This month, the third annual Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS) newsletter will be available.

The newsletter’s prospective release date approximately coincides with the one-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan. Their recovery will be discussed in detail in a special article at the beginning of the issue.

According to Erik Andersen (11), a writer for the newsletter, the goal of the newsletter is to convey information about Japanese culture to interested readers.

“It definitely piques the curiosity, especially of students who don’t have time to join, say, Japan Club or take Japanese,” Erik said.

The publication also aims to help current students taking Japanese.

“Because [students are] studying Japanese outside of Japan, they don’t have a lot of opportunities to be exposed to the language and Japanese culture,” Masako Onakado, newsletter advisor and Japanese teacher, said. “By working on creating this newsletter, they will be more proactive about seeking the opportunities to be exposed to Japanese culture.”

One distinctive feature in this year’s edition is an article on alumni who are continuing their Japanese studies in college. Onakado states that the publication contacted a lot of alumni who took Japanese, and asked them how they are continuing their Japanese studies in college. She hopes that current students that are studying Japanese can use the information to decide on which college to go to.

Although the publication is created and released by JNHS, its readers are not just students involved with Japanese organizations.

“The regular student body [is our audience], definitely. I hope that they would enjoy learning about the Japanese culture. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if the teachers picked up a copy or two as well.” editor Kimberly Ma (10) said.

JNHS will be announcing the release of their newsletter at an upcoming school meeting, and copies will be available in boxes placed around campus.