Japanese Garden Working Bee - October 2024

With our Hanami Party just one week away we held a Japanese Garden working bee to prepare the garden for next Sunday's gathering at Frankston High School's Senior Campus.

Not quite the numbers we had hoped for but a huge thanks to Peter, John and Nicole who came along to help with a variety of tasks in the garden. The first was to remove the protective netting from the tree favored by the local possums, with the upper leaves now growing through the netting and affecting the tree's growth.

We then removed a dead tree located near the shishi odoshi (deer/wild boar clapper) at the back of the garden.

Peter then set about cutting and spraying the unwanted bamboo shoots while John helped me with pruning and trimming the many shrubs and trees in the garden - predominantly azaleas, but also camellias and plums.

Nicole did a fantastic job of removing the many dead flowers from the different varieties of azalea bushes.

Other tasks included removing the fallen bamboo leaves from the Foot Street end of the garden; repairing the shishi odoshi; raking, blowing and removing the cuttings and ever-present gum leaves; cleaning the cobwebs from the classroom windows; and finishing with pressure washing the brick work adjacent to the rooms.

And a final water and it was time to take a few snaps.

Thanks to Therese who arrived with a delicious morning tea - sorry Nicole, it was about 5 minutes after you had to leave. Many thanks to John, Peter and Nicole for giving up a few hours of your Sunday morning to come along and help tidy the garden!

2023-24 FSFA Chairperson's Report

The Frankston Susono Friendship Association (FSFA) Committee have had another very busy year promoting Japanese culture within the community and ensuring the bond with our sister-city, Susono continues to flourish.

Frankston has maintained its sister-city relationship with Susono for more than 42 years because of the hard work and dedication from past and present committee members from both Frankston and Susono. I would like to thank all the current committee members for the hard work they have put in over the past twelve months. This group of dedicated people have continued to work together to provide engaging Japanese cultural activities for our community. The committee held a special dinner at a local Japanese restaurant in February to celebrate the 42^nd anniversary of Frankston’s sister city relationship with Susono.

The committee members have continued to maintain regular contact with our friends in Susono on the Susono Overseas Friendship Association (SOFA) via ZOOM meetings every 3 months. As a result of these ZOOM meetings between the two sister cities, the two organisations have been able to plan activities together, discuss agenda items and make decisions together as sister cities, all of which has had a positive outcome for both organisations. Both FSFA and SOFA also enjoyed celebrating Christmas and New Year’s together over ZOOM which is wonderful to see. Many thanks to those committee members for organising these ZOOM meetings and making them happen.

Our committee members can now communicate with each other via WhatsApp as well as email and phone. The addition of WhatsApp has strengthened the communication between FSFA members, ensuring inclusiveness and ensuring even better outcomes when planning and confirming events.

The committee have continued to support Derinya Primary School with the annual student cultural exchange program. In August, Derinya welcomed nine students and two chaperones from Susono and on October 1^st, 2024, 16 children and 4 teachers will be visiting Susono. Both delegations have homestays for a week which provides them with an insight into a different culture, as well as making new, life-long friendships.

In September, FSFA held their annual speech contest where students from local primary and secondary schools had an opportunity to showcase their Japanese language skills. Historically, this event has been well attended and therefore will remain on FSFA’s annual calendar. A special thank you to our panel of judges for assisting at this year’s contest; the teachers for their hours of hard work preparing their students; and the parents and families for their attendance, encouragement and support. Finally, our appreciation to Monash Peninsula Campus for making such a wonderful venue available to our Association.

In 2023 our FSFA committee introduced taiko (Japanese drumming) to the community. Taiko drums were made from plastic rubbish bins for members of FSFA and the community to learn on. In 2024 the numbers of participants have increased as has the commitment and enthusiasm of the participants. FSFA decided to purchase and hire taiko drums for the participants to use which has been a great success. The taiko group have held “Come ‘N’ Try” days at Ballam Park and also at Frankston Bunnings. Both events were well received and as an outcome, attracted new members into the group. The taiko group meet at Frankston High School twice each month. Once for a lesson given by Toshi Sakamoto, a professional taiko drummer, and the other for a practice session. The members of the taiko group plan to continue to raise funds to purchase additional taiko drums by holding a sausage sizzle at Bunnings in early November.

FSFA plans to continue to support the taiko classes as it provides another platform for our community to learn about Japanese culture. The taiko group will be performing at the Bunnings Family Christmas Night and Cruden Farm’s Christmas Market in December. The group will also be encouraged to perform at our next Japanese Festival scheduled for August 2025.

FSFA would like to thank Frankston High School for their support by allowing the taiko group to meet at the school, as well as supporting FSFA with other events held on-site at the school such as our Hanami Party in late October and gatherings of FSFA members and friends.

Frankston High School is also home to the Japanese Garden which was planted many years back by FSFA. The garden is very beautiful, showcasing Japanese gardens throughout all the seasons. A huge thank you to Vice-Chairperson Simon Hast for his leadership in maintaining the garden to such a high standard, and many thanks to the committee members for all their hard work in assisting with the working bees throughout the year. This year we also took the opportunity to invite our taiko students to participate in the working bees that were scheduled prior to the taiko sessions. The students enjoyed assisting with the working bee and gaining an appreciation of another aspect of Japanese culture through the garden. Together, with Simon’s leadership, the garden continues to thrive and look wonderful.

The FSFA committee continue to give up their time and work together to ensure Frankston and Susono’s sister city relationship continues. A special thanks to Bev Hannan for continuing to do such a fantastic job as Treasurer. Bev has been on our committee for 39 years and is a valued member of our team.

All the committee members have continued to share their passion and be involved with various activities. In February, Committee members Ann-Maree Reeve and Peter Bargholz represented FSFA at a party to celebrate the Japanese Emperor’s birthday, held at Consul-General Shimada’s home in Toorak. The Acting Mayor of Frankston, Cr. Liam Hughes, was also present at this special event.

Our FSFA committee members are always looking for new opportunities to promote Japanese culture and Susono within the community. Recently, FSFA committee members ran a very successful taiko workshop for Frankston Council’s school holiday program. The feedback from both the FSFA committee members and participants attending was very positive, which is great news. Our committee members also enjoy liaising with other organisations promoting Japanese culture, and in May committee members participated in the Box Hill Japanese Festival where they promoted our sister city relationship with Susono. The booth was well attended with much interest shown in both FSFA and Susono.

FSFA was honoured to welcome Consul-General Shimada and Mrs. Shimada, former FSFA Chairperson Peter Patterson and his special guests, and FSFA Life Members to our September committee meeting. This was a very special meeting as the Consul-General presented Peter Patterson with a Japanese Foreign Ministry Commendation Award for his many years of service as FSFA Chairperson and for promoting Japanese culture within the community. FSFA thanked Peter for his hard work and leadership whist he was Chairperson, which ensured the relationship between FSFA and SOFA flourished.

The FSFA committee members presented a slide show outlining our history, past achievements, present activities, and goals for the future. The evening was a success thanks to the FSFA committee’s hard work in preparing for the evening and Frankston City Council’s support with catering which was enjoyed by all. Consul-General Shimada and his wife were presented with gifts and honorary FSFA membership certificates. They both provided positive feedback on all the work FSFA does in promoting Japanese culture within our community and FSFA was commended for maintaining such a long-term relationship with Susono.

As the Chairperson of FSFA, I am very proud of all our committee members and the wonderful work they have been able to achieve together over the past year. I thank you for giving up your time and sharing your expertise with the team. Our team maybe small in numbers, but huge in resources.

Sadly, I inform you that David and Anita Cross have decided to step down from the FSFA Committee as of October 2024. David and Anita have been very active members over the years they have been committee members, and we are very grateful for everything they have done. We wish them both well for their future endeavours and will miss their company and support.

On behalf of the FSFA Committee I would like to thank Frankston City Council for their on-going support, especially Karen Colquhoun. Karen is instrumental in ensuring our FSFA committee meetings run smoothly and liaises on the behalf of FSFA with other members of Council.

The coming year looks to be another busy one for the FSFA Committee with plans to host a delegation from Susono in August to coincide with a Japanese Festival. Plans and discussions are already in motion for how we can also assist with supporting a delegation to perform at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka next year!

I am relocating to Japan later this week to assist with teaching English to our friends in Susono for a year. SOFA is assisting with a visa so as I can return to Susono and continue to build on the wonderful connections that we have all worked so hard to achieve! (Mine commencing in 1983 as one of the first exchange students to represent Frankston in Susono).

A huge thank you to Vice Chairperson Simon Hast for being such a support to myself and the entire team. Simon’s knowledge and overview of both Frankston and Susono is amazing. He is currently working on updating the history of our sister city relationship with Susono. Thank you to Therese Sakamoto for always being on stand-by for interpreting when required with our friends in Susono. Therese ensures that we can communicate with the SOFA committee members effectively, and that nothing gets lost in translation!

Thank you to the Bargholz family (Ann-Maree, Peter and Grace), new members of FSFA committee who have welcomed the committee into their home to celebrate special occasions, including our Christmas party and ZOOM session with our friends in SOFA.

And thanks to our other committee members – Vic Webster, Jorden Lancaster, Anne Grant, Nicole Mahl and Frankston High School’s representative Cameron Heyes. You are all amazing and your passion for Japan is infectious, which is why FSFA is so successful! Keep up the great work. I look forward to 2025 to see what more we can achieve together to share Japanese culture and promote our sister city relationship with Susono.

 

Julie D’Arcy

Chairperson

Frankston Susono Friendship Association Inc.

Abbotsford Taiko Workshop Report

Don, don, don, taka, don, don, don …

 

Wow, what an exhilarating, thrilling Taiko drum experience many of us were privileged to engage in on Sunday 22nd September 2024, led by our master Taiko drum teacher, Sensei Toshi Sakamoto - choreographer and composer.

 

By special invitation, ten members of our Frankston taiko group arrived, and engaged in an amazing afternoon workshop in Abbotsford with Toshi's Wadaiko Rindo group and the Japanese Association of Geelong taiko group.

Group warm-up - note the noise reducing covers on the drums

Sensei Toshi amazed us all, by leading and entwining the workshop, with a variety of challenging new drum combinations that tested our cognition, coordination, balance, fitness and  egos! Like a true master, and unbeknownst to each of us, he cleverly and patiently, had taught different specific taiko compositions over several months, to each of the three groups (Frankston, Geelong and Abbotsford). We each learned, and practiced our unique composition at our specific locations, which Toshi then weaved into a magical drum performance, where each became players in his musical masterpiece.

 

Members of the three groups practicing together

Like several waves overlapping and interlacing, we experienced the thrill of being part of something  so much bigger than ourselves and our own taiko groups – to embody being part of his genius choreography, whereby he transformed the 30 people in the room to join together, but each playing different parts. We became Sensei Toshi’s orchestra, led by Toshi himself.

 

Each group performed their own composition (mistakes, bachi flying and brilliance included) whereby we were mesmerised by the variations, skills, complexity, diligence and intricacy which was displayed. The more experienced taiko players inspired us with their combinations, fitness and layering techniques, whilst the beginners were happy to just have a go, bringing smiles all round and a joyous union of people making music, celebrating and having fun together.

Our group's performance before a very supportive audience!

We had the opportunity to practice together, and later to “have a go” playing all the different drum sizes and drumming styles – shime-daiko, katsugi oke daiko, okedo-daiko, miya-daiko, nagado-daiko, o-daiko – small to large to huge! Each drum required different skills e.g. side hitting, hitting the large o-daiko drum with strong forceful arms, sitting on the floor and playing a fast-drumming  pattern, abdominal strength holding yourself in a C shape position sitting on the floor whilst hitting the miya-daiko, lunging & twisting and balance of different kinds. We were all entranced by Toshi’s brilliance and uplifted and inspired to keep Taiko alive in Frankston.

 

We were also treated to a performance of the Eisa Okinawan Folk Dance – a slower, flowing drum dance similar to tai chi movements which uniquely provides the opportunity to use a small tambourine type drum, using dance movements that can improve co-ordination, balance, posture, fitness and focus – great for assisting falls prevention too!

Japanese Association of Geelong Taiko Group's performance

The workshop concluded with Toshi’s amazing Wadaiko Rindo students displaying a number of skilful taiko drumming performances which mesmerized and inspired us with their awesome precision and talent.

 

After the drumming performances we were offered a delicious afternoon tea, and a photo session of all the attendees and an opportunity to socialise and meet the different participants which ranged in age from 10 to 90 years old.

Frankston Taiko Drumming Members

Thank you to St Philip’s Anglican Church for  providing the location in which to meet and to Toshi and his team for hosting this event!

 

Our Frankston group then later enjoyed a lovely dinner together at Chotto Motto in Collingwood – a kooky, fun style restaurant with miniature dinosaurs, dolls, superheroes and a wood fireplace that kept us warm, nostalgic and chatting about our day and  grateful for the food that nourished us.

Frankston Group photo outside Chotto Motto

We look forward to meeting again for another joint workshop with Wadaiko Rindo and the Geelong Taiko group.

Article by Nicole Mahl, with images thanks to Peter Bargholz.