A beautiful calm early Spring day at the venerable Hodogaya Country Club greeted the sixteen C&O players on Saturday March 23rd. This time we were graced with a guest – David Jones from the London wine merchant Berry Brothers, as well as the welcome participation of one of our lady members, Carolyn Macdonald.

Everyone was delighted to welcome back to active golfing duties Terry Nakamura, who acquitted himself extremely well on the day.

Four fourballs, two ‘In’, two ‘Out’, eight Oxonians, seven Cantabrians; the stage was set for another close battle for not only the prized individual trophy (defending champion: Yoshi Kawamura) but for the ‘varsity’ match based on the top four scores from either University.

Our guest David Jones, a smooth swinging 3 handicapper from The Berkshire, actually posted the best score on the day, with a fine 75 gross. But the individual honours went to Simon Dalby whose 76 was enough to win the day.

The Varsity match was finally won by Cambridge thus halting a run of Oxford success.

A very enjoyable day was had and we all look forward to the Autumn meeting. Many thanks to Steven Thomas for organizing the day.

Oxford players: Peter Sato, Terry Nakamura, Charles Postles, Yoshi Shimizu, Tomo Imai, Steven Thomas, Yasuzo Takeno, Alex Miller.

Cambridge players: Simon Dalby, Peter Itoh, Jim Weeks, Alastair & Carolyn Macdonald, Yoshi Kawamura, John Sunley.

Guest: David Jones.

Join us for an American buffet feast at the recently renovated TAC on March 15th. The event will be held in the Brooklyn Room. Members are welcome to invite one guest each.

Attendance fee: 8,000 (Payment is required in advance; account details and directions to Tokyo American Club will be sent to those who apply to attend. No refunds for no-shows or those who cancel after the closing date [March 12].)

Dress Code: Lounge suits

Members who would like to attend this event should contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org) by March 12th.

This event is now full, but members may still register their names for inclusion on the waiting list.

We are pleased to announce that Sir David Warren’s successor as British Ambassador to Japan, HE Mr Tim Hitchens (Christ’s Cambridge 1980), has kindly agreed to succeed Sir David as President of C&O as well. To welcome Mr Hitchens and his wife, Sara (Christ’s Cambridge 1980), to Japan, we are holding a seated 5-course dinner at The Tokyo Club on February 5th: reception and aperitifs from 18:30, dinner from 19:00, after-dinner drinks.

Members who would like to attend this important event should contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org) by Feb. 1. Members are welcome to invite one guest each. Directions to The Tokyo Club will be sent to those who sign up.

Attendance fee: 8,000 yen (payment required in advance; account details will be sent to those who apply to attend; no refunds for no-shows or those who cancel after Feb. 1)

Dress code: lounge suits

This event is already full, but members may still register their names for inclusion on the waiting list.

Join us at the offices of Berry Brothers & Rudd (www.bbr.com/about/japan) in Marunouchi to taste a selection of the firm's own wines and listen to expert commentary by David Jones, BB&R's Private Account Manager in Japan. A small buffet will be provided.

Kokusai Building 2F, 3-1-1 Marunouchi,
 Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005
 (03-5220-5491)


Attendance fee: 3,500 yen (Payment is required in advance; account details and directions will be sent to those who apply to attend. No refunds for no-shows or cancellations after Jan. 22.)

If you would like to attend this event, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org) by January 22nd. Space is limited, so this event is open to members only.

Our annual Christmas Party will be held, as usual, in The International House of Japan's Kabayama Room.

The closest subway station to IHJ is Azabu Juban (5 minutes’ walk), but access is also easy from Roppongi (12 minutes’ walk). A map can be found at http://www.i-house.or.jp/jp/

Attendance fee: 8,000 yen, inclusive of food and free flow of drinks

Payment is required in advance; account details will be sent to those who sign up. No refunds will be made to no-shows or those who cancel after the closing date.

If you would like to attend this event, please let Tim Minton know by Friday, 9th December (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org). Members are welcome to invite one guest each.

There is no particular dress code for this event.

The 2012 C&O Autumn Golf Outing was held on October 20th; it was a beautiful, sunny autumn day - most welcome to all golfers after the abnormally hot summer endured this year.

Camford Golf Tournament Autumn 2012

The course was Fuji OGM Ichihara GC; that morning, the traffic on Aqua Line was not so bad, resulting in the fact that everybody arrived without any frustrations from a long drive.

A total of eight people joined: four each from Oxford and Cambridge. While the Oxford players tried their best, on this occasion Cambridge team won the University Match by a slim margin of just 4 strokes (331-327). The historic record now stands at Oxford 23 vs. Cambridge 18.

In the individual competition, Yoshihiko Kawamura won the C&O Trophy for the first time with a solid score of 97 gross and 77 net.

The new Champion said that even though he was enjoying a high handicap, he did not expect to win at the tournament at all, because his driver and fairway woods had not been stable for the past months. However, he was very much helped by an excellent caddy who found his ball even in the bushes and gave effective instructions on the greens. In addition, his game benefited from the enjoyable company and friendly encouragement of his playing partners, Charles Postles, Steven Thomas and Jim Weeks.

On such a wonderful Kanto autumn day, all participants enjoyed the tournament, and promoted our friendship. We promised to get together for the next C&O Spring Golf Outing at Hodogaya CC, scheduled for March 23rd 2013.

Yoshihiko Kawamura, Clare Hall, Cambridge, 1992

October's main event will be held at one of our favourite venues, the French restaurant Nambu-tei (南部亭) in Hibiya Park. This will be the eleventh consecutive year in which Nambu-tei has catered for us, the first time being in June, 2002. As always, we will have exclusive use of the ground floor and terrace. Members who have not yet visited Nambu-tei will be able to get an idea of its great charm by looking at the restaurant’s website: www.nambu-tei.com/.

If you would like to attend, contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford.org) by Monday, 15th October.

Attendance fee: 7,000 yen inclusive (payment required in advance; account details and directions will be sent to those who sign up)
No refunds for no-shows or cancellations after the closing date.

This party is to thank C&O President Sir David Warren, whose term as British Ambassador to Japan finishes at the end of this year, and Lady Warren for their wholehearted support of the Society over the past four years. The venue is a new one for C&O, Tsunamachi Mitsui Club (2-3-7 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0073, www.tsunamachimitsuiclub.co.jp/). Directions will be sent to those who sign up.

To give members a chance to see the extensive gardens before it goes dark, the reception desk will open at 18:00. Please note, however, that drinks will not be served until 18:30.

The attendance fees are 7,000 yen for members and 10,000 yen for guests. Payment is required in advance, and those who cancel after the closing date (Sept. 18) will not be refunded.

Dress code: jacket and tie

If you would like to attend this event, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton@camford.org) by September 18. Members are welcome to invite one guest each.

This event replaces the one originally scheduled at Kojunsha on June 21 to thank Mr Teruhisa Nakamura for over 30 years of devoted service to the Society. It will take the form of a buffet Dinner at Mitsubishi Club, which is on the 21st floor of Mitsubishi Shoji Building, 2-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Directions will be sent to those who sign up.

Dress code: jacket required, tie optional
Attendance fee: 8,000 yen
Payment is required in advance by bank transfer; the Society’s bank account details will be sent to those who sign up; no-shows and those who cancel after the deadline will be charged.

If you would like to attend this event, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org] by July 4.

Mr Teruhisa Nakamura (Worcester Oxford 1964) retired from the C&O committee at the Triennial General Meeting held on April 20th 2012, having devoted himself tirelessly to the day-to-day running of the Society for more than 30 years. As a small token of our gratitude for his dedicated service to C&O, we planned a Gokurosama Party (as distinct from a farewell party) in his honour at Kojunsha in Ginza as our main event for June. Unfortunately for us, but happily for Terry, just after the notice for the party was distributed to members, he received and accepted an invitation from the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor of Oxford University to the 2012 Encaenia on June 20th. The Gokurosama Party was, therefore, postponed until July 6th when, thanks to the kind arrangements of Mr Buhei Okumura (Trinity Cambridge) and his wife Yuko, it was held at Mitsubishi Club at the top of the Mitsubishi Shoji Building in Marunouchi.

The party was attended by 39 people (including Terry himself and our President, Sir David Warren), all of whom are likely to remember it fondly. Terry with Sir David Warren

The text of the speech Terry prepared for the event constitutes a valuable historical document; it may be viewed on the history page of this site (or click here for the full text).

Terry with Tim Minton