President’s Inauguration Address
July 2, 2014
Mr. Takeo Kato
President, The Rotary Club of Tokyo
The Rotary International President for 2014-2015 Mr. Gary C. K. Huang from Taiwan chose “Light up Rotary” as the theme to base our social activities on. We are expected to enhance the presence of Rotary, activate each club and develop membership under this theme. District 2580 Governor Mr. Takao Suzuki emphasized that we should encourage especially the younger generation to participate in Rotary activities. The Rotary Club of Tokyo will work towards fulfilling these principles and continue to cherish the “good tradition” of our Club handed down from our senior Rotarians to further enhance our activities.
Let me emphasize three major points. First of all, I call on our members to “Enjoy Rotary” through various events and meetings that will enrich and enlighten our lives. I am determined to make our club life even more fulfilling. Secondly, we will work on membership development. While membership tends to decrease throughout the world, including Japan, our Club achieved a remarkable net increase of 11 members last year thanks to your strenuous effort. As we all know, an increase in membership will invigorate club activities and also contribute largely to stabilize its finances. We will thus continue to focus on facilitating the admission procedure of sponsored candidates, including plural female members. Lastly, we will start preparing for the commemorative events that will celebrate the centennial anniversary of our Club in 2020. The year will also mark the centennial anniversary of the Rotary activities in Japan. Our Club has implemented various commemorative initiatives, such as conducting ceremonies, publishing booklets and making donations. As the centennial anniversary will open a new chapter in the history of our Club as well as Rotary activities across Japan, we must prepare for events in collaboration with the Governors’ Board and District 2580, which will best suit this grand occasion.
Let me note that the “Tohoku Sukusuku Project” implemented by the Challenge 100 Committee is scheduled to wrap up by fall 2020. Thanks to the approval of the global grant, we now have an extensive assistance package that includes providing facilities to disaster-stricken areas and trainings of personnel. I joined the fact-finding tour to Tohoku last month and I was reassured that our service activities should be based on continuing effort and our support must encourage self-reliance of local communities. Successful projects of polio eradication and land-mine elimination in the history of Rotary have proved that “continuity is the father of success.”
As I close my speech, let me reassure you that we will try to maximize our efficiency in the club management and make good use of your precious time and energy over the Board and committee meetings or hobby circles. Let me ask for your generous support and understanding over the coming year and let’s all “Enjoy Rotary.”
Secretary’s Address
July 2, 2014
Mr. Zen Tatsumura
Secretary, The Rotary Club of Tokyo
Based on the points highlighted by our new President Mr. Kato, let me give you some details on the initiatives we will be taking this year.
Starting with this year’s theme,“Enjoy Rotary,” each Committee will strive to help you enjoy various activities. We will make the weekly meetings entertaining and attractive by providing delicious meals and insightful table speeches where you can enjoy the pleasant atmosphere. Our extensive programs include the bimonthly “birthday party” where family members are welcome to join as well as the “English Night” where non-Japanese members can further deepen friendship. Our Club also has different hobby circles like golf, game of go, tea ceremony and photography. The” round table” is also held every week at Nihonbashi and Ginza. We hope you will participate actively in these group activities to “Enjoy Rotary.”
The second point is “membership development.” Membership totals 329 as we start this year, with average age of 68.89 years old. We target for a net increase of 2 members for the year 2014-2015, just like last year. I ask each one of you to sponsor your friends who benefit our club so that we will enjoy an even wider circle of friends.
Thirdly, we will set out to prepare for our centennial anniversary of 2020. The “Pre-centennial Committee” has been launched under the Centennial Director Mr. Tsuno and it will produce a plan for the coming 6 years. We ask for your contribution of 10,000 yen per year to be pooled for various anniversary events.
The fourth point is “making our club management more efficient.” Rotarians lead a busy life and so we hope to lessen the burden of our members by aiming at time efficient activities that maximize our output. This is the key to attract new members as well as to retain our current member Rotarians.
Before I close my speech, let me announce the major events of our Club, district and international convention scheduled for this year. We plan to have three night-time family parties: in October to celebrate our 94th anniversary, in December for Christmas and in February 2015 to mark the 110th anniversary of Rotary International. We hope to have the presence of ambassadors from the countries of our oversea members, including our honorary member H. E. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy from the USA. There are two events for the District: the Intercity Meeting for the Chuo Sub-district in November and the District Conference in February, 2015. The International Convention will be held at São Paulo next June.
I am determined to work in close collaboration with staff members of the Secretariat, the Imperial Hotel and all of you related.
The RI President Mr. Gary Huang chose “Light up Rotary” as the theme for 2014-2015. Let me ask for your continuous support and understanding to keep the Tokyo Rotary Club shining.