My day started with a flurry of phone calls from people who had looked out of the window and decided they would take the 'dinner only' option after all. Rain was indeed forecast for the entire day, the first time the annual C&O Takao outing had not been blessed with clement weather. (The first such outing was in May, 2002.) Still, the forecast was only for light rain, so I felt no inclination to invoke the torrential rain cancellation clause!

Following a tradition going back to the 1930s, the C&O Society’s annual golf tournament was held at Hodogaya Country Club in Yokohama. The date chosen for this year’s tournament was Saturday, 18th March.

The Star Bar, RHC 51st floor, Roppongi Hills,
Thursday, 22nd June, 2006 (18:30 – 21:00).

C&O Spring Golf Meeting — 15 March 2003

On Saturday, 15th March, fourteen C&O golf enthusiasts, joined by two guests, travelled across Tokyo Bay (most of them beneath the sea via the Aqualine!) to Fuji Country Club Ichihara for the Society’s Spring Golf Meeting. This was the Society’s first visit to Fuji Ichihara — a well-regarded Robert Trent Jones course — and impressions were positive regarding both the layout and overall condition.

This was, as far as we know, only the Society’s second official bōnenkai (year-end party), the first having taken place on 27 December 2000 at Hokkaido in Shinjuku. Both events were extremely successful, so it seems likely that a bōnenkai will become a regular feature of the Society’s programme in future.

Autumn Golf Meeting — 2002

The day dawned fine and clear, with a gentle breeze, for the dozen participants at the Society’s third and final golf outing of the year. The venue was Kyo Country Club, close to Narita Airport — in fact so close that at times a well-flighted approach shot appeared capable of causing a major international incident.

The rather peculiarly named Agnes Hotel (the owner's name spelt backwards, apparently) came with strong recommendations from the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan, so we booked it without hesitation for our March dinner. It's a small, elegant, modern place, and the high-ceilinged "Agnes Hall" fitted our needs perfectly. One felt that the manager and his staff had gone out of their way to provide us with good homely fare of a high standard at an extremely reasonable price (\5,500 including drinks - the menu is attached below).

"Cambridge draw level at Hodogaya"

C&O golfers were once again most fortunate to play the annual summer tournament at Hodogaya Country Club in Yokohama thanks to the several members who are also Hodogaya members. Hodogaya is a beautiful course that was generously laid out at a time when wide open spaces were available near the capital and is further distinguished by a fine club house designed by C&O member Hidehiro Takaki (Gonville & Caius, Cambridge 1927).

A General Meeting, chaired by the Society’s President, Sir Stephen Gomersall (Queens’ Cambridge 1966), was held at the New Hall, British Embassy on Thursday, 13th March, 2003, starting at 6:30 p.m.