From: Jim Brooke
To: Yale Club Members
Date: Sunday, September 26, 2004
Subject: Yale Club of Japan: Thursday Oct. 7 US Foreign Policy dinner at Tokyo American Club

Tokyo
Sept. 25, 2004

Dear Yale Club of Japan,

The endless summer appears to be finally cooling down, so it is time to kickoff our new Yale Club of Japan season.

Our first event will be Thursday Oct. 7, Ian Shapiro, director of the Yale Center for International and Area Studies. Prof. Shapiro will be in town for only 72 hours, but has graciously agreed to speak to us a cocktails and dinner event at the Tokyo American Club, in Roppongi. With the U.S. election a month away (once again a contest between two Yalies), Prof. Shapiro will give a forward looking tour d'horizon on what to expect on American foreign policy coming from Washington. The topic: "Bush II or Kerry I." Prof. Shapiro is former head of Yale's political science department, and has an impressive resume on the web here.  More background is here.

By popular demand, we are expanding the cocktail phase to an hour, so everyone can catch up, exchange meishis, and have a drink.
Cocktails: 6:30
Dinner: 7:30
Talk: 8:15
Question and answer: 9:00

That’s New Haven time, so we have a little fudge room with the schedule. The price for the buffet, seated dinner will be 4,500 yen. Cash bar.

Please RSVP directly to our new member, Engin Yenidunya, who will be counting heads: engin.yenidunya@aya.yale.edu

Looking ahead, the University Charity Ball, which was enormous fun for 60 of us last spring is getting organized for 2005. Cliff and Marcy, last year's organizers, would like to pass the baton to new people with new energy. I append their letter to the Yale Club below.

Finally, Peter Hasegawa, an East Asia Studies major at Yale and a friend, is in Tokyo through February, working on various projects. He is looking for rotational housing for the next few months. For those of us with high school children, Peter could be an inspirational influence. I also append his letter.

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing as many of us as possible in two weeks, at the Tokyo American Club!
cheerio

Jim Brooke
President
The Yale Club of Japan

PS please relay this letter to at least one Yale Alum you know! That way we can spread the net!
cheers
Jim

1) University Charity Ball 2005!

Please contact Clifford Bernstein directly at Cliff@japanactive.com or Marcy Wilder at marwil@jircas.affrc.go.jp

Hi Jim,
I spoke with Marcy a few days ago and she mentioned that the Yale Club may be interested in taking its turn as the head of UCB 2005. That is terrific news! The Yale Club has the resources and alumni reach to successfully drive the UCB administration and it would be a great sign for the event to have a Club which has been involved since the beginning to take its place in the rotation. With your more extensive reach (over 60 Yalies attended UCB 2004 versus only 24 Dartmouth grads) and distinguished alumni base, I have no doubt that UCB 2005 can surpass UCB 2004 in grandeur, impact and operational success.
The Dartmouth Club will be happy to continue its participation on the Organizing Committee and I personally will be happy to coach whoever you may decide will be the UCB 2005 Committee Chair.
I would strongly advocate holding an organizational meeting within the next few weeks and recommend a transitional meeting in which I would call up the UCB 2004 Organizing Committee and the considerable number of UCB 2004 attendees who have indicated to me on the night of the event and thereafter their interest in participating in next year's organization effort.
I look forward to coordinating with you on keeping this event alive and thriving.
Best regards,
Cliff

2)
From Peter Hasegawa:
Please contact Peter directly at: peter.hasegawa@yale.edu
I'm going to be in Tokyo until February, studying Japanese language at Keio University.
I took my placement test this morning which marks the end of a very long summer. I got two grants from Yale to research the Japanese shipping industry for my senior essay. First, I conducted interviews in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. Then, I traveled on a Japanese coal freighter for two weeks from Japan to Australia. The topic of my research was mixed nationality crewing. I talked to Indians working with Pakistanis and Croatians working with Serbs. When people depend on each other for survival on the open sea, it's amazing how little land-based politics seem to matter.
..Two things. First, I'm actually still searching for a place to stay. I'm trying very hard to support myself while I'm out here through scholarships and the little work my visa permits. This is not easy. My most significant expense while I'm here will be rent and I'm trying to cut down that cost by finding short term home stays. Japanese students live in isolated suburbs and that doesn't appeal to me because I really want to meet people. I'm looking for homes where I could stay for a month or less... do you have any friends who might be interested in accommodating me? What could I do in exchange? I'm always happy to help with homework (I'm lousy at math but could help with most everything else) I'd also be very happy to help with the college process, if that might be helpful. I applied to 13 schools before I was accepted to Yale. I'd be more than willing to stay up late the night before, reading college essays one last time... Everything is negotiable and I have included a little more information about myself at the end of this letter. The other thing I'm looking for is a bicycle. Do you know of anyone who has a bike that I could borrow for a few months?
I'm really looking forward to a fantastic few months in Japan. I hope all is well!
Thank You!
Peter

Peter Hasegawa: I've lived near Yale University my whole life, where my father used to coordinate the student community service groups. My mother is a freelance reporter for the Connecticut section of The New York Times. Her hobby, believe it or not, is monitoring elections and I think she's going to the Ukraine soon. I went to Choate Rosemary Hall (on scholarship!) where I became the captain of the crew team, the chairman of the judicial committee, and sang in four singing groups. At Yale, I am an East Asian Studies major and my focus is Japanese art history. I've been business manager and tour manager for my singing group, Shades and organized tours to Puerto Rico, Japan, and South Africa. I spent two summers studying Internet policy at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. I took what I'd learned and spent the next summer working for a British company in West Africa. I was sent to Ghana where I recruited Internet researchers and traveled to Timbuktu! I really want to be fluent enough to read Japanese language research materiel.