Hello!
Things have been rolling along at breakneck speed for JETAAMN, and we are about a week in advance of the annual JET Alumni Association National Conference. As you may know, JETAA Minnesota stepped up to the plate to host the conference this year. And it has been a whirlwind since of coordinating, arranging, communicating, inviting, and dispersing information since! It has been a tremendous amount of work, but we are so delighted because not only does this bring attention to our local JET Alumni Association, but it also brings attention and local commerce to the Twin Cities and Minnesota beyond. People from all over the country will be joining us. If you are a Minnesota JET Alum who has offered to volunteer to help with planning, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We are very pleased to announce some further details of the conference and an invitation!
The conference will kick off on Thursday, September 26th, in downtown Minneapolis with an official conference reception, hosted by the US Japan Bridging Foundation. We will have representatives from USJBF join us to share some exciting news that will be happening in upcoming months on the JETAA USA national level. Things are really starting to hop for us there – very exciting stuff! And even more thrilling, former Ambassador & Vice President Walter F. Mondale will also be attending to co-host this reception. We are honored to have such an esteemed guest.
With delegates attending from every single JETAA US Chapter (there’s 19 chapters), we will have around 40 JETAA Board Officers present. Among others in attendance will be a representative from the US Japan Ambassador’s office (unfortunately, the Honorable Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae will not be able to make it but is sending his right hand man in his place), two Consulate representatives including Consul General Yoshida, Minnesota’s very own Honorary Consul General, Mirja Hanson, all three JETAA USA Country Reps, a JETAA USA Working Group and JETAA USA Board of Advisors representative, James Gannon, and a whole host of other attendees. We are very lucky. We should have a total rounding to about 60 people joining us.
The conference begins in earnest Friday morning with remarks made by the Consul General and Honorary Consul General, JETAAMN President (yours truly!), and a JETAA USA Country Rep, followed by sessions, breakouts, and workshops lasting all day Friday and Saturday.
Each night will end with a reception held by MOFA (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) of the Japan Consulate in Chicago on one evening, and a reception held by CLAIR (the Council of Local Authorities of International Relations) on the second evening.
The conference will close on Sunday around noon after morning sessions and closing remarks.
And now, time for an official invitation! Please join us for the official conference NIJI & SANJIKAI’s!!!
Friday Night:
8:30 pm-10:30 pm: Shout House
10:30 pm~: Marvel Bar
Saturday Night:
8:30 pm-11:30 pm: Bus Tour!! We anticipate many of the JETAA Conference Delegates from the 19 chapters will be boarding this bus. We will be riding the bus to give the Delegates some sites to see and a few institutional bars to visit: Psycho Suzi’s, Nye’s, and Seven Corners. This is a self-pay event. It is $18/person for the bus ticket (this includes tip). This does not include drinks at the bars. Please RSVP below for this event by SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND.
The bus will be picking us up at Hell’s Kitchen on Saturday, September 28th at 8:30 pm. It will be dropping us off around midnight at the downtown Crowne Plaza Northstar Hotel.
Please RSVP by PayPal at the link below by Sunday, September 22nd.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Z4V93C3L8LH5Y
We hope you can make it to some of these places so you can represent JETAAMN and Minnesota in general. We would love a strong showing and would be grateful for several JETAAMN “Ambassadors” to attend so we can welcome in these attendees and show them how friendly and wonderful our state is!
We are so excited. The day we at the JETAAMN board have all been waiting for is coming so soon. YEAH! Let me know if you have any questions.
Warm regards,
Liz Brailsford
JETAAMN President
Niigata-ken, 2004-2007
president@jetaamn.org