December 13, 2011

Hope Meeting


Attending the Omotesenke youth meeting last month has bore its fruits. Last week I received a mail from the vice-chairman of the youth section with a lucrative request. He invited me to be part of a Japanese tea ceremony presentation for the 2012 Hope Meeting which is going to be held in March. The meeting is organized by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and will be attended by about 25 Japanese PhD students and 85 selected PhD students from the countries/areas of the Asian region; Australia, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

 My role would be to provide explanations in English and answer questions. Of course I embraced this opportunity and set-aside my public speaking shyness. The vice-chairman told me he was glad to hear I’m on board and will inform me later of a pre-meeting date which will be held in January when he has confirmed the support of fifteen other members of the youth section. 

 I immediately started reviewing some of the books on Japanese tea so that I will be able to answer questions that will be asked. I can’t wait to sit around the table to share thoughts on how to introduce the Japanese tea ceremony. I want to come up with some good ideas on how to leave a good impression on the attendants.

Any suggestions?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello, my name is Miyako.
I'm a Japanese PhD student, and I'm going to attend the 4th HOPE Meeting this coming March.
I've been studying tea ceremony (omotesenke) for about 1 year.
I'm looking forward to seeing you and talking about tea ceremony.

Daniel said...

Hi, Miyako.

Thanks for your comment. It's good to hear that you have some experience with the tea ceremony. As a foreigner my image of Japan was that most Japanese people know how to make tea in the tea ceremony. But I was surprised to find that most Japanese people DON'T know.

I HOPE we will have a good time in Tsukuba.

Sincerely,
Daniel.