I
am pleased to be able to report on the activities of the Frankston Susono
Friendship Association over the past 12 months. Our small group of passionate
volunteers continue to look after the sister city relationship on behalf of the
Frankston Council. Thank you to all the Executive members and others who have
joined us during the year. Our special thanks to Chris Hodgins for providing
outstanding admin support to the Association.
No
doubt the highlight of the year was the Susono Delegation visit and Japanese
fair held in April 2016.
On Sunday 17th April 2016 Frankston held
a wildly successful Japanese Festival at the Frankston High School. In the
region of 2000 people attended a celebration of Japanese culture. The festival
involved performers, children’s activities, traditional crafts and sellers
Japanese goods of many types and contributed to transporting the people of
Frankston to another place. We were blessed with 18 citizens from our sister
city of Susono here to celebrate the sister city relationship of 34 years.
The delegation was led by the Susono Mayor Mt Kenji
Takamura and visited Frankston for 4 days. At the Festival, the group presented
a number of activities to entertain the many people who attended the Fair.
During the visit the delegation visited several local schools and were shown
the sights of Frankston. Thank You to the over 30 organisations and individuals
who contributed to the successful event. These included local schools that have
Japanese as part of their curriculum. Thank You to all the helpers on the day and
the wonderful people of Frankston who attended the event.
Frankston High school was a great venue and is the
home of our special and highly regarded sister city Japanese Garden. A
celebratory dinner was held at the Frankston Football ground on the Saturday
night. Special guest was the Japanese Consul General.
We
had a visit of students from Susono on a short term stay on Frankston. Thank
you to Derinya Primary School community and Therese Sakamoto for looking after
the group during their stay.
Simon
Hast continues to manage our Japanese Garden at the Frankston High school. He
organised several working bees during the year to prune a number of the plants
and keep the bamboo under control. We
painted the walls prior to the festival. This gave the garden a real lift. We
also replaced the Shishi Odoshi.
Our
annual Speech Contest at Monash University continues to develop and evolve and
is well supported by local schools. Our contest last Friday attracted record
numbers of participants.
A
member of our Association Mr Sorin Ionascu has taken a position as a Community
English Language teacher in Susono. This fulfils his dream of leaving in Japan
for an extended period. We wish him well in his new role.
The
Frankston Council continues to explore options for a relocation or redefinition
of Susono way. We hope this is resolved quickly.
I
would like to thank the Frankston Council for their ongoing support of our work
and allocation of funding for our activities each year.
I
thank you all for your attendance tonight and thank you again to all the
Executive members and supporters of our sister city relationship.
