UFRA’s New Website

UFRA is please to announce the launching of a new website. This website is more comprehensive than the blog you are looking at right now. It contains much more information about UFRA and there are more old newsletters for downloading and photos and videos for viewing. This is the URL: http://www.urayasufra.org. You can also check out UFRA’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/175156219277961

Finally if you have any questions or concerns about UFRA, please call the office: Please contact the UFRA office for information at (047) 351-1111, ext. 1665.

This is the final post on UFRA’s Blog.

Indian Culture Day

On Saturday July 7, 2012, UFRA presented Indian Culture Day. Mr. Malik gave a lecture on the history of Japan-India diplomatic relations in the modern era and introduced us to the great diversity in his country. Ms. Sachiko Ito danced the Odissi, which is one of the eight great Indian classical dance forms. What a graceful, beautiful and exciting performance it was! And Dr. Sudarshan Ram demonstrated the tabla and played a duet with his assistant, Ms. Takasaki, who accompanied him on harmonium. It was interesting to learn about the different parts of the drum as well as the many ingredients (?) the tablas are made of – including goat skin, camel hair, mango and neem wood. The mid hall at WAVE Shimin Center was packed to full capacity and the audience clearly enjoyed a very successful Culture Day presentation. Thank you to Mr. Malik for organizing the event as well as to all the performers and presenters.

June Newsletter

In case you missed it, here’s the newsletter from June 2012.

June 2012 Newsletter

UFRA Christmas Party

Because 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of UFRA, this year’s Christmas Party will be festive, indeed. You can expect an extravagant meal as well as lively entertainment.  Rex Angeles, a Filipino entertainer long active in Japanese show  business will perform before dinner; afterwards, the Fab Four, who so smoothly capture the sound of the early Beatles, will move the crowd out of their seats and onto the dance floor. Games, a raffle as well as a visit from a special “someone” will make the evening particularly memorable.

When: Sunday, December 11, 6:00 p.m.

Where: Brighton Hotel

Price: Members: ¥6,000; non-members: ¥7,000; Children (age 3 – 12): ¥2,000

We’ve made a flier for the Christmas party. You can see part of it below. Or you can open and print the entire flier here:Xmas_flyer_2011

UFRA International Food Fair

On July 24, UFRA put on a unique event: an “International Food Fair,” in which members cooked up dishes from their countries and served them to an enthusiastic group of old friends and well-wishers. The purpose of the event was to raise some money – though, sadly, not for charity this time. As mentioned in an earlier post, UFRA decided to refuse the annual subsidy from the City this year because of the March 11 earthquake. The International Food Fair helped us to raise some funds so that we may go forward with the other annual events and activities we enjoy, such as the Christmas party. The fair was a great success. The crowd filled out the room at Hinode Kominkan, and the guests dined on a range of dishes – everything from German Goulash to Thai Green Curry.

Thanks so much to all the guests who attended and so generously contributed to help UFRA going forward in this year! We hope to do it again some day!

Below are a few photos of the fun and the food at Hinode Kominkan on July 24.

 

Culture Day

Experience some of the richness of Malaysian Culture at UFRA's next Culture Day!

Late Spring or early Summer is when we can look forward to a Culture Day presentation. This year, one of UFRA’s activity coordinators, Serena Kikuchi, has generously offered to share a little bit about her homeland, Malaysia. Three major ethnic groups – Malay, Chinese and Indian – all contribute something unique and special to the rich tapestry of Malaysia’s culture. If you wish to learn about the country’s foods and other traditions, be sure to check out Serena’s presentation.

• Place: Kokusai Center, Il Mare
• Date and time: Saturday, June 18 from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
• Entrance fee: ¥500

UFRA General Meeting

At the UFRA General Meeting, May 2011

The annual general meeting was held on Saturday, 14 May at the International Center at Il Mare. Committee members were in good spirits despite the dispiriting financial situation facing our organization this year. Because of the enormous financial obligations facing the City of Urayasu, UFRA has decided not to accept the city’s subsidy of ¥1,000,000 this year. In this regard, UFRA may be unique among other city-affiliated groups, which on average are facing budget cuts of around 20%. Despite the cuts, committee members remain optimistic that we’ll be able to carry on with many of our usual events – especially the ones that include entrance fees. Due to the cuts, there will be fewer newsletters and monthly committee meetings. Because the classes offered by UFRA will become an important source of revenue, they will require a minimum number of students to be viable.

At the meeting, it was also decided that all committee members would continue in their current posts, as follows:

• Krystyna Hirayama, Chairperson
• Meme Ise, Amy Vaillancourt Matsuoka, Vice Chairpersons
• Mimi Dhar, Secretary
• Sam Dhar, Treasurer
• Gerald Wright, Editor/Historian
• Serena Kikuchi (Events), Marianne Matsumoto (Events), Takako Ueda (Class), Activity Coordinators
• Rabinder Malik, Monika Furuhata, Monika Kamiya, Advisors

UFRA General Meeting

The next General Meeting of the Urayasu Foreign Residents Association will be held on Saturday, May 14 at 3:00 pm at the International Center on the 2nd floor of the Il Mare building at Shin Urayasu Station. If you have ideas or opinions on the direction of UFRA for the next year, please come and share them.

Seaside Lion’s Hanami Cancelled

A few Sakura are blooming but cherry blossom season is likely to be late

The annual hanami party planned by the Seaside Lions for Saturday, April 2, has been cancelled due to the ongoing issues facing our city following the earthquake. We will miss this annual get-together in which the Seaside Lions always show such warm generosity to UFRA.

It would be nice to see things get back to normal…. But with the chilly weather we’ve been having recently it’s hard to believe there would be many cherry trees in bloom this Saturday.

My experience of the Great Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake

Fetching water at Takasu Elementary School

Reported by Gerald Wright, UFRA Newsletter Editor

On March 11, 2011, I was not in Japan but in Napa, California. It was sometime on Thursday evening over there, and I was writing an email to my wife, when she emailed me first: “Big earthquake now. Everything in the house shutoff. Cannot contact the kids. Water pipes around the house broke. Things in the house fallen down.” Thus began a terrible night of watching live TV images of tsunami waves plowing through fields and villages, of fires breaking out in Odaiba and Ichihara, of commuters stranded in Tokyo. Japan never felt so close, but yet so far away as my phone calls wouldn’t go through and even internet messages were taking so long to get through or even not at all. Everything turned out fine in the end: Lek and the kids were shaken but safe and I was able to return safely and easily by Sunday evening.

Except for the canceled limousine bus routes to Urayasu, everything at the airport looked normal. I didn’t notice anything amiss until I walked out of Shin-Urayasu Eki and began to see the mud, the cracked stairs and sunken pavement. With all the mud and bumps and dirty cars, the streets reminded me of those at a ski resort in early spring. But I was glad to be home and I was ready to help out in any way I could.