–What kind of activities do you offer in the Japanese Society of Melbourne's Women's division?
We have organized three events in 2009-2010 (the tenure of executives is one year, July to July every year) including Japanese tea ceremonies in October and November, the bread making class in October and the luncheon of Women’s Association in June, which is the biggest event of the year.
–What is the luncheon of the Women’s division?
This is the biggest event of all. We regularly have almost 100 participants and in the past few years, we have increased to around 110 people.
Everyone attends in formal wear at this event. We had a guest from Shiseido Corporation, (a hair care and cosmetics producer) demonstrated a beauty lesson.
Our guest for the next luncheon is being discussed. We, executives, are responsible for the event arrangements.
Every previous time the luncheon was held at a selected five star hotel, but we choose the Windsor Hotel on Spring Street for next year's meeting.
Not only members but also non-members are very welcome to participate in this luncheon. Member price is approximately $30-35.
–Any other events held last year?
The Japanese tea ceremony, which had no entrance fee and was a relatively casual gathering, held on the 15th of October last year.
We had some executives, who are familiar with a variety of fields, stand by as advisers to consult, yet unluckily, only one joined.
But even so that participant told us that she was very much looking forward to and really enjoyed attending, as she had just arrived in Melbourne.
There was also the bread making class that took place on the 11th of October, for which 14 participants and 3 executives attended along with the instructor who used to teach bread making in Japan. Fortunately, this event went perfectly well with a full complement of applicants. Now we are organizing the second one for next February.
At the bread making class
The instructor: Yumi Matsunaga
Participants: Masako Arimoto, Yoko Ota, Misako Ono, Yoshiko Mokuzen,
Jyunko Kunitomi, Kayo Kokubo, Tsune-e Komuro, Atsuko Sayama, Tamami Shinoda, Mayumi Takahashi, Kazuha Takushoku, Hitomi Noda, Motoko Hayakawa, Asako Fuji-i, Keiko Watase, Yuka Watanabe
–What kinds of events are to be organized this year?
Many events coming up include the Golden Mile Tour on the 18th of March and the luncheon at the Windsor Hotel on the 3rd of June. The Golden Mile Tour leads us to historical monuments in Melbourne city.
–What are the main roles of the executives in the Women's division?
There are seven executives in the Women's division, we have a monthly meeting to discuss and arrange events as well as screen articles to be printed as a part of Women’s division information in the Japanese Society's Newsletter.
–How many members are involved in the Japanese Society of Melbourne's Women's division?
So far, our division has 520 members and women are in the majority. There are around 350 female members and most of them are married to Australians and have been living in Melbourne. There are more women registered who have children of an independent age than younger women.
–Does your society greatly consider attendance with children?
This Japanese tea ceremony was the actual event at which we wanted people to attend with there children. Our objective is to offer people living overseas and spending most of their time inside with their children, an opportunity to get out and attend an event.
–Lastly, please tell us if there is anything else that you hope to achieve in the future.
In this society, what we do benefits only members. Last year we had a luncheon, during which there was a small charity event. This year, we want to focus on the charity event, whilst still holding our luncheon. However, because no matter if it's exciting or not, the attendance is unpredictable so these events are becoming difficult to hold. If the next event is a volunteer charity event, it will be even harder to attain attendees. Unfortunately we were unable to plan this event. I hope to encourage our society to be more involved in things that could be valuable to Melbourne or to be more beneficial to local society.
–Thank you very much.
The Japanese Society of Melbourne
Address: Level 2, 99 Queens Street Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: 03 9642 2120
Web: http://www.jcci-jsm.org.au
