No.21３-2
New Year's Message from Yukiko Katsuoka, Chairperson,International Exchange Committee
This year, we will elect board members. Looking back on the last two
years’ activities, you can realize what valuable role friendship members
have played. We had thought it would be ideal if friendship members joined
Japanese members in activities such as attending committees, planning programs,
exchanging opinions in the same way as Japanese members did.
However,
it turned out to be not so easy as we had expected due to time constraints, the
language barrier, etc. However, in spite of those circumstances, friendship
members found some programs where they were able to play their part. They were
actively involved in planning and preparing leaflets for Meguro UNESCO Exchange
Salon “Let’s Learn about Korea”, “Let’s Learn about India!” and “Let’s Enjoy
Dishes of Different Countries”. They have just taken a small step towards the
ideal. It will not come true unless we pour our heart and time into it. Let us carry
out our original intention.
Now that our organization has been reorganized into an incorporated nonprofit organization, we consider one of the roles of the committee to work hard with friendship members to disseminate the UNESCO spirit by rolling out open, approachable, and familiar activities. We would appreciate your cooperation and attendance in our programs this year.
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“Let’s Enjoy Dishes of Different Countries” International Exchange Committee Dec. 4, Sat. 10:30~ |
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The International Exchange Committee held an activity with the co-operation of Friendship members. This activity had two main aims: The first was to let participants develop cultural exchange through the enjoyment of various countries’ hot dishes, and the other was to donate the profits of the activity to the World Terakoya Movement. We, as the committee members, discussed who in the Japanese language classes of the Meguro UNESCO Association could make what kind of dishes, and then asked if they would participate. We felt relieved when we managed to get agreement of some Friendship members, although there was a case of misunderstanding as one person prepared a dish at home and brought it to the Japanese language class the following week! Eventually we chose menus from eight countries (South Korea, Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Iran, and Japan), gathered the recipes and we were ready for the day.
We assembled at 10 in the morning on the day and soon started to make dishes in the cooking room. The room was immediately filled with mouth-watering aromas. Everyone worked efficiently and lots of delicious dishes were arranged on the table by 12:30.
After greeting ‘Itadakimasu’ to each other, the participants went round the tables sampling various countries’ dishes. Actually each dish was so delicious for its individual taste (with the country’s distinctive flavour) that it motivated the participants to sample one after another, and it was not long before they had had enough. Mr. Yoshimoto (Vice-Principal) and Mr. Takashima (School Receptionist) kindly visited and supported the activity.
They were also satisfied with the dishes, and requested that we have a similar activity for their pupils as well. This time only one pupil (Taiga Okamoto) participated from Gohongi Elementary School. He spent an enjoyable time with us and took good advantage of this valuable opportunity, having his name written in the different languages of the friendship members.
It was the happiest thing for us to hear from both the members who made dishes for the activity and the participants who enjoyed them, that they had had a meaningful and enjoyable time of cultural exchange. The only regret was that there were not more participants. It was really helpful that Gohongi Elementary School offered us its cooking room to cook hot dishes on the day. We, as the committee members, appreciated their kindness.
-Written by Ms. Hashimoto and Ms. Shibutani