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Members' View
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| KIRA Festival 2011 |
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(MCs)
This was my first experience as an MC and I was so nervous that I kept stumbling over my words. I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to do better since my husband worked with me every night to practice reading the speech and to fix the difference in my pronunciation between Chinese and Japanese words. |
| Tsuifan Ma |
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I had my first experience as an MC at this year’s KIRA Festival. I tried to talk slowly and loudly in short phrases so as to be easily understood. Since English is a language I usually use and I was working with two other MCs, I felt at ease and was able to persevere to the end. It was a great experience. I hope to make the festival even more wonderful next year.
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Imelda Ooyama
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(Japanese Culture Committee)
We focused on “pursuit of genuineness.” Even if for a short time, we wanted the visitors to enjoy a genuine experience of powdered green tea, so we put effort into creating the proper ambience through the use of a Japanese garden parasol and seasonal flowers like golden lace. All fifty tickets sold out almost within the blink of an eye and we were able to have many people experience traditional Japanese culture. When asked how the powdered tea tasted, most people happily responded that the mellow sweetness of the tea was delicious. What struck me most were the children who seemed a bit nervous about the strange new atmosphere but were adorable as they happily tasted the powdered tea and sweets, handling them with care. I would like to take part next year too, treasuring every meeting as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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(Disaster Relief Corner)
While we were planning the KIRA Festival many of the KIRA members spontaneously stated that they would like to use this event as an opportunity to provide support to the people in the areas stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake. This naturally led to the coining of our slogan, “Go Japan! New Encounters and Discoveries.” Moving beyond words, we took action to support the disaster-affected areas and people by setting up a corner at the festival for selling products from those areas and collecting donations. Thanks to the generous participation of our visitors, we made over 120, 000 yen in sales. We donated 12,503 yen to the Kashiwa City Residents Association for Financial Aid for Eastern Japan Great Earthquake Relief and received a letter of thanks from the Mayor of Kashiwa. We are deeply grateful for your cooperation. |
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(Guam Committee)
At the Guam booth, we sold traditional Guamanian sweets called “Guguria.” These sweets aren’t imported into Japan, so you need to go to Guam to get a taste if you missed your chance at this festival. We prepared twice as many gugurias for sale compared to last year so even more people could enjoy this Guamanian taste. On the day of the festival, we were so engaged in trying to sell all the cookies that regrettably we didn’t have much opportunity to talk about Guam with the people who visited the booth or to introduce the twenty-year history of exchange between Guam and Kashiwa City. We are quite happy, however, that so many people got a chance to enjoy a taste of Guam.
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(General Affairs Committee)
We sold handmade business card cases and doll clips, and offered opportunities to experience potpourri bag making. Among these things, the potpourri bag making activity was quite popular especially among girls in the lower grades of elementary school. The fifty kits we had all sold out. With the help of the members who were skilled at making crafts, we were able to make it an enjoyable event. We would like to offer more events next year which everyone can take part in and enjoy. Although, it might be that it was us, the General Affairs Committee members, that enjoyed the event most. | |
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(Torrance Committee)
“I’m Ken. What’s your name?” with these words and a handshake, the game started.
“Who is the President of the United States?” “What city do you live in?” A lot of elementary school pupils took part under the good leadership of two assistant English teachers from Municipal Kashiwa High School. It made us smile to see the shy children working earnestly to catch English words and to also watch as their facial expressions changed to convey their nervous excitement or joy at getting an answer correct. The sale of sweets was also a great success, and enlivened the atmosphere with their catchy fashionable colors. We tried to be as creative as possible with everything from decorations to clean-up and it turned out to be an enjoyable day. |
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(Foreign Residents Network Committee)
Along with a panel display showing people how to cope in a disaster and providing information about the situation in Kesennuma City after the disaster, we also had several emergency supplies on display. We received questions like “Are the supplies on display for sale?” or “Where can I buy them?” Because interest in the emergency supplies leaflet was so great, we needed to make more copies. We handed out the leaflets about “Multi-Language Mail Magazine Service via cell-phone” to foreigners, about which service many of them were unaware. This is something that needs discussion in the future. We did not receive many questions regarding the photos of Kesennuma City. This event was a good way for us to see where people’s interest lies. |
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| KIRA June Bowling Event |
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| ■ "So glad I joined!" and "A lot of fun!" sums up my feelings about the KIRA bowling event of June 25th, 2006. It was our first event since joining KIRA in April. My husband came along to give me support. About 130 KIRA members enjoyed bowling.
Japanese and foreign members played together. I could see that even though we spoke different languages we were really very similar -- we all got excited about getting a strike or spare.
After finishing two games, we had a wonderful time at the award ceremony and mixer. It was great getting to meet so many people.
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| Mitsuko Takahashi |
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■ I have been living in Kashiwa since becoming a researcher at Tokyo
University last April.
I had some free time and decided to join the KIRA bowling event.
I was deeply impressed by the warm smiles and hospitality. I’m glad we had the opportunity to enjoy this kind of event.
I invited 9 foreign friends from the Kashiwa Campus of the university hoping they could have fun, which of course they did. Five of them got prizes, and others enjoyed the rock-paper-scissors competition. We had a great time, and I want to thank all the KIRA members.
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| Chen Lin |
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