Ginza! 28 July, 2019

Ginza Toastmasters Club held their latest regular meeting on Sunday,28 July at Kyobashi-Plaza-kaikan, in Ginza. We were treated to an excellent workshop, three beautiful speeches and thought-provoking table topic with the guests.

1. Introduction

Gacky, President of the Club, welcomed everyone to the meeting with cheers then introduced TMoD Yossy who explained the running order of the meeting and then invited the special presenter, Drian, to the stage.

2. Workshop

Joke master Drian led the humorous workshop titled "The Art of Laugh", first starting by asking the question, “What makes you laugh and how to find humour trigger? ”. This was a practical guide to using laughter and humour as a thinking skill to enable us to communicate excellently. His workshop explained simple techniques that will upgrade our ability to get a more positive perspective in tough situations and increase our happiness by adopting the techniques from the homour tools. "Tricking the Mind", "Exaggeration", "Misdirection", or "Escalation" can be used as a humour tool for us, he suggested. In a group discussion, we completed the joke exercise followed by a demonstration. In the end, Drian revealed his personal story with unexpected endings "Kowai(恐い）" "Kawaii（可愛い）", "Kawaiso（可哀相）" which made us burst out laughing. His workshop seemingly wondered that life is full of challenges, thus gaining the ability to tackle any matter will enable us to be a ‘happier’ existence.

3. Song of the Day

After the short break, the song master Drian introduced “Ain't No Sunshine" written by Bill Withers in 1971. "Ain't no sunshine" is semantically equivalent to "there's no sunshine." It illustrated that when his love is away from him, things are dark and lonely, no light, no warmth. During the session, we read the text one line at a time in turns and sang together afterward.

4. Prepared speeches

The first speaker was Yuko with her Special Occasion #5- Accepting Award-titled "TMC, Winner!". She completed the acceptance award speech by delivering the "Best Unique Toastmasters club Year Award" where Ginza Toastmasters would be given the award by the Toastmasters International. She acknowledged the good work done by Ginza Toastmasters, thanked Toastmasters International that selected Ginza for the award and appreciated the great contribution of all supporters who helped Ginza to achieve the award.

Next to speak was Yuriko with her Visionary Communication #2 titled "What I did found in US? After London". Yuriko gathered memorable experience on her new life in the US after leaving London by simply going on her way at every corner and crossroad. This personal story gave us insights into her motivation to take on so many different challenges in the US.

The last speaker was Tomomi with her Story Telling #5-Bringing History to Life- titled "What helps us in rainy day". She told the story about a revolutionary invention of "windshield wiper" patented by American lady, Mary Anderson, who tried to sell it to firms, but they refused as the device had no practical value, and so was not worth any money. As her story went, people underestimated Mary's invention, saying that the wipers’ movement would distract the driver and cause accidents. Mary's patent "windshield wiper", which are commonplace on vehicles and a variety of options are available, expired before she could invite anyone to use her idea. Tomomi's speech that the great inventor never got the glory gave us an amazing inside look at the historical invention of the windshield wiper.

5. TableTopics

Table Topic Master Area 33 Director Iwaoka then organized a thought-provoking table topic session on the theme of "social crime" where Hosoda, Drian, and Sato participated and was invited to answer the question "do you think that the social separation would cause the social crime?". Highlights included "mental problems" in Hosoda, "media exposure" in Drian, and "lack of communication" in Sato. At the end of the session, Iwaoka expressed his view that it might be "family" that would lead to social crime.

After the table topics, General Evaluator Eva invited three beautiful evaluators: Shinsaku for Yuko, Yoshiya for Yuriko, and Ichiro for Tomomi. Finally, Eva evaluated our meeting.

6. Awards

Best Evaluator Ichiro

Best Table Topic Speaker Drian

Best Speaker Yuko

7. Next schedule

We will have the next meeting at Kyobashi Plaza Kuminkan on Sunday 25th August at 14:00. Drian will be TMoD and please join and have fun with Ginza!