Folk songs of the 60's in Japan - April 10th topic

Dear members and friends of Unitarian Fellowship of Tokyo,

Fellowship Meeting

Sunday April 10th

3 o clock (with dinner afterwards)

International House, please call them at 03-3470-4611 (24 hr front desk) if you have any concerns about possible cancellation

While the Fukushima radiation leakage problems are still far from resolved, many of us in the Fellowship who are long term residents of the Kanto area--whether expats or Japanese--are trying to return to our usual habits of work and spirituality, and to move forward with our lives.

It seems to me important this month that we make extra effort to join together at our monthly meeting in order to support each other, share our experiences and concerns, and confirm our friendships in these difficult times.

Thanks to Chuck we have an interesting and what looks to be enjoyable talk by James Dorsey on the folk songs that developed in the 1960*s-- looking at the politics and causes, history,censorship and technological changes of the era that gave birth to some great songs, many of which we know so well.

This should be a welcome change of pace. For a taste see: http://www.youtube.com/user/bandanaRamaMan

Our meeting in February with Doi Kanae, lawyer and graduate of Todai and NYU, was on the weightier topic of human rights and how her organization with a newly opened office in Tokyo seeks to combat rights abuses, looking at problems such as asylum seekers, refugees, and human trafficking in Japan. Her organization--Humanrights Watch annual fundraising dinner has been postponed until July 5th. Please contact me if you are interested.

We may be able to have someone from Polarisproject --who were our planned speakers for the cancelled March meeting --come speak later this year

Peggy Kanada, moderator

ps i urge those of you who are searching for ways to help those affected by the Quake and Tsunami to support Second Harvest. You will remember the inspirational talk that Charles McJilton (still running Second Harvest) gave to the fellowship a couple of years ago.Their site is www.2hj.org

March topic Human Traffiking in Japan - Speaker from Plolaris Project

On March 13, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. at the International House of Roppongi we plan to have Nancy Roberts, a speaker from the Polarisproject Japan office. She is an intern who is just finishing her project about the Polarisproject in Tokyo this March. She will be joined by Kazu Funato (staff) who will help her to talk about the positive steps to curb human trafficking and the explotation of children and young women in Japan. 　More can be learned about the Polaris Project at http://www.polarisproject.org/

The meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m. on the fourth floor of the International House in Roppongi. Anyone is welcome to join both the meeting and our dinner in the I-House restaurant afterwards. This time of year, the surrounding garden is a joy to see.

At our February meeting, we enjoyed a lecture from Kanae Doi, Japan Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, an organization that investigates abuses of human rights around the world and pressures goverments to reform through exposure and persuasian. As a newly minted lawyer, she went to Eritrea to help with the writing of laws and constitution when that country was newly independent from Ethiopia. She focused her presentation on recent activities and successes by Human Rights Watch in the Congo. You will frequently see HRW quoted in the news about the current struggles for democracy in the Middle East.

Human rights watch - February meeting

Dear Friends and Members of the Unitarian Fellowship,

Reminder:

February 13, Sunday 3:00

International House

Our speaker--HumanRights Watch, director of the Japan office, Kanae DOI.

Peggy Kanada, moderator

October - November Meetings - Revisions

Because we had to have a replacement meeting for September, the original schedule for September/October will be shifted to October/November (barring further emergencies)


Next fellowship meetings : International House (Roppongi) 3:00 Second Sunday of Month

October 10th Stan Yukevich will present on 'Raymond Aron and Enlightened Pragmatism'

November 14th Peggy Kanada --Liberal Religions and World Peace-- Where does the Dalai Lama fit?

Supplemental note:
Raymond Aron was a French philosopher, journalist and political scientist. He is discussed in "The burden of responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French twentieth century" by Tony Judt

Peggy attended a lecture of the Dalai Lama earlier this year, and may get another chance at one of the conferences she is attending in India.

Religious Education for Children - New Sept speaker

Our scheduled speaker for September had to postpone, but we are very happy to have an interesting replacement. The topic for September 12th at the International House in Roppongi will be:

"The Spiritual Lives of Children: Biblical, Unitarian and Buddhist Perspectives"?

The biblical Book of Proverbs says: "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it." [Proverbs 22:6] But how much and what kind of religious education should we give children? Can we give children a religious training without indoctrinating them unduly, depriving them of freedom as adults? These questions are faced today by Buddhists as well as by Unitarians and members of biblical faiths. What kind of religious education have Buddhist groups provided, and what are they thinking about religious education today? What do we ourselves think? Prof. Miriam Levering of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee and International Advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai will give a short talk and facilitate a discussion on this topic.

September October Meetings

Next fellowship meetings : International House (Roppongi) 3:00

September 12 Stan Yukevich will present on'Raymond Aron and Enlightened Pragmatism'

October 10th Peggy Kanada --Liberal Religions and World Peace-- Where does the Dalai Lama fit?

Supplemental note:
Raymond Aron was a French philosopher, journalist and political scientist. He is discussed in "The burden of responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French twentieth century" by Tony Judt

Peggy attended a lecture of the Dalai Lama earlier this year, and may get another chance at one of the conferences she is attending in India.

Lunch with Peter Morales, UU President

In late August, Peter Morales, newly elected president of the Unitarian Univeraslists visited Tokyo with his wife and several members of our dicussion group gathered to have sushi with him in the Ginza. Peter was elected president of the global organization in 2009 works out of a historic building in Boston. However, was on a round the world to trip to visit Japan, the Philippines and India. The spread of the Internet is helping to spread interest around the world and he said headquarters is frequently being contacted by groups around the world, some which have become quite sizable. (Our little discussion group is not there yet). In India he will participate in various International religious conferences.