我孫子市国際交流協会

The 2006 general meeting was declared to start by Mr. Rhys Moses, one of the instructors of AIRA English class.
Mr. T. Ideguchi, President of AIRA, gave an welcome address. On behalf of Mr. Fukushima, Mayor of Abiko City, Mr. T. Watanabe, Deputy Mayor, delivered a congratulatory speech. Then representing guests invited, Mr. M. Kakegawa, Chairman of the City Assembly, gave an impressive speech on significance of international exchange activity.
Several issues were brought up for discussion. The reports on numbers of activities and the financial status both for fiscal year 2005 were unanimously approved.
A modification of the rule as to the nomination of director, auditor and executives was also approved.
The planned projects and budget plan for the FY2006 were agreed by the unanimous applause of the attended members.
The newly appointed president, Mr. Teruo Okubo, President of Chuo Gakuin University gave an inauguration address, saying that he accepted with solemn feeling the chair of the AIRA president and that he would make every effort to fulfill the new duty with cooperation of all concerned.
The administration staff reported the current status of the organization as follows:
A. Membership as of March 31,2006: 829, of them, male 324, female 505. Abiko residents 712, others 117. Corporate members in Abiko 22, others 2.

B. Members of executive committee
President: Teruo Okubo
Vice President: Takeshi Ideguchi, Fumiko Kitajima and Tetsuya Sugano
General Manager/Administration: Shigeki Iinuma
General Manager/Public Relations: Yasuhide Kadota
General Manager/Scocial Activity: Hirokazu Ono
General Manager/Culture and Education: Masao Abe
General Manager/Voluntary Activity: Tetsuya Sugano
Accountant: Mitsuru Hayasaka, Masao Sumi

In the end of the assembly, Ms. Mary E. Treadway-Adachi, English teacher, announced in Japanese the closing of the General Meeting 2006.
Few minutes later the formal meeting site was turned to a concert hall. The stage was quickly decorated by brilliant red carpet and 2-meter high golden screen.
Miss Lisa Ward, Australian, played Koto and Shakuhachi together with Ms. Kazuko Sengoku, her teacher. The audience were impressed by, and praised the excellent performance of Japanese musical instruments with less than 5 years practices.
Following the assembly and concert, all attendants enjoyed familialization party over a cup of soft drink and light meals.