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JETAA New Year 2020 Events Roundup

14th October 2019

JETAA New Year 2020 Events Roundup

This section is a guide to the range of upcoming JETAA UK events right across the country, coordinated by active Chapters in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. Some individual chapter updates and news are also included. Please look out for the dates of upcoming AGMs for JETAA Scotland, Midlands and North West. Where contact details aren't given you should be able to find them on the About section of the website. Enjoy!

London

Following the 2020 AGM, held on 18 January, a new committee has been elected:

London Chair – Ryan
London Vice Chair – Paul
Treasurer – Darcy

Please email londonchair@jetaa.org.uk to contact the new committee with any thoughts or ideas. 

In terms of recent events, the now annual Christmas karaoke took place among others. 

Upcoming events

Shaberi-kai 
Date: 18:30, 12 February
Venue:  The Penderel’s Oak Wetherspoons, Holborn (possibly subject to change)
Blurb: An evening opportunity to practice Japanese! 
Expect more information nearer the time or contact londonchair@jetaa.org.uk. 

In March a pub quiz is planned – so start brushing up on your trivia! – and in April the popular Photography Walk will take place in a fresh locale. Please contact londonvicechair@jetaa.org.uk and londonchair@jetaa.org.uk respectively for more on these events. 

Midlands

The Midlands chapter wishes all a Happy New Year. The AGM is 'to be confirmed' in February. Please email midlandschair@jetaa.org.uk for more information. 

North West

Chair's Greeting and Message

Happy New Year from JETAA North West! Hopefully this message finds you well and everyone had a lovely, relaxing Christmas. JETAA NW had a fantastic end to the year with some fun at the annual DokiDoki festival, a Minyo collaboration with Japan Society North West, and a cinema trip and bounenkai to wrap the year up. Don’t worry if you missed out though, we have both social and cultural events planned to open the new year with. Friends, family, and those interested in Japan are also always welcome so do bring some people along to our next event as you’re sure to have a brilliant time with us.

I’d like to thank everyone who was involved in JETAA NW events last year. I am delighted that we continue to have interest in JETAA and feel motivated to continue to support both JETs and alumni throughout the UK and in Japan also.  The current committee members are fun people to be around so getting together always produces lots of smiles: we have some committee roles up for grabs this year so do come and join us for our AGM where we’ll be electing new members. Even if a committee role is not for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us with events you’re interested in and we’ll try to make them happen. We hope to see you at some point to make this another year full of wonderfully fun memories together.

Upcoming Events:

North West AGM and Shinnenkai 
Date: 29 February
Blurb: JETAA NW will hold its annual meeting in Liverpool in the afternoon and will follow it with a meal at Japanese restaurant Etsu in the evening. Do come and join us for the opportunity to put ideas forward for events you want to see happen in the NW, and enjoy some beautiful food to open the new year with. Times to be decided.
RSVP: northwest@jetaa.org.uk

Keiboku Calligraphy Performance
Date: 28 March
Venue:  World Museum, Liverpool
Blurb: After the great success of her workshops in Liverpool over the last few years, Head Instructor Hiraga Keiko will be coming to Liverpool from Tokyo to collaborate with JETAA NW and World Museum to give more calligraphy demonstrations and workshops where you’ll have the chance to try your hand at writing calligraphy on a Japanese fan. This event is free and is in conjunction with the ‘Drawing on Nature: Taki Katei’s Japan’ exhibition currently running at World Museum which showcases exquisite ink drawings seen for the first time outside of Japan: it really is a must see! We will follow the workshops with drinks with Keiko and her students. Times to be decided. Details of the Taki Katei exhibition can be found here: https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/taki-katei/index.aspx
RSVP: northwest@jetaa.org.uk 

The Superlative Artistry of Japan
Date: April
Blurb: This exhibition is running at Salford Museum and Art Gallery and we plan a day trip to take advantage of seeing some more beautiful Japanese art. Date and time to be confirmed but please contact nwvicechair@jetaa.org.uk with expressions of interest. Details of the exhibition can be found here: https://jpf.org.uk/whatson.php?department=art#1119 

Past Events:

DokiDoki Festival - JETAA NW stall 
Date: 9-10 November
Blurb:  JETAA NW had a stall at the annual festival held in Manchester. With everything from Taiko to karate, talks on Japanese culture to cosplay competitions, and craft, manga, and food stalls, it was a festival with something for all. Write-up available here: https://www.jetaa.org.uk/news/jetaa-nw-doki-doki-festival/

Minyo Workshop
Date: 23 November
JETAA NW collaborated with Japan Society North West and SOAS University of London to give participants the opportunity to learn Japanese folksong and try their hand at playing traditional instruments. Details here: http://jsnw.org.uk/events.htm

JET Returnees Event and Bonenkai
Date: 1 December
JETAA NW invited alumni and returnee JETs to join us for a day trip to Altrincham to visit the food markets and see the Japanese film ‘Good Morning’ (Director Yasujiro Ozu, 1959). Write-up available here: https://www.jetaa.org.uk/news/jetaa-ne-trip-to-altrincham-film-and-bonenkai/

Scotland

From the Chair

Annual General Meeting 2020, erm, and sake tasting

It is that time of year folks. Thanks to a generous gift from the Consul General of Japan in Edinburgh, we have three bottles of delicious sake to try, all while enjoying a Japanese meal at Cafe Andamiro, which is fully subsidised by JETAA. So you really can have your sake and eat it.

The AGM will be on Friday, 7 February 2020 at 19:30 and will take place at Andamiro – Ramen Bar and Restaurant, 117-119 Buccleuch Street, EH8 9NG Edinburgh.

Oh yes, and we will also be choosing volunteers for JETAA Scotland Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, International Representative, Communications Lead, Events Lead and general committee members. This last year our International Representative went to Japan and the Chair was sent to Berlin. This year, there is a trip to London planned for all role holders from 7-8 March 2020. The roles are a chance to gain experience, enjoy expenses-paid travel, receive invitations to special events and have fun, so please do come and put yourself forward if you would like to hold an office.

If you can't make the AGM but want to apply for a role or just want more information, please email scotlandchair@jetaa.org.uk 

Fuji Festival

Read about the fantastic events – introducing Japanese culture to schoolchilden – that took place as part of Fuji Fest in 2019 here

Member survey

We recently ran a survey of our members. We only had 13 results, so nothing statistically significant but interesting nonetheless. Most respondents wanted cultural events more than social events. Email was more popular than Facebook as a means of keeping updated on events. You can see results here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-T99522P7/

Making volunteering easy for JETAA

In addition to support from the Japanese Government and The Japan Society for Scotland, we are delighted to have received £1,000 funding from The Sasakawa Foundation towards our activities this year. We plan to use it to create a small, simple, pilot website to support JETAA members to go into UK schools and enjoy volunteering. Our idea is to make volunteering easy for JETAA members. If you are interested in volunteering on this digital project or just want to know more about it, please contact James Gamgee at scotlandchair@jetaa.org.uk

Brand ambassador scheme

We are looking for companies that can supply samples to departing JETs to be used as gifts. This saves new JETs money (I remember how broke I was at this time) and helps promote UK businesses. Last September we had maps and books from Visit Scotland and postcards from National Trust for Scotland. If you are a JET alumni working somewhere that might be interested, please contact James Gamgee at scotlandchair@jetaa.org.uk

You can find out more details here: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AsFhvfhBjP-xklzWxnJa1X4X2H-6

Monthly meet ups and Bonenkai

We have had some nice monthly meet-ups at Japanese restaurants and recently enjoyed our Bonenkai, complete with plum wine and karaoke. For further upcoming events, beyond the AGM, please check our Facebook page.

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