Annual Report of the ASJ Council for 1995

This year we started off under the leadership of a new President, the Greek ambassador Mr, George Sioris, who brought to the job the warmth of his personality and the dedication which he had already evinced as a member of the Society between 1967 and 1972, when he was on an earlier tour of duty in this country. The Society maintained its varied programme of monthly lectures, which were held in the great hall of OAG House, with two notable exceptions: on May 25th we were treated to a special meeting held for the first time at the Jewish Community Center to hear from a leading Sinologist, Dr. Erik Zurcher, and on November 22nd we were the guests of the British ambassador, Sir John Boyd, and Lady Boyd, when Lady Boyd herself addressed us. Besides the lectures there were also a number of cultural events, and here we were particularly indebted to Dr. Hiroko Nishida, chief curator of the Nezu Museum, who kindly donated her time to give us conducted tours of the current exhibitions on April 15th, May 20th, September 30th and November 11th. Other events were the attendance at a concert by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra on June 29th, and a visit to the Ishikawa Sake Brewery on November 12th. Members were also invited to attend a series of lectures on Byzantine culture jointly sponsored by the Greek and Italian embassies, which were held at the Italian Cultural Institute on five occasions between January and March; the speaker at one of these was ASJ Council member Dr. Jason Roussos. Again, on December 13th we were invited to a meeting held by our sister Society and host, the OAG. Early in the year Vol. 9 of the Transactions was published, and Vol. 10 is in preparation for publication early in 1996. Finally, we were happy to be able to announce at the end of the year that Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Takamado had graciously acceded to our invitation to become patrons of the Society.

Membership remained steady at 437 as of December 1st, compared with 442 the year before, and the number of new members was only marginally less, at 52 as against 57.

Our numbers were sadly depleted by the death, in March, of our oldest life member, Dr. Carlos Rodriguez-Jimenez, who passed away at the grand old age of 95. On the happier side, we congratulated Sir Hugh Cortazzi on receiving the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, and Dutch ambassador Roland van den Berg on his elevation to Commander of the Order of Oranje-Nassau.

As indicated earlier, Dr. Ronald Suleski stepped down from the position of President, after eight consecutive years, and his place was taken by Mr. George Sioris. As new members of the Council we welcomed Professor Lia Beretta, Mr. Konrad Muschg and Mr. Yasutoshi Yoshida, and as advisers the Thai ambassador, H.E. Mr. Chawat Arthayukti, and Mrs. Catherine Campbell, the wife of the Canadian ambassador. Council meetings were held regularly on the first Monday of the month (the second Monday in January); in general the venue was OAG House, but the May meeting was held at the President's residence, and the June meeting at Mrs. Schreck's, while for the December meeting we once again enjoyed the hospitality of our President and Madame Sioris.

We are happy to report that once again we were the recipients of grants to assist in the publication of the Transactions, 2,770,000 yen from the Tokyo Club and 432,000 yen from the Japan Foundation, and we would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to these bodies. However, we did not receive our usual grant from the Ministry of Education, owing to cutbacks in the budget, and it was likely that we would be faced with further loss of funding in the coming year. Members were advised of our financial position at the October meeting and in the Bulletin, and were asked to offer suggestions as to further possible sources of supply.

Unfortunately we have to finish on a note of regret. At the end of the year our faithful office secretary, Miss Miyoko Ito, decided that the time had come for her to retire. She had kept the office running smoothly for 23 years, and it is an understatement to say that we shall miss her greatly. Not only did she carry out her secretarial duties punctiliously, but she went beyond the call of duty in performing extra services and showing a constant concern for the welfare of the Society in many little ways. We thank her from the bottom of our hearts for all that she has done for us these many years.