Area 55, which consists of Shonan TMC, Southern Beach TMC and Fujisawa Bilingual TMC, International Speech Contest was held at Fujisawa Civic Hall on March 16.
The Contest was conducted in Japanese and in English. 

<日本語の部>

ホストクラブのサザンビーからコンテスト委員長を務められたN.Y.さんの開会宣言で幕を開けました。
続いてエリア55のディレクターのP.J.さんが、ペーパーを見ながらでしたが日本語で開会の挨拶をされました。また来場されていましたディビジョンEのディレクターのM.G.さんの紹介もありました。出席者は、約50人でした。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
コンテスト委員長のN.Y.さんのコンテスト規則説明と、審査委員長のN.S.さんのコンテスタントの資格証明確認があり、コンテストがスタートしました。

湘南トーストマスターズクラブは、ここ3年日本語コンテストを開催できませんでしたが、今年は4年ぶりに開催され、このエリアコンテストにもI.M.さん、W.Y.さんの2名が参加されました。
3クラブから2名ずつの6名での競い合いとなりました。

母国語の日本語であることから、各人各様にスピーチの内容、舞台上の仕草に工夫を凝らし、コンテスタントの皆さんそれぞれに素晴らしいスピーチでした。

その結果は、
第一位　　G.T.さん（藤沢バイリンガル）
第二位　　W.Y.さん（湘南）
第三位　　K.M.さん（藤沢バイリンガル）　

となり、第一位のG.T.さんは4月16日のディビジョンEのコンテストに進まれることになりました。
湘南代表のW.Y.さんは惜しくも第二位でした。

湘南も毎年日本語コンテストを開催できるよう、日本語コンテストにも関心を持ち続けていきたいものです。

<English Part>

The English part was prepared by STMC and TM N.N. played the role of Contest Chair. It started at 2 pm. Area 55 Director, J.P. gave us opening remarks and Division E Director G.M. was our honorable guest. About 50 people joined this event.  
　　　　　　　　　　　　　
In Area 55, there are 3 clubs and each club sent 2 contestants to this contest. Therefore we had 6 contestants in all and each of them made a great speech. From our club TM L.C. and TM M.I. joined the contest. TM H.S. from Fujisawa Bilingual Toastmasters Club won the contest and our representative TM M.I. got the second place, the third prize went to TM T.A. from Southern Beach Toast Masters Club. The winner of the contest TM H.S. will go on to the Division Contest which will be held on April 14 in Yokohama.
　　　　　　　　

After the contest, we had a party and TM T.K. from our club was an MC for the party. About 30 people enjoyed the party. We got to know a lot of members from other clubs and had a wonderful time together. Thanks to your help and cooperation, the contest was very successful.

                                            By T. O. and N. N.        Photos by M. I.

The 502nd regular meeting was held at Mina Park on March 9, 2019 with 14 members and one guest.              

<Joke Session>
The Joke Master was TM T. O.
He has visited Thailand more than 5 times as business trips and talked about some experiences in Thailand.
Thailand has two seasons, hot and very hot, the food there is vert spicy. When he stayed in Thailand, he liked to eat spicy food, but sometimes he got stomachache. At that time, Thai people recommended him to take a charcoal medicine. You can get a tablet of charcoal in the pharmacy. That is literary charcoal, surprisingly, it is very effective for stomachache. He guesses charcoal adsorbs bacteria. Please try that, if you get stomachache in Thailand.

The name of the Thailand capital “Bangkok” is not an official one. The official name is Krung Thep, which means “The city of angels”. This is a shortened version of the official name. The full name of Krung Thep is the longest name of a city in the world, which is recorded in the Guinness book. It is: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

In Thailand, we can see several gender roles, identities. Most famous transgender people in Thailand are male who look like female, they are called ladyboys. We cannot distinguish them from real women, at first glance.

Thailand people have their own nicknames. They can assign any nickname as they like. Needless to say, they have very Asian face, but they have Western style nicknames, Jeff, Boy, something like that. One of his colleague’s real name is Phattarapporn and his nickname is ‘Oh’. The reason of his nickname is that his parents wanted to have a girl, so they screamed out ‘Oh’ when he was born.

<Prepared Speech Session.>
The 1st speaker was TM L.C. His speech title was “What leadership styles do you prefer?”
The 2nd speaker was TM Y. W. His speech title was “My communication style”.
The 3rd speaker was TM T. O. His speech title was “One day in my hometown”. He talked about the story when he visited hometown, Yamagata city.
The 4th speaker was TM A. M. His speech title was “Thinking about ‘AI affects our ordinary life’ ”.

<Table Topics session>
The Table Topics Master was TM T. U. He asked seven questions as follows.
1) Where is your recommendation for a place of Hanami?
2) Party under the cherry blossoms is fun.  The expression, “Dumplings rather than
  flowers” is sometimes used. What is your favorite food to take for Hanami with you？
3) Tokyo had Olympic games once in 1964. What’s is your memory of Tokyo Olympic
  games in 1964?
4) We are sometimes moved or touched by Olympic games. Of all Olympic games
  you’ve ever watched, what is your most impressive scene?
5) If you could be an Olympic athlete, which sports athlete would you like to be?
6) Many people are waiting for Tokyo Olympic games in 2020, some people would
  participate in Tokyo Olympic games as volunteers. Please tell us your experience as
  a volunteer. If you haven’t done it, what sort of volunteer works would you like to do
  or are you interested in?
7) For Tokyo Olympic games volunteers, there was a discussion on “Fee or no-fee for
  volunteer works”. Please tell us your opinion. 

<Evaluation Session>
The General Evaluator was TM L. C.
The 1st Evaluator was TM M. H. and she evaluated TM L. C.’s prepared speech.
The 2nd Evaluator was TM K. I. and he evaluated TM Y. W.’s prepared speech.
The 3rd Evaluator was TM I. K. and he evaluated TM T. O.’s prepared speech. 
The 4th Evaluator was TM Y.H. and she evaluated TM A. M.’s prepared speech.

TM E. M. presented the Grammarian’s report.

<Award Presentation>
TOMD Award :                        TM E. M. for his having triple roles.
Best Table Topics Speaker:    TM A. M.
Best Evaluator:                        TM M. H.
Best Prepared Speaker :         TM L. C.

                                                                          By T. I.   Photos by K. K.

Regular meeting #501 was held on February 23, 2019 at Mina Park, Fujisawa with 17 members and one guest.

The Word of the Day was “Verify.” The meaning is “to make sure or demonstrate that (something) is true, accurate, or justified.”

<Joke Session>
Joke master TM M. H. played the role in a very unique way. She introduced a very famous botanist Dr. Tomitaro Makino. Dr. Makino dropped out of elementary school but later earned Doctor’s degree from the University of Tokyo and became a professor there. She showed us a picture of young Dr. Makino and said, “He is the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen in my life.” Dr. Makino is her “type.” As we know, she is a plant painter and she showed us some pictures of flowers. She told us about the very funny ways of naming the flowers. The name “Kasumagusa” comes from two names; “Karasunoendo,” and “Suzumenoendo.” And she added, “I am “Kasumagusa.” Thank you for the jokes, Ms. Kasumagusa.             

<Prepared Speech Session>
The 1st speaker was TM T. K. Title: Family History. She talked about a famous family that lived in the city of Uwajima where she herself is from. She highly praised the family.

The 2nd speaker was TM T. U. Title: Introduction of Diversity & Inclusion.” The visual aids he used were very helpful to follow the speech. In the company as managerial strategy, diversity and inclusion policies have been used. He described and analyzed these policies in detail.

The 3rd speaker was TM L. C. Title: What can we develop in Toastmasters?
He pointed out the fact that we can develop not only communication skills but also passion. He emphasized the importance of passion to achieve our goals.

The 4th speaker was TM Y. U. Title: Continuity is the Father of Success.
Since this project was “Accepting an Award,” he recreated the scene where he himself accepted the award in the club.
             

<Table Topics Session>
TM T. O. asked the following 6 questions.
1. February 3rd, we have Setu-bun holiday. I went to Setsu-bun Festival held at Yugyo
   temple. But I couldn’t get any beans, because so manypeople gathered.
   Do you enjoy throwing soybeans with your family? Or do you go to Setsu-bun 
   Festival?
2. Recently, the custom of eating Eho-maki at Setsubun has become popular all over
   Japan. Every year, we make a lot of Eho-maki, and unsold Eho-maki became a 
   social issue. I ate Eho-maki this year for the first time.
   Did you eat Eho-maki ?
3. February 14th is Saint Valentines’s day. My wife gave me handmade muffin. It was 
   so delicious.
   Do you have any good experiences or memories about Saint Valentine’s day?
        
4. Recently, it is getting warmer everyday but this month we had some cold days. We
    even had snow in here Fujisawa.
    Could you share your memories about Snow?
5. This month, Chinese people celebrate their new year. A few years ago, a lot of
   Chinese people visited Japan and they spent a lot to purchase many goods. This is
   so called ‘爆買い’ .
   Do you have any experiences of massive purchase, or do you buy something on
   impulse ?
6. Yesterday, February 22nd is the day of Cat. Because Japanese pronunciation of  
   222 is like meow of cats. I’m a cat lover. I give some food to my cat.
   What is your favorite animal? Could you tell us the reason why?

<Evaluation Session>
General Evaluator was TM Y. H. The following four evaluators evaluated 4 prepared speeches, respectively.
TM Y. W. evaluated TM T. K.’s speech.
TM K. K. evaluated TM T. U’s speech.
                
TM M. I. evaluated TM L. C’s speech.
TM T. A. evaluated TM Y. U’s speech.

<Award Presentation>
   TMOD Award:                       TM T. O. for his great dedication to our club.
   Best Table Topics Speaker:  TM Y. U.
   Best Evaluator:                      TM M. I.
   Best Prepared Speaker:        TM L.C.   
                                

                                              By N. N.       Potos by M. I.