ESUJ Tenth AGM: Chairman Hanabusa Resigns, Chairman Matsudaira Assumes Office

ESUJ's Tenth Annual General Meeting took place at 5:30p.m. on June 19 (Thu.) at the International House of Japan in Roppongi, with 47 members present and 144 proxies received. With Chairman Hanabusa presiding, the Report of Activities and Statement of Accounts for FY2007 were presented and approved.
Following this, Chairman Hanabusa, who has led the organization since its founding in 1998, resigned to become Chairman Emeritus, with Mr. Tsunetada Matsudaira taking office as the new Chairman. Mr. Sadaaki Numata's assumption of office as Vice Chairman, and Mr. Masahiko Agata's as Director-General were also announced.

Following Chairman Hanabusa's final address, Executive Director Susan Millington, presented a bouquet of flowers to the former Chairman on behalf of the members, and the old and new Chairmen shook hands, with Chairman Matsudaira then 'inaugurating' the new lineup. Chairman Hanabusa, thank you for your long service.

Climate Change: Lecture by HE Sir Graham Fry

On June 19 (Thu.) at 6:30pm, following the AGM, an audience of almost 80 people listened to the lecture delivered by the British Ambassador, Sir Graham Fry, at the International House of Japan in Roppongi. Speaking irregardless of the flurry of activity preceding the G8 Summit at Lake Toya and his coming return to the U.K., Ambassador Fry painted a clear and easy-to-understand portrait of the essence of his theme, using slides of photos and graphs.

The carbon dioxide stored in the atmosphere surrounding our planet over 650,000 years stayed at a level of below 270ppm since the Ice Age. From the Industrial Revolution this increased to 380ppm. During the past 100 years the increase accelerated at an alarming speed, so that it is predicted it will reach more than 650ppm by the year 2100. We must act ourselves to prevent this, he urged.

The rise in carbon dioxide levels affects not only the temperature of the atmosphere but also the ecology through changes in the levels of rainfall, etc., casting a serious shadow over the maintaining of food production and water supply. Compared to the time of the Industrial Revolution, the world temperature today is two degrees higher. If the rise continues, the developing countries' harvests will decrease, many regions experience drought, and major cities will be threatened by the rise in sea level. Collapse of coral ecosystems, storms, forest fires, droughts, floods, and tidal waves are all growing in intensity.

At present 60% of the world's total emissions are produced by the developed countries. Recently, developing countries have rapidly increased economic growth, with the result that they too are increasingly contributing to the emissions total. Clearly the problem is one of global proportions and must be treated accordingly.

Ambassador Fry pointed out that while Japan contributes 12% of the world's GDP, the country is responsible for 5% of emissions. Thus, Japan has the experience and know how to contribute in the global fight against climate change. If this problem isn't tackled now, the world will have to pay at least 5% of GDP each year for the cure. Beginning with the Toyako Summit as an international leadership forum, a concrete initiative should be taken to reduce the emissions by half by the year 2050, bringing average emission per capita to 2 to 3 tons. Each individual should be pressed to follow the "3R's"; Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle, and adopt other means such as using energy efficient products, solar energy, etc.

The Ambassador and Lady Fry have contributed greatly to ESUJ during their time in Japan. They received a huge ovation following the talk and will be sorely missed after they leave.

English Club Celebrates Its 100th Meeting!

Our monthly meeting of English Club took place on June 16 (Mon.) at Nissay Life Plaza Marunouchi with fifty persons in attendance. This was the hundredth meeting since the first meeting in March, 1999! A list of all 100 meetings was passed out to audience members.

Our speaker this time was Chicago native Tom Dillon, a 20-year resident of Japan whose bilingual guide "Tokyo Top Sights" has recently been published. Tokyo expert Tom-san showed pictures of his ten favorite spots in the city for giving non-Japanese visitors the best opportunity to experience the "real" Japan. His lineup included unique places in ordinary areas such as Asakura Sculpture Museum (Yanaka), Baseball at Jingu Stadium, Asakusa and Kappabashi, and then finally Number One.

The audience tried to guess what it would be but were surprised to learn Tom's No. 1 is... Shibamata, because it is small town Japan, overflowing with human kindness and traditional architecture and beautiful Japanese gardens such as Yamamoto Tei. It was an evening of rediscovering Tokyo through Tom's eyes.

The next English Club will take place on July 22 (Tue) 18:30-19:45, at Nissay Life Plaza Marunouchi. Guest Speaker will be Ms. Dwi Pebrianti, "Autonomous Flying Robot-Based on the experience with disaster in Indonesia". There will be no English Club meeting in August. We are planning to move to a new meeting venue, "Marunouchi Café" in September. For details of the September 16 (Tue) meeting, please see the ESUJ Web site.