e-ShortNews

May, with its shiny green grass, has passed and the rainy season has set in. The General Assembly held as an NPO took place on schedule thanks to your support and I would like to express my appreciation. I was appointed as president for this term (2 years) by the board of directors assigned in the General Assembly. I would appreciate your extending support more than ever, especially as this is our first year as an NPO. Therefore, we should hammer out “a basic stance of Meguro UNESCO Association” and establish “an organization appropriate as an NPO”. There are many other things that we should decide anew. Undoubtedly mistakes will be made, but we can learn from them. Let us put heads and energy together, overcoming challenges one by one and synergise our efforts. Meguro UNESCO Association set up a UNESCO School in 1954 just after its foundation、 with the purpose of “nurturing global under- standing, respect for culture and love of peace” following the main spirit of UNESCO. The school continued for 17 years until 1971. In 1986 when war-displaced people, left behind in China in their infancy by their Japanese relatives, came back to Japan, UNESCO School started again for the second and third generations of those people. However, the original purposes were difficult to accomplish. Children transferred to Meguro Municipal Higashine Elementary School wanted “peace in mind” more than anything else. Many people graduated from the school until 2004, when the second UNESCO School was closed due to the decrease in the number of people coming back to Japan. Its mission had been fulfilled. (Please refer to “Fifty-Year Record of Meguro UNESCO Association” for details.) This is one of the remarkable activities of Meguro UNESCO Association against the backdrop of the times. During those years, we engaged in various activities for students, such as holding peace concerts, having friendship members visit schools, and accepting students visiting Tokyo on their school trip. This year, we are planning to roll out programs which incorporate the initial purposes and essence of the UNESCO spirit. We appreciate your support.

Reiko Kato, President of NPO Meguro UNESCO Association

The first General Assembly of Meguro UNESCO Association as an NPO organization, was held on May 14, 2005, at Moriya Kyoiku Kaikan in Meguro City from 2:00 p.m., attended by 44 members (with 201 letters of attorney).
We had many guests visit the conference, including Mr. Eiji Aoki, the Mayor of Meguro City, Mr. Yukinobu Ogasawara, the Director General of Meguro Board of Education, Mr. Takashi Kosugi and Mr. Yoshio Tezuka, members of the House of Representatives, along with many others from administrative offices, members of Meguro City Council, Meguro International Friendship Association, etc.
Mr. Okusawa, the vice president of Meguro UNESCO Association, declared the meeting open and led silent prayers for the members who had passed away last year. Then congratulatory addresses were given by Mr. Ogasawara, Mr. Tezuka, and Mr. Kosugi, after which the proceedings of the General Assembly commenced. The bills below were discussed and approved in their original form.

Bills
(1)Activity report / a statement of accounts / an inspection report in FY 2004
(2)Election of new directors of the board ? 30 people nominated by the nomination committee were recognized.
(3)Activity scheme discussion/ a budget discussion in FY 2005.
(4)Other Items (approval of having advisors, entrance and annual fees and organization of the secretariat and its operations)

The meeting was closed with a speech by Mr. Saito, a new vice president: “As an NPO organization, we have started a new way of operating in accordance with articles of incorporation backed up by a law.”

≪New directors≫Junko Ashida, Yoshiko Ishibashi, Masayuki Imai, Shizuko Otaka, Yukio Okusawa, Keiko Kajitani, Mitsuko Kato, Reiko Kato, Yukiko Katsuoka, Setsuko Kurotani, Takashi Saito, Moriaki Saito, Satoshi Sasaki, Youichi Shimosato, Kimiko Shibutani, Sumio Suzuki, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Tomotaka Segawa, Yoshiko Nakajima, Tadashi Nakamura, Takeko Hashimoto, Yasuko Hamada, Kenichi Harada, Sadako Harada, Fumiko Harada, Yae Honjyo, Keiko Matsuura, Fumiko Miyazaki, Noriko Morie, Noboru Mochizuki (30 people)
≪Auditors≫Toyoko Sakuma, Sachiko Okada
≪Advisors≫Eiji Aoki, Kizan Itaka, Michio Ochi, Takakiyo Otsuka, Tetsuya Kataoka, Isamu Kawahara, Minoru Kurihara, Takashi Kosugi, Taichi Sasaoka, Mikio Shouhouji, Yuji Suzuki, Yoshio Tezuka, Shigeo Tajima, Eiji Hattori, Ichiji Hayashibe (15 people)

President and vice presidents ? elected from among the new directors
≪President≫Reiko Kato
≪Vice Presidents≫Yukio Okusawa, Takashi Saito, Fumiko Harada reported by Saito

We raised ?1.2 million as profit from the concert held on April 25. Some people from Meguro UNESCO Association and Meguro International Friendship Association (MIFA) visited the embassies of Indonesia and Thailand to donate ?400,000 to each. Also we remitted to the Herath Foundation in Sri Lanka.
They deeply appreciated our efforts and gave words of thanks to us all the members.
The following is the summary of a report written by Kanou, MIFA, describing our visit to the embassy of Thailand.

….We donated part of the money, ?400,000, raised from the charity concert to Mr. Suvidhya Simaskul, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Thailand to Japan. Through the embassy, the money will be sent to the Princess of Thailand who supports children who suffered from the disaster, and to a foundation owned by the King of Thailand that supports the education of orphans.
The ambassador gave us words of condolence for the Japanese tourists who died in the Tsunami. He also said the best way for Japanese people to support Phuket Island, which was damaged by the Tsunami, was to visit there for sightseeing. The island has already started accepting tourists and tour companies are selling various kinds of reasonable tours, he said.
The ambassador also mentioned, “Japan and Thailand have established good relationships in our long history. From now on, as before, I hope Thais and Japanese will keep recognizing and cooperating with each other.” And he regarded highly various activities Meguro UNESCO and MIFA had been operating to promote understanding of different cultures and to establish peaceful relationships.
He also noted “Meguro” is well known to Thais who visit Japan, because they are told to get off at “Meguro Station” to get to their embassy.

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Report on the Tsunami Relief Concert

The following is part of the letter of appreciation we received from the Herath Foundation

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Meguro UNESCO Association
Meguro International Friendship Association

I am glad to hear the success of your concert. Congratulations!
I am sure many people appreciate your noble efforts.
Thanks again for your support for Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
Herath Foundation will continue support to underprivileged students to
make them happy and useful members of the society through educa tion.
Thank you very much for helping us to achieve that objective.
Best regards,

Susantha Herath
Herath Foundation

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“Are there entrance exam battles among students in France, just like ours in Japan?” “What kind of difficulties do you encounter when you study Japanese?” “What are the differences between your country and Japan?” A group of 18 students from Minami Junior High School, Nabari City fired non-stop questions. On May 11th, they got up at 4 o’clock, and came directly to the Meguro UNESCO office as soon as they arrived in Tokyo station by Shinkansen. Following an introduction of the UNESCO movement, they helped with our volunteer activities. Then after a break with a cold drink, they started asking questions one after another, and Laura Shishido (French) and Ellie Toung (Taiwanese) replied in fluent Japanese.
The visitors learned that the school system in France is different from that of Japan, and that Ellie used to take three meals to school and studied till evening. They realized that regardless of the differences between countries, students study eagerly. Laura commented, “No matter which country you are in, it is human nature that when a baby cries, we pay attention and think ‘What’s the matter with a baby?’ Or if we meet a sweet little child, we would love to talk with her.” I was touched not only by Laura’s beautiful Japanese but also by her beautiful expression and her sincere attitude when answering questions. Students begged to take photos with her and Ellie so many times.
On 19th, the following week, four students from Karakuwa Junior High School, Miyagi Prefecture visited our office. After they briefly learned about UNESCO, they visited our Japanese Language Class. Their nervous looking changed when they met the heart-warming smiles of the Friendship members. Each class member wrote “hello” “thank you” “delicious” “good-bye” in their own language, which became an unexpected souvenir for the students.
We appreciate young students experiencing and learning from UNESCO activities during their outdoor excursions. We think it is very important for young people to understand the UNESCO spirit and volunteer activities. I realize that whenever meeting young people, I am reminded of the UNESCO spirit, and consider it to be a personal privilege to experience. - reported by Fumiko Miyazaki

After several days… Kunisawa-san from Minami Junior High School sent an email to our office
To: director@meguro-unesco.org
Subject: Hello from Kunisawa
After we came back to our school, we started collecting miswritten postcards! There is also a suggestion in our
group to post a flier in our district. We want to contribute, to do something for the world. I will keep you posted about
what is happening in our school. So, could you let me know what’s going on in UNESCO, too? Please keep in touch!
(Editor’s note: They have also started collaborating with their local UNESCO association.)

(#) “Too many words and difficult to read, eh? Well how about that! You’ve just joined us and you’re already telling us what to do. Then why don’t you try writing the editor’s note for a start? Show us how good you are!” This must have been what senior members thought when I first attended the editorial meeting this month. Now, I am sorry for all I’ve said, because I know I am no better at this either.
(#) Anyway, this is how I came to join the PR committee. Born in Kushiro, Hokkaido, as one of the baby boomers, my volunteer spirit tingles with excitement to hear of the Terakoya literacy movement.
(#) A new NPO. A new system with new board members. There couldn’t be a more appropriate time to discuss our Short News, too. So the last editorial meeting turned out to be a lively rally of opinions and views, which surely aroused my interest. “We want to send messages to people who don’t know about UNESCO yet,” “We ought to raise awareness and educate the school children as well” says our PR committee chairman.
(#) It would be my greatest pleasure if, through this newsletter, we could sow seeds of peace in children’s minds, and could possibly see one or two of them sprout and flower in the future.

(Masumi Saito)