2021 events

CHRISTMAS PARTY

Japan Minnesota Association

On-Line Christmas Party in 2021

JMA held Christmas Party 2021 online, on Dec. 4 (CTS) and Dec. 5 (JST).

Thanks to the internet, twenty-nine alumni, students and friends from Minnesota and Japan were able to join the party. This year we have a special guest speaker from Minnesota, Mr. Mark Ritchie, Minnesota’s former Secretary of State and now serves as President of the Minnesota International Center. Mr. Ritchie had worked globally to support family firms over the past 20 years, and is currently playing a main role to bring the 2027 EXPO to Minnesota.

Dr. Kamata was a moderator of the event as same as last year, and JMA President Ms. Iwanami delivered an opening address with words of thanks, “JMA has continued for 37 years due to event participants”.

In the speech, Mr. Ritchie introduced to us the objectives, missions, and processes to bring the 2027 EXPO to Minnesota, under the theme “Healthy People, Healthy Planet.” The relationship between his girlfriend and Osaka EXPO1970 was a fascinating story, and we understand how Mr. Ritchie has devoted the energy to invite the 2027 EXPO to Minnesota with high motivation. Bloomington has been chosen as the site of the World Fair, where Mall of America and Twin Cities airport are located. Minnesota can prepare for EXPO both in person and digital tools.

In the question-and -answer session, there was a question asking about the success in attracting the EXPO. According to Mr. Ritchie, we will get to know the result in the coming January. There is no city to compete in its bid to host EXPO 2027 due to the pandemic. Our expectations are rising for the World EXPO 2027 in Minnesota by his speech.

Then, JMA Vice President, Mr. Nakamura (Board of Director, UMAA) expressed our thanks and gratitude to Mr. Ritchie and proposed a toast “Merry Christmas! Cheers!”. After the screen shot, all participants introduced themselves with (1) name, (2) current living city, and (3) next travel destination. Thanks to Takehito, as a good moderator, we learned all participants had valuable and unique life and work experiences through their short-speeches, such as Rio, current Executive Director, and Ben, former Executive Director of Japan America Society of Minnesota, Dr. Zaidi, Distinguished International Emeritus Professor, Dr. Thomas, former Director, International Student and Scholar Services, Kim, Assistant Director of Curriculum & Career Integration, Learning Abroad Center, and her husband, Shuji, Audra, Director of International Alumni and Travel, UMAA, Tim, Director of International Development, and Edith, Leader of the Las Vegas Chapter, Mr. Yonehara who had worked for Pan Am, David who had lived in Fujisawa, Ellen, Ph.D student in Japan from U of M, and Kae, Ph.D student to U of M from Japan. Our active members, such as Mr. and Mrs. Kaneko, Mr. Hirao, Mr. Fujii, Mr. Morita, Mr. Ijiri, Mr. Yuihama, Mr. Nemoto, Dr. Fukuda, Mr. Muramatsu, also joined in the party from Japan.

Time flew when we were having a good time. JMA Vice President Mr. Yamaguchi gave a closing remark and said “we want to hold our next event in person, if possible”.　

We wish you a happy New Year.

BIG TEN Golf (2021)

【BIG TEN Golf competition】

The 15th BIG TEN Golf Competition was held as scheduled on Saturday, October 16th 2021. The weather was cloudy but it was cool and comfortable. It was a lively competition with 9 participating schools and 38 participants.

The Minnesota team, consisted of four members: Ijiri, Komiyama, Brian, and Negishi won the runner-up in the team competition.

Ohio State won by a narrow margin.

The Minnesota team also performed well in individual competitions with Ijiri 7th, Brian 15th, Negishi 22nd, and Komiyama 29th.

In addition, Ijiri and Komiyama won the Longest Driving Contest Award and Negishi won the Nearest the Pin Contest Award.

I think we were able to greatly enhance Minnesota’s position as one of the leaders in the BIGTEN Golf .

BIG TEN Golf Competition will be held next year as well. Please join us!

Japan Minnesota Association Golf (2021)

The 3rd Japan Minnesota Association Golf Competition was held on Saturday, September 25th 2021 at Showa no Mori Golf Course Tokyo in a cool and windless condition.

6 Participants were Brian, Yamaguchi, Akira Nakamura, Hiromi Nakamura, Yuihama, and Negishi (from the left in the photo).

Negishi won (gross 85, net 73) and runner-up was Brian (gross 91, net 75).

The longest drive award went to Hiromi Nakamura and Brian.

Brian and Negishi won the nearest to the pin award.

We are supposed to have next competition in autumn 2022.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Tokyo Paralympic 3 athletes attennded Univ of Minn

Three athletes who attended the University of Minnesota will be competing at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Here is some background information on each of the athletes, with accomplishments as listed on the Team USA website.

Aoki’s Team USA bio

Weggemann’s Team USA bio

Goodrich’s Team USA bio

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/three-u-m-alumni-competing-paralympics-0

Tokyo Olympic athletes from Univ. of Minn.

Here is some US / Minnesota athlete information for you:

Current and former UMN student-athletes attended Tokyo Olympics.

Bowe Becker – swimming, 4x100 freestyle relay

Gable Steveson – wrestling, heavyweight

Shane Wiskus – men’s gymnastics

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/minnesotans-headed-tokyo-olympics-112018841.html

Summer party at Zoom 2021.06.27

On June 27^th, Summer Party of 2021 was held at ZOOM. 35 members of Japan Minnesota Association gathered in front of on-line devices.

Mr. Ron Leonhardt, Honorary Consul of Japan at Minneapolis

The guest speaker of this year was Mr. Ron Leonhardt, who assumed Honorary Consul of Japan at Minneapolis in 2020. First of all, a message from Mr. Kenichi Okada, Consul-General of Japan in Chicago was introduced through the courtesy of Mr. Leonhardt (there is a separate statement of Okada Consul General’s message).

Consul-General Okada

Mr. Leonhardt’s speech was divided into three parts. First of all, he introduced his background and fifty-five years’ experience compactly. He was born and grew up in Kobe, and have worked in HR departments of global companies as senior executives after receiving Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, and Master’s degree from Columbia University. In the second part, he introduced his family history. His father was half German and half Japanese, was born between German who traded buttons to Japan, and Japanese woman whose brother worked in German Consulate in Kobe. His mother belonged to Portuguese family in Kobe, and his grand-grandfather assumed Vice Consul of the Portuguese Consulate in Meiji era. It’s global family connections. In the third part, he introduced how Minnesota is a great and livable state, using various indicators. The contents of the speech are very interesting and his English is easy to understand for participants. As a result, it was well received.

After the speech, we made a toast through the screens, and every participant make a brief introduction. It’s a wonderful time to convey and exchange thoughts of the strong ties between Japan and Minnesota. We are thankful in being able to gather, across time zones. Thanks to online.

【Special Message of Consul General OKADA】

Greetings to everyone.

This is Kenichi Okada, Consul General of Japan in Chicago. I am pleased to be invited to share yours’ that vertical summer party.

First, I would like to share my appreciation to Japan Minnesota Association for organizing today’s event, and for all of their hard work connecting the people of Japan and Minnesota. I am glad that we can see each other through this kind of event even during the pandemic.

I would also like to share my appreciation for Honorary Consul Ronald Leonhardt as well as former Honorary Consul Dick Stahl who are both joining today’s event. Thank you both for supporting the function of the consulate and building the great relationships with the Japanese communities in Minnesota.

Thank you also to everyone attending. It is amazing to learn that so many the University of Minnesota alumni are interested in staying connected with Minnesota through JMA. All of you are contributing to the great Minnesota - Japan relationship.

Japan and Minnesota have enjoyed wonderful relationship over the decades. Nagasaki and St. Paul have been sister cities over sixty years, the longest sister city relationship among all Japanese cities. There is also a sister city relationship between my home town, city of Ibaragi in Osaka and Minneapolis, which just celebrated their forty years anniversary last year.

There are so many great events in Minnesota, where people can enjoy Japanese culture, such as Haiku contest in Minneapolis and Obon Festival in St. Paul. It has been difficult to hold some of these events recently due to the pandemic. But hopefully these events will begin again soon. So, people in Minnesota can continue to enjoy Japanese culture in their home states. I sincerely hope that the relationship between Japan and Minnesota will continue to grow even more. Thank you again to JMA for its every effort to foster the friendly relationship between Japan and Minnesota. Please enjoy the event today, and thank you so much.