_________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in November 2017
The last RJC lunch meeting in 2017 was held at DE MAAS in Rotterdam on 14 November with 27 attenders. The Co-Chairman Mr Briët welcomed all the guests and introduced a new member, Mrs Caroline van Noordenne at Tax Consultants International B.V.
The guest speaker was Mrs Sandra Tatsakis, Director International Exhibition at Museum Boijmans van Beuringen, who was in charge of “Babel and Great 16th Century Masters” Exhibition in Japan in 2017. She explained how it got so successful and what they did there; for instance, the points of their collaboration works with Japanese universities, famous artists like Mr Katsuhiro Otomo, and Japanese newspaper companies. It was suggestive for all the RJC members working between the two counties.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in September 2017: Guest Speaker H.E. Ambassador Inomata
At the lunch meeting on Wednesday 27 September, 30 RJC members gathered at DE MAAS in Rotterdam, to listen to the lecture of H.E. Mr Hiroshi Inomata, the Ambassador of Japan to the Netherlands. Mr Briët took over the chair of the lunch meeting first time in RJC. He welcomed H.E. Ambassador Inomata, H.E. Judge Owada, and all the guests, and then introduced a new Honorary member Mr Saito, JCC Chairman .
Ambassador Inomata told us about his own extensive experience at the international negotiations as a diplomat. His story was valuable for all of us to get through this turbulent times all over the world. Every participant was excited with his words and enjoyed his speech so much that our Q&A session run out of time shortly. It was the great pleasure and honour for RJC to have the Ambassador’s wonderful lecture.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
RJC 30th Anniversary Excursion in Rotterdam in June 2017
This year holds on RJC’s 30th anniversary. Therefore we made our annual excursion very special, stick to Rotterdam for our 30 years.
At 10:00am we gathered at our usual place DE MAAS for a coffee and Rotterdam’s local cake. 33 members and their spouses were walking to Natural History Museum. Mr Cees Moeliker, Director of the Museum, picked up some of their unique exhibition and explained them with his own experience. After the scientific study, we had lunch at the cozy café De Niuewe Poort. This is not just a café but a place to be established for everyone can be inspired. Mr Rob Ittoman, a Director of De Niuewe Poort, talked about the idea of the café while we enjoyed the wonderful lunch.
In the afternoon we walked back to Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen where the Ambassador Inomata and Mrs Inomata joined us. Mr Wolf Brinkman, who is an educator of especially poor students or immigrants’ children, coached us points of art. Then we walked through the downtown area to Wunderbar, an oldest shabby-chic café. We relaxed and enjoyed talking in an easy manner each other.
Finally we left for the main venue today, Huys ten Donck at Ridderkerk by bus. This is a castle built in 17th century and it is now a house as well as a living museum. The current owner of the house Mrs Catharina van Zoelen welcomed us and gave some explanation about its history. The dinner was also worthy of our 30th celebration. It was a great evening for all the RJC members, and think again about our history. As our Co-chairman Mr van der Goot said, all the members have been comrades and will be, too.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in May 2017
RJC had the second lunch meeting 2017 on 23 May at DE MAAS with 21 attenders. As usual new members are welcomed; Mr Umehara (MOL), Mr Okita (IMBV) and Mr Briët, introduced as a future successor of Mr van der Goot to RJC members first time.
Under the beautiful weather we had lunch at a terrace. It was an unexpected surprise for everyone. And then we came back to the inside and listened to the lecture by Ms Saskia van Pelt, Director Business Development, Schiphol Cargo. She explained the business of Schiphol both for logistics and for passengers, and suggested their future strategy as a whole Schiphol group in the context of sustainability as well as efficiency. Many attenders expressed their opinions and questions. It was a fruitful lecture indeed.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in March 2017
On 21 March RJC held the first lunch meeting in 2017 at our usual place DE MAAS. Mr van der Goot welcomed new members; Ms Raluca Chelu (Erasmus MC), Mr Yasuhiro Shibata (Tatsumi Shokai) and Mr Jan Kweekel (STC), all of whom came to RJC New Year’s Party as guests and liked to join RJC.
The guest speaker was Mr Takahide Suzuki, a Journalist and a Tea Master. He talked about his experiences at the media industry both in Japan and in the Netherlands in the first half while he demonstrated how to make real Japanese Tea in the second half. All the guests enjoyed both parts and some of them found attractiveness of real Japanese Tea.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
New Year’s Party in January 2017
RJC had the New Year’s Party at KINO Rotterdam in the evening of Tuesday 24 January. As previous years, we found a new place to celebrate our New Year 2017. This year it was KINO: KINO is a new theater in the historic street opened in 2016, of which history started in 1909 with “Ons Huis”, a culture centre in Rotterdam designed by Jan Verheul.
Just 30 RJC members and their 10 spouses or partners gathered together. It was great honor that the Ambassador Inomata, and the Judge Owada and Mrs Owada were present with us. Co-chairman Mr van der Goot welcomed attenders while the Ambassador Inomata gave us short words on the New Year. After the wonderful 5 courses dinner fused in a creative way by Chef Derk-Jan Wooldrik, we watched a special film “Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015)” in a private screen room. This film is a documentary about one of the most famous Japanese actors Toshiro Mifune by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki.
After the film we had drinks and talking with lots of fun for a start of the prosperous 2017.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in November 2016
RJC had the last lunch meeting 2016 on 15 November at DE MAAS with 16 attenders. Although we had less peoples, our lunch was very exiting with the guest speaker Ms Katja Berkhout, Executive Director, CIC/ Venture Café Rotterdam.
Venture Café Rotterdam is a new initiative having an important role for entrepreneur in Rotterdam as well as in the Netherlands. It has its origin in CIC (the Cambridge Innovation Centre) established in 1999 in Boston, which grew up to in St.Louis, in Miami and now in Rotterdam. Ms Berkhout explained about the Venture Café’s aim, activities and its philosophy. It could connect not only young companies but also other employees from existing companies. We could be stimulated a lot by her story and believe to expand our network through Venture Café hereafter
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in September 2016
On 13 September RJC had the lunch meeting with the 22 attenders and the guest speaker Mr Akira Sakuma, JCC chairman and Managing Director of Mitsubishi Nederland B.V.. The Chairman Mr van der Goot and all of us welcomed Mr Hans Kuijpers (Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency), who came back to RJC after several years’ his stay in Tokyo.
Mr Sakuma started his presentation with his impressions and experiences since he came to the Netherlands; especially accompanying PM Rutte’s mission to Japan last autumn and the exhibition of Rembrandt using Echizen Japanese old papers, which Mitsubishi Nederland gave the financial support. And then he explained about Japan Festival which was coming on 23 October in Amstelveen Centrum. This event aimed to further strengthen the ties between Japan and the Netherlands with wide supports from municipalities of Amsterdam and Amstelveen, Amsterdam Inbusiness, the Embassy of Japan, JCC and many Dutch and Japanese companies. As a chairman of Japan Festival Foundation he appealed the attractive program and events as well as much efforts of related persons. RJC promised our cooperation from Rotterdam area, too, wishing great success of this festival.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Annual Excursion in August 2016
Annual Excursion 2016 started at the famous Pannekoek restaurant “Kraantje-Lek” in Overveen on Saturday 20 August. 33 members and their spouses were heading there from Capelseburg Station by chartered bus and could welcome Ambassador Inomata and Mrs Inomata there. After the typical Dutch pancake lunch, we visited Taylor Museum in Haarlem which has a long history since 1778. We had an exclusive guided tour in two groups and could see many interesting things like old paintings about Japanese cities in Edo era. Then we moved to Grote of St Bavokerk, where we could listen to the world famous organ by 5,000 pipes.
The dinner venue is a restaurant Bries, Noodrwijk, just in front of North Sea. Under the best weather, we could enjoy drinking at the terrace on the beach, seeing the sunset. It was a perfect summer day though it was the last RJC event which Ms Shibata at the Embassy attended. She gave us a short speech for leaving while Mr van der Goot thanked her for her big cooperation and support to RJC for 3 years and a half. We left Noordwijk at 22:00 and came back safe to Capelseburg at 22:30. The long last summer day ended with lots of happy memories.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Borreltje before the holiday season
To fill with the blank between the last lunch meeting in May and the RJC excursion at the end of August, we had an easy “borreltje” before the holiday season at “DE BALLENTENT” close to de Maas in the evening of 27 June. Under the perfect weather again, 15 members gathered, updated our business situation in a relaxing atmosphere with a small drink and meatballs, and wished a good holiday season for each other.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting May 2016
On 26 May RJC held the third lunch meeting at Rotterdam Museum. It was specially arranged to introduce this new Museum which was opened in February to the RJC members as well as to Ambassador Inomata and Mrs Inomata. The private guide explained us the tumultuous history of Rotterdam. After the guided tour, the 18 participants toasted to welcome the Ambassador Inomata and Mrs Inomata to Rotterdam and could have the typical Dutch lunch at café Thoms next to the Museum.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Special co-event with DUJAT ; visit Futureland and Boat trip
As discussed since last year, RJC finally enabled the big joint event with DUJAT. With the cooperation of the Port of Rotterdam, about 55 members of RJC and DUJAT gathered at Futureland (MV2) in the afternoon of 21 April and enjoy the boat tour. The program that day was as below:
Part I: Learn & find our Port !
15:00 Welcome address by Mr Geert Jan Mantel (Chairman DUJAT)
15:10 Welcome address by Mr Jacob van der Goot
(RJC Co-chairman / DUJAT General Board member)
15:30 Welcome and presentation by Port of Rotterdam
(Mr Maarten van Oosten, Information Officer, Port of Rotterdam)
15:50 Boarding Futureland Ferry guided by Mr Maarten van Oosten
17:05 Disembark the Futureland Ferry
Part II: Get new friends!
17:20 Drinks and networking in the terrace with a view to the new MV2 terminal
18:45 End of the program
It was a great opportunity for both parties to learn about our national pride, the Port of Rotterdam, and to get new friends from the other party; DUJAT mainly based in Amsterdam and RJC in Rotterdam. We ended the program with the promise to have such a joint event again.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting March 2016
The second lunch meeting of this year was arranged on 08 March at DE MAAS again. This meeting’s theme is “Know your Friends!”. The members were asked to take his/her friend or colleague to this meeting. Instead of a lecture of a guest speaker, everyone introduce him/her-self and could expand our business network with 24 participants.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting February 2016
On 09 February, RJC held the first lunch meeting at our new place “DE MAAS” with a guest speaker Mr Jeroen Vlutters, Senior Policy Advisor of Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. It is our honour that Judge Owada, International Court of Justice, was present with us, too. Mr Vlutters told us about the visit of Prime Minister Rutte to Japan in November 2015 and about the economic relationship and differences between Japan and the Netherlands. The missions focused on 7 economic sub-missions ; Agriculture, Investments, Cyber security, Sport Science, Smart Olympics, and Pension funds. By each topic we could recognise the importance of the cooperation of both countries at every level of governments, local cities, and private companies.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
New Year’s dinner 2016
RJC cerebrated the New Year 2016 in the evening of 20 January. First we had dinner at “Restaurant De Jong” at Hofbogen in Rotterdam, which was one of the oldest rail station areas in the Netherlands and had been renovated in 21th century. At present there are gathered many innovative shops and restaurants. That day about 42 RJC members and their spouses /partners in total were welcomed by Co-chairman Mr van der Goot. Minister Kawahara gave us a short speech about the meaning of RJC with over 25 years’ history. After the delightful dinner, we moved to a jazz café “BIRD” next to the restaurant and enjoyed the music and talking till midnight.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Lunch meeting in October 2015
RJC had the special lunch meeting on 21 October 2015 with 18 attenders including Ambassador Tsuji. For this meeting RJC invited a British Rakugo Speaker Mrs Dianne Kichijitsu. At RJC lunch meeting a guest from outside always gives a lecture, but it is RJC’s first trial to call for a professional as our guest speaker.
Mrs Dianne Kichijitsu, in beautiful Kimono, showed us a great performance. First she explained about her career and Rakugo. And then she actually played one of the Rakugo stories in English which she arranged a bit from the famous traditional story “Toki-soba”. Lastly she did a workshop with all the attenders. We learned some Rakugo actions like drinking Sake or writing a letter with a writing brush with our imaginations. It was big fun. At the end of her performance she talked about the importance of keeping a motivation of life.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Annual Excursion at the end of June 2015
32 RJC members and their spouses / partners went on the annual excursion on Saturday 27 June 2015. Minister Mrs Kawahara, successor of Mr Kikuta, joined the RJC event first time.
First we toasted a historical lunch in a historical cafe de Vergulde Vos, and then visited a Hoeve Waterrijk, which makes “real Dutch cheese” and won the first prize in the category of “Kaas met een Verhaal (cheese with a story)” at the cheese competition 2015. We enjoyed three kinds of cheese there.
Left the typical Dutch scenery, we visited CORPUS Museum in Lieden, where we could study our bodies in a scientific approach with fun.
At last we had dinner in a small island Kaag. The restaurant stands at the waterside.
We could have a long pleasant evening with the delicious dishes and enjoyable chatting each other.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Haringborrel on 16 June 2015
Instead of the regular lunch meeting in May, RJC arranged the special Harringborrel (Drink with Herring) at a historic café restaurant Courzand in Rotterdam in the evening of 16 June. This party also aimed to promote RJC to new possible members, especially young business persons. Thanks to the cooperation of our members, we could enjoy the tasty herrings and jenever with 20 RJC members and 8 new friends. It was the great pleasure that the Ambassador Tsuji also was present and all of us had a pleasant time there.
Furthermore, members were invited to the Exhibition “Mei 1940 De Aanval (The Attack May 1940)” at Museum Rotterdam before the borrel, which gave us a good opportunity to think about WWII as the 70th anniversary. 14 members joined to this thought-provoking program.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
AGM and Lunch meeting in March 2015
On 18 March RJC held the first lunch meeting and AGM with 21 RJC members. At the AGM Annual Report 2014 and Budget 2015 prepared by Mr Kamphuis were approved. The membership fee will be held as EUR 300 per person per year this year again. After the AGM Mr Jeroen Chabot, Director of Willem de Kooning Academy (WDKA) in Rotterdam, gave us a lecture. WDKA has helped their students become the creating pioneers with its unique courses. He emphasised the relevance of art and design for contemporary society
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
New Year’s Party on 20 January 2015
RJC cerebrated the New Year 2015 at the restaurant “De Matroos en het Meisje”, followed by the singer entertainer “Bakker Lutz” at the theatre Walhara in Katendrecht, a lately redeveloped Rotterdam harbor area. In spite of the cold weather 30 RJC members and their 10 spouses or partners gathered together. It was great honour that the Ambassador Tsuji and the Judge Owada with his spouse were present with us. Co-chairman Mr van der Goot welcomed attenders while the Ambassador Tsuji gave us short words on the New Year. We found pleasure in having the Dutch home-made menu with good friends for a start of the prosperous 2015.