His Excellency, Ambassador Toshinao Urabe, members and friends of the association, it is with great pleasure that I, and my fellow IJA council members, send you our closing news for 2010.

1959: Dr.Ushioda came to Dublin in 1959 and Mrs.Ushioda joined him a year later. In those days only a very few Japanese were living here in Dublin. They were two Japanese physicists. Both were working at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies.

The IJA annual golf outing was held at Elm Park in Dublin 4 for a second year running (2009 & 2010). Located in the heart of Dublin, this location proved successful with a good turnout of 8 teams of 4 balls.

The Japanese Food-tasting Evening, one of the most popular cultural events of the IJA, took place on 20th of June at Koishi restaurant in Ballsbridge.

St. Ann's Church in Dawson Street was the venue for a very exciting concert of traditional Japanese music held on 15^th October 2010. An audience of 200 people listened intently as four musicians, two from Ireland and two from Japan, demonstrated their expertise on the shakuhachi and the satsumabiwa.

During May this year, I attended an unusual and stimulating series of classes on the Japanese language and aspects of Japanese culture. The course content was designed by Donagh Morris with first time business travellers to Japan in mind.

The IJA hosted a sushi demonstration and workshop on Tuesday 19th October in St. Raphaela's Secondary School in Stillorgan where Japanese is thought as a Leaving Certificate subject.

At the Invest Japan Seminar held in the Quinn School of Business in UCD on 4th November 2010, Colin Lawlor, Commercial Director of BiancaMed, made an impassioned plea for Irish-owned companies to tackle the very lucrative Japanese market.

This year's Japanese Film Festival, the third collaboration between The Embassy of Japan, access>CINEMA and the Ireland Japan Association, was launched in Cork on 29th October.

An Eileen Kato Memorial Concert took place on Saturday 24 July at
 Hillside Plaza .29-10 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo.

We are delighted to announce that one of our long-standing members, Dr. Satoshi Ushioda, has been awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Emperor of Japan.