Keisuke Kogi and Toru Minami from Kagoshima Japan Invite Sunrisers to the 60th Anniversary of Kagoshima West Rotary Club!
Our speakers for June 16, 2022, were Keisuke Kogi and Toru Minami with greetings, gifts, and an invitation from Kagoshima, Japan. Keisuke and Toru are both long-time advocates for our Santa Rosa -Kagoshima Student Exchange Program (SRKSEP) and have been Sunrise Rotary SRKSEP partners for many years. The main purpose of their visit is to invite us to the Kagoshima West Rotary Club’s 60th anniversary celebration on April 8, 2023. Keisuke and Toru brought a variety of gifts, including radishes (Diakon) grown in the Sakurajima volcano near Kagoshima (world’s largest radishes), a club banner, and special gifts to President Jennifer, President Elect Jack, Del Raby, and SRKSEP chairperson Shauna Lorenzen. They also brought gifts from the Mayor of Kagoshima and the Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture! And, Toru promised to give us a tour of a 7,000 year-old Cedar tree if we visit them and stay for 30 days!
Toru is a member and Past President of Kagoshima West Rotary Club and the current Committee Chairman for the 60-year Kagoshima West anniversary celebration. He runs a private school in Kagoshima that teaches Japanese culture and language in Japanese and English. Toru described the importance of dialogue. For over 2,000 years Japanese people have believed that every tree, plant, and other living thing can listen and speak to us. He noted that on Sunday Steve took him to see a Redwood tree, and he was able to listen to it and speak to it. Dialogue is important, and Rotarians have a special responsibility to speak and listen to others in different cultures. The best way to do that is to have exchange programs such as SRKSEP.
Keisuke Kogi is also a Rotarian and has been a big part of our partnership with Kagoshima over the years. He showed us a short but memorable video of Kagoshima and a variety of photos of his past visits to Santa Rosa and some of our visits to Kagoshima, including a 1989 photo of current and former Sunrisers in front of the Round Barn, and photos of Steve Amend, Bob and Katherine Scott, Del in 2004 at Keisuke’s home, Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary’s 25th Anniversary, a 2016 SRKSEP visit to Kagoshima, a picture of Nagasawa Park in Santa Rosa in 2009, and a photo of Jack and Eloise in June 4 2019.
Keisuke and Toru left us with an important message: See you in Kagoshima in April 2023! Thank you both for visiting and speaking with us.
