

Thank you to those in our community who joined us for Part 1 of our webinar series with Derrick Fields! Complete our trilogy (of course new attendees are welcome too!) and join us for second and third installments of the J-Talks: Godzilla Edition - Care & Consumption Webinar series:

• PART 2: Thursday, November 14th at 7:00pm CT with Dr. Yuki Miyamoto, Ph.D

  Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Humanities Center at DePaul University. Dr. Miyamoto brings an important perspective as the daughter of Hiroshima atomic bomb survivors along with her academic work that centers environmental ethics and advocacy.

  

  Since earning her PhD in ethics from the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, Dr. Miyamoto has been teaching courses on nuclear ethics and environmental ethics at DePaul University. Her works include the monograph Beyond the Mushroom Cloud: Commemoration, Religion, and Responsibility after Hiroshima (Fordham University Press, 2011), A World Otherwise: Environmental Praxis in Minamata (Lexington Press, 2021), and articles examining gender in the atomic age. She has also published a monograph in Japanese that explores US nuclear discourse in comparison to Japanese discourse, titled Naze genbaku ga aku de nainoka (Iwanami Shoten, 2020), as well as a translated work on the lawsuit regarding the victims of radiation exposure: Mokusatsu sareta hibakusha no koe (original: The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight for Atomic Justice) (Akashi Shoten, 2023). Her current work focuses on discrimination against irradiated bodies in Japan. Since 2005, she has led two-week-long study abroad programs, bringing DePaul students to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with this year’s trip scheduled for December.

  
  

PART 2:  RSVP Required via Guestlist!

• PART 3: Wednesday, November 20th at 7:00pm CT with Gabriel Coronado

  Lifelong Godzilla fan & President of Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program Alumni Association - Chicago. Gabriel brings the aficionado perspective to our webinar series as his love for Godzilla is grounded in family connection.

  

  Born and raised in a mixed race family on the southwest side of Chicago, Gabriel Coronado (he/him) has been watching Godzilla films as long as he can remember. Thanks to a father who spent his own childhood watching the original Showa era Godzilla  films, Gabe grew up with all of the classic Godzilla films on VHS that his family could find. The interest in Godzilla inspired a broader curiosity about Japan’s culture and history and led him to pursue studying Japanese language and literature at Whitney M. Young High School and DePaul University. After spending a year post-undergrad on the Japan Exchange and Teaching(JET) Program in southern Japan, Gabe returned to Chicago and found a career in event production, project management and community impact programming. Eventually, he became involved in the JET Program Alumni Association of Chicago as a volunteer helping at events before becoming President in 2019. As a leader in the local Japan-America community for the last 5 years, Gabe works hard to build community through mutual respect and understanding of other cultures.

  
  

Part 3: RSVP Required via Guestlist!

In honor of Godzilla’s 70th anniversary, this year’s J-Talk Webinars are a series of interviews that center around the themes of Care & Consumption in relation to the King of the Monsters origins, history and cultural impact. Join us as we connect with JET alumni and members of the US-Japan community about how we interact with Japanese culture and how our perception evolves over time.

This online event is open to the public including our fellow JET Alumni, JACL members, community partners, and our Friends of JET/JACL (FOJ).

Questions? Contact mdc.ypc@jacl.org or vicepresident@jetaachicago.com

Don't forget to join us for our Dia de Muertos JETogether this Saturday!

JETAA Chicago returns to the location of one of the first ever JETogethers - the National Museum of Mexican Art! The Museum has hosted the art of many Japanese-American and Japanese-Mexican artists over the years, including Shizu Saldamando, and on Saturday, November 9, we are visiting their annual Dia de Muertos Exhibit!

We will meet in front of the Museum at 11am sharp! Street parking is available around Harrison Park where the museum is located (watch out for the Neighborhood Parking signs!) and the Museum is easily accessible via public transportation on the Damen bus, 18th St. bus or Pink line train. Find your best route here!

And after we are done, feel free to stick around for a Coffee & Conversation Nijikai at El Cafecito in the Damen Pink Line station!

Sign up here!

This event is open to JET alumni and Friends of JET.

Questions? Contact Gabriel Coronado at president@jetaachicago.com.