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World/National/What the? stories courtesy of KRT Campus Wire Services unless otherwise credited. Local/BSU stories are courtesy of the Boise State Web site at www.boisestate.edu. All stories are compiled by News Writers.
world
Exchange students flock to Japan to study game design
TOKYO – The number of foreign exchange students – particularly from other Asian countries – studying at vocational colleges in Japan is rising.
Popular courses include animation, video game design and fashion, all of which are considered high-profile careers these days.
Most of the students hope to start their careers in Japan and some would like to return home.
This could lead to the growth of the industries across Asia.
“I loved Final Fantasy and I wanted to become a video game programmer,” said Lee Byong Ok, 29.
“There are schools with courses for video game programmers in South Korea, but I wanted to learn about Japanese games,” he said.
Lee came to Japan after studying economics in South Korea in 2002.
He is currently a sophomore in the game software course at Japan Electronics College.
The college began accepting foreign students in 1977, and now has students from 40 countries. Approximately 60 percent of whom are South Korean.
About half of them study information technology related fields and the remaining students study animation, computer graphics and video game design.
“Japanese animators such as Hayao Miyazaki are internationally recognized,” college spokesman Tamotsu Terawaki said.
“Vocational schools offer clear programs and motivated students are entering our college,” he said.
The college offers extensive career guidance for its foreign students and builds contacts with firms in relevant fields.
In the past two years, 82.9 percent of exchange students who wanted to work in Japan found jobs here.
national
Despite the ruins, preparations for Mardi Gras go on
NEW ORLEANS – They don’t call this a party town for nothing.
Despite fetid piles of garbage, thousands homeless from flooding and the city on the brink of financial ruin, artists have begun crafting puckish icons for Mardi Gras parades four months away.
The pre-Lenten Mardi Gras celebrations here boast masquerade balls and raucous merrymaking that gain worldwide attention. And for Blaine Kern, the 78-year-old known as “Mr. Mardi Gras,” a little joy is exactly what this town needs.
“Yes, there will be Mardi Gras parades!” declared Kern, whose family operates Kern Studios, a Mardi Gras assembly line.
When Kern returned from Houston, where he evacuated to get away from Hurricane Katrina, he was besieged by friends wanting to know whether the February show would go on.
“Everybody wants to do it,” he said. “We are going to show the world that we are still alive and want to have fun.”
The city’s tourism agency, the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp., says Mardi Gras will return in 2006, though with hotel space still expected to be crowded with those left homeless from Katrina and from contractors helping rebuild the city, its scope is uncertain.
2-year college plans degree in disasters
Disasters, both natural and man-made, prompted Kankakee Community College in Illinois to create an associate degree program in emergency management, a spokesman said.
The program, touted as among the first of its kind in the state, may begin offering classes this spring.
Recent events, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters, show the need for more people prepared to handle catastrophes, college officials said, and they want to be among the first to train students for this growing field.
“We need incident managers,” said Michael Casagrande, program coordinator. “I think it’s really an evolving field.”
The college has been developing such a program for two years.
The program, created with help from the governor’s office and expected to draw 15 to 30 students in the first semester, will train people on how respond to a variety of scenarios, including train disasters. Students also will perform rescue exercises in confined spaces, tactical operations and weapons of mass destruction training.
Future courses could include policy and planning, public awareness and community relations, incident management and sociology and recovery of disaster.
“What I hope to see is the ability to create a plan for our community in case disaster hits, whether it’s a natural disaster or any other type,” said Anne Perry, the college’s technology division chair. “They will have to learn about local government and crisis management.”
But the coursework will go beyond coordination, she said.
“It’s not only planning and understanding policy, but it’s also going to be mitigation,” she said. “I think what’s most needed is to understand the behavioral responses of people, the sociology of it, how people respond to the disasters, the media, the attention.”
Grammy winner becomes a voice for cancer victims
MIAMI