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Research Presentations for Fiscal Year 2004
The research presentations of the AISF scholarship recipients for fiscal year 2004 were held last Saturday, March 5, 2005 at the Atsumi Foundation. There were about 50 participants, consisting of the current and next batch of scholarship recipients, the members of the Raccoon-Kai (alumni association), the AISF@directors, and those who provide assistance for international students in Japan. Mrs. Itsuko Atsumi, Executive Director, explained the history of the dolls displayed in the hall for the Doll's Festival (March 3), which were bought and sent to Rome, Italy, for her when she was born in 1928, and then after returning to Japan, escaped from the fire caused by the bombing in Tokyo during World War II. The presentations were made splendidly, in spite of the hard task that the presenters had to explain, within 15 minutes, their Ph.D. research results in terms understandable to a child. They were also asked to use PowerPoint (Presentation Software), which was new to some of them, but all went very well. The presentations were followed by greetings from Mr. Koji Abe of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Muneo Tsuzuku, Honorary Director of Japan Association for International Students' Education, and Mr. Kenji Ueda, AISF Trustee. After the presentation, participants all enjoyed the glasses of beer, various dishes of Chinese cuisine, as well as lively conversation.
Please visit the AISF Picture Gallery for the photos taken by Asuka Imanishi.
By Junko Imanishi
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Korea Society of Raccoons (KSR) Gatherings
At 18:00 on Saturday, February 26,@2005, the third Raccoonkai in Seoul was held at Hanilkwan Restraint on Chonno Street, which is well-known for its Korean beef cuisine, Purukogi. After a quick flight from Haneda airport to Kimpo, and after walking on the antique street Insadong in the central part of Seoul, which was as cold as a freezer, we had a warm time with many raccoons who have not met each other for a while. It was fun to hear how they are actively contributing to the society in their own ways. Attendants were: Dr. Lee Nae-Chan (96), Dr. Kim Woong-Hee (96), Dr. Lee Hyang-Chul (97), Dr. Hong Kyung-Jin (99), Dr. Park Young-June (02); Dr. Kim Hyeon Wook (03), Dr. Chae Sang Heon (03) and Asuka + Junko Imanishi.
At 10:30 on Sunday, February 27th, Asuka and Junko took the KTX (Korean version of bullet train) to sunny Pusan. Guided by Dr. Park Jung Ran (95), we went to the Buddhist temple Bomosa in the mountain, and then drove down to the Hotel by the Heunde Beach. With Dr. Lee Sung Young (04), who came from Tegu, we had the first Raccoonkai in Pusan at the famous restaurant of Korean Karubi Beef barbeque.
To those whom I have met, thank you for coming in spite of your busy schedule, although these gathering were announced only two weeks in advance. To those who I could not see this time, let's meet at the next Raccoonkai in Seoul, which is being planned to be held at the end of August.
Photos of two Korean Raccoon dinners can be found at:
AISF Picture Gallery
By Junko Imanishi
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Happy 10th Birthday to the Atsumi Foundation!
On February 16, 2005 (Wednesday), as we turned a new page in mankindfs
history with the formal taking into effect of the Kyoto Protocol, the
celebration of the 10th year anniversary of the establishment of the Atsumi
International Scholarship Foundation was held at the Kajima KI building in
Akasaka, Tokyo. Notwithstanding a magnitude 5 earthquake and the cold rain
in the morning of that day, 180 invited guests showed up to join in the
celebration of this gsmall in size but big in dreamsh foundation
established ten years ago under the will of Mr. Takeo Atsumi.
Under the guidance of Directress Atsumi and Managing Directress Imanishi,
several preparatory meetings were held from several weeks earlier. Current
and scholarship recipients of the coming fiscal year, alumni of the Raccoon
Association, and the management committee and researchers/members (and their
children) of the Sekiguchi Global Research Association (SGRA) that grew out
of the Raccoon Association came that day to help out in the event. All of
these contributed to the success of the anniversary celebration. There was
really a strong feeling of the Atsumi gfamilyh moving together as one.
The memorial event started at four in the afternoon. Directress Itsuko
Atsumi first talked about the story behind the establishment of the
foundation, and Ms. Sadako Ogata who will be making the memorial address.
This was followed by Managing Directress Junko Imanishi who, using
PowerPoint slides, talked about the progress of the foundation from its
creation to the present. Apparently, there were indications from the
reserved Directress Atsumi to refrain from advertising, but Managing
Directress Imanishi, on the plea that the concept of SGRA and the Atsumi
Foundation are in agreement, unreservedly introduced SGRA and gave an open
invitation to its activities, as part of her report about the foundation.
At around four and a half in the afternoon, JICA President Ogata arrived,
and without even taking a break started to talk on the theme of gHuman
Security.h Since it was an address for a scholarship foundation, her talk
was made on the premise that interest from the aspect of education would be
high; hence, she focused on the high importance of education as a powerful
means by which persons could be empowered for their own safety. In
particular, she pointed out that the most important international education
would be that which would breed persons that are inclusive and respect
diversity. Indeed, this point is in agreement with the vision of the Atsumi
Foundation and SGRA to gcontribute to the realization of good global
citizensh based on the principle of gharmony in diversity.h At the same
time, it made one think about whether or not such respect for diversity is
being achieved given the not so silent tsunami called gglobalization.h
Having invited the audience to think about the issue together, Ms. Ogata
received a lot of questions from the floor, and the memorial address was
ended at 5:45 PM, with still some questions left unanswered.
Thereafter, a reception was held at the cafeteria of the KI building, where
Ms. Ogata also was present for as long as her schedule permitted. Professor
Yotaro Hatamura, the head of the foundationfs screening committee for the
past ten years and famed author of the bestseller gLearning from Failureh
gave a short greeting and toast to start the reception. Everyone enjoyed the
reception. Kajima Construction Vice President Naoki Atsumi appropriately
concluded the event with the ceremonial handclap (with a gfull courseh
3-3-7 rhythm), which is the tradition in the construction industry.
In conversing with a lot of guests, I came upon Mr. Setsu Kamiyama, (Vice
Director, Rotary Yoneyama Memorial Foundation, Inc.) who is a contemporary
of Mr. Takeo Atsumi and works with a foundation that takes care of several
thousands of foreign students every year. He left me with the most
congratulatory of words: such an elegant foundation. I think that Mr. Takeo
Atsumi would have said the same thing.
Photos of the celebration of the 10th year anniversary can be found at:
AISF Picture Gallery
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2005 AISF New Year's Party
As is customary, the new year's party of AISF was held on Saturday, January
15th, 2005. About 50 past and present scholarship recipients with their
family got together at AISF Hall in Sekiguchi. The high light of this year
was the Russian cuisine (borscht and salad) prepared by Mr. Rishat
Mullagildin (2004) helped by Mr. Ye Sheng (2004)! Home-made kimuchi by the
Li family was also delicious. There were all sorts of sweets brought from
all over the world by the Raccoons, Ozoni (soup) with mochi (rice cake) made
in cooperation with the children at the party, Osechi (Japanese New Year
cuisine), yakitori , and Chinese dim sum. When everyone felt full, Ms. Ryu
Young Eim (wife of Dr. Jeon Jin Hwan 2001) played the piano with the songs
of "Winter Sonata" Then Mr. Li Gangzhe (1999) made an announcement about
the SGRA/AISF Tsunami aid fundraising. Then the BINGO was organized by the
second generations of the Raccoons. There was a recycle corner on the
corridor of the third floor. All the used clothes left over from the party
will be sent to NPO for Tsunami Aid in the Sumatra Island in Indonesia. Mr.
Napoleon (2004), who is from this area in Indonesia, will be the contact
person of the Tsunami Aid.
Photos of the New Year's Party can be found at:
AISF Picture Gallery
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Report: The Second Meeting of KSR
by Lee Nae-Chan
The second half meeting of Korea Society of Raccoon (KSR) in 2004 was held
on 30 October (Saturday) at eMr. Chowf, modern and decent Chinese
restaurant located in the center of southern district of Seoul, Korea.
Before the meeting started, the manager Michael Jung kindly introduced the
history and inside of the restaurant. Six members of KSR, and Itsuko Atsumi,
executive director and Junko Imanishi, Associate Director of Atsumi
International Scholarship Foundation (AISF) participated in the meeting, to
which Hyen Lee, deputy-director of Korean Communications Commission was
invited as a guest. Atsumi, executive director donated grants to KSR. As an
initial step in response to the decision made in the first meeting that it
is important for strengthening close ties among members and then move onto
broader issues step by step, the KSR board published g2004 Annual Report:
Members Activitiesh which contain some of membersf academic
accomplishments and social activities. In the meeting, members introduced
personal activities according to the report and cheerful chats were
followed. The report will be shared among members through the Internet
community after some period for upgrades.
List of participants: Park Chul-Ju (1995), Kim Woong-Hee(1996), Lee
Nae-Chan(1996), Jung Sung-Chun(2000), Lee Hyun-Young(2001), Chae
Sang-Heon(2003), Atsumi Itsuko, Imanishi Junko, Heon Lee
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AISF Get-Together
The annual gAtsumi Foundation Get-Togetherh was held last October 8
(Friday) from 6 PM. This year, we had Mr. Hideki Kato, Chief
Representative of the NPO gJapan Initiativeh, which is a think tank
involved in policy recommendations. The title of his talk was gJapan
will build the small and medium, local, and low-techh. He pointed out
that Japan in the past several years has gone too far so as to come to a
point where it is just about to forget about its small-medium, local,
and low-tech sectors, or in other words, its gmonozukurih sector which
is based on craftsmanship skills. He cited various examples.
Japan (as well as Asian) monozukuri is not just dot-com business. Since
grouping people into winners and losers may lead to putting most of
society into the glosing grouph, a more diverse way of nation building
is necessary. Market valuation accounting is popular these days, but
there is no need to treat as financial assets the land used by
businesses engaged in monozukuri. Recently, even big manufacturing firms
are engaged in investment trust and making profits they say, but this is
not bound to continue for several decades. In education, as well, the
problem is not which is better but rather it is important that we have a
mechanism that allows various systems to be able to mix together.
Mr. Kato stressed that in the last 50 years, Japan has moved from local
to global, from low-tech to hi-tech, from small to big, decentralized to
centralized, from gslowh to gfasth, and from particular to
universal, but from hereon it is important to value the opposite
direction, and to build a society rich in diversity.
It was unfortunate that not too many people showed up (perhaps due to
the onslaught of typhoon #22, which caused a lot of rainfall and
landslides). But those who were able to come enjoyed the good
discussions, and the good Korean food that was prepared by the brother
of La Insook san(1998 Raccoon) who runs a restaurant gTogarashih in
front of the main gate of Todai.
Trans. by M.Maquito
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Scholarship Applicants for 2005 Academic Year
To the many applicants : Thank you!
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Thank you for applying to the 2005 Atsumi Scholarship. 172 applicants
from 22 countries /areas and from 47 universities have applied. Twelve
scholarship recipients will be selected through a selection procedure
which consists of document-based screening and two interviews. The
results will be announced in mid-December.
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It was hot even in Karuizawa
The 9th Atsumi Foundation Karuizawa Trip was held at the end of the week,
when Tokyo recorded historically high temperatures. Aside from the current
scholarship recipients and their families, Raccoons (former scholarship
recipients) from Tokyo, Sendai, Okinawa, and Seoul gathered at the Kajima
Training Center located at the foot of Mt. Hanareyama.
The Hanareyama hiking and lively games, which caused some worry, was
eventually held since the counsellor of the Foundation, Mr. Malcolm Parent,
was able to return to Japan after going home to the US after 15 years. Wang
Shin and Imanishi Hayato were in charge of the fireworks and watermelon
splitting. A small Japanese summer festival was lively held in the parking
lot of the center. The first watermelon was split by Ms. Yang Myung Ok, who
was, however, at a state of panic during the fireworks.
I was put in charged of two new additions to the program: gKaruizawa
Orientation (Raccoon Expedition)h and a PowerPoint tutorial. My friends,
Vovo (10 year old, female) and Laka (2 year old, female), kindly took up the
role of guides for the orientation. In the PowerPoint tutorial, Hayato took
charge of the beginners while I and Mr. Shimazu handled the intermediate
level. It was not a big class but everyone participated actively.
Particularly, the intermediate tutorial members asked a lot of questions
that slowed down the class, and by the end of the tutorial, both the
beginners and intermediate levels were practically talking about the same
topics.
On the next day, the 16th SGRA Forum was held in the meeting room of the
center. During the dinner break, a group of Raccoons had a big discussion,
prompting them to submit as a group some questions for the forum presenters.
After the forum, there was a lively gathering the likes of which I have not
seen before: forum presenters and participants discussing, game playing,
drinking, and a get-together with the sparkling first years (current
scholarship recipients).
On Sunday, we had the usual barbecue party at the Directorfs summer home.
Mr. Wang Libin started his tennis tutorials at 6:30 in the morning. This
year, Mr. Rishat Mullagildin., current recipient, was in charged of Russian
Barbecue, with the help of Mr. Ye Sheng and Mr. Napoleon (in charged of
picture taking). We also enjoyed Yanbian/Korean cuisine prepared by Ms. Park
Junghee and Mr. Li Gangzhe. As in the past years, Mr. and Mrs. Yoshio Hara
brought plenty of Oden. There was some fears of a lightning storm along the
way, but we were able to safely have the memorial picture taking.
Lastly, I would like to repeat here Vovo and Lakafs request. To those who
were able to make a new discovery in Karuizawa, please send a short
PowerPoint report to Junko Imanishi. We will convey this to all Raccoons.
Letfs meet again in the summer sanctuary that is Karuizawa.
(By Max Maquito)
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Tanabata Raccoonkai in Sekiguchi on
July 7th, 2004
Getting a push from three energetic ladies (2003 Raccoons: Maria Elena
Tisi of Italy, Chang Kuei-e of Taiwan, and Ana Eliza Yamaguchi of Brazil), a
Tanabata Raccoonkai was held, for the first time, at the Atsumi Foundation
Hall. In addition to the dishes they prepared since the morning of that day,
we were also treated to the Korean, German, and Chinese cuisines prepared by
other scholarship recipients.
Moreover, following Imanishi-sanfs guidance, the AISF staff took great
efforts in creating a truly Tanabata ambiance. A bamboo tree cut from the
garden of the Atsumi compound hung in the living room. On this tree, the
participants hung small paper cards on which they have written their wishes.
Preparations for the gathering was so earnestly done, that I, despite having
stayed in Japan for 16 years, felt myself full of renewed interest on the
festival called Tanabata. Gratefully, Shimazu-san answered one by one my
questions about the festival (I was impressed with his detailed knowledge,
but I found out later that he did not fail to make his own preparations for
the gathering)
The weather was also cooperative. The sky over the Kanto region was clear,
as predicted by the weather forecast. Following Rijichofs instruction, the
lights in the fountain garden were turned off, and the more curious of the
group looked up at Tokyofs skies. With the lights off, a few stars became
visible but the once-a-year meeting of Vega and Altair could not be
confirmed with the naked eye.
Nevertheless, I came to realize how romantic a tale it is. There is a bit of
a tragedy but it is not as sad as Romeo and Juliet since the lovers in the
case of the Tanabata story were allowed to get married. The problem was that
the two became too engrossed with each other that they neglected to work.
This forced the father of Vega to take strict measures, limiting the two
lovebirds to meet just once a year. My Latin side reviled against this
strict measure but at the same time found its emphasis on the value of doing
work quite impressive.
To the scholarship recipients past and present, I particularly gave the
reminder that the Atsumi Foundation Hall had a special magic. That being the
case, I called on them not to waste the opportunity by not forgetting to
write their wishes on the paper cards. Once, they (we) all made an earnest
wish in this Hall. A wish that was splendidly granted, and has made us able
to attend to that nightfs gathering.
The energies of the three ladies in charge of the nightfs affair were not
allocated to the Samba dance that was in the affairfs original menu. But,
child and adults sang and danced songs and dances they have learnt once, so
that all in all it was a pleasant summer evening.
(By Max Maquito (1995 Raccoon))
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