Year 2000 Special Feature
Mr. Hidetoshi Shoji (President
of the Nippon Club)
With the start of
year 2000, the Nippon Club is trying make a great organizational
leap to better serve the community. We, the new board members and
officers, discussed the Club and its activities at the meeting in
January.
The Nippon Club was originally established in 1990, as an
independent offshoot from the Community Service Committee of the
Japanese Language School of Raleigh. Since then, the Club has
promoted Japanese-American cultural exchange, conducted local
service activities, and provided practical information to the
Japanese who live in this area. The Club has also worked to
foster deeper mutual understanding between Japan and North
Carolina. The key decision to take a critical look at our
activities took place at the annual board meeting in last
December. The main issues are 1) information of the Club's
activities is not well disseminated and there is a misconception
that its activities are limited to members, 2) a decrease in
participants for Adopt-A-Highway, and 3) the meaning and know-how
necessary to organize the annual events is becoming lost as the
baton is handed from one generation of officers to the next. As
resolutions, we have discussed 1) reviewing the list of members
and inviting some to become Club officers regardless of age or
occupation, 2) to revise the operation of community services, and
3) not to limit officers' terms of service to one year, to
improve continuity and thereby help retain the institutional know-how
needed to run Club events. We hope to make our activities both
clearer and more efficient by putting the above resolutions into
effect. If you have any news that might be of interest to club
members, please send us the details so that we can publish it in
the newsletter.
This year, the Club is planning to have an annual picnic in May
and participate in the International Festival in Raleigh. We
would like to ask your cooperation more than ever, and appreciate
your opinions and suggestions for the Club.
Mr. Francis A. Moyer (Director
of the North Carolina Japan Center)
The North Carolina Japan Center was
established by Governor Hunt in 1980 as part of North Carolina
State University to promote closer relations and greater mutual
understanding between our state and Japan.
Most of its work takes the form of
off campus community service. The Center maintains a library of
books and materials about Japan in English, a collection of
videotapes, and a collection of Japanese language books for light
reading. Educational materials for use in schools include several
sets of "kami shibai" picture stories, and "Japan
in a Box", a collection of daily life items from Japan for
use in the classroom. All circulating materials are available
free of charge for use throughout North Carolina.
The Center provides speakers and
advice on various aspects of travel, study, and business in Japan.
It also has free materials in Japanese about life in North
Carolina, such as the Japanese language translation of the North
Carolina Driver's Handbook. It also provides office space for the
principal and secretary of the Japanese Language School of
Raleigh, and is the usual meeting place for the Nippon Club.
There is no formal membership, but the Center maintains a general
mailing list for announcing programs. Corporate members, which
contribute donations to the Japan Center, support its activities,
including ESL classes, make possible the production and
distribution of materials, and help the Center to provide
scholarships for students studying Japanese in North Carolina
universities. The Center is at 5 Rosemary St., Raleigh, tel.: (919)
515-3450; fax: (919) 515-3686, web site: http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/CIL/ncjapancenter/www/ and is open Monday through Friday, 8:30
AM to 5:00 PM.
Club News
New Board Members and Officers for 2000
The following are the Nippon Club
board members and officers for year 2000. However, we are still
seeking a few new board members and officers to augment the
current board as we are looking to expand club activities in the
near future. Please contact the Nippon Club if you are interested
in our activities.
Board members: Hidetoshi Shoji,
Takaaki Yamada, Ryoji Chijiiwa, Norifumi Soma, Manabu Soga, David
S. Robinson, Francis A. Moyer, Hironori Nishie, Yasunori Tonooka,
Yukihiko Yamaguchi, Tae Kunisawa, Eriko Baxter
Officers: President: Hidetoshi Shoji
Vice President: Takaaki Yamada
Cooperate Secretary: Manabu Soga
Activity: Hironori Nishie
Community Service: Francis A. Moyer
Membership: Yasunori Tonooka
Legal Affairs: David S. Robinson
Treasurer: Yukihiko Yamaguchi
Newsletter: Eriko Baxter
Adopt-A-Highway
The clean-up scheduled
for December 11 was canceled due to low turnout. Unfortunately,
participants in this program are dwindling. We need at least 16
people for a successful clean-up.
The next Adopt-A-Highway operation will be on February 26 (Sat).
Anyone over 13 years of age is invited to participate. This
program gives you a good opportunity to contribute to our local
community. It usually only takes about two hours of your time.
Please bring work or garden gloves. Mr. Moyer will bring a few
extra pairs for those who do not have any. We hope you will join
us in our community service activity next time.
Date: Saturday, February 26th
Time: 9:45 am (Clean up to start at 10:00 am)
Place: Eatman's Carpets rear left parking lot off from Glenwood
Avenue, 5 miles north on US-70, off of Raleigh Beltline I-440.
Eatman's Carpets is at the corner of Westborough Drive and US-70/Glenwood
Avenue.
Contact: Francis A. Moyer at NC Japan Center
Tel: (919) 515-3450
Experience Japan in America
With cooperation from Ms. Tae
Kunisawa, a teacher of Broughton High School, the Japan Club is
coordinating home stays for American high school students in the
homes of Japanese families in the Triangle. This idea came from
the experiences of Broughton High School students who were
invited to stay with local Japanese families. They enjoyed
various kinds of Japanese food, and talking about Japanese
culture, companies, and so on. We are currently seeking Japanese
families, so if you are interested in cultural exchange through
hosting an American student for a weekend, please call or send e-mail.
Applicants: Japanese families, preferably, with high
school age children
Time: Forth quarter (in or around April)
Term: 2 nights 3 days (weekend)
Language: Either Japanese or English. (Japanese
proficiency depends on student.)
Contact: Tae Kunisawa
E-mail kunisawa@mindspring.com
Your E-mail Address
We are currently collecting
Nippon Club members' e-mail addresses so that we can inform you
occasionally about timely matters that affect Club members.
Please send your e-mail message to Nippon Club Membership
Director Yasunori Tonooka, at yasunori.tonooka@fnc.fujitsu.com at your earliest convenience. Thank you
for your cooperation. We respect your privacy, and will not be
using your information for any purpose other than these
occasional announcements.
Community News
Open House at the Japanese Language School of Raleigh
Japanese Language School of
Raleigh will hold an open house and orientation on February 19.
You can also visit classes on this day. The program of this event
is below. After the event, prospective students' parents can
complete and submit an application for admission. The school will
prepare materials based on the number of submitted application
forms, so please attend if you plan to have your children enroll
for the term starting April 2000. The school will still accept
new applicants after this event; however, it encourages you to
apply as soon as possible to prevent a shortage of school
materials.
Place: Our Lady of Lourdes (OLL)
Elementary School
2710 Overbrook Drive, Raleigh
Program: Open house (9:30 am)
Visiting classes (10:35 am - 11:20 am)
Orientation (11:35 am - 12:15 pm)
Contact: Masahiro Nagayama, Principal
Japanese Language School of Raleigh
E-mail: nagayama@social.chass.nscu.edu
Chammika Subasinghe, School
Affairs
E-mail: cas@nc.fnc.fujitsu.com
Enrollment Eligibility:
Kindergarten: Children born after April 2, 1995
Elementary School: Children born after April 2, 1993 (First grade)
(Applicants for grades through high school are also accepted.)
Japanese as a Second Language
Ms. Yoshimi Yamagata is teaching an intermediate Japanese Language Class for adults at the North Carolina Japan Center. The class meets from 6:30 to 8:00 pm on Wednesday evenings at the North Carolina Japan Center, 5 Rosemary Street, Raleigh. The text is "Japanese for Busy People." Interested parties should contact Ms. Yamagata directly at tel.: 513-2966, 9:00 am to noon, Monday through Friday.
Animazement 2000
The 'Animazement 2000' animation convention will be held from March 9 through March 12 at the North Raleigh Hilton Hotel. Voice actor Akira Kamiya, cartoonists Kia Asamia, Yuu Watase and other animation and comic book professionals from Japan and the United States will attend as guests of honor. Scheduled events include Japanese animation screenings, sale of anime goods, a costume contest, karaoke, dance, and more. Registration is $35 until February 29, after which it will be $45.
For more information, please visit http://www.animazement.org
Day Trips and Weekend Trips
Quaint Countryside Inn Fearrington Village
Fearrington Village is located in
the lovely countryside just eight miles south of Chapel Hill.
Many people have visited this picturesque village since 1974 when
R.B. Fitch began transforming Jesse Fearrington's dairy farm into
a charming residential community.
The village is famous for its distinctive "belted" cows
which one can often see lazing about on the grass on sunny days.
There is an arts and craft shop that has country bouquets and
accessory furniture, a garden shop, a jewelry shop, and more.
Whether window shopping or buying it is a pleasure to browse
among so many unique pieces. For fine dining, the Fearrington
House Restaurant and Country Inn is the state's only AAA 5-Diamond
award winner. Or you can enjoy a weekend brunch at the Market
Cafe, which has homemade soups, fresh salads, freshly baked
scones and biscuits, omelets, sandwiches, lasagna, and more.
Enjoy it all in the cozy country cafe atmosphere.
Please visit http://www.fearrington.com for details and directions.
Ms. Junko Gilbert, the usual translator was unable to translate this issue due to other obligations. For this issue all articles were translated by the editor and her husband, Mr. Bill Baxter. The editor would appreciate any feedback on either content or translation. We still welcome your news contributions, either in English or Japanese, so please send them to us!
Editor : Eriko Baxter
Translator : Bill Baxter
nippon_club@geocities.co.jp
Feb/20/2000 Copyright (C) Nippon club of the Triangle All Right Reserved.