Dramatic ESUJ Debate 2008: Adults' Tournament

The seventh debate competition for adults, ESUJ Debate 2008, took place on June 7 (Sat) in the KFC Rooms, Ryogoku. This year, we hosted the biggest adults' debate ever, with 16 teams.

The teams consisted of high school and university English teachers, businessmen and women, housewives and foreigners, with the majority of participants having become debaters as adults. Each team participated in two preliminary rounds to choose the "Best Four" finalists.

Motions for preliminary rounds and semi-finals:
R1: This House would (THW) punish parents for their child's crime.
R2: THW provide school buses for female high school students.
R3: THW allow foreign capital to invest in Japanese airports.
R4: THW follow its dream rather than take a stable job.
SF: THW require the approval of local residents for billboard advertising.

Making it through to the Final Debate were 'The Perennial Underdog' team of Hiromu Namiki (member of the third-place team in 2007) and Shiro Kokue as well as 'Maple & Sakura', consisting of Shigeo Suzuki (also third-place in 2007 and eldest debater) and Canadian Matthew Chromecki, debating the motion: This House believes that Japanese with "metabolic syndrome" should pay higher health insurance. (a very suitable motion for adult debaters?!).

A wonderful, fun-filled debate was made by all four debaters producing continuous guffaws from the audience. The result by audience vote of 55 out of 86 was that the Proposition Team 'The Perennial Underdog' were the winners!

Joint third place went to 'UT Shakaijin Sisters' (Sumiko Yanagawa and Akiko Hamahara), along with 'Debate Gym Japan' (Naoki Matsuura and Magdi Khalil). We thank Ms. Chihiro Nakagwa, Tournament Director, adult and student volunteers as well as big audience for making this event a huge success.

May Evening Gala 2008

May Evening Gala took place celebrating the 10th Anniversary of ESUJ this year.

More than a few gentlemen elected to wear black tie as suggested, with many elegantly-dressed ladies also present among the over 100 people in attendance at the party on May 27 in the Wakatake Room of Meiji Kinenkan. British Ambassador and Lady Fry along with Jordanian Ambassador Naouri also added to the 'celebrity' atmosphere.

After Chairman Hanabusa's greetings and Ambassador Fry's toast, ESUJ Councilor Tsunekazu Matsudaira's Swing Quartet provided the evening's special entertainment, playing many well-loved standard hits in the Benny Goodman manner.

Stylish dance couples both young and old twirled around the floor. There was a drawing for the exciting door prizes with the ESUJ donation box receiving many contributions. Huge thanks to all!

ESUJ Directors' and Councilors' Meetings Held

On May 16 (Fri), the tenth Directors' Meeting was held at Ark Hills Club with thirteen directors in attendance.

Topics proposed for the Annual General Meeting were discussed and approved. ESUJ past activities were analyzed in detail with a view to considering the future course of the organization.

Also, the tenth Councilors' Meeting was held before the May Evening Gala on May 27 (Tue), with eight councilors in attendance. There was also a lively exchange of views regarding the direction of future development for ESUJ.

English Club

English Club took place on May 21 (Wed) at its new premises of Nissay Life Plaza Marunouchi with forty in attendance.

The guest speaker was Michelle Arnot, talking about the jury system (which will start exactly one year from the date of her talk!) from the point of view of an American juror.

Ms. Arnot who worked for a long time in the publishing business in New York, is the author of Crossword Puzzles, and had had no background knowledge of justice, received a letter one day calling upon her to become a jury member. Even in America it isn't thought that many people wish to be chosen for jury duty.

However, it is a citizen's duty and a symbol of a healthy democracy to have values as citizens reflected in the courts without blindly entrusting justice to the government.

She also pointed out that Japan's experience will have a big influence on the rest of Asia and explained the actual process of jury members gathered at court for a trial etc, and also gave a vivid description of her own experience at the trial of a suspect of "chain snatching".

It was an evening when the juror system seemed actually to be addressed from head on for the first time.

First Japanese Participant in Speech Contest in London!

To send a Japanese representative to the International Public Speaking Competition held annually by ESU London has long been a dream of ESUJ.

From a survey of High School speech contests conducted on a national scale in Japan, it was decided to send Miss Ayaka Haga, a third-year student at Yokohama Hayato High School who won the Churchill Cup, which has a history of more than half a century, in 2007.

The competition took place May 6-9 mainly at Dartmouth House in London, with 58 representatives from 34 countries participating.

Unfortunately Haga-san was not a finalist in the speech contest. However, she did very well completing a challenging program for a Japanese high school student, visiting Parliament and other places as well as attending several workshops and making friends with other students for a very special experience.