A Message from our Chairman & President
Dear Members and Supporters of Japan Society of Northern California
These are difficult and unprecedented times for all of us. We would like to remind you that you are a part of the Japan Society community and to share with you what is happening with the Society in this challenging time.
Very sadly, we have had to cancel many of our planned events. It is a great disappointment to have to cancel or postpone so many plans in its 115th year of the Society, but we are keeping things in perspective and will be very active in hosting many interesting events and networking opportunities once it becomes safe to do so.
The staff are now working from home and responding to the challenges with a positive tone to find new ways of carrying our tasks. For example, we have quickly and successfully shifted all the Japanese language classes to online from last week. We are now preparing to hold our Annual General Members Meeting online for the first time on April 20 and are planning to start some interesting programs online soon. With the postponement of Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics, we are extending our Road to Tokyo 2020 programs.
We are pleased to say that we are working on major popular events such as the 10th Innovation Award Symposium at Stanford University in July (www.usjinnovate.org), the 31st Annual US-Japan Friendship Tennis Tournament in August and the 34th Annual Gala in the fall, hoping that things will return to normal by that time.
Thank you for your continued interest in and support for the Society. Although we cannot meet in person for the time being, we are still only an email away. We would appreciate your input if you have any new ideas or requests which may be useful to our community and to promote our activities to advance our mission of deepening US-Japan relationship. Our email address is: [email protected]. Please also check with our website for our news at www.usajapan.org.
In the meantime, we hope you stay safe and be well.
With very best wishes,
Jon Metzler, Chairman Takahide Akiyama, President
Japan Society of Northern California
