On December 3, 2008 we held a Polish Christmas Night party at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo. The event was organized by the Polish Embassy in Tokyo, PCCIJ and supported by the Polish Tourism Organisation in Tokyo. Over 450 guests attended including VIPs such as the President of Poland, the First Lady and Princes Takamadonomiya.
President of Poland, the First Lady and Princes Takamadonomiya. |
Program of the Event was as follows:
17:30 Door open
18:00 Greeting
18:10 Polish Christmas show by the children
18:30 Introduction and Greetings
18:40 Food & Drinks are served
19:20 Lottery
20:00 Greetings by President of the Republic of Poland
The event started at 18:00 with an opening remarks by Ms. Joanna Dopierala, Counselor - Head of Economic Section and Mr. Piotr Suszycki-Tanaka, PCCIJ Chairman, who were the MCs of the evening.
After the opening speaches around 18:15 a group of Polish children living in the Tokyo area who attend the Polish School in Tokyo came to the stage as carollers to show how Christmas is celebrated in Poland. While the children were performing, Ms. Nagami (Trade and Investment Promotion Section of the Embassy) explained the contents to the audience in Japanese. The show was received with a great applause. The show was directed by Ms. Wasylczyszyn of the Embassy.
Following the show around 18:30 began the introduction of the persons who are actively involved with the Japanese-Polish relations on a daily basis as follows:
- Mr. Piotr Grudzien, First Secretary - Head of Trade and Investment Promotion Section, Embassy of Poland
- Mr. Tom Kuczynski Ph.D., Second Secretary - Economic Section, , Embassy of Poland
- Ms. Eliza Klonowska-Siwak, Second Secretary of the Trade and Investment Promotion Section, Embassy of Poland
followed by the introduction of the Board of PCCIJ as follows:
- Mr. Michael Grzybowski, PCCIJ Treasurer, President of GMTravel Co., Ltd.
- Mr. Pawel Komender, PCCIJ Chief Auditor, President of PJK Management Consulting Ltd
- Mr. Shiro Matsuo, Member of PCCIJ Board
- Mr. Masanori Tonegawa, Board Member, President of Global Media
- Mr. Stan Werkowski, Managing Director - Member of PCCIJ Board, President of PhotoLaboTech
- Mr. Jerzy Zemela, PCCIJ Auditor, President
Special thanks were also conveyed to Mr. Mariusz Lata, Head of the Polish Tourist Ogranisation in Tokyo and Ms. Miyuki Ichikawa, his assistant.
After the introduction, around 6:45 PM, the Polish style Christmas-style dinner began. Polish food and drinks were served.
At 19:20 the lottery began. Very attractive prices were prepared for the winners with with first price a free return ticket by FINNAIR to any destination in Europe operated by the arilines. Other prizes included Polish-made special wooden chess-board set and Polish vodka "Zubrowka", Polish amber accessories sponsored by Go4Poland K.K., Polish-made fruits in alkohol by Regina Sp. z o.o. and other goods such as name card holders, ball-point pens donated by the Polish Tourism Organisation and the Embassy.
The most important moment of the night was the visit by the Mr. Lech Kaczynski, the President of the Republic of Poland who was on the official state visit to Japan. Mr. Kaczynski was accompanied by the First Lady, Princes Takamado, the new Ambassador of Poland to Japan, Ms. Jadwiga Rodowicz, who is also the Honorary Chairmand of our Chamber and other members of the Polish delegation to Japan. The guests were greeted with a great applause by a few hundred particitpants to the event.
Mr. Kaczynski made a short speech in which he welcomed the guests and wished everybody a very Merry Christmas and a very prosperous and happy New Year.
Then the President shared the traditional Christmas vaffle ("oplatek" in Polish) with some of the guests and the children on the stage.
Following that the group of children paerformed a short show for the Presidential Couple and Princes Takamado after which they left.
The party ended before 9 PM.
On behalf of the PCCIJ Board we would like to extend our great thanks to all the persons involved in the preparation of the event which prooved to be a great success. Among them are the Polish Embassy staff, PCCIJ staff and the Polish Tourism Organisation as well as the children and their parents whom we would like to thank for their patience and support. Also we would like to thank to all the sponsors who donated great gifts for our guests thanks to which the event turned out to be really exciting.
