Sunday, April 29, 2012

May 13 Talk - Tristam Ivory on "Sub-Saharan Africans in Japan


Dear members and friends of the Unitarian Fellowship,

   At the April meeting, our member Chuck Olson (unfortunately Stan Yukevich could not come at the last minute but Chuck used Stan’s notes along with his own) made some interesting points and led a lively discussion about the economic unfairness in our societies. Among the data/graphs he presented the steep rise since the mid 1970’s in income disparity has stuck in my mind.

  Miriam Levering extended, along with the moderator, our apologies for miscommunication about the planned meeting on March 4 with Rev. Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (North America), which is our fellowship umbrella organization. We will try to update our email/phone numbers especially for emergency contacts.

In the end, the fellowship could not have a private lunch with Morales, but Levering and Donovan and the Murata family were able to attend the Sunday service at Dojin Kuristo Kyokai (Japanese Universalist Church) and spoke with him there. UUA is gearing up for the General Assembly this summer in Arizona—and Morales has taken on (as a priority for UU’s) the issues of immigration and racial/cultural discrimination, especially relating to Hispanics in the USA.

For our fellowship these issues are relevant in our own experiences too.  We can relate Morales’ concerns to how we think about human rights and nationality/ legal issues here in Japan. Join us for the May meeting with Tristam Ivory who will talk about one group of ex-pat/short and long term residents.



Unitarian Fellowship NEXT MEETING:  May 13    

 3:00 at International House

Stanford University researcher, Tristam Ivory, will discuss "Migrant Human and Social Capital Investments: The Case of Sub-Sahara Africans in Japan" which will also include something about religious support networks.



Also we are pleased to announce JUNE 10 Fellowship Meeting with Vivek Pinto--  Rabindranath Tagore and Japan:  'The Poet of a Defeated Nation.’


Our June speaker (Vivek Pinto)'s essay can be found on the Sophia University website
Step 1: Please access the following URL (Uniform Resource Locator): http://repository.cc.sophia.ac.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/4943 --then type in "29" as the title for "search".

 
TELL (Tokyo English Life Line-- phone and counseling support in English) has sent us the info about their big annual fundraiser—the TELL Run/Walk (your moderator always walks!) around the Imperial Palace.

9:00 Saturday May 5th  (meet along moat in front of British Embassy)

Registration (donation 4,500) gets you a T-shirt. See their website.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

April 8 discussion - Income Inequality


Dear friends and members of the Unitarian Fellowship of Tokyo,

   

Our next meeting (as usual) will be the second Sunday of the month.



April 8th 3:00 at International House



Our stalwart members Stan Yukevich and Chuck Olson have rescheduled their March talk for this date.

     ---The Wealthiest 1%, Fairness issue or distraction?--

This turns out to be Easter Sunday and so i hope many of you can join us for what should be a great discussion. Two related topics that I hope will enter our discussion include financial managers compensation and a consideration of how all of "us workers" might do better with stronger unionization-- including the example of very poor women's organizing under SEWA in western India.



Peggy Kanada, moderator


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