Typical image of Hitomi - directing the kids with a tenugui around her neck

It is with a very heavy heart that we say our farewell to Hitomi-san, the Vice President of Pink Hibiscus.

Hitomi-san was one of the founding members of the club when we established it in 2004.  She was the ‘ok…let’s do it!’ person in the club that made all things possible… she helped drive the activities with her enthusiasm and initiative… she was the Do-er without the complaints and moaning…. she always mustered the children cheerfully at our children’s playgroup and she was the creative force AND the executor of all our dance performances, having choreographed all the Yosakoi dances we perform yearly at the Bon Odori, and the Japanese dances for both adults and children that made every event we participated in sooooo outstanding!   She taught us about traditional weaving,  making of traditional slippers, organic recycling,  natural farming, and even natural salt harvesting!!!  She is a REAL ‘Daichinoko” ????… so it’s not surprising that  she would jump at the first opportunity to try her hand at natural subsistence farming back in Japan.

It’s really really sad for Pink Hibiscus to lose a great friend, supporter, conscience and inspiration… she was in fact the person that INSPIRED us to hold the Penang For Japan Disaster Relief Fundraising – really, if it weren’t for her saying that she wanted to go back to Japan to help the victims, I don’t think we would have even contemplating such a bold idea of holding a fundraising.  So it’s ironic that almost exactly 1 year later that we are finally ‘losing’  Hitomi-san to Japan…  but we can comfort ourselves that at least the Japan she is going back to is not in the devastated state as 1 year ago, but a Japan that is now even MORE open to supporting and protecting nature and Green movement.

We held a farewell beach party for Hitomi and D-kun, her son a week after the AKARI Festival.  While the kids (and Hitomi) frolicked on the beach, the 40 friends from Pink Hibiscus gathered to give her a happy send off that culminated in a HUGE bon-fire on the beach.  We did the bonfire cos one our first club event was also a BBQ by the beach so it brought back many fond memories!   Natsukashi~!

She left Penang on Thursday morning with two suitcases and a multi-coloured gunny bag…  we are kind of hoping that since she’s taking so little back to Japan, she’ll have to come back soon to Penang for her other stuff… either that or that she’ll miss us SOOOO much that she’ll come back to be with us in Penang again!  As fate would have it, I managed to ‘BUMP’ into her On the SAME flight to KL so we said our final goodbyes, and hugs and promises to keep working from our respective bases to continue making Pink Hibiscus a great club! Ne!

Hitomi & D lighting the bonfire

Hitomi-chan says she’ll be back in December for a visit, but in the meantime, I hope you will join us to send her a note and to thank her for ALL her TREMENDOUS contribution to the club and to Penang!

Love Emi

Thank you to everyone who supported the Spring AKARI Festival by either participating or by coming out in force!  The objective of the event was to thank the people of Penang for their show of Sympathy, Support and Solidarity last year and we wanted to show the people something of Japanese culture that is not commonly found in Penang.  We really had a GREAT time putting on the event for everyone, and after having done it, we feel so much happier and dare I say it, pleased with ourselves.  The kids were great this time – from the MCs to the dancers, singers, games, and even helping out at the food bazzaar!

Read more details about what happened in the article under the EVENTS Page!

But in the meantime, Thanks soooo much again!!   Hopefully the next time we do the AKARI Festival, it would be on a happier note!  Minasan, hontoni arigatougozaimashita!!

Take a look! There’s a lot happening at Straits Quay this coming weekend!

prog highlight flyer 2

March 11th 2012 marks the one year anniversary of the Japan Tohoku Earthquake / Tsunami.  The people of Penang rallied for Japan last year to raise over RM600,000 in just 5 hours, prompting a ‘tidal wave’ of support and goodwill.  This year, we’re going to celebrate LIFE and Earth through a festival of Spring and Lights at our original location of Straits Quay.

Highlights include; Spring floral arrangement, Green Corner by the MGS girls, Cosplay Comic Cafe, Kimono wearing, Japanese stage performances and games, and for those interested in shopping – we’re having the ever popular 2nd hand FLEA MARKET to benefit the Children’s Protection Society.  IF you have anything 2nd hand to contribute for us to sell, please drop items of good condition to the Enhance Education offices at 2nd Floor, Quay 1, Straits Quay!!

As for the memorial activities – we’ll be having a memorial wall, flower message line where you can hang up your sakura messages all around to look like Sakura petals falling, Candle walkway and Nagashibina – where you can float a doll off to the sea in a symbolic gesture to the victims of the natural disasters.   For more details, please refer to the Page under Events.

Make sure you come join us!!!

I’m so excited….we’re back in business now, having resurrected our website.  As it’s a technical thing, I cannot explain what happened, but at least we’re BAAAAACCCCCK!

Masses has happened since we went offline, so we’ll be uploading our events as quickly as we can!  Check in regularly to see what we’ve been up to!

Have you ever looked at the “Heal the Earth” page?

Well, we’ve just put up two new articles about Eco-advancements in Japan that Penang could emulate. The first is about generating and distributing energy through a solar truck. Read about it in “Solar Electricity from a truck”.

The second article is about how a little heart-shaped island is actively shaping it’s energy future today.  “One more step for Penang” looks at ideas that we could copy!

Read it… it’s cool… and it’s all possible!

And don’t forget to come to the Candlelight Charity Walk on the 19th June!!

Soon after the earthquake struck and the news of the Fukushima Nuclear disaster leaked, we felt that we really had to re-think how to live life free from nuclear energy.  Well, we are obviously not the only ones as we spotted an article which described the ’seismic shift’ in Japanese perception and policy towards energy source and consumption as early as April 5th 2011.   This was report was part of a survey carried out by the Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economy and Society (ISHES) and the full report is found as follows:

http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/pages/030903.html

We believe that we need to be knowledgeable to enact change, so please read the article and give us your feedback!!

OK, so it’s confirmed!! We’re doing our Candlelight Charity Walk along the Straits Quay Promenade on June 19th to commemorate the 100th day of the Tohoku Earthquake.   SPREAD the NEWS!!

We want as many people to join us in what promises to be a beautiful walk along the promenade at dusk (from 7pm onwards) carrying a lit candle. And if you can get someone to sponsor you it’ll be even better!!

The event will consist of 2 parts – the Earth Carnival from 3pm ~ 10pm = this will consist of stalls by NGOs and corporates who will showcase their eco-friendly products.  Games, Japanese stalls etc.   And the second part is the Candlelight Walk which starts from 7pm. There will be 2 distances – the long walk along the promenade and back will be around 4km and will take about 45mins ~ 1 hour to do. The short walk of approx 2 km will take only 30 mins. Both walks start at the same point, but you can decide on the day how long you want to walk.

Get yourself lots of sponsors for completing the walk and you will be helping to raise funds for 4 worthwhile causes:-

1) Children’s Protection Society

2) World Wildlife Fund Malaysia

3) Environmental NGO

4) Penang for Japan fund

If you are interested, pls send us an email and we’ll send you the appropriate forms!

Yosakoi dancers! Grab your narukos, grab a friend and head to Straits Quay on SUNDAYS 12 noon ~ 1:30pm for your practices!! We had a practice INDOORS this time, and it was a lot more comfortable!  Remember, the date for Bon Odori is July 16th, and this year we’ll be dancing ALOT!!  1) Yosakoi 2)We’ll  be helping to lead the Bon Odori from below the stage for the Tankobushi, Tokyo Ondo, Rasa Sayang, and back by popular demand, Pokemon Ondo 3) we have been invited by the visiting yosakoi team from Japan to dance with them!  So see you next week on Sunday!

As usual, it’s taken a while, but we’re finally posting the ‘report’ on the 2nd large fundraising event ~ the HOPE Charity Gala Dinner at the Rasa Sayang.  The tables were fully subscribed to, with over 200 attendees paying from RM500 ~ RM1000 per seat!   The congratulations and thanks goes to the teams at Rasa Sayang, Golden Sands and Traders Hotel, who really went all out to sell the tables to full capacity!

The Pink Hibiscus put on a cultural show, to great reviews (I make it sound like it’s a production worth critiquing) and the evening kicked off with a rousing performance by the 56 members of the Philharmonic Orchestra!! Yup, you saw that right!  The 56 member-orchestra crammed onto a specially constructed stage and played a selection of classic and broadway pieces that really wowed the audience.

Thank you to Rasa Sayang for making that extra effort to build a special stage ~ it was probably the biggest stage ever done by the hotel!

As the dinner started, the diners were entertained by our ever popular modern Japanese dancers comprising of Hitomi, Yen Peng, Ailing and Mifuyu who performed “Rising” to the music of the dynamic rock-shamisen duo Yoshida Brothers.  With the sleeves extended halfway for dramatic effect, the ladies gave another rousing and exciting performance that didn’t fail to impress.

The Japanese Children’s Choir drew the attention of all those present with their sweet and touching rendition of ‘Maarui Inochi’ and ‘Snow Prince’, which brought tears to many an adult’s eye.  Anju’s piano playing was superb and with the familiar tune of ‘Claire du Lune’ as prologue to Snow Prince had people sitting up for attention.  The kids were dressed in yukatas and the few giggles amongst the boys during the performance really brought out the sweetness of the choir, which the audience really found priceless!

Then came the Kimono Show… we had to dress over 30 people to take part in this kimono show and it didn’t just showcase one type of kimono, but ALL the different types of kimonos possible!  We had furisode, houmongi, tsukesage, komon, kurotomesode, meisen, kasuri, hakama, yukata, roh, uchikake and featured for the first time in Penang, a Geisha lady!!  At the end of the kimono show, the kimono performers got back on stage to sing ‘Uewo muite arukou’ – a song originally made famous by Ryu Sakamoto, whose song was turned into the English version called ‘Sukiyaki’. For more photos of the kimono show, please go to our photo gallery.

Our first guest performer was Mr Kido who sang 2 really beautiful songs with his trusted Ukulele – ‘Hanamizuki’ and ‘Ame nimo makezu’. The latter song was actually a poem written by a Tohoku native, and it spoke about the strength and resilience of people in dire times.  The poem was then turned into a song, and most recently, it was made into a kind of anthem for the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake disaster with all the top Hong Kong artistes singing and recording a version with the likes of Judy Ong and Agnes Chan. Mr Kido infused his performance with emotion and with the single Ukulele as musical accompaniment, it served a poignant reminder of the human spirit and strength.  Bravo Kido-san! Arigato!!

Our second guest performer was Aida, who excited us with her dramatic portrayal of an adaptation of a Noh dance in hakama.  The performance was brilliant, and left us with wanting more at the end of her performance.

Our final guest performance was by a group of Penang boys who sang Justin Bieber’s ‘Pray’. Their performance was outstanding, and

delivered with precision … even the bows were executed on command!  The boys later joined the Japanese children who first sang ‘Sekaiga hitotuni narumade’ (When the world becomes one), and together with the all the performers, sang the finale ‘Heal the World’, each holding a candle.

Both the audience and performers went home with a feeling of satisfaction, and was particularly pleased that the evening raised RM200,000!  A grand thank you must go to Mr Teoh, who so generously topped up with RM40,000 on the spot to round off the total to RM200,000.  In gratitude, Rasa Sayang gave complimentary nights stay at the Rasa Sayang Presidential Suite!  Hip Hip hurray to both Mr Teoh and Rasa Sayang!

All in all, it was an evening truly made HOPE-FULL by everyone, and our thanks go again to everyone involved!