The general assembly of AIRA, which had been postponed due to the spread of Novel Coronavirus infection, was held with less attendants than usual taking preventive measures against Covid-19 and all the proposed subjects were approved. Mr.Satoshi Ichikawa succeeded Mr. Yasuhiko Hesaki as President of AIRA. (No.20-6)

Date & time: September 4th(Fri), 2020 14:30～15:30
Venue: Abiko Civic Plaza Multi-Purpose Hall

The general assembly 2020 was initially scheduled to be held in April, but the Japanese Government declared a state of emergency in early April due to the spread of Novel Coronavirus infection which was effective until late May. In accordance with the emergency declaration, self-restraint of going out was requested and most of the public facilities were closed until the end of June. During this period, AIRA office was closed and all activities except the ones workable on-line had been suspended.

The assembly proceeded in shorter time taking such preventive measures against Covid-19 as prior notification of attendants’ names, checking body temperature at the entrance, wearing masks, keeping the doors open, taking social distancing to avoid 3 C’s.

The assembly started emceed by Ms.Noriko Adachi, Director of Administration. Following a speech by Mr.Yasuhiko Hesaki, President of AIRA, Mr.Junichiro Hoshino, Hon’ble President (Mayor of Abiko City) and Mr.Ichiro Nishigaki, Advisor (Chairman of City Council) also made speeches. The speeches by AIRA President and Hon’ble President were as follows;
Mr.Hesaki
“AIRA’s activities had been suspended due to the state of emergency and we were concerned whether we could maintain our activities, but fortunately we could resume them coexisting with Covid-19.”
Mr.Hoshino
“The number of foreigners living in Abiko was reduced by about 160 people. Many foreigners returned to their countries while the number of foreign visitors significantly decreased. I hope AIRA will continue to promote mutual exchange and communication with foreigners through your regular activities and try to resume the speech contest, the international festival, etc. which were cancelled this year.

Following these speeches, there were explanations and deliberations of agenda items under the chairmanship of Mr. Hesaki.

Agenda Item 1. Business Report of FY2019
Vice President Ms.Fumiko Kitajima made a report of the business performed in FY2019.

Agenda Item 2. Settlement of Accounts of FY2019
Accountant Mr. Isamu Yoda made a report and accordingly Auditor Mr.Tomoyoshi Yoneda declared it appropriate as a result of audit.
* For details, please refer to “ Data for FY2019 General Assembly”

Both items were deliberated and approved unanimously.

Agenda Item 3. Proposal of Appointment of Director, Auditor and Officer
Chairman Hesaki explained the proposals and they were approved. Five Directors and one Audior were replaced and Mr.Satoshi Ichikawa was appointed as new President of AIRA succeeding current President Mr. Hesaki.

Directors, Auditors and Officers of FY2020.pdf
Chairman of General Assembly was changed to the newly-appointed President Mr. Ichikawa and following his short speech, deliberations were resumed.

Agenda Item 4. Business Plan of FY2020
Mr. Koichi Murakoshi, Vice President, made an explanation of the whole project. Both the scheduled “Abiko International Festival” and “International Speech Contest” were cancelled due to the influence of Covid-19.
The 1st Tokatsu District International Relations Association Coordinating Committee was held on July 10th, for which AIRA was in charge of coordination.
About the activities such as “Japanese Language Class for Foreigners”, which is a city-commissioned project, “translation & interpretation” and “dispatching Japanese language teachers to schools”, he explained that they will seek to continue them considering appropriate scales and methods.

The directors of each department made explanations of their activities. The following are their reports about the activities which were affected by Covid-19.
・ Department of General Administration: The party usually held after the general assembly was cancelled.
・ Department of Public Relations: The publication of bulletins will be continued in view of encouragement of communication among members despite the financially hard situation.
・ Department of Cross-Cultural Activities: They have no schedule for international exchange parties or home-stays due to interruption of foreigners’ visit to Japan. Activities to promote international exchange such as bus tours and other events will be reconsidered depending on the situation of Covid-19.
・ Department of Foreign Languages: Opening of the foreign language classes was delayed, but started with revised tuitions and frequencies.
Korean Conversation (beginner’s class) and German Salon were closed while twenty-two classes and one salon were resumed from July. “How to Teach Japanese Class”, which is held every two years, will be held using Zoom from September. The special class of “Travel English” was suspended.
・ Department of Volunteer Services: The Japanese Language Class resumed the lessons from May using online tools and will consider having Face to Face lessons as well. Japan Bird Festival, the project of welcoming North Arizona University students, which are major events for interpretation service and the cross-cultural activities at Namiki Elementary School were suspended.

Agenda Item 5. Budget Plan for businesses of FY2020
Accountant Mr.Yoda made an explanation. The budget was prepared before the pandemic, so a drastic change of the businesses and/or decrease of income will be estimated. Therefore, an actual business plan will be established referring to the working conditions of each business.

Both Item 4 and 5 were deliberated and approved unanimously, and thus, all the agenda items were approved.

Next, Chairman Mr.Ichikawa introduced the following new board members.
(1) Mr.Ichiro Nishigaki and and Ms.Chieko Toda as new Advisers
(2) Five people as new Directors and one as new Auditor. (Please refer to the above PDF “Directors, Auditors and Officers of FY2020” for details.)
All the subjects for the general assembly were completed and the assembly was closed as scheduled with the closing words by the emcee Ms. Adachi. There was no tea party after the assembly due to Covid-19.

(Translated by Katsumi Nakajima)