The Manjiro Society - Manjiro Society Newsletters

Volume 8, Number 2

Winter 2001/2002

Happy Shoppers at Arise Gallery

In This Issue: Index of other issues

Walle's Voice
MYO Goes to Chiba
From Mrs. Manjiro to Mrs. Onsen
Hiroshima Summit 2002
Zanen Kai at Tachibana
The Man Behind the Summits
Outing to Arise
Upcoming Events
(Japanese names are presented western style, family name last, except for historical figures and bibliographic entries.)
Walle's Voice

Volunteers in Hiroshima plan the 11th Summit.
I apologize for the long delay in getting the winter newsletter to you.
I guess one of the reasons was the feeling of disappointment, emptiness and helplessness because of the events of September 11. It was really hard to get back into the rhythm of regular life.
Over 30 Manjiro Members and friends had signed up from this area to attend the 11th Japan America Grassroots Summit in Hiroshima last October. Even after the horrors of that September day, most of the participants wanted to go to Japan. Hiroshima seemed an especially appropriate place to go at such a time.
We all were very disappointed when the event was called off for last year. I can only imagine how heartbroken the hard working people and volunteers from Hiroshima must have been at the news that the Summit was going to be postponed for a year.
We are all very appreciative and delighted that the organizers for the 11th Summit are willing to go through all the preparations again to welcome the American Grassroots participants to the 11th Summit this year. There will be a real celebration of friendship and understanding during the days of October 7-15, 2002.
Please mark your calendars and plan your trip for October 2002. I will send you more information as soon as it is available.
I guess the events of September give us all a new perspective on what is really important in life and how many reasons we have to be grateful for all the things we have and so often take for granted.
Please let me express my sincerest thanks for all of you who support the efforts of the Manjiro Society to help to bring about a better understanding not just with Japan but also with our neighbors and the whole world.
I wish all of you the best for the coming year

--Walle Hargreaves, Executive Director, Manjiro Society

The McLean Youth Orchestra Goes To Chiba, Japan

McLean Youth Orchestra rehearsing for the Chiba concert.

• The Manjiro Society for International Exchange, Inc. is a not-for-profit educational and cultural exchange organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Virginia. The Society is not currently organized as designated under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, so contributions to the Society are not currently tax-deductible.
• The United States Manjiro Society was launched in late 1993. It serves as the counterpart and partner of the similarly-named Japanese organization founded in 1991 in response to the recommendation of the government-to-government Tokyo Declaration that more grassroots exchanges between Americans and Japanese were needed. The Society works to supplement the work of the numerous "Japan-America" societies located throughout the U.S. The Manjiro Society is a membership organization seeking to interest those who: (A) have a serious, but perhaps not professional interest in Japan; (B) wish to visit Japan and meet Japanese in the U.S.; (C) may prefer to concentrate their involvement in annual sessions of no more than ten days, keeping in touch outside the "Summits" through Society publications and electronic communications; and (D) wish to support the Society's service as a coordinating point for special exchange programs that grow out of developing member interests.
• exchanges newsletter
Editor: Hardy Hargreaves
© 2002 by the Manjiro Society for International Exchange, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use the material herin freely as long as credit is given to the Society, and a copy or notice of the usage is supplied to the Society at its U.S. address.

During their spring school break in March 2002 a group of adventurous young musicians and some of their parents are planning to travel to Japan.
In the Spring of 2001, 20 members from the Chiba Youth Orchestra came to McLean to enjoy a week of music together with the McLean Youth Orchestra. Several evenings of rehearsing together produced a truly harmonious concert performance by the joint orchestras before a delighted audience.
A farewell party hosted by the Japanese Embassy and a proclamation of a Sister Orchestra agreement between the MYO of McLean and CYO of Chiba rounded out the visit to the Washington area. A short trip to Williamsburg and Jamestown gave our Japanese visitors a glimpse into the early history of Virginia.
The young musicians from the MYO who participated in that cultural musical exchange with the CYO, some of them also welcomed the Japanese students for several days into their homes, along with new members who joined the MYO this Fall, are preparing for the long flight east for a return visit. There will be rehearsals, of course, a concert, parties, sightseeing, maybe even a trip on the bullet train to Kyoto.
This will be the second time young people from the McLean Orchestra and their parents will visit with Chiba Youth Orchestra members in Japan. It will be the fourth concert these young people will play together. We hope that this exchange of music, friendship and culture will continue for many more years.
Mr Ogawa, who organized the trip from the Japanese side last March, and all the musicians and their families who were guests here in the US are ready and eager to welcome the young musicians and their parents to their city and their homes.
For more information please check with Carl Landwehr, MYO, (703) 532-8494 or email him at <pjclandwehr@erols.com>.

From Mrs. Manjiro to Mrs. Onsen

Taeko Floyd
It finally happened, The Pemproke Springs Retreat in the beautiful mountains above the Shenandoah Valley is up and running.
Taeko Floyd had been the Executive Director of the Manjiro Society, Virginia since it was established in 1993. Until 1999 she spent countless enthusiastic hours to further the ideas of mutual understanding between America and Japan.
Her desire to bring Japanese culture to the American people and American culture to the Japanese people and also to make the Japanese people feel more at home during their stay here in the US brought about the idea of opening a real Japanese Onsen with Bed and Breakfast.
You step into a different world when you stay at the Retreat: the air, the stars, the mysterious noises during the night (just animals enjoying this wonderful spot in their own way), soaking in the large Japanese Bath (one for the men and one for the women) overlooking the meadow and the mountain, resting, sipping tea in front of the fireplace or on the large deck, all add to the the wellbeing of the guests of Pembroke Springs Retreat.
Taeko welcomes her guests warmly into her new World and makes sure everybody is comfortable. She serves a wonderful breakfast, either an American country breakfast or a fantastic Japanese breakfast with all the trimmings (soup, pickles, fish, eggs - you think you are in Japan).
For those guests who have some energy left, her husband Walt takes you around the many trails on their property, explains the old history of the place, points out plants and mushrooms (when in season), and lets you feed the goats, geese, ducks, chickens, peacocks and rabbits.
We miss Taeko at the Manjiro office, but her wish to keep the spirit of Whitfield/ Manjiro is as strong as ever and her advice and ideas are only a phone call away or even better: a short trip to the Onsen.
If things work out, the Manjiro Society will have its annual Fundraising event at the Floyds' place again in May 2002.
For more information regarding a mini-vacation in close-by Japan, contact Pembroke Springs Retreat by phone at (540) 877-2600, by e-mail at <pembroke@shentel.net>, or visit their website at www.pembrokesprings.com.
11th Japan-America Grassroots Summit

Hiroshima, Japan, October 7-15

There is mostly a silver lining in heavy thunder clouds, one just has to be patient and look for it.
The postponement of the 11th Summit by a full year is for some Manjiro members and their friends a welcome opportunity to join the exciting event in 2002.
In a couple of months the Showa Women's College will provide interested participants with a web page to learn survival Japanese. Exact information will be passed on to interested participants via email and on the Manjiro Web page. It sounds like a very interesting project, lots of thought and effort to make it a useful learning instrument has been put into this language program. All you need is a computer and some basic internet knowledge and a willingness to learn and you will have a much better time trying to communicate in Hiroshima.
The general summit program will be just the same as the original plan: discussions, sessions about different topics, a peace rally at the Peace Park in Hiroshima, opening and welcome ceremony, individual outing to Miajima and naturally the all-exciting homestay weekend and the closing ceremony–all are going to be offered as planned in 2001. The optional tours to Yamagata and Shizuoka will also still be offered. One big problem will arise: there is going to be an additional optional tour: Kyoto!
It will be very hard to decide where to go after the official summit is over.
All people who were ready to go to Hiroshima in October are grateful that the event was not canceled, but only postponed, and that the organizers and the hundreds of volunteers are willing and eager to make this 11th Japan America Grassroots Summit in 2002 the very best ever.
Zanen Kai at Tachibana

Smiling diners at the Tachibana restaurant.
A small group of Manjiro Members met in October at the Japanese restaurant Tachibana in McLean. The main topic of the talk naturally was the disappointment of not being able to go to Japan to the Grassroots Summit in the year 2001. But the conversation turned quickly to the happy memories all experienced at previous summits and the wonderful knowledge that this exciting event lies still ahead and everybody can look forward to it for a whole year. The typical Japanese food and sake and the comraderie certainly helped to get everybody over their disappointment pretty fast.
Everybody is ready to go in 2002. A couple more trips to Japanese restaurants will make people more comfortable in eating with ohashi.
Please join other Manjiro members for the next Manjiro outing. Check your email and mark your calendar.
Takahashi-san, The Man Behind the Summits

Toru Takahashi
Mr. Toru Takahashi, Managing Director of the John Manjiro Whitfield Commemorative Center for International Exchange in Tokyo (CIE) has been the driving force behind the scene of all the Japan America Grassroots Summits. You will find him everywhere, observing, making sure that everything runs smoothly , greeting you when you arrive and saying "Sayonara," no matter how early or late the departure. But he always stays in the background.
Kumi Koyama, his assistant for many years, lets us get to know Mr. Takahashi better:
"Mr Takahashi does not believe in writing a personal story at this point of his life and thus I have summarized briefly what he has has told me about why he started this grand project and how this work relates to his previous career as a documentary film maker."
On how Mr Takahashi came to start this grand project:
"It was in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War that I strongly felt that we Japanese ought to do something to communicate our thoughts and feelings to the world community. We had to make ourselves understood in the global community if we were to survive as an active member on the international stage. As you may recall, Japan made a huge financial contribution (about 9 billion in US$) at that time, but our country emerged from the Gulf War with a tarnished international image.
"Japanese people should be given more opportunities to voice their opinions to the world. At the same time the world should hear not just from the political and business leaders who are in the mainstream of our society, but also from the public which normally tends to be very pacifist and also passive in their public life. Our ordinary citizens should be given the chance to express themselves to the world. Political and business ties change with the time and conditions, but personal relationships based on trust and true understanding can endure almost anything, as we have witnessed in the unfailing friendship between the Whitfields and Nakahamas over five generations. This passion for a better communication with the world, which I so strongly felt in the aftermath of the Gulf War, was the underlying concept for the inception of Japan-US Grassroots Summits.
"John Manjiro was our nation's first communicator to the world. In fact, he was the first person to experience homestay in the US, though his stay was much longer than what we allow to our participants. John Manjiro and Captain Whitfield were the perfect role models for us all".
On his career as a film director Mr. Takahashi tells us:
"I have made quite a number of documentary films on various topics. Throughout my career I have been interested in human motivation. What makes us do something? Or what makes us feel certain way? Or why do our feelings and actions change?
"In all the physical phenomena film makers see through the lenses, there are underlying concepts or motivation or whatever you may call it that must be understood in order to make a worthy story. As a film maker, I enjoy providing people with a certain stage or opportunity, in which they are free to express themselves, establish relationship, or encounter new experiences that may have lifelong effects. I have and will stay in the background or behind the scene at the summits, for I believe it is the best and appropriate position for a film director".
If Mr Takahashi has time, he loves to listen to classical music, go to concerts and his special love and hobby is conducting small musical groups. He very seldom has a chance to do this since he devotes so much time to the cause of the Japan America Grassroots Summit.

Manjiro Outing to the "Arise Gallery"

On a typically August Sunday, a happy bunch of Manjiro members and eager participants of the then upcoming 11th Japan America Grassroots Summit met at the Asian Store "Arise" in Tacoma, DC to get into the mood for the trip to Japan.
The store provided us with a wonderful atmosphere of little shops in Tokyo side streets, antique markets at Tokyo shrines and the speciality corners of the department stores. Our group was welcomed warmly by the store manager and the owner Paul MacLardy gave all Manjiro shoppers a 10 percent discount.
We all enjoyed looking at the fabrics, furniture, dishes, clothes, screens, dolls and much, much more. All items brought back memories of our days in Japan. I think the fun tee shirts with the bright "Koi" printed on them was the most popular item that was bought.
Our group enjoyed a relaxed lunch with sandwiches, some Japanese - type food, tea and coffee at a nearby little restaurant.
If you want to experience a bit of Japan without jet lag go visit the Arise Gallery. Contact them at (202) 291-0770 or www.arisedc.com.

Upcoming Events

MYO trip to Chiba, March 2002
4th Annual Fundraiser, May 2002
Mini Summer Camp, late August 2002
11th Japan-America Grassroots Summit, Hiroshima, October 2002

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