2016.10.1

A new month has started. October is jyugatsu (十月), its old name is Kannazuki(神無月) which means the month without gods because all of the gods in Japan get together in Izumo, where October is called Kamiarizuki(神在月), which means the month with gods.

Today it was a new moon which is called Shingetsu (新月). They say it is a good time to ask for the wishes.

In the morning I attended a monthly meeting in Shinjuku.

In the afternoon I came to Saitama prefecture to attend JOI's 15th anniversary event.
I am one of the 5th year JOI coordinators and was dispatched to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida from 2006 to 2008.
It's been already 10 years since I went there.  How fast time flies!

There are 59 coordinators for 15 years in total and 23 coordinators attended today. Everyone was sent to the different state and different site and tried to enhance the understanding between Japan and USA as a grassroots level for two years.
All of us have had precious experiences through outreach programs. They say we outreached 850, 000 people or more.

The program consisted of three parts. First was the reporting session of 13th year coordinators who have just finished their terms, and JOI alumni networking.
Second was address by sponsor, lecture, panel discussion, and photo taking.
Third was dinner party.
All of coordinators talked about their experiences for a short time.

I really appreciate that I was selected as the 5th year coordinator, sent to the  Morikami Museum, and given a chance to work there for two years which made my life changed a lot.

After dinner party seven of us went to the second party and enjoyed chatting.