The FSFA Annual General Meeting was held today, Sunday 18th October, and we are pleased to announce our new committee for the coming year. There were a number of apologies from those unable to attend, including Frankston Mayor Cr Sue Baker and the Japanese Consul-General Imanishi. We thank those who attended the AGM, especially Cr Brad Hill who was able to gain a deeper understanding of the work and many activities and events undertaken by our committee promoting Japanese culture and the sister city relationship with Susono on behalf of the Frankston City Council and the Frankston community.
After assuming the role of Chairperson in October 2019 after Peter Patterson retired, Julie D'Arcy has made the decision to step aside and give others the opportunity to lead FSFA into it's 45th year. Julie guided us through the challenging COVID period as we found new, and innovative ways to continue and indeed strengthen the sister city relationship with Susono. Online meetings, quarterly FSFA/SOFA committee meetings and other Sister Cities Australia award-winning strategies were implemented and encouraged by Julie as we navigated through those difficult times.
We thank Julie for her leadership, guidance and encouragement, but as one of our first two exchange students to Susono who remains passionate and committed to the sister city relationship, we are pleased that she has chosen to remain on the committee to mentor and assist our new Chairperson.
Forty years ago Therese Hannan was one of 3 exchange students from Frankston living in our sister city Susono and today Therese Sakamoto became our 6th Chairperson, her 20th year on the committee. We wish Therese great success as she takes on the role in what will be a challenging period as the Frankston City Council makes changes to the funding and sister cities framework guidelines.
Simon Hast continues as Vice-Chairperson, and our longest-serving committee member Bev Hannan will again undertake the role of Treasurer - her 22nd year, and 38th as a committee member! All 3 are the Executive Committee members.
Our committee members for 2026-27 are Peter Bargholz, Grace Bargholz (welcome back Grace!), Julie D'Arcy, Marcia Hayes, Nicole Moyle, Derek Mosely, and Susono-based Yoshio Noda.
Vic Webster, who served for 15 years, and Nicole Mahl have stepped away from the committee and we thank them for their work and contribution and wish them well for the future.
For anyone interested in joining the FSFA committee who were unable to attend today's AGM, we are also able to co-opt committee members. You can reach out via email to frankston.susono@gmail.com
Chairperson Therese Sakamoto presented information about the Australia-Japan Subnational Diplomacy Forum 2026 she attended at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo earlier this month as part of events organised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Australia Japan Treaty (50 years of Friendship and Co-operation). Also attending the Forum were SOFA Chairperson Yoshiko Masuyama and FSFA committee member Derek Mosely who is currently visiting family in Japan.
The AGM concluded with an audio-visual presentation of our year's events and activities before the Frankston Taiko Group presented 3 performance pieces to an appreciative audience.
It was then time for our Hanami Party with plenty of Japanese themed food and snacks to enjoy as we celebrated another successful year and look forward to promoting our passion for Japanese culture, food, language, music, etc. to the Frankston community and beyond!
