2018.2.26

It was fine.

I started the day earlier than usual because there was a special event.

In the afternoon we went to Kasumigaseki. Usually we estimate the moving time from door to door for 30 minutes, but to my surprise we arrived there by 15 minutes because we took the different walking route as usual.

At night we had a catering buffet style reception. There were about 30 people including one guest from Indonesia. Therefore they did not use any pork nor alchol for the food including sushi rice vinegar.
They decorated the table beautifully with Japanese tea ceremony utensils, paper umbrella, and stackable lacquered wooden food box called jyubako (重箱).

Thank you for your service and consideration.

四月十六日（shigatsu jyuroku nichi）： April 16

It was a very cold rainy day again. Depends on the place it even snowed.

I had the Washington State University Alumni Reception in Tokyo tonight. It was held at the 28th floor of the Hyatt Regency Tokyo in Shinjuku starting at 7:00 PM. This seemed the second reunion in Japan. Last time they said there were nearly 100 people. But this year maybe about 50 people joined. Alumni Reception is dosokai (同窓会) in Japanese.

I was an exchange student at WSU when I was a graduate school student in 1996. I only studied there for one year but it was a wonderful experience for me.

Before going to the reunion, I only knew one person who would attend, but through the party I could talk with several people and get to know each other. It was fun to know people from different back ground but who shared a kind of same experience.

I hope to keep in touch with them.

三月八日（sangatsu yoka）： March 8

March 8 is International Women's Day. It is the 100th anniversary this year. I attended the International Women's Day 2010 UN Public Symposium, Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all, Beijing plus 15: Gender equality development and peace.
It's been 15 years since the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijin, and 10 years since the Millennium Development Goals have been set. Therefore there was the special event in Tokyo. It started at 3:30 pm and lasted for more than 5 hours.
Opening video message was made by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Talk Sessions inviting UN goodwill ambassadors "Roles and situations of women and girls in developing countries" followed. Three goodwill ambassadors, Ms. Misako Konno (紺野美沙子) UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Yuko Arimori (有森裕子), UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, and Ms. Agnes Chan (アグネス・チャン), Ambassador of the Japan Committee for UNICEF talked their experiences in developing countries, which seemed terrible. There were a Keynote Speech by Ms. Kimie Iwata (岩田　喜美枝), executive vice president of Shiseido (資生堂) Co. Ltd. and Men's Panel Discussion. The closing remarks was made by Ms. Mizuho Fukushima (福島みずほ), the Minister of State for Gender Equality.
After the break, there was a Joint Session "Commemorating the International Women's Day" and from 7:00 pm there was a "Femmes @ Tokyo" event "Dialogues de Femmes" by three writers, two Japanese Ms. Yuko Tsushima (津島佑子) and Ms. Yuka Murayama (村山由佳) and one French Ms. Laure Adler. There were many different programs, but I was interested in the Talk Sessions and the Dialogues de Femmes most to hear the voices of many women active in the world.

二月二十八日（nigatsu nijyuhachi nichi）： February 28

There was a warning of Tsunami (津波) this morning and evening, which was announced through the city. As long as I remember this was the first time to hear the alarm of the Tsunami. For the time being, it seems OK around here.

Today I had a special tea ceremony. It's been 30 years since my masters started teaching the tea ceremony, and they held the 30th year anniversary event. There came about 20 pupils from 10 years old to the 70s old. I started learning the tea ceremony about 20 years ago, those days I went to masters' house once a week on Thursday, but for more than 10 years I only join the special occasions such as hatsu gama (初釜), the first tea ceremony in the year.
Today I could meet old friends there, some of them brought their daughters too. How fast time flies!
In the morning, it was raining, and we could not go out, but later it became cloudy and fine. I took some pictures in front of their ume (梅) tree. Here is the one.