Bridge Club News

In late March, the Australia Japan Society of Victoria welcomed 18 participants to Melbourne as part of the Asian Pacific Children’s Convention Mission Project (a visit connected with the Invitation Project where Australian children visit Fukuoka each July).

The aim of the visit was to allow children from Fukuoka to be given an opportunity to go overseas and deepen their cultural understanding through participating in a program of home stay, school visits and cultural activities with local children.  I know that the visit was a complete success with many opportunities to participate in family life and meet new friends. 

The group was made up of 15 young people (aged 10 to 18) and 3 leaders.  Whilst the leaders stayed in a city hotel, all the young people were hosted by AJS members, past participants of the APCC or school families connected with AJS members.  Whilst the visit short (four nights in home stay), the participants managed to fit in many varied activities, including a school visit, visits to Healesville Sanctuary and the Victoria Markets, beach trips, shopping, bush picnics, sporting events and a visit to the Japan Consulate. 

A farewell party was held on the last evening of the visit and the host families were entertained by the group who sang traditional Japanese songs and showed us a traditional dance witch some of our host families knew so they joined in..  At the end of the evening, the participants left with the host families and met at the airport the next day to say goodbye see you again one day.

In March 2010 the 2009 JA’s got together at Jemmas (a 2009 JA) house for a BBQ and Pool Party Reunion.

It was great to get together and talk about the fun times we had in Japan and to also talk about the friends we made while we were there.

A great time was had by everyone that attended.

Thanks to Jemmas family for hosting this event – Lets hope it is the first of many.

This year the BCIO's common activity was to run a photo competition and exhibition to share our culture and our APCC experience with people around the world.

The winning Australian photos were selected by Jonothan Masom form the AJS and have been sent to Hawaii where they will be board mounted and then travel the world on a travelling photo exhibition.

The Australian winners were;

• a.       Country’s culture
• Title of the photo: Rye back beach VIC 2008  
• Name of the artist: Elly Westwood
• Age: 11 (JA 2009)
• Country: Australia
•  
  
• b.      Nature
• Title of the photo:  Pelican
• Name of the artist: Brayden Longley      
• Age: 12 (JA 2008)
• Country: Australia
•   
• c.       APCC experience
• Title of the photo:  We are the bridge
• Name of the artist: Erin Maitland
• Age: 30 (JA 1990, PA 2007, Special PA 2008) 
• Country: Australia

From the 18^th of Jan to 6^th Feb 2010, the Toorak Library hosted the Exhibition.

Special Thanks goes to, Lindsay Mackay, the 2009 Australia PA, who worked tirelessly to organise this exhibition.

The Junior Ambassador (JA) selection process started late last year in the hope to find six eager eleven year olds to represent Australia at the 2010 APCC. After submitting applications through their school Japanese teachers, a fun day was organised to observe how the children interacted with similar aged peers. After close observation twenty children were selected and later invited to be interviewed. After the interview between the child and representatives from both the APCC liaison office in Australia (The Australia Japan Society of Victoria) and the Bridge Club, an announcement was made as to who was selected to attend the 2010 APCC. 

The lucky 6 children have been selected and now the preparation begins.

Three meetings are planned to be held over the next six months. Firstly there will be an information session to allow both the JA’s and their parents to learn more about the APCC and the Bridge Club. The second meeting will be a sleepover meeting where the children will spend the night together and bond as a group, while learning more about their responsibilities as a JA and what to expect on their visit to Japan. During this meeting there will also be time to put together a performance to do at the Bridge Club Festival while in Japan. The third and final meeting will be held to collect any final information, practice the prepared performance and swap collected souvenirs so each child had a box full of things to give out to their new friends at the convention.

In 2009 Bridge Club Nepal established a new library for children at the Seti Devi School in Pharping, Nepal. Bridge Club Australia sent a package of books and materials to help establish this library. The books were all related to educating the children about Australia and opening their eyes to the world.

635 books in total were donated to the Library and continuous support is necessary to continue the growth of this library and support the children with their learning.

If anyone would like to send additional books, please contact Bridge Club Australia President, Erin Maitland, at erinka79@yahoo.com.au for further details.

Following our yearly tradition, members and friends of the Australia-Japan Society and Bridge Club Australia gathered in the beautiful Rhododendron Garden in Olinda on Saturday 20 September to enjoy traditional Japanese-style cherry blossom viewing (Hanami).

Just like in Japan, we enjoyed a picnic while viewing the beauty of pink and white cherry blossom trees.  We were also joined by the happy bright daffodils that had come into bloom throughout the gardens.

Bridge Club Australia organised Japanese games for the young and young-at-heart, including the Japanese summer game of suika-wari (a bit like a watermelon piñata).  This involved blind-folded competitors being guided by their team-mates to crack open a watermelon. 

As some visiting Japanese students pointed out, the Australian watermelons were much larger than Japanese watermelons.  As a result, they took much longer to be defeated than the Japanese variety.  Everyone took quite a few turns to attack the melons and when the winners were finally declared, the melons were in a less than appetising state. 

Luckily we had some spare watermelons to enjoy after the game and to share with our Japanese friends.

Families and friends could also have their names written in Japanese calligraphy, have a go at Ikebana flower arranging and view a traditional Tea Ceremony.  Some Bridge Club members tested out the kites they had created at the 2009 Reunion at the Osaka festival and there were also quite a few frisbees being thrown about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bxg7vpBc3k&feature=channel_page*