Toastmasters Friends from District 76

I did it again, to wrap myself in a summer kimono strolling on Chung-shan North Road Saturday afternoon, the 16th of June. I caught more attention because there were many pedestrians in the business area on weekends. I walked tall as usual with a matching pink umbrella this time. I was on my way to Peace Toastmasters Club installation ceremony.

Eight Toastmasters from Japan came to celebrate with us, including President Kozue Sakai (酒井こずえ) and EVP Mitsuyoshi Kimura (木村光良) of Musashi Kosugi Club (武蔵小杉), Tomiko Tachi (城とみ子) and Katsunori Mizushima (水島和憲) of Yokohama Club (橫濱), KatsuhikoYamamoto (山本和彥) of Kanrakusaka Club (神楽阪); Tadashi Kino (紀正) and Watanabe Yoshihito (渡辺吉人) of Hibiki Club (響), Kiichiro Ohmi (近江喜一郎) of Edo Club (江戸).

I was happy that I put on the gray summer kimono with beautiful pink and white chrysanthemum flowers. It is a precious gift from for IPP Kanai Rikuko (金井陸子) of Kyoto Toastmasters Club when she came to Taipei to attend D67 Spring Convention in April. I thought it would be the best opportunity to wear it to welcome dear Toastmasters friends from Japan.

The installation party was a great joy. An impromptu debate on whether to the mountains or to the seas during the summer vacation was discussed heatedly during the table topics session between two teams, three members of each. Two prepared speakers and two evaluators were from Japan. All eight Japanese guests had the opportunity to stand up and speak up in front of us. It was challenging for them to speak Japanese in a country where Japanese is not the native language, especially for the first timers to Taiwan.

After meeting, Sean Chiu of Excellence Toastmasters Club walked me to the evening party venue. We strolled along the road and took many photos. I don't mind being stared at, on the contrary, I thought nothing could be more romantic than imagining a century ago, many beautiful women strolling on the main street of Taipei, wearing colorful summer kimonos.

A dinner party of more than thirty people started from six and didn't end till ten. We drank in Taiwanese style, bottomed up all the time. It was so noisy and crazy that everybody had to raise the voice to compete with the soundtrack effect of Karaoke machine.

When I was told that the number of Japanese speaking Toastmasters clubs in District 76 is increasing, I was impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm of Toastmasers members in Japan. Take Watanabe san for example, he came to Taiwan to support Japanese speaking Toastmasters Club seven years ago. This is his 7th time in Taipei. And he is going to lead another group of Japanese Toastmasters to Taipei in December.

Many people asked me why I studied Japanese in the first place. I had many reasons behind my motive, but no matter what, I am glad I did. I have many friends in Japan now. Each counter is like 一期一會 (one chance in a lifetime) of Japanese Tea ceremony. It was indeed delightful to toastmaster with friends from our neighboring country on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. Sherry