Members of the Japanese Club,

Take heed and bear witness to these Minutes from the Gathering of the
Club on the Sixteenth of April Two-Thousand Three. Within shall you
find Order from Chaos, Insight into Club activities, and other useful
Thangs.

Your Secretary, who has Love for his Crew,

"Maikeru"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) PanAsia Film Screenings
We will be hosting three movies at PanAsia. Be on the lookout
for a separate mailing on this topic.

> All 3 will be shown in Harper 130 between 8:30 PM and 11:00 PM
>
>
> Date: Sunday, April 20
> Movie: Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (Masayuki Suo, 1992)
>
>
> Date: Monday, April 21
> Movie: Go (Isao Yukisada)
>
>
> Date: Tuesday, April 22
> Movie: Kids Return (Takeshi Kitano, 1996)

2) Results of Board Member Election

President : Vincent Caintic
Vice President : Satomi Shiraishi
Treasurer : Cassie Phillips
Secretary/Webmaster : Michael Dionisio
Special Activities Chair : Shawn Fetty
Publicity Specialist/Marketer : Jonah Grabelsky

[Hontouni arigatou gozaimasu*] to all of those who applied, and
[omedetou gozaimasu**] to those who were elected.

*Thank you very much
**Congratulations

3) Cookout
An end-of-the-year study break in the form of a cookout may be
in order. I quote Vincent on this matter:

"I think a cookout would be the best way to have a bonding experience
between members [and] board. I hope that we will see some results in
our marketing to Japanese grad students, and have them come [along] and
help cook, play some sport (I wanted something "Japanese", but the only
sport I can think of is frisbee, which is not Japanese-originated...),
and perhaps karaoke...This would be great, but we need to make lots of
food beforehand, perhaps grilled yakitori, curry rice, etc. We have a
lot of money for this too, [although] nevertheless we should make
something, rather than buy something."

As always, your suggestions are encouraged.

4) Putting the "Japanese" back in "Japanese Club"
In general, this entails greater club activity in things that
are truly Japanese in nature. In particular, this means:

-More member-based activities
-Greater involvement in the local Japanese community
-Participation in J-Table, where anyone, from beginning to fluent
speakers, may come to speak in Japanese...about whatever. (Wednesdays at
6:30pm in International House lounge)
-If you have any connections, please share them with us!

5) Special Screening: Onmyoji
The Japanese Club has been given tickets to a downtown
preview-screening of the Japanese motion picture Onmyoji, or "Yin Yang
Master" (thanks to Leon Lim for this translation). This screening,
however, conflicts with our PanAsia screening of "Kids Return," as it
takes place on the night of Tuesday, April 22. It is, furthermore, less
accessible than the PanAsia screening: it takes place downtown, and
participation will be limited to the first 54 individuals to respond by
Sunday, April 20. Nevertheless, participation is not limited to members
of the Japanese Club. The time and place of the viewing group's
departure will be included in a future mailing. Weigh your options,
consider your schedule, and choose wisely.

6) Fundraiser
Our budget is still in the red. The most recent fundraiser,
held during Winter Quarter 2003, made less of a dent in our debt than we
had hoped. We are therefore planning a final fundraiser for the
schoolyear, which may take the form of selling food from Kikuya. This
establishment assisted our fundraising in the 2001-2002 schoolyear and
helped us turn a considerable profit. A suggestion that arose in the
meeting to court Shiroi Hana as the supplier for our fundraiser was shot
down on account of their being too distant from campus. Ultimately,
keep in mind that your assistance will be requested in our upcoming
fundraiser.

7) Summer Breeze: Sumo Wrestling
We plan to participate in the Summer Breeze festival by hosting
a sumo wrestling tournament. How will this work? We will rent sumo
"pads" for two people, and two festival-goers will gear up, enter the
ring, and engage in an American bastardization of the respected Japanese
sport... all in good fun, of course. We are considering whether or not
to charge for admission, but if we do so, the price will not exceed $1.

8) Use of the Forum for Communications
There was a debate as to whether the bulk of our communications
should be carried out via the forum on our website
(j-club.uchicago.edu). An argument for switching towards the forums is
that doing so would lessen the excessive amounts of Japanese
Club-related mail that especially board members receive. If the
transition were to occur, the division between forums would be
accentuated: one would be set aside strictly for the minutes, another
for PanAsia, and so on.

9) Minority Barbeque
I quote our advisor Jay Monteverde:

"I don't know if I got the chance to talk to you guys (J-Club) about
this yet, but I'm working on a big barbecue with a bunch of minority
RSOs and I wanted to invite you guys to participate. Here's the
concept: a big community barbecue for students of color, organized by
RSOs representing those populations. In addition to dinner, there will
be a DJ playing whatever music people want to bring, and after a bit
there will be performances and workshops so everyone can learn a little
bit about each other. It's gonna be May 30, the Friday at the end of
9th week, in Hutch Courtyard, starting at 6pm until around 10 or so.
Shouldn't take too much effort on your part, mostly coordinating people
power. The finances and other logistics will all be covered."

We plan to attend this barbeque, viewing it as an opportunity to network
with other RSOs. Our participation will tentatively encompass preparing
traditional Japanese dishes, which may include [onigiri***],
[yakisoba****], [yakitori*****], and something vegetarian. Please send
us suggestions, culinary or otherwise.

***rice balls
****fried buckwheat noodles
*****grilled chicken

(End of Minutes).