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The Alumni society in spite of its financial problem continued to have regular monthly meetings with a few committed members. Since we did not have a place nor had money to go to a hotel, a wayside teashop became our meeting place. We used to sit on our two wheelers sip a cup of tea and write the minutes of the meeting.
The Annual get together, Japanese Classes, Children's Painting competition on Japan, offering Japanese Translation and Interpretation services (As we knew a little more Japanese than all others in Tamilnadu at that time) were our activities. Meanwhile we also saw in the Indian Scenario of AOTS Alumni, some of the older societies closing down, some societies become Non functional due to internal problems and some societies limping with out any activity. So we decided that we should meet regularly with out any excuses Start working out plans for activities, which can be done by us with out much of financial needs Never ever allow internal politics to stop us from moving forward. (In our history of 30 years the elections have always been unanimous and people take up their position with mutual agreement and spirit of working together) All these could be possible because of the lessons we have been learning from others and the team had faith in the leadership.
But the first major break came with the visit of Prof. Kondo to Chennai, sponsored by AOTS. Kondo sensei was asked to inaugurate the National Convention of the National Institute of Quality and Reliability. The stage was provided to us by NIQR to make people to take notice of us as an organization that could get Japanese sensei. Next year Prof Ando came and our Image became very different with the Industries. The AOTS Management Training Programmes started making an impact with the managers of Industries. The MD and CEO started looking for Top Management Programs. The AOTS Yokohama Convention opened the PIDE Programme for Indian Entrepreneurs to all Alumni Societies and suddenly we could see a leap in our memberships. Industries started getting regular information on AOTS Training Programmes through us and we became a small but important institution to be recognized. Thanks to the visionary approach of our beloved Yamamoto San, the Indian Alumni got a face-lift and National body image with the formation of Federation of AOTS Alumni Societies of India (FAAAI). Like many other Alumni we were also functioning from my residence and we wanted to change the image and made the move to go to a rented place. The rent became a driving force to make us become active to generate the money for every month's rent.
1990 became the turning point in our history when Sasakawa Foundation (Now known as Nippon Foundation) gave us the funds to buy our place in the heart of the city. They again funded us to buy additional space and also carry out our pet Project of Computer Education for Girls at Poverty Line. Thanks to their support, we had a roof under which (though leaking at that time) we could stay, meet, and work together. All our members worked hard to generate more activities. We got the recognition from other sister institutions in Chennai and came to stay as a Japan Focused Institution for Training in Japanese Language and Japanese Management Techniques. This was followed by a good grant from Osaka Expo Fund. Thanks to the continued support from the Consulate General of Japan, Chennai office and the successive Consul Generals and the Consular Staff we always get motivated to do better. Through the support of Consulate General of Japan, Chennai we started receiving book donations from Japan Foundation, which helped us to build good library. The AOTS sent books and TOA Corporation donated books were also added to this collection making us the Library on Japan in Chennai.
Our Values
The Alumni society in spite of its financial problem continued to have regular monthly meetings with a few committed members. Since we did not have a place nor had money to go to a hotel, a wayside teashop became our meeting place. We used to sit on our two wheelers sip a cup of tea and write the minutes of the meeting.
The Annual get together, Japanese Classes, Children's Painting competition on Japan, offering Japanese Translation and Interpretation services (As we knew a little more Japanese than all others in Tamilnadu at that time) were our activities. Meanwhile we also saw in the Indian Scenario of AOTS Alumni, some of the older societies closing down, some societies become Non functional due to internal problems and some societies limping with out any activity. So we decided that we should meet regularly with out any excuses Start working out plans for activities, which can be done by us with out much of financial needs Never ever allow internal politics to stop us from moving forward. (In our history of 30 years the elections have always been unanimous and people take up their position with mutual agreement and spirit of working together) All these could be possible because of the lessons we have been learning from others and the team had faith in the leadership.
But the first major break came with the visit of Prof. Kondo to Chennai, sponsored by AOTS. Kondo sensei was asked to inaugurate the National Convention of the National Institute of Quality and Reliability. The stage was provided to us by NIQR to make people to take notice of us as an organization that could get Japanese sensei. Next year Prof Ando came and our Image became very different with the Industries. The AOTS Management Training Programmes started making an impact with the managers of Industries. The MD and CEO started looking for Top Management Programs. The AOTS Yokohama Convention opened the PIDE Programme for Indian Entrepreneurs to all Alumni Societies and suddenly we could see a leap in our memberships. Industries started getting regular information on AOTS Training Programmes through us and we became a small but important institution to be recognized. Thanks to the visionary approach of our beloved Yamamoto San, the Indian Alumni got a face-lift and National body image with the formation of Federation of AOTS Alumni Societies of India (FAAAI). Like many other Alumni we were also functioning from my residence and we wanted to change the image and made the move to go to a rented place. The rent became a driving force to make us become active to generate the money for every month's rent.
1990 became the turning point in our history when Sasakawa Foundation (Now known as Nippon Foundation) gave us the funds to buy our place in the heart of the city. They again funded us to buy additional space and also carry out our pet Project of Computer Education for Girls at Poverty Line. Thanks to their support, we had a roof under which (though leaking at that time) we could stay, meet, and work together. All our members worked hard to generate more activities. We got the recognition from other sister institutions in Chennai and came to stay as a Japan Focused Institution for Training in Japanese Language and Japanese Management Techniques. This was followed by a good grant from Osaka Expo Fund. Thanks to the continued support from the Consulate General of Japan, Chennai office and the successive Consul Generals and the Consular Staff we always get motivated to do better. Through the support of Consulate General of Japan, Chennai we started receiving book donations from Japan Foundation, which helped us to build good library. The AOTS sent books and TOA Corporation donated books were also added to this collection making us the Library on Japan in Chennai.
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