2008 ESU World Members' Conference & ICM in Edinburgh

Every few years members of the more than 50 ESU member countries gather for the World Members' Conference. This year the conference took place September 15-18 in Edinburgh Scotland, with 320 members from more than 30 ESUs gathering for a grand program of speeches, panel discussions, dinners and receptions at a variety of venues including conference rooms, an art museum, science exhibition, and rugby stadium. Attending from Japan were ESUJ Chairman Emeritus and Mrs. Hanabusa along with their daughter, and also ESUJ Director-General Masahiko Agata. In addition to members from UK and the United States and various European countries, participants came from Asia and the Pacific as well as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia, India, and New Zealand. Taking part from Africa was the foreign minister of Somaliland. Also memorable was the luncheon attended by the Commonwealth of Nations ESU Honorary President, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who warmly greeted members from each country.

At the lecture meetings, participants were addressed by a broad variety of speakers including a Shakespeare expert, major figures from the business world, and the former director of the British Secret Intelligence Service, thus receiving exposure to large array of academic research, thought and experiences related to communication in English. Not surprisingly, high-quality Scotch whisky flowed at the reception.

During the conference the International Council Meeting (ICM 2008) took place on the afternoon of September 15 in a committee room in the Scottish Parliament. This ICM was the largest ever, with 59 delegates from 30 countries in attendance. Cyprus is to establish anew a national ESU in FY2009 and asked to attend the ICM, which was approved. Albania is also planning to establish an ESU soon.

For the Japanese delegation, the biggest "happening" undoubtedly was the election of ESUJ Chairman Emeritus Hanabusa as ICM President for FY2008-2009, from four candidates from four countries. He was singled out as worthy of special mention among the candidates for his achievement of leading ESUJ into a successful working group and his respected personality. Mr. Hanabusa received the medal which the ICM President wears at official functions. This year the ICM Chairman also rotated, with Britain's Lord Hunt becoming Chairman and W. Miller, the former Chairman, assuming the role of Deputy Chairman. The feeling and the strong expectation received from attending this his year's World Members' Conference and ICM was that each ESU as well as the overall membership should advance development together of an ESU Community open to the whole world and that ESUJ in particular should take the lead among its fellow Asian countries.

English Club at Marunouchi Café (Sept. & Oct.)

English Club has changed its venue from September to the 'Free Space' of Marunouchi Café, with non-ESUJ members also able to apply from the Café web site. Both the September and October meetings were full houses.

Mr. Gonzalo Robledo, born in Colombia and a correspondent for the Spanish media for 25 years, spoke on the topic of "Francis Xavier's Culture Shock"on September 16 (Tue). Robledo-san has made various television programs and is currently focused on the activities of 16th century Christian missionary to Japan, Francisco Xavier, whose arrival in Japan created a storm. Francisco Xavier's travels encompassed Mozambique, India, and then Malacca, where he met Yajiro, a Japanese from Kagoshima, and set his sites on coming to Japan. Xavier received a culture shock when he saw Japanese writing, truncheons, unusual hairstyles, and daimyo mansions, but his own appearance was a shock for the Japanese also. In particular Xavier's sense of time was different, as a day was already divided into 24 hours in the West and there were clocks while the Japanese day was divided into units of two-hours each. While it was Xavier who introduced the clock to Japan, today it is the Japanese who are punctual, while Spanish people tend to be late, Robledo-san joked. It was well-illustrated unique talk.

On October 18 (Tue) our guest speaker was Ms. Yuko Aotani, newscaster on NHK World, who talked about the current state NHK's international broadcasts and also about reading Japanese literary classics aloud in English. Ms. Aotani, spoke about programs she has appeared in herself, including the Toyako Summit reporting and "Osechi", a show about traditional New Year's foods. She also enumerated Eight Points of Presentation for reading aloud. Next, she described her radio program introducing classics of Japanese literature in English, "Listening Library", which is currently her main project. She explained the differences between television and radio and her thoughts on producing her own program as a book lover. She also introduced her own actual English reading with sound effects of Koizumi Yakumo's tale 'Mujina', a story from the ghost story collection Kwaidan, as well as this autumn's programs from "The Tale of Genji".

Lastly, Ms. Aotani read a translation of Miyazawa Kenji's poem "Strong in the Rain". The evening was a delightful introduction to the world of a true pro when it comes to speaking as a media announcer in fluent "Queen's English" and a very fulfilling talk and occasion for everyone present.

NEXT meeting: November 18 (Tue) 19:00-20:30 @Marunouchi Cafe