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Jay Dunkelman, President

When I arrived in Japan in 1977 as an assistant English instructor for Princeton-in-Asia, I expected to stay six months to a year. Instead, I fell in love with the country, began my career, married and had three children.

Japanese culture has always fascinated me, and early on I developed an interest in Kabuki and other forms of traditional theater. For several years I worked at the Kabuki-za as a Kabuki commentator for the English language earphone guide. Each month I prepared a commentary that was broadcast during performances at the Kabuki-za for the benefit of foreign visitors and other non-Japanese speakers in the audience. I have also practiced Aikido for over nearly three decades, and I am currently an instructor at Kuwamori Dojo in Tokyo.

In the professional area, for the last twenty odd years I have been working as an English teacher and tenured faculty member of the Eigo Kyouiku Kenkyujou (ELEC), a nonprofit organization chartered by the Ministry of Education. In 1997 I got my M. A. in Linguistics (TESOL) from the University of Surrey in Great Britain.

For almost as long I have been working for Yazaki Corporation as a Senior Consultant and Web Administrator, responsible for advertising and promotional materials, product brochures and catalogues, the Yazaki News in-house newsletter, proofreading, translation and other projects.

To provide the above and other services, my wife and I established Purity Co., Ltd. in 1997. My half of the company provides Internet-based solutions for business (proofreading, translation (Japanese to/from English), copywriting, editing and Web site content), and in the field of education, English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching, syllabus design and curriculum development services. The "better half" of the company produces concerts, events, and the CD albums of my wife, ethnic fusion artist Celia Dunkelman.

Well, that about does it for a capsule history of the last few decades.

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Celia Dunkelman, President

I grew up in Indonesia surrounded by music. Forgoing formal education, I began performing professionally at the age of nine, when I was engaged by Wesley Church as their chief organist. My playing evidently attracted many admirers, among them the Japanese Consulate in Sumatra, which asked me to perform yearly on the occasion of the Emperor's Birthday, In 1978 I won the Grand Prize at the Indonesia Electone Festival, and embarked on a succession of television and concert appearances starting at age fifteen.

In 1979 my longing to grow musically and my close relationship with Japan led to a Yamaha Foundation scholarship to study in Japan, and later at Shobi Conservatoire — my first experience in a formal educational setting.

Marriage to Jay, an American Jew, in 1983 brought my first exposure to what were to become lifetime passions, Jewish popular and liturgical music and Japanese classical music. In 1985 I organized and produced the first concert at Shobi Conservatoire performed entirely by foreign students.

In addition to teaching, composing and performing in Japan and abroad, I perform regularly in Japan and throughout Asia.

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