As we enter the final quarter of 2008, the weather is beginning to cool down in Tokyo after a hot summer &, before we know it, the end of the year will be with us and we will have our final event for 2008 & that will be the Xmas Lunch on Friday December 12 & Ifm sure that will be a terrific day as usual
However, the Xmas Lunch is going to have to be spectacular in order to even come anywhere near the 35th Anniversary Dinner for the Tokyo B&B which was held at the Tokyo Bay Hilton Hotel on Saturday evening, September 20. Talk about the luck of the Aussiesc..the night before experienced heavy rain & we were arranging for an indoor contingency plan in the event of rain on Saturday night (which was in the forecast) as our main plan was to commence the evening with a champagne cocktail reception around the swimming pool. What a relief it was for all concerned when the Saturday evening weather turned out to be great and we could start the evening off as planned.
The General Manger of the Tokyo Bay Hotel, himself a member of the B&BcFrederic Lucronc..together with his staff, put on a fabulous 6 –course dinner & backed it up with really terrific service. Tom Wilken did an outstanding job as MC, as he did 5 years ago & he really has that role down to a fine art. Whoever will be arranging the 40th Anniversary has a big challenge on their hands to top the 35th.
Some of our members have left Japan during the year and new members have subsequently been admitted and we have a full group as usual. The lunches have been extremely well attended this year and I would like to thank all concerned for their support. As usual, we are always on the lookout for gappropriateh new venues for our lunches but we certainly have a lot of old favourites which I am sure we will be using for years to come.
Thanks for making 2008 a great year for the Tokyo B&B. See you at the Lunches.
Gary Lynch
President