The JWC: A Short Introduction

The Japan Women's Club, JWC, is a nonprofit organization established in 1989 in Amstelveen. Its founding members were women of the Japanese business community in The Netherlands. Their intention was to create a club that would help to introduce its members to the culture of their new surroundings and, with various activities, help to establish contact with the local people.

Most prominent were the various goodwill activities organized every year. They raised funds for, among others, Lillian Fund, Women's Shelter Against Domestic Violence, Groningen Special Youth Center, European Go Cultural Center, Mytyl Tyltyl School and the Sea Lion Rehabilitation Center in Harderwijk. A special activity was organized in the year 2000 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Netherlands - Japan Friendship Treaty. JWC donated 400 cherry trees to the local communities. These trees were planted in the Amsterdamse Bos, on the Museumplein in Amsterdam and along Deshima Street in Amstelveen.

Presently, JWC offers two regular activities: "Conversation in Japanese" and "Handcraft Club". The first one is our oldest volunteer activity. We meet twice a month with enthusiastic Dutch participants for an informal session of everyday spoken Japanese. The handcraft club is organized each time by individual members who introduce new techniques, such as needlework, to the other participants.

2009 marks the 400th anniversary of commerce between The Netherlands and Japan, and JWC completes its 20 years of existence. The handcraft club members are busy to complete an especially designed quilt to commemorate these two occasions.

This quilt will be presented to the city of Amstelveen in November together with the second quilt made by former members of JWC in Japan.

If you are interested to find out more about JWC or want to join, please contact " nihongokaiwa@jwc-holland.org "

Nihongo Kaiwa

" Nihongo Kaiwa", the Japanese conversation group, was created as an initiative of the Japan Women's Club. It started out 20 years ago, as a support group for the students of Japanese Studies at Leiden University, to provide them with an opportunity to use Japanese on a more colloquial level.

Currently, our group consists of people from various backgrounds, and who all have different reasons for joining the group. There are former language students, people who have lived in Japan, or people who developed an interest for the Japanese language through its calligraphy, martial arts or "Manga", just to mention the few.

Whatever the reason may have been for joining, the enthusiasm in our conservation group has always created a great atmosphere, since the day we started twenty years ago.

We gather twice a month, on the first and third Friday of the month from 10:30 till 12:30 in 
EGCC
Schokland 14
1181 HV Amstelveen

You're very welcome to join us as a native or aspiring speaker.

We can be reached via e-mail for any further questions.

nihongokaiwa@jwc-holland.org

2012 Schedule for Nihongokaiwa

February 3rd, 17th