Federation of Japan - moving on with the Young Past Pupils

By Mr. Okawa Chihiro, EXDB

Tokyo, Japan, 14 October 2017 -- The Federation of Don Bosco Alumni, chaired by President Mr. Hiroshi Yoshida in the presence of SDB Provincial Fr. Mario Yamanouchi held the annual board meeting (October 14) in Shibuya, Tokyo.

25 Past Pupils of Don Bosco from 5 Salesian Schools in Japan, President of Past Pupils of Mary Help of Christians (Unione​ Japan: Ms. Soh Eiko​), SDB Provincial, Provincial Delegate for DB Alumni (Fr. Suzuki Masao), Youth Ministry Delegate (Fr. Shin Mishima), and Delegate for the SYM Japan (Fr. Urata Shinjiro) attended.

This time, ​the Federation has produced​ a leaflet of fundraising from the Past Pupils. And before the meeting, the 5 school alumni associations had elected 16 younger ​P​ast ​Pupils including me in advance as the members of the ​W​orking ​T​eam (WT), which will consider the sustainability and development of the ​F​ederation.

President Yoshida stressed, "It is very important for this Federation to invite more past pupils, especially younger members and to adopt their new opinions for activating the association for the Future Youth".

So in the latter part of the meeting, ​Mr. Yoshida gave plenty time to ​the Working Team members​, and the younger past pupils​ discussed​ sincerely the challenges which the Federation is facing now. They will enthusiastically undertake the task of ​finding good answers on the ​especially important challenges below:

1. Publicity (Social Communication)
2. Asia-Oceania Congress in Japan 2020
3. Finance and Incorporation

Though there were some newcomers on the federation meeting, the members of Working Team immediately got sincerely in touch with each other. Each team has a leader and the ​S​ecretariats of the ​Federation (Mr. Tateishi Mitsuhiro and Chihiro Okawa) w​ere​ appointed as Captains of the Working Teams (WT).

The WT members are expected to have face-to-face or online meetings frequently ​for the brighter future ​ in collaboration with each school Alumni association​​.

After the meeting, a get-together party was held.​ The representatives of 5 associations talked about the news of their own school alumni. Then Fr. Mishima and Fr. Urata and me​ introduced the activities of SDB Youth Ministry in Japan, and called for more cooperation on the Salesian Movements for the Youth.

Finally, Fr. Suzuki Masao had a Good Night Talk. For the first Japanese Christians, "Gotaisetsu" meant Love. Fr. Suzuki emphasized the value of "Gotaisetsu", and called out to us to love the youth and children more as an important part of one big Salesian Family.

Related article: AustraLasia 4167 - Welcome to Tokyo 2020

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