names into Katakana (online utilities)

Katakana names: http://japanesetranslator.co.uk/your-name-in-japanese
 
or http://name.reader.bz/
The advantage here: you can copy and paste the results (not in image form).

photo lives in Japan, the DeAi project 10th anniversary

Nearly ten years have passed since the Japan Forum published
"Deai: The Lives of Seven Japanese High School Students"
(www.tjf.or.jp/deai), introducing real-life portraits of seven

Japanese high school students through photos, stories, and videos.

For Takarabako No. 25 we returned to three of these students
and asked them to give us the sequel to their high school story,
sharing their thoughts and experiences as they charted their way
in life. http://www.tjf.or.jp/takarabako

For junior high and high school students, these stories offer useful
hints as they consider how to continue their education and choose
their careers, and what kind of lives they want to lead.

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Their additional stories, photos and movies can be viewed at the "Click Japan" website
in Japanese, English and Chinese.

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We uploaded their stories, photos and movies including the contents that we couldn't put in Takarabako at
"Click Japan" website. You can read them in Japanese, English and Chinese at the site.
http://www.tjf.or.jp/clicknippon/en/jcn (See "Resource No.25")

reading help (fluent speaking, but weak readers)

...for students who are fairly fluent speakers, but not so good at reading.
http://www.manythings.org/japanese/reading/Japanese
Reading Practice with nearly 148,000 sentences... sorted by the kanji frequency order found in Jim Breen's kanjidic

日 一 国 会 人 年 大 十 二 本 中 長 出 三 同 時 政 事 自 行 社 見 月 分 議 後 前 民 生 連 五 発 間 (More ...).

poetry in audio format

Tanikawa Shuntaro himself reads one of his most most popular poems, http://www.chocolatmag.com/voice/

others? Perhaps there are also stories in audio format (such as those read by volunteers who record requested titles for visually impaired people)?

movies & TV favorites for H.S. students of Japanese

Movies: the various Ghibli (Miyazaki Hayao) anime, Ping Pong, Kokoyakyu (spelling of English title), Train Man, The Prince of Tennis, Hula Girls, Swing Girls.
Also the documentary, Japanland (Karin Muller).
 
TV series (as of 9/2010), as found on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_9_8?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=japanese+tv+series&sprefix=japanese

culture textbook for elementary school students

from SENSEIONLINE, Fri Sep 3, 2010

culture books on Asia for kids
<> Floating lanterns & Golden Shrines
<> 40 activites to learn about Japan (or something like that).
<> an Iowa book called "Sweet Corn and Sushi". It's a children's story book written in English and Japanese (but the reading level for both languages is upper elementary). It's the story about an American soldier who had been stationed in Japan right after WWII, but then went back to Iowa to become a farmer. When a disaster hit Yamanashi prefecture in Japan, he rounded up his farmer friends and sent the Japanese people some help. Years later when the floods of '93 hit Iowa, the Japanese people of Yamanashi sent help to the people of Iowa. It's a beautiful book about the ties between two countries.

<> "My Japan" by Etsuko Watanabe, and "I live in Tokyo" by Mari Takabayashi, http://www.amazon.com/My-Japan-Etsuko-Watanabe/dp/1933605995
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6226681-my-japan

http://www.amazon.com/I-Live-Tokyo-Mari-Takabayashi/dp/0618077022 and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/921351.I_Live_in_Tokyo

<> "Hashi No Mochikata" by Michiko Konagai, http://www.ehonnavi.net/ehon00.asp?NVKB=E00&no=16236
<> "Asobi No Osama Zukan7: Tabemono", http://www.ehonnavi.net/ehon00.asp?no=9074
<> "Lovely Hekimen 12kagetsu", http://www.natsume.co.jp/book/index.php?action=show&code=004836
<> "Pocket Monster Origami Collection" by Kanata Miru, http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/htm/4091016154.html

<>Yoko, http://www.amazon.com/Yoko-Rosemary-Wells/dp/0786803959
is about a Japanese-American cat that goes to school and always brings lunches that her mom packs for her. The other kids (animals?) tease her about her red bean ice cream and sushi and she's always embarrassed. Later in the school year, the class has an international food day and everyone has to bring a food that represents their culture. The book is more about tolerance of other cultures, but it's about a Japanese main character.

<> Allen Say's autobiographical picture books:
Grandfather's Journey (coordinate with US History, Japanese immigration, etc.)
A Tree of Cranes (read at Christmas time)
Tea with Milk (cultural comparisons)
The Bracelet (about WWII Japanese internment camps but not too harsh for elementary students)

<> Akiko Hayashi books, http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Picture-Books-Japan/lm/3MK7OPYENYTH1

<> The story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is used in talking about Hiroshima. There is even a video to go along with this book, too.

<> "How My Parents Learned to Eat" is about introducing Japanese food and chopsticks.

<> To show Japanese culture: the Shiba Inu books and the illustrator Akiko Hayashi's "Kon to Aki", which is now available in English! Many of her very cute books have beentranslated into English.

<> "Baseball Saved Us" is another excellent book about the Internment camps.
<> For high school, "Snow Falling on Cedars" is both a good book and an excellent film on the subject of the J-A experience during and after the war.


------SEE ALSO, lending library in USA: http://www.jflalc.org/?act=tpt&id=292