2006 Shinnenkai
About 50 or 60 of us gathered on Saturday evening 25 February to welcome (somewhat late) the new year.
It was a perfect evening at Canberra – Nara Park, just the right temperature and a gentle breeze to keep us comfortable.
We took the opportunity to ‘christen’ the Embassy’s new mochi making equipment – the cute little cook stove for steaming/cooking the rice and the new usu and kine. It all worked very efficiently and the general consensus was that it was the best mochi we have produced yet. The only problem was that the new stone usu is VERY heavy and requires several strong men to move it! But it works well. Eriko Prior and Hiroko Fischer pre-cooked the rice at home and Barbara Forsyth arranged the necessary ingredients – many thanks. We had quite a collection of helpers hard at work making mochi balls – Yamauchi-san demonstrated great skill (he looks good in an apron – I hope Mrs Yamauchi took note), along with Eriko, Anne Hodgkin, Megan Vidgen and others.
The kids had a good time playing softball and some of the younger ones took their mums on a rock climbing expedition through the garden. Much trepidation on the part of the mums, but no problems for the kids!
After we had all picnicked and eaten up all of the mochi some enthusiasts danced the bon odori while assorted people tried their hand at the taiko.
Altogether an excellent start for our 2006 program of activities.
2005 AUSTRALIA-JAPAN GOODWILL GOLF TOURNAMENT
Australia-Japan Goodwill Golf Tournament was held at the Federal Golf Club on 18 July. The purpose of the tournament is to enjoy sports together with Japanese and Australian people together and promote understanding of both nations. Australia Japan Society has a exchange student arrangement between Kobe, Japan and Canberra and AJS sponsor one student from Canberra and any surplus income from the tournament will be spent on this program.
This year, record 95 participants have competed for many prizes. It was a frosty morning but there was no wind and temperature rose to perfect golf condition day.
We thank following sponsors from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra for kindly donating many prizes.
Japan Airlines, Sydney
Toyota Australia, Sydney
San Masamune, Sydney
NEC Australia, Melbourne
Hakubaku Australia, Melbourne
Canberra Toyota, Canberra
Rolfe Classic BMW, Canberra
Qantas Airways, Canberra
ANZ Bank, Canberra
Lexus of Canberra
Capital Honda, Canberra
Capital Subaru, Canberra
Iori Japanese Restaurant, Canberra
Tasuke Japanese Restaurant, Canberra
Privilege Cards, Canberra
Embassy of Japan, Canberrra
Winners are Men’s Open Handicap Mr. Manabu Yamamoto
Ladie’s Open Handicap Ms. Mary Dodds
AJS Members Handicap Ms. Takahisa Ikeda
No-Handicap Category Mr. Kazuhiro Yagi
Men’s Gross Winner Mr. Simon McPhillips
Ladies Gross Winner Ms. Nicky Moon
Annual Tenpin Bowling Competition – Sunday 1 August 2004
In the afternoon of beautiful winter Sunday, 44 self-confident tenpin bowlers turned up to Canberra International Bowl in Greenway, and contended for victory. During 2-game fun time, kids played amazingly well, Mr and Mrs Scott dominated adult’s divisions, everyone else played aiming to win great(?) prizes, and Mr President Michel Hodgkin, without bowling, cheered players and took nice photos. Post-game presentation was even more amusing to be: the winners were proud of themselves with nice prizes (water gun, soccer ball, mixing bowls, pruner), many people looked happy with small but nice prizes that they got (chair, bottle, jacket, etc.), a few of people showed their mixed feeling about insignificant things given (eg. wooden spoon, toilet papers) and the others who went home with nothing laughed at them.Kid's (6-10 yrs) |
Score |
Junior's |
Score |
||
1st |
H. Nakamura |
182(95,87) |
1st |
K. Nakamura |
189(93,96) |
2nd |
M. Hirano |
155(79,76) |
2nd |
Cloud |
188(92,96) |
3rd |
A. Nishino |
132(66,66) |
3rd |
T. Ichihara |
177(84,93) |
4th |
Y. Yamauchi |
120(57,63) |
4th |
S. Nakamura |
149(70,79) |
|
|
|
5th |
A. Etoh |
145(54,91) |
Women's |
Score |
Men's |
Score |
||
1st |
M. Scott |
349(172,177) |
1st |
D. Scott |
361(202,159) |
2nd |
Y. Gray |
256(129,127) |
2nd |
N. Yamauchi |
298(148,150) |
3rd |
E. Prior |
246(103,143) |
3rd |
N. Aoki |
264(130,134) |
4th |
K. Taira |
232(101,131) |
4th |
D. Gray |
261(130,131) |
5th |
M. Kobayashi |
231(106,125) |
5th |
Y. Nakamura |
256(129,127) |
Congratulations winners! Thank you everyone for attending! See you all next year!
(Naohiro Aoki)