Issue:
April 2024
After the pandemic, dozens of people at a recent FCCJ staff reunion had plenty of catching up to do
Getting together with former colleagues or classmates is a well-established custom around the world. It should be no surprise that the urge to reunite extends to former (and current) FCCJ employees, 47 of whom gathered to eat, drink, and reminisce on 17 March.
The purpose of the reunion was simple. "To rekindle old friendships and catch up with what's going on" in former colleagues' lives, says Yasumitsu Saito, a former executive chef who chairs the Old Boys', Old Girls' (OBOG) Association.
The reunions have a history. First apparently held in 1986, there were reunions every two years until 1998. Then there is a gap in the record, though some old-timers remember reunions in the early 2000s. To revive the tradition, Saito teamed up with Masao Kuryu, former Main Bar manager, and organized reunions in 2016 and 2018. They planned to hold events every two or three years, but the pandemic intervened.
The delay gave participants even more to catch up on. "It was really good to see so many people from the club together again," says former main bar staffer Kanako Ryall. "It was just like it was back when we were working together."
Regular members Khaldon Azhari and Anthony Rowley dropped by to thank the staffers for their dedication.
"I used to think of the FCCJ as one big family - members and staff together," Rowley told them, a sentiment undoubtedly shared by many club members. Azhari picked up on the theme, saying that in the old days at the Yurakucho Denki Building, "Going to the club felt like going to a close friend's home." For their part, the former employees are very proud of their association with the FCCJ, says Wayne Hunter, a former employee who has recently returned to the club as general manager.
There was one oddity about the occasion. The venue was a Chinese restaurant in the building next door to the Marunouchi Nijubashi Building, home of the FCCJ. "Everyone was talking about it," Hunter says. "They're dead keen on having the next reunion at the FCCJ."
Dennis Normile is a contributing correspondent for Science magazine in Shanghai, China. He writes about research and science policy developments in Asia, particularly China and Japan.
