GSE Team Japan Visit
by Lorine Parks
The Rotary International Group Exchange Group, just back from a four-week visit to Japan, spoke to us. The purpose of the program is professional exchange and development, member Jewel Price explained to us. Not only did the group sample work experiences in their fields, but they were treated to cultural treats and natural beauty as well.
Everywhere they stayed, within the 3 prefectures around Tokyo where they were assigned, they could see Mt. Fuji. A 12,236 foot cone-shaped volcano, with a perpetual crown of snow, Fuji is celebrated and revered throughout the country.
The group stays only 4 weeks, but they still managed to visit schools, hospitals, and factories as well as enjoy the ancient tea ceremony at a Shimoda home for the elderly, presided over by a 15th generation tea master.
At one point they were all dressed as geishas (the men too), which takes hours of face-painting and being wrapped into undergarments before donning the kimono and wig. One of the group is an Afro-American, and the theatrical white face paint was so thick, the group said there was no way she could see her own pigmentation.
Also in Shimoda they visited the Gas Company, and the Suzuki factory. The group went to a Rotary meeting, where they could see how seriously the Japanese take membership. There are some women now in Japanese Rotary, but each club has the local option of whether to be open to women members or not.
When they met people they collected business cards, which the Japanese like to exchange. The group had theirs specially printed, in both Japanese and English, which they could present, holding the card with both hands, and bowing.
They went to shrines and temples, where they burned decorated cubes of incense, and a fish market with fish as big as parasols. They had sushi for breakfast, but also saw the Colonel’s face, KFC, in every town. At the Yamaha factory they learned it has contracts from all over the world. With three to five business and cultural visits on the agenda each day, they had an intense stay.
Before leaving California the group had ten hours of intensive training in the Japanese language. While there, one of the group, Eddie Machino, who is fluent in Japanese, could help out when they addressed the Rotary club.
They saw the beauty of Japan, in gardens composed of rocks and water and bridges, in the changing leaves and in the spiritual view of Fuji. The group ended by thanking the District for sending them.