General Meeting and Social

M.C. for the Social Party April 26th, Minoru Miyamae

The Kosaka International Society General Meeting was held on April 22nd; on that day, I was the M.C. for the Social Party held afterwards. It's been eight years since I retired, so sometimes I start to worry how much I can handle. Even my wife has started telling me that I�fm getting forgetful like my father. Quite honestly, I was pretty nervous heading up to the event.

On the day of the party, I was told:
*There would be no set seating.
*We would do the toasting with Wine, juice, etc.
*Ask for donations from people who wanted to help cut Raymond�fs hair.
*The food was hand-made by KIS volunteers

The Social party started at 7pm: after the toast, the �gPencil-crayon Flag Colouring Contest�h was held at 7:10, and "Raymond�fs Danpatsu ceremony" at 7:40.

The party was held on the second floor of the local community centre in the main hall. As soon as the General Meeting was finished, the Social party began, and I was on stage. I was very nervous as I announced: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Social party will now begin in the next room, if I could please have you move over this way..." The person we had asked to give the toast speech hadn't arrived, so I ended up doing it myself. I couldn't quite hide my local accent (I'm not from this area); but, thanks to many years of giving speeches when I worked at the union, I was able to give a decent speech.

The Flag colouring contest went a little longer than planned, but we finally managed to get the Danpatsu ceremony started. I began by asking for volunteers to come and help with Raymond�fs hair: "Ladies and Gentlemen,there are many people throughout the world who are suffering through war,famine, and natural disaster; we would appreciate your donation toward our continuing fundraising efforts for international aid".

I would like to have seen Raymond perform some of his Japanese dancing, but it was interesting to watch Raymond's appearance change into that of an NBA player as people came up to the stage to cut off some of his hair. We ended the meeting on a high-note, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself..

Note from the Translator and official "hair-sponsor".

First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Miyamae for his note regarding the General Meeting and party; he is a very kind man and I always look forward to seeing him at KIS events. Next, I should explain that a �gDanpatsu ceremony�h is the name of the ceremony that takes place when a sumo-wrestler retires; cutting off the top-knot quite vividly symbolizes the end of his wrestling career. I am not a sumo wrestler, nor do I have any immediate plans to retire; however, when it came time to cut off my hair, I thought it would be fun to have everyone come out and have some fun. A �gDanpatsu ceremony�h seemed like a fun metaphor to borrow.

I arrived in Kosaka with a shaved head almost two years ago, so even simply letting my hair grow didn�ft escape curiosity�c comments included (but were not limited to) "oh, your hair is curly! What happens if you let it grow long, what will it look like then?"..."Did you perm your hair?"

It has been an interesting experience courting the edges of "suitability" in my small town. I started to grow my hair out, knowing full-well that it might not go over too well with the office; I was constantly on the lookout for signals from my bosses that meant it was time to cut my hair off, and was completely prepared to do so. For the most part, people really liked my hair. Never once did my office tell me to cut my hair, even the mayor said it was �ecool�f. In the end, I think some of my Japanese friends are even more distraught over the loss of my hair than I: How often have I heard "What a shame! Your hair suited you so well".

Anyway, it's only hair... and, for the moment, it looks like I'm not following in my father's footsteps in the hair department, so I can always grow them back later if I feel like doing so. I�fm so happy that we were able to raise so much money; we will decide where to send the money during the next KIS meeting. Thanks to everyone who came out!

Raymond