Moving into March also means a new General Membership Meeting and a new Newsletter! Look below for a brief description of our upcoming meeting.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Bellevue City Hall 7:30 p.m.
Sharing the Fun Side of Japanese Culture
Hugh Burleson, Forence Metcalf, Fusako Kusimi
With New Year celebrations behind us and Valentine’s day long gone, we look ahead to the next special holidays… In Japan on March 3rd the big event is “Girls’ Day” or “Dolls Day”. On this oc-casion fairly elaborate sets of hina dolls representing the imperial court of medieval Japan are traditionally are put on display. And true to the Japanese tradition, Hugh’s late wife, Kimie, had her own set—in this case, due to the ‘nomadic’ lifestyle of those in the Foreign Service, hers was a small portable set. Getting it ready for the meeting, Hugh shared it with his great– granddaughter—who’s now looking forward to it being hers one of these days—but he’ll share it with all of us first.
Florence Metacalf spent her first 20 years in prewar Japan as a member of a missionary family, then several more in the Allied Occupation after World War II during which time she collected many Japa-nese objects—enjoyed by those who have visited her home. She will share with us some of them as well as the practices that give color and fun to the Japanese through the year even today.
A native-born Japanese, Fusako-san, has even deeper roots and a more purely Japanese sense of the culture. This she has expressed in her book of poems and reflections on humanity.
Each of our three presenters will help our audience enjoy varied aspects of Japan, past and present. Each also has written a book that will be available for us to peruse and purchase (at author’s cost).
