Mr Buhei Okumura has kindly arranged for C&O members and their guests to be given access to Mitsubishi Club on Friday, 11th June for our main July event. Mitsubishi Club’s new premises are on the 21st floor of the Mitsubishi Shoji Building in Marunouchi; detailed directions will be sent to those who sign up for this event.

Mitsubishi Shoji Building (21st Floor), 2-3-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3216-5361

Attendance fee: 8,000 yen (Payment required in advance; account details will be sent to those who apply to attend. No-shows and cancellations after the closing date will not be refunded.)

If you would like to attend, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org) by Tuesday, 8th July.

C&O member Mr Yoshio Karita has kindly arranged for members to be given a guided tour of the Mori Art Museum’s exhibition History in the Making: A Retrospective of the Turner Prize. The tour will be followed by drinks in the Mado Lounge.

Mori Art Museum: 53rd floor, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower
Mado Lounge: 52nd floor

Information about the exhibition can be found at
http://www.mori.art.museum/english/contents/history/info/index.html

Entry to the museum is free of charge to those registered for this event (the normal admission fee is 1,500 yen); the Mado Lounge will operate a cash bar. The number of applications we can accept for this event is limited, so only one guest per member will be allowed.

Please note that the guided tour will begin at 6 p.m.

If you would like to take part in this event, please contact Tim Minton by June 29th (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org).

May Outing (guests and family members welcome):
Saturday, May 24th (12:00 – 19:00)

If you would like to join us on our annual excursion to Mount Takao and Ukai Toriyama, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org). There is no obligation to take part in both parts of the day's progamme, so please indicate if you would like to participate only in the hike or the dinner.

The cost of dinner at Ukai Toriyama is 6,000 yen, which includes tax, service and a limited supply of drinks.

Saturday, May 24th.
It was with the weather forecast threatening rain that we optimistically gathered outside Takao-sanguchi station for a (not so) bright and breezy midday start to our day of hiking and dining on May 24th. Some stragglers (namely Charlotte Lewis and myself) were somewhat late having been enthralled by the Trick Art Museum a couple of minutes away, warily suggested to us all by Tim Minton. We finally escaped its maze of rooms with hidden doors – tricky indeed - pausing for some quick shots in the mouth of a great painted gorilla on the way, to join the party and set off on the hike.
Mt Takao & Ukai Toriyama - stream
The first few drops of rain ominously started to fall, and those of us who were somewhat unprepared for inclement weather were relieved to hear that Phil’s backpack was full of assorted jumpers and provisions. Luckily the rain stopped soon after, and didn’t bother us for the rest of the walk. In fact the weather was perfect hiking weather, neither too hot nor too cold.
Some of our party broke off to climb the mountain in a cable car while the rest of us carried up and on by foot. Passing through the greenery and along mountain streams, the walk was very pleasant although increasingly strenuous as we neared the top.
As we walked we talked, changing conversational partners as we variously fell behind or caught up, muttering the odd greeting to those passing in the other direction. Occasionally we’d pass Chris Parry going in one direction and then the other as he put us all to shame by nimbly running up and down and along the mountain range all day.

We will have exclusive use of this popular French restaurant’s ground floor and leafy terrace.

Address: 1-2 Hibiya Park, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0012, Tel. 03-3591-1023

Website: http://www.nambu-tei.com/

Attendance fee: 7,000 yen
(Payment is required in advance; account details will be sent to those who apply to attend. There will be no refunds for cancellations after the closing date.)

There is no particular dress code for this event.

If you would like to attend, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org) by Friday, April 18.

Nambutei Buffet Dinner, 22 April 2008

On Tuesday 22 April, 34 C&O members and guests made the annual Society pilgrimage to the charming restaurant Nambutei, which stands on the southern edge of Tokyo’s Hibiya Park. Tucked away in the trees, out of sight of Kokkai-dori, the busy main road, Nambutei provides a welcome haven from the bustle of the frenetic metropolis.

Nambutei buffet dinner group photo 2008

In attendance at the buffet dinner were three new members, Dr Ken Shackleton (The Queen’s, Oxford, 1998–2002), James Thomas (St Anne’s, Oxford, 1997–2001) and Anthony Walker (Trinity, Cambridge, 1995–1999), and two visitors, Toshiyuki Yamanaka (St Edmund’s, Cambridge), the honorary secretary of the Kansai Chapter of C&O, and Clive Galliver (Trinity, Cambridge), who was on a visit to Japan.

As always, the restaurant laid on a magnificent buffet spread, which was devoured with alacrity by the assembled throng—the Pasta Bolognese disappearing at particularly impressive speed. The food was washed down with copious amounts of good wine, and the buzz of animated conversation drifting out from the restaurant patio into the night air made the venue that much easier for late-comers to find.

After an hour or so of conviviality, Terry Nakamura quieted the hubbub and introduced the new members and visitors. Tim Minton then made a few society announcements and conveyed the sad news that our much-loved current president, Sir Graham Fry, would soon be leaving Japan to return home to Britain—his tenure as ambassador at an end. (Happily, however, his diplomatic successor David Warren is due to take over the reins as Society president also.) Tim appealed to the assembled company for ideas for a parting gift for Sir Graham, noting that he is a keen bird-watcher. The more ribald suggestions being ignored, it was decided that the society would buy the ambassador a print depicting avian life in Japan.

On March 24th we gathered for the very first, and also, very last time at Tokyo Kaikan's Crystal Restaurant on the 35th floor of the Kasumigaseki Building. The restaurant was to close down very soon as the building is due to be redeveloped.
Tokyo Kaikan Dinner 2008
Around 20 members attended making for rather a cosy atmosphere. The assembled party enjoyed a buffet dinner and took in spectacular night views along Sotobori-dori to the towers of Shiodome and the Tokyo Bay Bridge beyond. We welcomed one new member, Prof. Yamada, and also said goodbye to another, Pedro Da Costa who was returning to Portugal to take up a research post in Oporto. Doreen Simmons took the opportunity to point out to all those present the significance of the Kasumigaseki Building: when it was built in 1968, it had been the first building in Tokyo permitted to exceed 8 storeys. We may nowadays take for granted buildings of 30 and 40 storeys plus springing up all over the city but the Kasumigaseki Building was the pioneer. Simon Lloyd added that he had worked on the 32nd floor for many years and that, although in 1968 it was said that the building had been built to a standard that was 300% better than the required anti-earthquake safety measures of the time, experiencing an earthquake whilst on the 32nd floor was really a rather frightening experience.
Tokyo Kaikan Dinner 2008 -2

The restaurant is on the 35th Floor of the Kasumigaseki Building and commands a fine view of central Tokyo. Our event will be held in a private room that can accommodate up to 50 people.

Address: 3-2-5 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Tel. 03-3581-0420

Website: http://www.kaikan.co.jp/gnavi/kcrs.html

Attendance fee: 7,500 yen
(Payment is required in advance; account details will be sent to those who apply to attend. There will be no refunds for cancellations after the closing date.)

Dress Code: Jacket and tie

If you would like to attend, please contact Tim Minton (t.minton[at]camford[dot]org) by Thursday, March 20.

Reception and aperitifs from 18:00; dinner from 19:00
Address: 9-14 Roppongi 1-chome, Minato-ku;
Tel. (03)-5114-0555
Subway access from Roppongi 1-chome, Kamiyacho, Tameike Sanno stations; detailed directions will be sent to those attending.

Cost: 8,000 yen (7,500 yen for Tokyo Club members)
Payment required in advance; account details will be sent to those who apply to attend.

Dress Code: Jacket and tie

If you wish to attend this event, please reply by Monday, 11th February to Tim Minton, Honorary Secretary, by e-mail (t.minton[at]camford.org) or fax (044-945-5716).

Those who cancel after the closing date will not be refunded.

By now our members are no strangers to the handsome clubhouse in Roppongi 1-chome, on the same road as the Swedish Embassy, the American Embassy and the Hotel Okura, and almost in the shadow of the gigantic Ark Hills. On Wednesday 31st October 51 Camford members and guests gathered for dinner. The 6:15 for 7:00 starting time gave the early birds an opportunity to socialize over a glass of wine or two; those of us whose work goes on to a little later may have missed the conversation but were kindly allowed to catch up on the wine.

The Tokyo Club is a private and very exclusive club that only a year or two back began to allow outside parties to use the premises, provided that they were arranged by a member, and on this occasion our ‘host’ Terry Nakamura began the evening by reading us our rights, or more strictly, defining the spaces available for our use. Apart from the usual facilities we had a very nice private dining room, and after dinner, the spacious lobby outside for final drinks. Terry stressed that the Library, which was on the same floor, was out-of-bounds to non-Members, but we had, after all, gone there to eat and drink in good company and no-one seemed tempted to trespass.

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 1

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 2

So that we would know what we were eating, Terry had also kindly obtained a translation of the menu, which was all in French. The food, in whatever language, was right up to the usual standard, though before the dessert the waiters seemed a little bemused to carry away so many untouched salads; it appears that many of the British and British-educated still have not taken to the American custom of serving a salad on the side.

Two new members were introduced (Jenny Barb [Clare Cambridge 1978] and Hisao Shiomi [Faculty of Law, Cambridge, 2002]) along with one returnee (Jason James, King’s Cambridge 1983).

Though the Roppongi premises are now the home of the Tokyo Club, its former site in front of the Kasumigaseki Building has gone through yet another transformation. September 26th saw the opening of the new Tokyo Club Building, partly owned by the club, whose immediate impact is as the home of some up-market restaurants.

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 3

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 4

Tim and Huw looking far too serious, and Phil thinking of something to say to the photographer.

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 5

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 6

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 7

After the dinner at the Tokyo Club, we moved on to a Nijikai at Aux Bacchanale in Ark Hills. We were a little pressed for time with only ten minutes to last orders. But a very pleasant autumn evening with plenty of wine to keep us going.

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 8

Tokyo Club Dinner Oct 2007 - 9

As before we are grateful to Terry Nakamura for arranging for us to have a very pleasant evening. Now that Tim Minton has also become a club member, perhaps we have a back-up.