SIJP is a networking community mainly for Japanese professionals working in the IT industry. We are pleased to announce that many have joined our events throughout 2014 and are a community that gathers 40 to 100 people each of our guest speaker events. SIJP have also started a programming class towards children because the Japanese community has many family and small children. The programming class was held throughout one day with 2 sessions and both sessions were sold out with children learning how to code. We would like to continue to grow the Japanese IT professional community in 2015 also.
That is why we like to start off with our first ever SIJP “Happy New Year Chackathon in Seattle” at 1/24 (Sat).
“Chackathon” is a created word between “cha” (means tea in Japanese), “hack” and “marathon”. “Hackathon” is a place for people with different backgrounds to discuss different topics, innovate and create ground-breaking ideas. At “Chackathon”, we will discuss and communicate open-minded with a nice cup of Japanese tea. The event has been held at Silicon Valley and Tokyo total of 3 times but has never been held in Seattle. This will be first ever “Chackathon” in Seattle!
At this event, we will gather about 30 people and split them into 5-6 people teams. The teams will discuss ideas, present and compete against each other. We will choose the best presented idea and take action back to the community but we would like to set the first event’s goal as settling the “Hachkathon” culture. We are planning to have one or two English teams where they carry out discussion and present the idea in English while other teams will be using Japanese. We will have onsite translators. We would like to have people with many different professional backgrounds in order to have a diverse discussion. Homemakers are also very welcomed. Please note that we will have selection process if there are many applications.
After everyone discussed all their ideas over a delicious cup of tea, we are also holding a traditional Japanese Mochi Festival. We would like to give every participant at the festival of all ages a chance to pound the mochi rice with a traditional Japanese pestle. There is no other best tasting mochi in the world than the ones you have pounded yourself. Everyone is invited to the festival!
We plan to have a $5-$15 fee for all the ingredients and costs for holding the event. Please see the “Event Participant Fee” page for more information.
“Chackathon”Event Information
The first topic for Seattle’s 1st Hackathon is…
“What can we do to increase the Japanese community population in Seattle to 50,000 people (current population is 6,300)?
The Pacific Northwest is one of the first places a Japanese set foot in America. The history, weather and region are very suitable for the Japanese but still cannot get rid of the tourist image of Seattle. There are major corporate companies based in Seattle such as Amazon and Microsoft. The IT business is switching over to the cloud computing and the new generation of Japanese IT technicians has many new opportunities in the Puget Sound area. What would the new generation want from the community? How would they continue to connect as the community grows? How would we integrate and utilize the experience of 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation? Why do students often go back in just 1 year? Why are there less 30 year old generation? Etc. We would like to discuss these kinds of topics through the “Chackathon”.
Please register at http://goo.gl/forms/5DUfSa0SNq and we are looking forward to seeing you! The deadline for application is 1/9.
If you have any questions please contact: chakkasonseattle@gmail.com
Event Information
Date：1/24(Sat)
Place：Bellevue Children’s Academy (14640 NE 24th St Bellevue, WA 98007)
Program：
- 1:00 Door Open/Networking
- 1:30 Program Start/Schedule Information/Team Formation
- 2:00 Idealization
- 3:45 Presentation（Each team total of 10 min, 5 min presentation and 5 min Q&A)
- 5:00 Judge&Mochi Festival
- 6:00 Winner Announcement
- 6:30 Clean up/Networking
- 7:00 Close
Event Fee（Day of Event, Cash Only）
- Full Participation：＄１５
- Visitor：＄１０
- Children (Under Age 12, Mochi Festival Only)：＄５
- Children (Under Age 5)：Free
The fee’s will be for the event and the Mochi Festival ingredients.