Summer "Minutes," 2003 (Summary)

Dear all,

I compiled the bulk of our summer correspondence into one cohesive document.  It is a bit long; if you prefer
something more succinct, read on for a summary from my perspective:

Three major issues came up this summer: (1) what to do for Iron Chef: Chicago, (2) having a faculty Advisor, and
(3) what it means to administrate and be part of a “Japanese” club.


1.	We are looking for improvement over last year in this year’s Iron Chef: Chicago competition.  We lost
	some “energy” towards the end of ICC [the event was rather long, people were leaving before the end...
	perhaps we should think of shortening ICC by making the cooking/tasting/judging processes more
	efficient... a good way to do this might be to create a set of clear procedures for these processes].
	Most of our discussion this summer centered on the possible addition of “culture shows”: we would ask
	other RSOs (Asian cultural RSOs, as I infer) to perform a miniature version of their own cultural show
	sometime in the middle of ICC.  We would also have a Japanese mini cultural show.  These shows would help
	keep the “energy” level high.  However, we run the risk of creating “Japan on Parade” [Shawn’s phrase]
	unless the Japanese mini culture show can do more than entertain the audience.  Furthermore, holding the
	cultural shows “during the tasting [would be] very rude to the judges” [Sayaka].  Possibilities for our
	cultural show include (a) a satire/parody of common stereotypes of Japan, (b) a history of Iron Chef in
	Japan and elsewhere, and (c) a presentation on the central ingredient’s significance to Japan [Shawn, me].
	Also, a mini cultural show that we present at ICC could also branch out into a larger cultural show,
	which could rival KSO’s or CUSA’s [Vince].  At present, the decision to include cultural shows at all has
	not been made, and we have not yet contacted any RSOs asking them to aid us in this regard.  Finally,
	aside from cultural shows, it was argued that the main ingredient should not be meat, because some judges
	may be vegetarian and because meat is fairly unchallenging to incorporate in many types of dishes [Shawn].


2.	Thanks to the efforts of Toshio and Satomi, and, most importantly, because of his own graciousness, Mr.
	Ketelaar of the EALC department has agreed to serve as J-Club’s faculty advisor.  He has already given us
	a number of suggestions on how we might go about getting more people involved in J-Club:

	1)	Target undergraduates taking Japanese language classes

	2)	Serve Japanese food and give students opportunities to talk in Japanese at parties/study breaks

	3)	Show movies (we can use the EA dept. Lounge)

	4)	The EALC dept. had 10-12 Japanese speakers last year. We can invite other speakers and he'll be
		willing to invite them on behalf of us if that is easier.  (Japan committee has money if we are up
		for a big event)

	5)	Students who went to Japan with the JET program might have interesting stories to tell... [Satomi]


3.	Perhaps the most ominous topic of discussion was how we might make J-Club a “true” Japanese club.  J-Club,
	of all (or most of) the cultural RSOs, is unique in that its members are not strictly ethnically
	Japanese--it encourages the membership of those who simply have an interest (albeit a strong interest) in
	Japanese culture.  (It is likely that the other cultural RSOs encourage this too; the fact is that in
	J-Club, it actually happens.)  The unfortunate consequence of this mix is that a division tends to arise
	between groups, one group wanting to fashion J-Club into the “glorified clique” to which Shawn gave
	nomenclature, and the other group wanting to learn about and experience what Japanese culture is, what it
	“really” is [Vince], without necessarily speaking the language or knowing the social customs.  Isn’t it
	the role of a Japanese club to facilitate both of these interests?  To provide an atmosphere in which
	people from Japan can congregate and socialize and those interested in learning more about Japan can do
	so?  Something to keep in mind when planning events in the future.


Okay, let’s talk about these things at the next board meeting.  Also, let’s talk about J-Table and changing the
title “First-Year Rep.”

M