I.I.A. NewsNo. 76

Jun １８，２０２0

From editor:
Following the recent increase of non-Japanese speaking IIA members, we havetranslated into English a summary of IIA News.
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Message from IIA President, Hisae Narita“How we Respond to Emergency”
Due to the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), we are experiencing anunprecedented emergency. Japanese government has lifted the declaration of astate of emergency, though the end of this pandemic is still unforeseen worldwide.
We should prepare ourselves for thelong-term self-restraint to overcome COVID-19.
I assume all IIA members are spending their daily lives with utmost efforts andpatience to protect themselves and families from being exposed to COVID-19. Somemembers may have been suffering from a long self-restraint and we need to share
their problems and try to assist them in any way we can.
All events of IIA have been cancelled or postponed since February, including theAnnual General Assembly slated in May, and all resolutions were put to a vote by
written decision for the first time in our organizationʼs history.
Under these circumstances, I would like to present the course of IIA's activities thisyear, as stated below and ask the members for understanding and cooperation.
1.All our activities which would involve person to person contact will be
implemented in compliance with national or local governmentʼs guideline, and by
taking the precautionary measures to ensure peopleʼs safety and peace of mind.
2. Based on the above paragraph 1, the contracted projects from the city will be
implemented after mutual discussion with Cityʼs Division of International Policy.
3. Due to the expectation of significant reduction in revenue from contractedprojects from the city, there may be a drastic change in the planned projects andbudget in the middle of the year.
4. Office opening date, working hours, staff assignments and other operating rulesof the IIA office will possibly differ from the normal system to reduce costs as muchas possible.
5. Although the services to the members will be significantly lower than usual dueto this emergency, the membership fees remained unchanged, for which I am
grateful for your understanding and cooperation.
6. The year 2020 is expected to be quite an unusual year due to our limited activities,
but I would like to consider this emergency as an opportunity to rethink what
international exchanges should be and how the association should respond.
We intend to carry out more fulfilling international exchange activities with themembers after overcoming these difficulties.
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Report of IIA Annual General Assembly (Resolution by written votes)
In this issue, we will report the outline of each resolution and the result of thevotes.
Resolution No. 1: 2019 Projects & Activities and Financial Report●Exchanges with affiliated cities overseas: MAY- Acceptance of Leshan City official
delegation; JULY- Acceptance of Medan City official delegation & Gardena City youthdelegation; AUGUST- Dispatch of Ichikawa youth delegation to Medan City;OCTOBER- Dispatch of Ichikawa citizens delegation to Rosenheim City & Ichikawa
citizens to Wisconsin, USA in cooperation with Chiba Prefecture/ Wisconsin State
Alliance Project; NOVEMBER- Dispatch of Ichikawa citizens delegation to Medan City.
●Ongoing projects: ICHIMAIL – all year round; CHEF TEACHER (10 schools, 30classes) from June to December; Survival Japanese Language Classes in August;and Japanese Volunteer Teachersʼ training courses from November to February.
WORLD FRIENDS, a new project, facilitated video letters exchanges between
Myoden Elementary School and 186th Street Elementary School in Gardena fromAugust to March, which emerged as a new form of youth exchange program.
However, most of the projects were cancelled or postponed due to the closure of
public facilities in the city following an increase in coronavirus cases after February.
In March, the Symposium/Cross-cultural Communication was planned to be held
as part of International Day event in Ichikawa, but had to be postponed.
As for the financial report, income and expenses fell below the budget level with76% and 69%, respectively, due to the increased contracted projects from the cityand the effectiveness of cost-cutting measures. The account balance resulted in asurplus of about 1.7 million yen, without using the financial adjustment fund.
On April 27, two auditors conducted an audit and it was confirmed that thesettlement of accounts and accounting process were accurate and appropriate.
Voting Results: Number of voting forms sent: 391, Number of replies received:
231 (Approved 224, Disapproved 1, Abstained 6). Therefore, the first Resolution
was approved.
P3Resolution No. 2: 2020 Activities/Projects and Budget Proposal
FY2020 was forecasted to be the year with relatively fewer overseas city exchanges
and contracted projects from the city, since the Olympic and Paralympic Games
were scheduled to be held. In addition, the strong impact of the spread of COVID19 infection led to uncertainties about the future which makes it difficult to decide
the course of activities and estimate the budget. For these reasons, we haveformulated a budget plan based on the current cancelled and postponed projects.
However, there is a prospect of having significant changes in the future, depending2upon the COVID-19 infection status. Particularly, a substantial decline in income canbe expected due to a decrease in contracted projects. Even if we strive to reduce
expenses further, the deficit on budget for the current fiscal year is inevitable.
Therefore, we are obliged to transfer the money from the financial adjustment fundto income budget.
Voting result: Number of voting forms sent 391, Number of replies received 231、(Approved 224, Disapproved 1, Abstained 6)
Therefore, the second resolution was approved.
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Resolution No. 3: Appointment of Officer
Although the year 2020 is not the period for election of officers, Mr. Katsuhiko
Koizumi was appointed as Chairperson of the Student and Youth Committee, theposition which was previously vacant.
Mr. Koizumi is a corporate officer living in Ichikawa, and was dispatched to Gardena
City in 1999 as a member of Ichikawa City Youth Delegation. Since then, he has
cooperated with IIA activities, such as homestay program, support for student
delegates, participation in town festivals, activities for official delegation fromaffiliated cities, and others.
Voting result: Number of voting forms sent 391, Number of replies received 231、(Approved 224 , Disapproved 1, Abstained 6)
Therefore, the third resolution was approved.
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Aspiration of the New OfficerMr. Katsuhiko Koizumi was appointed as Chairperson of Student and YouthCommittee.
Greetings from Mr. Koizumi:“My name is Katsuhiko Koizumi. I was appointed as chairperson of the Student andYouth Committee.
In summer of 1999, when I was a high school student, I had an opportunity to be
one of the student delegates to sister-city, Gardena, where I stayed for 10 days witha host family. Looking back on those days, it reminded me of many valuable
experiences and precious moments.
Since then, I have been helping IIA to welcome citizensʼ groups from affiliated cities
and assist Ichikawa students who will be dispatched to cities overseas, with a lot ofhelp from former and current IIA presidents and staff members of IIA office andthe Cityʼs Division of International Affairs. Also, I have been getting in touch withmy host family and friends in Gardena.
One day, I received a music CD from one of my friends in Gardena. The CDcontained my favorite music and was labeled with a picture taken at LA's Disneyland.
3I was surprised that a high school student of the same age could have such a skill
because I didnʼt know how to download music into CD-ROM at that time. Thisexperience made me realize the differences in technical know-how between Japanand the United States. Owing to this experience, I would like to encourage students
to participate in international exchange activities to gain first-hand knowledge ofinternational relations.
As an OB of dispatched students, I believe that my role in IIA is to share myknowledge and experiences to the next generation. At first, I intend to connect withformer student delegates in different age groups through SNS and motivate themto participate in IIA events.
I am determined to exert my utmost effort to help my juniors fulfill an enrichingexperience in international exchanges and take an active part in the international
community.
New lineup of Division of International Policy, Ichikawa City
Last April 1, as the city announced the personnel relocation, and the Division ofInternational Policy introduced three new staff members along with the changes inthe respective assignment of current staff, as follows:
Mr Takeshi Oyamatsu,New Director

Ms Kumiko Suzuki, Deputy Director
Ms Eri Asao, In charge of IIA matters and World Friends
Mr Yoichi Yamada, New staff in charge of Interpretation & Translation, International
Exchange Organization, City of Medan, City of Issy-les-Moulineaux
Mr. Teru Fukui, In charge of Consultation services for foreigners, Japanese language
volunteer classes, Disaster prevention agreement
Mr Koki Makimoto, New staff in charge of Ichimail, City of Gardena, City of Leshan
Ms Emi Komatsu, In charge of Chef Teachers, City of Rosenheim, German Day
Ms Takako Sato, Specialist in English language* Three staffs are temporarily assigned to work in the Special Cash Handout Department.

Greetings from Mr. Oyamatsu“My name is Takeshi Oyamatsu, and I was appointed as Director of International
Policy Division, from April 1, 2020. I truly appreciate IIAʼs continued support to ourprojects regarding international exchange policy and others. Currently, socialactivities are stagnated not only in our city, but also in our affiliated cities aroundthe world due to global spread of coronavirus. I hope that this difficult situation will
come to an end soon so we can take delight in welcoming the early summer breeze.
I look forward to your understanding and steadfast support when operations return
to its normal state.”4