Newsletter No.49

April 2003

Ambassador Hannachi's Lecture: Hannibal's Great Expedition began in Tunisia

The third lecture in our Ambassador's Lecture Series took place at 6:30 on March 27 at the Japan National Press Club in Hibiya, with Tunisian Ambassador Salah Hannachi as our speaker. More than 50 members and others braved the inclement weather caused by strong spring winds to attend, filling the hall.

Tunisia lies only 190 kilometers from the toe of Italy's boot-shaped land mass. It takes an hour to fly to Rome, two and one half hours to fly to Paris. It takes three and one half hours to get to Cairo, even though it is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, showing why from ancient times Tunisia has had a very close relationship with Europe. From Carthage, which is ancient Tunis and was built by the Phoenicians in the 6th century BCE, the western Mediterranean was conquered. Using overhead projector illustrations, Ambassador Hannachi described in detail Hannibal's trajectory, crossing the Pyrenees, traversing France and ascending and descending the Alps to attack Rome. Due to these geographical particulars, Tunisia has since ancient times enjoyed prosperous trade with Europe and the East. The country became renowned as the cradle of the olive industry, supplying olives far and wide to Spain, Italy, and Greece. Delicious wine is also produced. With its ancient history, Tunisia has been influenced by both Judaism and Christianity. Saint Augustine was born there. Today, Islam is the largest religion, but other religions are also tolerated.

The second half of Ambassador Hannachi's lecture concerned Tunisia's relations with Japan. He emphasized that, while Japan has flourishing trade and exchanges with Asia, America and Europe, Japanese should be more aware that there are also major possibilities for everything from capital investment to cultural exchange with other regions. Referring to the recent world state of affairs, he mentioned that European unification had been peacefully achieved by steady negotiation over a 50-year period, something that neither Napoleon nor Hitler had been able to accomplish with military power. Citing this, he indicated a solution to the North Korea problem should be found without resort to military power, through consensus among China, Korea, Japan and the US. He also mentioned his concern about the Iraq problem. Question-and-answer time was lively. Speakers included a person who had been a student at Indiana University at the same time as the Ambassador as well as a recent visitor to Tunisia, who said what a wonderful experience the trip had been.

Nature Ramble

For a week, rain had been forecast for March 16. Whether in response to the prayers of the participants, or because we were all good men and true, the day dawned clear, proving the weather report false. Twenty-five hearty hikers, including 15 ESUJ members and 10 non-Japanese, gathered safely in Tachikawa at 10:00am. Only ten minutes from Hinatawada, our starting point, the sound of music could be heard. A festival was in full swing! On the way to the plum garden, we enjoyed seeing traditional Japanese culture including Okame, jesters, and the lion dance. It was a festival of Japanese traditional culture. Strolling along under the plum blossom, we headed for our lunch spot, again encountering a group dressed in traditional garb, this time the 12-layered kimono of the court who beckoned to us. The place turned out to be a museum, and most everyone was photographed together with the "Heian Era" representatives. Ignoring exhaustion to hurry up, we arrived at the Kaede Bridge and enjoyed our lunch in the warm sun, by the river gorge. Next up was sake tasting! This seemed to be particularly popular with non-Japanese members of our party, and several of them wished to spend more time here. As a result, the group dispersed, with some going off to a museum of ornamental hairpins (kanzashi), others to the Gyokudo Art Museum. With so many things to see, we changed the final part of our original plan to suit everyone's wishes. We all had a good walk, curing any recent lack of exercise. A final traditional sweet, anmitsu, perked us up, and we safely concluded a day filled with happy pleasure.

At first we had thought such an outing couldn't be successfully done, but now, we would like to hear everyone's opinions on outings together and suggestions for destinations. Thanks to all our wonderful participants! (Machiko Takeda)

English Club

Our monthly English Club met on Tuesday, March 18, at the Tokyo International Forum. The theme was the "usefulness of humor. If you compare today's jokes with those told twenty or thirty years ago, you can very well find the changing values in our society, a persuasive argument, coming as it does from MM (Mr. Masumi Muramatsu) who has made humor his lifetime theme. Usefulness of laughter is being increasingly recognized today. Jokes, indeed, are no laughing matters. MM showed parts of four movie videos. Doctor jokes and other occupational jokes, the political jokes (anecdotes) from the old Communist countries, as well as religious jokes.

Next English Club will meet on April 15, Tuesday, 6:30-8:30 at the Doyu Club, next to the Palace Hotel. Continuing the same theme, MM will brief us about many other categories of jokes.

Future Events

Tuesday, May 27: ESUJ May Evening Gala 2003,
6:30-8:30pm at the Meiji Kinenkan, Kinkei
Room. Cellist Yuko Miyagawa to perform.

Friday, June 20: ESUJ Annual General Meeting and Lecture (planned),
Mr Sam Jameson, formerly Los Angeles Times Tokyo Bureau Chief, to speak.