Dear, Chicago Okinawa Kenjinkai members,

Summer is finally here. Watch out for strong sunlight, mosquitoes, and bug bites, when you’re spending time. I wish you good health.

The New Years Party was once again a big success. We would like to thank everyone for your participation. The support from the performance group, everyone’s donations to the raffle, the good food everyone brought, the gifts from Iris Corporation, and the efforts of everyone who lent a hands when it was needed all helped make the event a big success.

Since our last newsletter one of our sister groups, the Ohio Tomo no Kai, also had a successful and wonderful 15th Anniversary Party which was held on May 1st 2010. They invited Tamagusuku Ryu, a group of professional performers from Okinawa, who performed beautiful Okinawan traditional dances.

It felt wonderful to know that so many Okinawans love Okinawa so much and keep their ties to Okinawan culture too. We had a chance to get acquainted with the members from the St. Louis Okinawa Kenjinkai over dinner and had an interesting visit.

On a sad note; Mr. Ken Hirata a former President of Chicago Okinawa Kenjinkai passed away on April 19th. He was actively involved Odori and Sanshin before he became ill. We hope his family will find comfort in the many years of wonderful memories he provided.

Finally, the annual picnic is planned for July 31st 2010 and the Chicago Okinawa Kenjinkai Scholarship deadline has been extended to June 30th if you know of someone who may be interested. We will present the scholarship to the winner at the picnic. Information is available on the web site at www.chicagookinawakenjinkai.com. So mark your calendars and I hope that we will see you all at the picnic.

 

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