First meeting of the quarter: Orientation.

So today we had our first official meeting of the quarter, the primary focus of which was more or less on new member orientation. Of the 19 some people we signed up at Kickoff, I'm very happy to say that 12 actually came and participated. We all, of the club, were very happy about that!

Forgoing the details on self-introductions and whatnot, our first major order of business was to discuss some of the goals and purposes of the club. These included things like...

- Interaction
- PAL/HTC
- Volunteerism
- Work & JET
- Scholarships
- Trip planning

Following that, our next course of action was to cover important club dates for this current fall quarter. These were...

- November 14: YMCA event
- November 20: JCC Japan trip presentation
- December 10: Bounenkai

Other possible meetings are in the planning stage right now, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements on that. After that, we briefly discussed happenings in the winter and spring quarters, with more information to come as we actually get closer to those time frames.

The last order of business was to decide what to spend our $500 club budget on. Ideas included...

- Rock Band (PS3), $160
- DJ Hero (PS3), $120
- 25x T-shirts, pricing tentative
- Karaoke outing
- Japanese Garden trip
- Keith's Japan trip

If anyone comes up with more ideas on anything we could spend our budget on, please do not hesitate to send off an e-mail to the JCC, tell one of the team, or post a comment on this blog. We're open to any and all ideas, and honestly, the more we have the better!

In the end, much drinkage and snackage was passed around and this meeting proved to be a very productive one. Thank you all for coming to this first meeting of the Japanese Culture Club and we hope you all had fun hanging out with us both in and outside of club. We look forward to seeing you all in the future! Until then, later all.

- David Ha-Becherer
Events Coordinator

P.S.
If any of you ever have questions about anything having to do with Japanese culture, work, or anything else the like, then feel free to ask any of the four of us and/or Keith at any time. Between us five, we have an expansive lexicon of knowledge and we're always willing to share our experiences with you.

First event of the quarter: Club Kickoff

And thus on this damp October day, the clubs of Shoreline CC descended upon the PUB for Club Kickoff, seeking their subsistence: new blood.... Well, not really, but you get the gist of it.

Yes, that's right, today was the quarterly Club Kickoff where all the clubs gather 'round to represent themselves and [hopefully] get new membership. Of course, everyone's favorite club was in attendance! Starting at 11:30 and running simultaneous to the HTC Japan Festival, we found our table in a far-off corner of the PUB and setup. Plastered with a smattering of Japanese media, our table was a veritable pantheon to all things otaku. While I could explain what all we showcased at Kickoff, I think it'd be easier (and more interesting) to just post some pictures.

All in all, Kickoff was quite fruitful this year. We met a lot of people, signed up a lot of members, and, most importantly, gave out a bunch of Pocky and Pocari Sweat. To all the people who came to our table, thanks for stopping by! And if you happened to swing by the Japan Festival as well, thanks for visiting me! For everyone else, see you at our first official meeting of the quarter next Friday, October 23! And so I leave you all with group pictures from Kickoff. Later all.

- David Ha-Becherer
Events Coordinator

New beginnings and blogger introductions

Hey there everyone! Welcome to the Japanese Culture Club's (JCC) official website, or blog rather. Yes, we've finally decided to go online after much procrastination. So far we've managed to get this site up and running in addition to our Facebook group (SCC Japanese Culture Club). A pretty good job, I'd say. Anyhow, keep an eye on this page for regular updates on club activities and pictures and the like.

So since this is a new format and all, I figure that some introductions are in order. I'm David Ha-Becherer, Events Coordinator for the JCC, and I plan to be one of the regular bloggers to this page. I am 19 years old and have been at SCC since 2007, and I joined the JCC in winter quarter '08. As far as major goes, I'm an English major and I plan to transfer to UW next year and major in English and double minor in English linguistics and Asian studies in the hope of becoming an ESL teacher in Japan. In terms of the present, I work 2 jobs on-campus; one as a tutor and the other as a PAL with the HTC Program (if you don't know what that is, feel free to ask). I've taken a year of Japanese language and just this past summer I went to Japan with 3 of my friends from the club. My interests in Japanese culture are pretty widespread; I enjoy anime and manga, video gaming, music, movies, language, history, etc. Pretty much everything really. And if you're at all interested, depending upon the current state of this blog, that's me up in the banner at the top of the page. Anyhoo, that's me in a nutshell. I look forward to blogging here and seeing you all at our future club meetings!

You can also expect posts from club Co-president Yasu Kawamura and perhaps even special guest appearances from Co-president Piers Brooks and Communications Officer Rory Rutledge. We compose the "staff" right now.

Well, all that aside, thanks for reading the blog and we hope you'll enjoy the site and have fun at our meetings. See you all later!

- David Ha-Becherer
Events Coordinator