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October 11th, 2006
JAO Ricksha Newsletter Vol. 53, No. 2
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General Meeting
Date: THURSDAY, Oct 19th, 2006
7:00 pm Cocktails and Appetizers
Venue: V20
81 Aquarium Way
Long Beach, CA.
Program: "Community" Meeting
President Jeff Tani has come up with a novel idea - joint meetings with other community service organizations. The first organization we will be having a joint meeting with will be none other than our friends from Nikkei Bridge. NB President Scott Sakamoto and his crew will be joining us as we share our camaraderie and experiences. Not only will Nikkei Bridge learn what JAO is all about, but JAO, in turn, will also familiarize themselves with what Nikkei Bridge does. The cost will be $23 for unlimited non-alcoholic drinks and buffet-style appetizers. We are all looking forward to the change of venue and those of us who live in the South Bay are glad the meeting will be in our backyard for once. That means that all of you who live in the SB and the OC have no excuse not to show up! SB and the OC to the LB!
Shogun�s Words
First off, I�d like to thank the members that came out to our Youth Appreciation meeting. I know the kids we honored from the Optimist Youth Homes will do well with continued support from their families and the OYH. Seeing your support was well worth the efforts to bring them out and recognize them. I�d personally like to thank Leland Lau for coordinating our guests for this evening.
Well, I narrowly avoided the Hacker�s trophy this year thanks to Miss O Nikki, Roy Hoshizaki, Eva Hosoda (Anyone ask Eva about joining JAO yet? He he...), and Terry Hara... Yes, the old prez Terry Hara and I tied our scores this year! And if you haven�t seen the LPGA tour rollin� through, they should be picking up Miss O Nikki pretty soon. Her shots only got better as the day went on. And I don�t know if I really believe Russ Fujii as a witness to Sky Tetsuka�s �closest to the pin� wins. Our Hacker trophy winner Russ was pretty red at the end of the day and not because of the sun! But thanks to all for participating in the tourney. It was a nice day on a great course. I�d especially like to thank Gerald Wong for coordinating the tournament. Great job, Gerald!
So we�re starting something good this year, and it seems JAO is picking up some great energy so far. Our next effort is one that I�ve been waiting to try out. And that is a �Community� meeting with Nikkei Bridge. Here, we�ll meet, introduce, and exchange ideas with their membership. President Scott Sakamoto and Nikkei Bridge are an amazing community club with great potential to help JAO this year. As Christmas Party chair last year, I brought them out to support JAO�s Christmas Party and I don�t think it would have been successful or as fun without Nikkei Bridge members helping ours. I hope you join me and come out to meet and greet them for our �Community� meeting and bring some candy for the JAO Halloween Party! Thanks everyone!
Optimism rocks!
Jeff
Last Meeting
President Jeff Tani�s first meeting was JAO�s Youth Appreciation meeting. It was well-attended and Chairman Leland Lau coordinated with the Optimist Youth Homes and together, he and the staff from the Youth Homes selected 4 outstanding young people. In all, there was one female student from the Eagle Rock Home, 1 student from the Altadena Home, and 2 students from the Main Campus. All 4 students have excelled not only in their school work, but also with extracurricular activities, sports, music, and more importantly, in their personal lives. Ken Garcia, the athletic director of the Optimist Youth Homes was really proud of each student�s achievements. All of hope each of the young people continue to strive for their goals and really make a name for themselves. Best wishes to them all!
Announcements
Hackers� Tournament
October 8th proved to be a beautiful day for JAO�s annual Hackers� Tournament at the Scholl Canyon Golf Course. When the day started, each of the 22 golfers besides Chairman Gerald Wong had one goal in mind - to beat Gerald. As it turns out, only a few had a shot at beating Gerald. There was a stronger competition for who was NOT going to get the Hacker�s trophy for the highest score. A select few - President Jeff, Miss O Nikki Kodama, Terry Hara, Jerry Fukui, Russ Fujii, John �JT� Tamaki, and Roy Hoshizaki gave it their best shots, but in the end, the perennial hacker, Russ Fujii, ended up winning the Hacker�s trophy for the umteenth time. The overall winner was Jonathan Fukumoto. Sky Tetsuka won the closest to the pins. The highlight of the day was on the 14th hole, the little island green, where Miss O Nikki landed her first shot on the green and parred the hole; one of her two pars on the back nine. Way to go Nikki! You go girl! And you said you didn�t know how to golf! What a sandbagger!!! Thanks to Gerald for a great outing and everyone walked away happy, especially with all the great raffle prizes Gerald picked up.
Halloween Party
JAO�s Halloween Party will be on Saturday, October 28th at Maryknoll Church in Little Tokyo. Chairmen Sky Tetsuka and Tetsu Yamauchi are expecting all of you to be there. You have about 2 weeks to think of a costumer to wear. Although some of you are scary the way you are normally, you all are to be in some sort of costume. If anyone wishes to contribute bags of candy, please bring them to the meeting on October 19th at v2o. We need to have them before the day of the Halloween Party so we can bag everything beforehand. Call Sky or Tetsu with any questions.
JAO Stateline Trip Cancelled
Unfortunately due to low turnout we've had to cancel the Stateline trip. But we'll be back with new ideas later! Thanks for to those who signed up.
Our Gang
Don�t forget that on October 27th, the Los Angeles Clippers are having the 2nd Japanese American Community Night. The Clippers will be playing the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center and the game will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $18 and $13 each. Community leaders will be introduced during the pre-game; the Taiko Project will be performing at halftime; and after the game, there will be a pick-up game between current or former Nisei Week court members and several JA celebrities. Let�s try to promote this game and get all of your friends and family members to go. We want to have a large JA representation in the crowd. Contact Yato Tamura ASAP.
Guess who is going to be the next president of the Nisei Week Foundation for 2006-2007 - none other than our own Keith Inatomi. Good luck, Keith! You�ve got a busy year ahead of you!
If any of you have any address changes, please contact me with your current information at the E-mail address listed below.
The Ricksha is published twice a month for members and friends of the Japanese American Optimist Club of Los Angeles. News and comments are welcome, but you can keep your silly complaints to yourself. Send publishable material to Leiton Hashimoto, Ricksha Editor; [email protected]. Thank you. Mahalo & Aloha
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