Sunday, March 14th

  The Annual General Meeting hosted productive discussions on different issues. It was an important opportunity for the Club’s voting members to directly communicate with the General Committee that pursues the best benefit for the Club and its members.
   After the discussions were over, most of the attending members moved to the Bar to enjoy drinks. An Italian Buffet followed to satisfy everyone’s palette. The chef and his crew prepared excellent Italian dishes: chicken liver paste, assorted cold cuts, fresh white asparagus &Wakasagi fritter, stewed beef in tomato &red wine sauce, braised blue mussel with white wine, spinach-tomato-eggplant lasagna, pizza Capricious to name a few. The assorted cold cuts included tomato &mozzarella cheese, sliced raw ham, etc. Each dish was so nicely prepared that many of us might have eaten too much. Thanks to our chef &his crew for another superb buffet. We all enjoyed it!

- Editing Sub-Committee

 

Friday, March 12^th

  It was still a chilly evening outside, yet the Bar at the Kobe Club was crowded and filled with warm air. The members and their guests enjoyed their conversations and live jazz played by Paul Fleisher (alto sax), Hiroshi Hata (guitar) and Dick Ström (drums).
   Coming from Sweden, our Club member Dick Ström is not only a talented musician himself playing the drums, piano and base but also an able producer, bringing musicians together. His initiatives offer opportunities to musicians of different genres to collaborate and create a new harmony of cross-over sounds. His music box is full of ideas for bringing artists together through music as a universal language.

    This evening, he introduced Paul and Hiroshi, and then his Chinese friend Ms. Lee who is a Chinese opera singer. By asking her to sing a couple of songs together with him, he produced a unique harmony of sounds from the West and East. Her voice was almost overwhelming across the Bar, and the audience was quiet listening to her clear voice.

   After the exciting and amusing music session in the Bar, most of the people continued on for dinner at Kitano Terrace. The evening presented a great opportunity to a group of potential members who came to the Kobe Club as guests to enjoy jazz, cross-over music and a delicious dinner. The Kobe Club is a precious place for those who seek pleasure in encountering internationally diverse people of different backgrounds, interests and talents. It is not easy to find a place like the Kobe Club in Kansai, where we can enjoy social and business interactions and cultural inspiration on a global platform.

- Kei M. Foran

Saturday, March 6^th

   “May I ask for your bets please,” called the dealer. We had just finished a lovely dinner in the Dining Room, changed our money into chips, and were ready to join the other gamblers in the bar/casino.

   Where to start? Unfamiliar with baccarat, unlucky at roulette, we chose the option with the highest chances for winning and sat down at the black jack table. Bubbles in my champagne glass enhanced the feeling of luxurious decadence as we doubled down and watched the dealer go bust. The room was filled with noises familiar to those who frequent Monte Carlo and Baden Baden. The roulette wheel spinning, the ball bouncing along the rim of the wheel, tapping along the numbered boxes, finally finding a resting place decided by the eternally unpredictable goddess, Fortuna. Shouts of excitement, “five again?!!”, the thump on the velvet as the dealer marks the winning number, “five, red, odd!” “Congratulations!” The boney clatter of chips being collected and counted as they are restacked to form new bets. A new game, a new chance.

   The solid tables covered in plush felt and the professional conduct of the groupiers created an authentic casino ambience.

   As the evening drew to a close, winners changed their chips into Kobe Club credits to spend at their next visit. This is one of our favorite events at the Club, and we look forward to the next time they host Casino Night. Until then, rien ne va plus.



- Cyd Forster

 

Saturday, February 27th

 

This was a memorable Japanese evening with traditional Japanese music, food and the best of Sake. The beautifully decorated tables, with bamboo vases with plum flower branches, reminded us of spring that will soon be coming. Nonaka-san welcomed us with sounds from her Noh-flute, and Kawamura-san with the Biwa (Japanese string instrument).

The Noh-flute, sometimes called “Kami-oroshi no fue” (meaning a flute which calls gods down to the visible human world), reached out to the audience. Kawamura-san, as a Biwa story-teller recited traditional pieces and historical tales accompanied with her Biwa music. At the end of their performance, they invited Jonas Isaksson, to play with them a Swedish traditional song. Jonas is a young Swedish musician visiting Japan with the purpose of exploring the possibility for young Japanese and Swedish folk musicians coming together to explore different musical backgrounds. This was a very interesting cross-over, showing what young very skilled musicians can improvise and create, using music as a way of communicating across cultures.

   Sake is made from rice, rice koji and water using fermentation and filtration processes. So how can Sake taste so different when only five elements, water, rice, technical skill, yeast, and land/weather, are involved? Director Fumio Morimoto from Sakura Masamune, the Sake Brewery founded in 1625 in Kobe, introduced the five Sakes for the evening. The Sakes had been carefully selected to accompany the delicious and beautiful Japanese dishes prepared by Kamiki-san and the staff.

 　Together with friends from different parts of the world, we all had a very enjoyable evening. Thanks, Kobe Club for once again arranging a Sake Tasting Dinner. I think that also this year, the Sake Tasting Dinner will be among the most-talked-about events. The Sake Tasting Dinner is probably making its way to become a traditional annual event at the Club.

-Christina Ström Moller

Saturday, February 13th

Love was definitely in the air at the Kobe Clubs' Valentine Dancing Party. A live band performance by 'Soul Kiss Band' made this a night to remember. 'Soul Kiss Band' is a big 9-piece international band with brass section and 3 lead female vocalists, a unique western music band from Osaka. They have an exotic mixture of nationalities from the U.S, Canada, Hong Kong, Philippines and Japan. 
Our group started the evening with a delicious private dinner in the dining room, thanks to Chef Kamiki. The girls at our table were lucky to receive a red rose from the Club’s “romantic guy” Bill. Thanks Bill for your thoughtfulness.

Every time we go to the Kobe Club, we know that we can truly relax and enjoy a wonderful dinner, and we are very thankful to the staff for all of their talents! The balloon decoration was very cute, adding a touch of love to the Ballroom.

After dinner, we heard the music starting, so the timing was perfect. We really enjoyed the diversity of Soul Kiss - the 9 members really made us want to dance, and it is not so often that we can hear brass players at a dance party. Everyone there had a really nice time, dancing with their sweethearts and friends. It was a perfect way to spend a wintery February evening as the music and friends warmed our hearts.

-Polly &John Sharp