This last year has been busy with a range of
activities to manage. We continue to be part of a successful and enduring
Sister City relationship. Thank you to all the members of the Executive for
their support and hard work. I hope you continue to be involved with us in the
future. Some of the highlights for the year were:
Waterfront Festival
We
had a large display at this years Frankston Waterfront Festival. We were
assisted by a delegation from our sister city of Susono. The delegation was led
by Deputy Mayor Masaru Sugiyama and SOFA Chairperson Hideo Iizuka. The group of
26 included an Eisar Festival Band. The visit was very successful and both
visitors and locals had a great time.
Susono Street Sign
Frankston
City Council has renamed a street Susono Way. This was seen as a means of
visually recognising our sister city. The renamed street is adjacent to major
redevelopment beside the Kananook Creek.
Student Exchange
We
had visit by 8 junior high school students and 2 teachers from Susono in August
2008. They were hosted by Derinya and Overport Primary Schools and stayed with
families from those schools. Thanks to Therese and Miharu for organising and
managing the visit. We had plans to host another group this year but Susono
cancelled because of the Swine Flu scare.
Kirsten
Hood will be undertaking a short term exchange to Susono in November. We wish
her well. She follows her brother Lachlan who went to Susono several years ago.
The
long term exchange program is in limbo at the moment and is unlikely to be
reinstigated.
Japanese Sister City
Study
Ross
Mouer from the Japanese Studies Centre at Monash University and Jun Tsutsumi
from Ehime University Matsuyama Japan are conducting a study of Japanese Sister
Cities here in Victoria. We have been actively involved in the work of Ross and
Jun. Along the way Ross has become a honorary member of our Association. He
assisted with translation duties at the Susono Delegation visit. The study
included interviews and a recent workshop that brought together representatives
from the Victorian sister cities, Japanese Consul General’s Office and CLAIR.
It was a first time that we had spoken with one another. The group will
continue to meet on a regular basis and put in place ways of sharing resources
and ideas.
Ross
will be our guest speaker tonight and will provide more details on his study.
Community and ALT
Teacher positions
We
continue to assist SOFA and the Susono Board of Education to source people to
be Assistant Language Teachers and Community English Teachers in Susono. We
have several local young people in teaching position in Susono and look forward
to giving more Frankston people that opportunity.
Study of Japanese
Gardens
Peter
Sharp and I completed a questionnaire on our Japanese Garden. This was part of
a study. Peter is now head of a group of volunteers at Frankston High School
looking after ou Japanese Garden. The questionnaire is part of a study of over
400 Japanese gardens worldwide by Dr Makato Suzuki and Naoko Makita of the
Tokyo University of Agriculture.
Article by Doug Neil
in the Studies magazine
Our
sister city relationship featured in a major article in the Studies Magazine.
The article discussed the concept of sister cities and used the Frankston
Susono relationship as the model. The article also looked at the relationship
with Yazaki. The magazine goes to schools all over Australia.
Osaka Festival Torii
Gates
Our
Torii Gates were loaned out several times during the year. They regularly
feature in the Melbourne City’s Osaka Festival in the Treasury Gardens.
ASCA Conference
Sorin
Ionascu represented Frankston at the 2008 ASCA Conference in Gosford and Rose
Conboy and Judy Heeps represented us at the 2009 ASCA Conference in Tamworth.
Thank you to the three Executive members for their work. Special thanks to Judy
for her comprehensive report of the Tamworth Conference.
CLAIR and the
Japanese Consul General
We
continue to have an excellent relationship with CLAIR and Japanese Consul
General’s office. 2 Staff from CLAIR visited Frankston in Febuary. Kenji Ikeda
Director of CLAIR in Sydney is planning to visit Frankston for our next meeting
and make a presentation on CLAIR’s activities.
Thank
you again to my colleagues and Frankston Council for their support. We work on
their behalf on a task and role that we are all passionate about. We look
forward to the next delegation visit to Susono in late October this year.
