Last week, Claudine, our Executive Director at JASC, had the honor of attending Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s speech to the joint session of Congress in Washington, DC. Invited by Colorado Congressman Jason Crow, District 6, Claudine witnessed a momentous occasion that showed the strong relationship between Japan and the U.S.

Prime Minister Kishida captivated the audience with his eloquence, passion, and the breadth of topics he covered. His speech not only highlighted the deep-rooted friendship between the two nations but also emphasized the pivotal roles they play in shaping global affairs.

Claudine encourages everyone to read the U.S.-Japan Joint Leaders’ Statement, which was released at the end of the visit here. You will see about 3/4 of the way down, this paragraph (underline added):

Fortifying People-to-People Ties

People-to-people exchanges are the most effective way to develop the future stewards of the U.S.-Japan relationship. In this regard, we recognize the achievements of exchange programs between our two countries, including the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, KAKEHASHI Project, the Japan Foundation’s programs, and the U.S.-Japan Council’s TOMODACHI Initiative, and commit ourselves to providing more opportunities to meet today’s needs, including through enhanced subnational exchanges on critical issues such as climate and energy. We also recognize the important role civil society has played in strengthening the U.S.-Japan relationship over the past 170 years, including the 38 Japan-America Societies across the United States, the Asia Society, and the 29 America-Japan Societies across Japan.

Claudine extends her heartfelt gratitude to our JASC members’ contribution to strengthening the Colorado-Japan relationship. Each person does their part, and it makes a big difference. The strong friendship and alliance between the U.S. and Japan, and the leadership roles that both of our countries play in the world, are extremely important right now. Seeing the wheels of skilled diplomacy working in our nation’s capitol was inspiring.

Welcome, Maho! We are thrilled to have you join us at JASC.

In a heartwarming display of international camaraderie, two officials from the Yamagata Prefecture Government, Yutaro Shida and Mayuko Ogata, embarked on a journey to Boulder, Colorado, to delve into the heart of American culture, learn the English language, and foster connections. Over a few months, they engaged in various cultural exchanges that transcended borders, furthering their education and building friendships.

The initiative was not only about learning the nuances of the English language but also about immersing themselves in the vibrant tapestry of Boulder’s cultural scene. Ms. Ogata studied volunteerism and was able to give a presentation at a local high school to share about Yamagata and Japanese culture. Mr. Shida was able to learn about economic situation in the State of Colorado and the City & County of Denver. They also managed to join the events hosted by JASC, which proved instrumental in bridging the gap between two distinct yet interconnected communities.

However, in the last few weeks before they leave, they met with Consul-General Yoichi Mikami of the Consulate General of Japan in Denver, Colorado State Government officials, and JASC staff and board members at a luncheon that provided a platform for open discussions on potential collaborations in various sectors, from business and education to cultural exchange platforms. The discussion ensured that Shida Yutaro and Mayuko Ogata sustained the impact of this cultural exchange long after their return to Japan.

As the Yamagata officials bid farewell, the shared experiences, the laughter, and the cross-cultural understanding fostered during their time in Colorado served as a foundation for a deeper and more meaningful friendship between Yamagata and Colorado. Through events like these, we are reminded of the cultural exchange in building bridges and fostering a sense of global community - one that transcends geographical boundaries and enriches the lives of those involved.

If you’re inspired by this cultural exchange and intrigued by the beauty of Yamagata, consider planning your journey to this captivating region. Learn more about travel to Yamagata here, and discover the rich tapestry of history, culture, and natural wonders that await you in this gem of Japan.

In the heart of December, JASC and the JET Alumni Association of the Rocky Mountains (JETAARM) joined forces to host a delightful Nengajo workshop. The event aimed to explore the rich cultural tradition of crafting Japanese New Year’s postcards, known as 年賀状 “Nengajo.”

Yuka Hicks kicked off the workshop with an insightful introduction to the significance of Nengajo in Japanese culture. Participants learned the age-old tradition of sending these special cards to convey good wishes and gratitude for the past year, as well as hopes for the upcoming one. The art of Nengajo, it seems, is not just about aesthetics; it’s a heartfelt gesture deeply rooted in the spirit of the community and connection.

As the participants immersed themselves in the cultural narrative, they discovered the intricacies of Nengajo’s creation. The workshop featured various art stations, each offering a unique avenue for self-expression. The drawing station allowed participants to unleash their creativity on blank postcards, bringing personal interpretations of the festive season to life.

For those inclined towards a more fluid and vibrant approach, the watercoloring station beckoned. Here, attendees experimented with a kaleidoscope of colors, creating visually stunning Nengajo that reflected the beauty of individual perspectives.

The stamping station became a canvas of creativity, showcasing the exquisite craftmanship of JETAARM members who carved intricate dragon and New Year motifs. These bespoke stamps, symbols of strength and good fortune, added a touch of traditional charm to participants’ Nengajo creations.

At the calligraphy station, participants participants delved into the art of elegant writing. Brush pen in hand, they carefully crafted New Year’s greetings and well wishes in Japanese characters.

The atmosphere at the workshop was nothing short of festive and familial. Laughter and conversation filled the air as individuals of all ages, from children to adults, shared stories, tips, and techniques. The collaborative spirit between JASC and JETAARM fostered an environment where cultural exchange flourished, and the joy of creating something meaningful brought everyone together.

JASC recently celebrated a huge success with their "Onigiri Onegai" event, where more than 50 enthusiastic participants gathered to learn the art of making onigiri, all while supporting a meaningful cause. This collaborative effort, hosted by JASC and The JET Alumni Association of the Rocky Mountains (JETRAARM), was not only a culinary adventure but also a heartfelt endeavor to make a positive impact on a global scale.

The event's primary purpose was to support Table for Two's Onigiri Action campaign. This initiative revolves around a simple yet impactful idea – for every social media post featuring a photo of an onigiri with the hashtag #onigiriaction, Table for Two pledges to provide a nutritious school meal to children in need worldwide. JASC and JETAARM embraced this campaign as an opportunity to not only indulge in the joy of making onigiri but also to contribute to a cause that resonates with the community.

The success of the Onigiri Onegai event can be attributed to the planning and execution by the organizing teams. Gathering ingredients became a community effort, with participants and volunteers alike contributing to the process by sourcing fresh and authentic supplies from Pacific Mercantile, a local Japanese and Asian store. This collaborative spirit set the tone for the entire event, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose.

Pacific Mercantile and JASC, and JETAARM staff buying items for the Onigiri Onegai

Volunteers played a crucial role in ensuring the smooth flow of the event. From guiding participants through the intricacies of onigiri crafting to assisting in the organization of the venue, their dedication added an extra layer of warmth to the gathering.

The overwhelming success of the Onigiri Onegai event has left the organizers, volunteers and participants inspired and motivated. With the genuine enjoyment and support witnessed this year, JASC and JETAARM express their eagerness to host this event again next year. They envision it as an annual tradition that not only brings people together through the joy of food but also continues to make a positive impact on the lives of children around the world.

Last week, we had the delightful opportunity to meet with officials from Yamanouchi town, Japan, as they get to know more about their sister city, Vail, Colorado.

The purpose of their visit was not only to strengthen the bonds of friendship but also to share and invite us to experience the cultural treasures of Yamanouchi Town.

Snow Monkey Park (地獄谷野猿公苑)

Yamanouchi town is in Nagano prefecture. They have a world-renowned snow monkeys. These beautiful creatures, known officially as Japanese macaques, often seen bathing in natural hot springs. These captivating creatures, with their thick fur coats and expressive eyes, draw thousands of visitors each year, making it a must-see destination. The sight of these animals, undisturbed in their natural habitat, serves as a gentle reminder of nature’s wonders.

While Vail and Yamanouchi town may be thousands of miles apart from each other, it was evident from our discussion that there is a deep-seated appreciation for natural beauty, culture and community in both regions. We are thrilled about the possibility of more folks from Colorado visiting Yamanouchi town to see the snow monkeys and partake in the town’s rich heritage.

Stay tuned for more updates!

We’re still gathering information from our friends from Yamanouchi town, and we will share more insights, stories, and travel tips with you! Stay tuned for more updates on Yamanouchi town and the enchanting world of snow monkeys!

Here’s to global friendships and the anticipation of new journeys ahead!

We are still riding the wave of excitement and gratitude from the recent JASC Annual Gala. What a splendid evening it was! To everyone who attended and made the event special, we extend our heartfelt thanks.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston attended our Gala! We’re fully aware of his busy schedule and the numerous responsibilities he shoulders daily. We are very grateful for the time he spent with us and his attendance emphasized the importance of our collective work and its impact on the community.

But the surprises didn’t end there. We were honored to receive video remarks from Governor Jared Polis. The gesture, and the encouraging words shared, further solidified the importance of our mission and the support we have.

The silent auction, with the enthusiasm it garnered, was a testament to the spirit of the community. We were overwhelmed with the support and eagerness everyone showed, ensuring its grand success!

Many played a role in making this night memorable:

• Our Sponsors: Your contributions and belief in our mission were foundational.

• Matsuhisa Denver: Thanks for delightful culinary journey.

• Japanese Arts Network: Your talents enlivened this evening

• Sogetsu Colorado: The beautiful Ikebana flower arrangements added an aura of elegance and tranqulity to our event.

• Our Volunteers: Each one of you played a great role, ensuring everything ran like clockwork!

To acknowledge the companies and dedicated volunteers who contributed to this event, we’ve put together a concise list below. This list is our way of saying thank you, and we encourage everyone to take a moment to appreciate their efforts.

With the cherish memories of this Gala, we move forward with anticipation and hope, looking forward to the next time the JASC community can unite in celebration!

I was honored to have the opportunity to represent Colorado at the America Japan Society International Symposium, held in Kyoto, Japan. This event is hosted in Japan every two years.

There were 10 U.S. based Japan-America Societies and 10 Japan-based America-Japan Societies in attendance for the first portion of the conference. Moderated by Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki and Ambassador Kurt Tong, all societies were able to share post-COVID return to activities and best practices. We were then joined by academic, political, and cultural leaders for a series of panel discussions highlighting the importance of the U.S.-Japan bilateral partnership in the world today. If there is one message that rang true throughout this conference, it's the fact that grassroots level connections and organizations like JASC, who work to create personal connections between our local region and Japan, are so critically important to the greater U.S.-Japan alignment. Educating children, supporting college-level students, supporting our local businesses and governments - these are all program goals of JASC that feed the greater U.S.-Japan relationship. I am inspired to continue the great work that we do and to engage as many of our JASC members as possible!

While in Japan, I took the opportunity to visit with some of our JASC members and supporters as well as take my first trip up to the Sister Prefecture of Colorado, Yamagata Prefecture. Trust me when I tell you that the ties between Colorado and Japan are strong and there is a great interest in making them even stronger!

As always, if you have suggestions about activities that you would like to see JASC do, please reach out and let us know! I'm looking forward to more great work in 2023!

Sincerely,

Claudine Locascio
Executive Director, JASC

Even if you can’t make it to our Annual Gala next week, you can still shop and bid in our silent auction! These curated items are Japan-focused, some of which you will be hard pressed to find unless you take the trip to the Land of the Rising Sun yourself. We have some incredible art from private collections that were donated to us, two (2) First Class/ Business class tickets (PN Class) on United Airlines to anywhere in the world they fly, Toto Washlet (yes- with ALL the bells and whistles), two Big O Tires gift cards (worth $250 each) donated by Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, gear from Montbell, concert tickets, a handcrafted ski bench (by a JASC board member) and so much more. Although all items will be on display at the Gala, you do not need to be present to bid and win. Check it out, support JASC and bring home something amazing to enjoy!

THE ONLINE AUCTION IS OPEN FOR BIDDING

Bidding closes at 8:30pm MT on 10/12/2022

JASC’s Kaiwa Club has enjoyed the long days of summer this year. They recently gathered at Wash Park to enjoy a little Japanese style BBQ, picnicking, 日本語 conversation and summer fun. This group of smiling faces has grown over the years with friendships deepening and evolving beyond JASC borders. What a testament to the JASC mission of expanding people to people relationships between Colorado and Japan! The group meets every other Saturday and there is always space for YOU!

JASC has been busy all over town lately! We collaborated with the Denver Botanic Gardens to host an absolutely lovely evening stroll in the Japanese Gardens as Ebi Kondo and Jim Arneill educated us on what we were seeing and the thought behind it all. It truly was a treat to spend the evening with friends and take our time enjoying and learning about the beauty within the Japanese Gardens.

Last week we met up with our JASC Young Professionals group to hear about the ins and outs of global business from Masa Kamimura of Montbell and Rod O’Dorisio of Tea with Tae. Tea with Tae kindly hosted this event and made sure all attendees got to enjoy a delicious cup of tea at their beautiful location on the 16th Street Mall. Participants spent much of the evening networking with peers and mentors and broadening their professional scope.

If you missed JASC at the PACE Center in Parker earlier this month, you can see the recording of Japanese Aesthetics- Bonsai & Ikebana which was part of the Parker Arts Lecture series. Our wonderful Junko Goodwin gave this insightful talk to a group of over 75 attendees.

We hope to see YOU at an upcoming event soon!

Thank you to all our Kaiwa and JASC members who came out to cheer on and support our JASC Dragon Boat team, Nichi-Bei-GO at the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival last month! We had an amazing time racing on the water against some fantastic teams and hanging out at our tent with friends over the weekend as we represented the CO-Japan relationship on the water and at the Festival. Let me tell you, the smiles on these paddlers faces were brighter than the stars over Rocky Mountain National Park at night as the Festival came to an end and Nichi-Bei-GO took GOLD in the 250m Hong Kong Community A Division races. This team shared sweat, meals, early mornings, thunderstorms, laughs, tattoos and camaraderie. Ultimately they learned to paddle as one- a beautiful metaphor for the JASC mission of bringing together two cultures. Nichi-Bei-GO will be racing once more this season and expect more smiles and good times on the water together.

がんばっれ　がんばっれ　日米GO!

Dear Members of Japan America Society of Colorado,

Below we are sharing a statement released by our counterpart in Japan at the America-Japan Society of Tokyo, Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki. The former Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Shinzo Abe served as their Honorary President.

As an organization dedicated to people-to-people relationships between Colorado and Japan, our heartfelt sympathies go out to all those who mourn today. Gun violence is something we in Colorado are unfortunately familiar with and our thoughts are with our friends in Japan and our Japanese friends here in Colorado.

~~~~~~~~~~

Our Honorary President Mr. Shinzo Abe was shot on the 8th of July and lost his life. Of course, such a thing should never have happened.

He was the longest serving Prime Minister in the history of Japan. As Prime Minister, he strengthened Japan-US relations through national security legislation and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy. He was one of the greatest leaders in our postwar history. I have known him personally since when he was the private secretary to his father, Mr. Shintaro Abe, Foreign Minister.

Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe attended our centennial ceremony in 2017, where he gave remarks. We showed a short film on the history of our Society the conclusion of which cited Prime Minister Abe’s words “alliance of hope” from his earlier speech to the US Congress. Right after his resignation, we asked him to be our Honorary President and he willingly accepted. We filmed messages to our members. Our 17 interns visited him and individually asked questions.

Recently, on June 1st, he appeared at the podium of our seminar with Ambassador Emanuel, who also assumed the post of Honorary President. Both of them made strong remarks and engaged in a Q&A session. Answers were clear and to the point.

We all miss this shining star. May his soul rest peacefully in heaven.

Ichiro Fujisaki

President, The America-Japan Society Inc.

安倍名誉会長が７月８日選挙支援演説中狙撃され落命されました。

あってはならないことが起きてしまいました。

安倍総理は歴代最長期間、総理大臣を務めました。その間、安保法制、インド太平洋戦略などを通じ、日米関係強化に努め実績を残しました。戦後史に輝く大政治家でした。ご父君安倍晋太郎外相の秘書官をされていた頃から存じ上げでいました。

当協会との関係では、２０１７年の百周年にご夫妻で出席頂き、挨拶頂きました。その際上映した短いフィルムの締めくくりは、同総理の米議会での演説の「希望の同盟」のくだりとしました。

総理退任後すぐ名誉会長を引き受けて頂けないかとお願いしたところ快く引き受けて頂きました。会員へのビデオメッセージを撮らせて頂きました。またインターン１７名に会って頂き、一人一人から質問を受けて頂きました。

最近は、６月１日、同じく名誉会長に就任されたエマニュエル駐日米国大使と会員や全国から来られた日米協会関係者と質疑応答して頂きました。率直で力強い議論を展開されました。

安倍名誉会長のご冥福を心よりお祈りします。

一般社団法人日米協会

会長　藤崎一郎

We were THRILLED to be back at the Cherry Blossom Festival at Sakura Square in downtown Denver this month! It was fantastic to see our local Japanese community come together in person for a weekend of festivities and simply being together. The JASC booth was definitely the cutest one there with kids lining up to play Yoyo-tsuri. Thank you to our incredible volunteers for hours of water balloon preparation and lending your smiles all weekend! JASC staff connected with our community to help them understand our mission and engage with our organization. Our Kaiwa Club group hung out and listened to taiko, strolled the festival and caught up with each other. We completely enjoyed ourselves and can’t wait to be there again next year. Thank you, Sakura Foundation, for bringing it back this year!

PHOTO: Yamagata Shimbun November 23, 2021 Photo courtesy of 13 pages / Yamagata Shimbun

JASC has facilitated several online exchanges this past year and we continue to get requests from both sides of the pond! Nothing makes us happier than connecting students between our two favorite places. The above newsletter article was in the Yamagata Newspaper. Boulder High and Yamagata High enjoyed an exchange this past year where nearly 100 students total connected online. They discussed gaming, anime, and cultural differences and similarities. They shared language resources and connected on social media. The students hope to have an in person exchange in the near future.

Colorado and Yamagata Prefecture are sister-states and celebrated the 35th anniversary of this valuable relationship in 2021. If you are a teacher of Japanese language and interested in this type of opportunity for your students, let us know!

Japan America Society of Colorado (JASC) is offering an unpaid summer internship position for a candidate with a passion for Colorado- Japan relations and a desire to gain professional experience in the non-profit sector. Japanese language ability is strongly preferred, but not an absolute requirement.

MARKETING, PR, & EVENT SUPPORT
This summer intern will assist with events (some which occur on weekends/ evenings), social media creation and analytics, website improvements and marketing. Time permitting, some archiving/ digitizing of historical JASC documents will be requested.

For more details, click HERE.

Application materials deadline: May 1, 2022

JASC’s JOI Coordinator, Yoko Watanabe, took a drive up to Greeley last month to teach students about Japanese culture. The highlight of the day was preparing and handing out onigiri to students along with volunteer donors from Gonigiri & Kiki’s. Japanese Casual Dining. It’s one thing to see photos of Japan, but quite another to be able to taste it! いただきます！

JASC hosted Japan Cup IN PERSON after a long 2-year wait! What a day it was- we had 70 Japanese language students from 5 schools. Students travelled from as far as Grand Junction to compete, have fun, and interact with other language learners. Thank you to everyone who made this day possible- generous sponsors, encouraging teachers, motivated students and dedicated volunteers!

Yoko Watanabe, the JOI Coordinator at JASC, has continued to expand her reach north. She recently spent a week up in Fort Collins interacting with students to share Japanese culture- ranging from calligraphy to food to kimono. The students got a more in-depth look at Japan and Yoko got a a more in-depth look at Colorado! We consider this a win-win for everyone!

Want to have a Japanese cultural presentation come to you? Contact Yoko to inquire availability!