Thursday, October 15, 2020
By: May Yoneyama O'BrienPresident Nancy Riker sent our club’s good wishes to the Tokyo Rotary Club on the occasion of their Centennial anniversary this month. The Tokyo Rotary Club is the oldest of our Rotary Club's sister-club relationships. The relationship was established in April of 1982.
President Nancy Riker sent our club’s good wishes to the Tokyo Rotary Club on the occasion of their Centennial anniversary this month. The Tokyo Rotary Club is the oldest of our Rotary Club's sister-club relationships. The relationship was established in April of 1982.
The Tokyo Rotary Club was the first Rotary club in Japan and is one of the most prestigious. It was founded in October 1920 by Umekichi Yoneyama, who was inspired after a visit to the Dallas Rotary Club in 1918 and became the club’s first president.
The Tokyo Club had planned to celebrate its Centennial this month with a gala party in Tokyo. They had invited us and many other friends and dignitaries to attend the event, and several members of our club were planning to go. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centennial Gala and week-long attendant events were canceled. Instead, the marking of the Centennial anniversary will be limited to an evening meeting of Tokyo Rotarians and their families on October 21, 2020, at their regular meeting place, the Imperial Hotel.
To honor the Tokyo Club, President Nancy Riker and President-elect Bill Dent delivered a congratulatory video that our friend Yukio Tada will have subtitled into Japanese so Japanese club members can understand it. President Nancy also sent a congratulatory letter to the Tokyo Rotary Club President, Michio Hamaguchi, with a message that perhaps our two clubs could work together in the future to promote Rotary’s mission of peace. Our club also sent a centennial gift, a classic Sons of Liberty Paul Revere bowl, engraved with our congratulations. Yukio noted that all would be presented to the Tokyo Rotary club members at the October 21 meeting.
May O'Brien took care of sending the letter and bowl to Tokyo, where they arrived in time for the centennial event. Fifteen members of our Embassy Relations Committee chipped in to pay for the gift.Read More