Last Tuesday, on February 26, I gave a speech at the Osaka Tsurumi Club meeting. I was invited by Satoh-Sensei. I had met Satoh-Sensei two times before at the PSC (Past Scholars Club) Christmas party and also at Takada-san’s Japanese dance performance. I met up with Satoh-Sensei at Kyobashi Station and then we rode the train to Taiko-En.

Taiko-En is a really pretty banquet house and the Tsurumi Club holds meetings there once a month. They also have weekly meetings at another location. The banquet house used to be the vacation home of a Japanese baron, so it was very grand and was a fine example of Japanese architecture! There were also Hinamatsuri dolls displayed because March 3rd is Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day).


I got a chance to meet many Rotarians before the speech, during lunch. When it was time for my speech, Satoh-Sensei went up to the podium and introduced me. I was very impressed by his introduction. It really meant a lot to me. He said that I was a guest from the United States, and that I was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar sponsored by the San Francisco West Club. He also said that many Japanese people think that “American” means “Caucasian” but that that isn’t true. As can be seen now with Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, America is a country of many races and cultures. Satoh-Sensei said, “Joyce’s face is Asian, but she is Chinese-American and she really is an American.” Satoh-Sensei also said that the idea of what an American is is starting to change in Japan.

Satoh-Sensei’s introduction was really deep! I was really surprised and appreciated that. I know that in Japan many people still think of “American” as “white.” In Japan, when I say that I am American, a lot of people ask me, "Are you a half?" ("Half" would mean I had one Asian parent and one white parent.) I was born and raised in America…so of course I don’t like it when people think I am Chinese more than I am an American. I identify myself as American. I hope that more people around the world will understand that America is a melting pot and that the country is very diverse. That is one of the things I really love about my country.

I completed my speech with no problems. Talked much about my experiences with San Francisco Rotary and about volunteering in America. I also exchanged banners with the club president. The club also presented me with a very pretty bouquet of flowers! (Afterwards, at a local supermarket called Daiei, a store employee about my age came up to me and told me that those were her favorite flowers. She asked me why I was holding flowers and I said I had just come from a speech at the Rotary Club.) (^_^)

Satoh-Sensei also made copies of my Rotary First Report (Japanese version) and passed them out to all the Rotarians so that they could get to know me better. I received a lot of compliments on my Japanese. :)

After the speech, I walked around the beautiful Japanese garden with Satoh-Sensei and we took pictures. It was raining lightly but the banquet house staff let us borrow umbrellas. There were stone Buddhist statues and bridges and ponds in the garden. We also saw a heron. It was very “Japanese” and peaceful. There was also a Christian chapel in the garden because Satoh-Sensei said that most Japanese couples like to do Western-style weddings.

Had a good time!

Visited with my friend's family at night. Everyone was so nice. I was so happy to spend time with my friend's parents and sister!