Dear Fellow Members,

　　There seems to be no progress with the containment of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plant. In fact, the Tokyo Electric Power Company and the Japanese Government had to �gupdate�h their report for the inspection visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from as bad as the Chernobyl disaster to even worse.
　　The melt down of the 3 reactors in Fukushima has now been reported as a melt through. It means that this threatens the release of high level of radiation into the environment, since the melt-through suggests that nuclear fuel literally melts through the bottom of the damaged reactor pressure vessel into the outer containment vessels and possibly even melts through those outer vessels directly into ground, air and water. (Part of this information was obtained from a Yomiuri Newspapers article.)
　　This is an extremely serious scenario, and the consequences for Japan can only be assumed at this stage.
　　While the situation in Tohoku and especially near the Fukushima power plant remains extremely unstable and could threaten an area around the plant that will not be inhabitable for years to come, we in Kobe are rather in denial of the situation and are more concerned with the progress of the Tsuyu (Rainy Season) at this time of the year. Our pool is ready and waiting to be populated, so let us hope the Rainy Season will be short lived this year.

　　I am very happy to report that due to generous donations our Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Victims Relief fund has grown to 4,610,000 yen, not to a small extent by the most recent contributions from the ANZAC Day Celebration that brought in 193,000 yen, the Charity Concert that brought in 323,300 yen, and from Kataoka Clinic (Mr. &Mrs. Scott), as well as Mr. Hikasa and Mr. Kinoshita. Thank you all for your help and understanding of the needs of those persons in Tohoku that lost everything. We wanted to give our accumulated donations to the Japan Red Cross, but have decided to hand the money over to the Hyogo Prefectural Government�fs relevant bureau in charge of bringing relief to the people in the affected areas. We shall do so by the end of June.
　　The Pool Opening Party and the Asparagus Dinner Evening saw many members join us at the Club. We had the July 3rd American Independence Day Celebration, and July 8th New Member�fs Night when we had some of our new members join us for an evening to be remembered with the well known Tapas buffet giving some spice to the event. The Club is scheduling an occasion to bring some extra impact on your knowledge of Japanese Sake with dinner by our Chef Kamiki to accompany the distinct taste of Sake brewed in Niigata. This will be held on September 10th, and we ask you to mark your calendar now in order not to miss these events. I decided to inform you about this now, since the summer months will be rather quiet and not so many events are scheduled at this time.
　　Time flies and we are still not ready to inform you, our membership, of a detailed picture of what the new status will mean for all of us. The General Committee has many meetings and we have discussions also with outside sources, but all take many hours of being prepared for these meetings, and we ask you to bear with us for some more time.
　　On September 17th the de Souza Cup is scheduled, a friendly golf competition between the Kobe Golf Club and a combined team from the KR&AC and the Kobe Club. More details will become available later. I am mentioning this, because if there are some golfers out there lurking among us, please come forward to help the combined team to give a trashing to the KGC, a highly unlikely scenario though. In any case, the tournament will be played at the oldest Golf Course in Japan, established in 1903 and this in itself is already a special honor to be able to play at these hallowed grounds at their membership play fees. So please contact the Club office when you are ready to play with us. Our regular participants will receive an invitation letter in due course.
　　In closing, I wish all of you pleasant summer holidays. I am looking forward to seeing you come back to the Kobe Club, in case you intend spending your time at your home country or elsewhere.



-Rainer Weiland, President