In April we officially started our new fiscal year. There is a lot of excitement about our plan for the upcoming year. It also is wonderful to see so many new faces on the executive committee, many of whom have just returned recently from Japan. This time of year also brings us some departures which always comes with mixed emotions. Many of the departing executive are becoming busier with their life, career and grad school - but hopefully not too busy to still come out to our events!

A hardy group of rag-tag JETAA-ers set off to conquer mountains on March 10th. Alas, since mountains are scarce in the GTA, we settled for walls of rock!

The following report was kindly submitted by Alex Svetlovsky, JETAA Ottawa President. 

The JETAA 2012 Regional Tech Conference took place from January 27-29 this year. JET Alumni from Canada and the US gathered in Denver to discuss tech issues and help chapters with their tech issues. This year, Mark Montgomery (JETAA BC), Jamiena Shah (JETAA Canada Representative) and I (JETAA Ottawa) attended the conference from Canada.               

JETAA Toronto kicked off the spring season with its Annual Art Show on Saturday, April 14 at the amazing Goodfellas Gallery. This year’s theme was “Friendship” and the artistic skills of our JET Alumni were in full effect. 

Interested in getting a great workout and meeting a boat-load of fellow JET alumni at the same time?

Why not join the JETAA Fighting Carps dragonboat team this summer? It costs approximately $170 to join the team. The fee covers the cost of boat and equipment rentals, all race registration fees, and your team T-shirt.  

The info session will be held in May. Please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rajie Kabli's on the search for delicious Japanese food in the GTA. Here's her take on Ikki Sushi in Scarborough.

Standing detached from the nearby strip mall and possessing good signage, Ikki Sushi caught my eye while driving on Kingston Road in Scarborough. I stopped in for lunch to check out their Japanese cuisine. Walking in, I immediately found the interior decoration to be interesting and actually reminiscent of Okinawa. The obvious Japanese paraphernalia placed generously around the restaurant brought me back to fun quirks that Japan has to offer. They had a cool sake dispenser which made me believe they might even make their own!

Standing detached from the nearby strip mall and possessing good signage, Ikki Sushi caught my eye while driving on Kingston Road in Scarborough. I stopped in for lunch to check out their Japanese cuisine.

Walking in, I immediately found the interior decoration to be interesting and actually reminiscent of Okinawa. The obvious Japanese paraphernalia placed generously around the restaurant brought me back to fun quirks that Japan has to offer. They had a cool sake dispenser which made me believe they might even make their own! The menu was extensive and they had a section dedicated to vegetarians.

Do you remember your pre-departure orientation, when your mouth was dry from anxiety and your stomach was in knots from anticipation? And do you remember having your questions answered and your stress melt away (well, some of it anyway)? Now think of those new JETs who will be departing in late July and what you can do to help alleviate their fears. 

It would be a great opportunity to play a role in what might be the best year(s) of someone's life!  

If you would like to help out during the P-Dot weekend (June 23-24, 2012), please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the following information by May 11, 2012:

JETAA & JCSA will be building on the success of our 1st coordinated Hanami Picnic last year by inviting JAVA to join for an even bigger Hanami Picnic this year.

Or so we thought…

Spring came so early that the cherry blossoms have all disappeared.

But we won’t let unexpectedly beautiful weather stand in the way of us having a good time together! We’re going to hold a “Post-Hanami Picnic” at the same time that we usually hold our annual cherry blossom-viewing get-together. Our picnic will start at 1pm on Sunday, May 6th in High Park in the same place as last year. 

On February 18th an enthusiastic group of JET alumni and friends headed out to learn a very Canadian Sport: Curling!! We gathered at a local pub where we enjoyed good food and amazing company. With some people having a bit more courage (the liquid kind), we headed over to the curling club.