47th 55years old Town association meeting has been held yesterday at Tsukiji Honganji temple. Number of attendee was 41 including guests. It turned out to be 1/3 of peek size. Existing members were getting old and number of people who are moving into Tokyo area were getting smaller. Although the number of participants decreased, it became a dense gathering.
By the way, during the general meeting, the following proposal was presented by the secretary-general and approved by members. In the spring of next year, we will take a trial step, and aim for a large joint in autumn, including four sister town associations and county association. The trial step is to hold another meeting next spring, jointly with the neighbor Tachibana town association. The meeting place will be Ichigaya, not Tsukiji.
My home town is now a system that forms a county in one town, and the town and county territory is equal. In 2004 four towns in the same county merged into one town. On the other hand, in the Kanto area, there are four groups of people from hometowns who are based on the town before the merger.
In addition to the old township association before the merger, the county association based in the county continues in parallel. The county association is quite old and has a history of 117 years since it was founded in 1902 (Meiji 35). Of course, there is no member since the beginning, but the tradition has been handed down.
The proposed joint proposal is to consolidate the four town association and county association into one, and replace the name with the name of the current town. Since the general assembly of the county association is held every fall, we want to make the general meeting of next fall the first general meeting after the integration.
The population of the county, our hometown, was 68,584 in 1948 and 1948, the peak. That has dropped to 15,916 people as of October 1 of this year. That is, it has fallen to a level of less than 23.2% of the heyday and a quarter or less. Moreover, the aging rate is top class in the country.
Given this fact, it is unlikely that the members of the town association will increase. On the other hand, the aging of existing members is progressing. Even if you actively recruit Nisei who was born outside hometown, there are limits to that. It is self-evident that we must go through integration and quality improvement.
Some people seem to be worried that even if they are integrated, a group of people with thin ties will become thin and the meaning of relatives will be lost. However, it is an issue that can be easily overcome if you love the hometown and have the spirit of excitement.
The Towa town association was established in 1964 (Showa39). Next year, in 2020 (Reiwa2), when it was disbanded in order, it would be a form of passing a big bridge between the previous and next Tokyo Olympics, and it would have added a splendid blossom to its significance.
(Yoshihiro Fujiwara Oct. 21, 2019)
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