Peter Slowe and Tom Pastorius in front of the Meiji Shrine

By Dr. Peter Slowe, Director and Founder of Projects Abroad

The reason for going to Japan was to learn about the possible interest of the Japanese in volunteering with Projects Abroad. I was also a first-timer in Japan. My visit to the fabulous Meiji Shrine was the best ever because it turned out to be the Emperor Meiji’s birthday – he would have been 156; this resulted in a long Shinto ceremony with many robed priests, traditional dances, and solemn intoning members of the Japanese Imperial family, ending up with a hearty rendering of Kimigayo. The next-most amazing thing was staring out of the hotel window during our conference and seeing Mount Fuji. If you go to Japan, don’t bother with the raw fish but have Shabu-Shabu beef prepared at your table by a lady who keeps smiling and saying “Shabu-Shabu” (no matter what the question). I think that many Japanese will join our projects and bring their cultural richness into many of the countries where we work. Kana Banzai!

Ceremony at the Meiji Shrine

I love Mongolia because it’s empty, cold and wonderful. The first snow had fallen and I forgot my outdoor coat but Oko had several to spare – I think he wears all of them at the same time in February. The Karaoke was good – personally I can only ever remember Yellow Submarine and Hey Jude but Oko gets carried away with Korean love-songs because it was by singing these that he attracted his beautiful Korean wife, Sang Em, many years ago. His voice is good – especially in quantity. Usuhuu, Otgoo and Ariunaa are probably the star singers but all of us did our best and sometimes scored well. I really enjoyed spending time with my Mongolian colleagues. Everyone knows the destination is great but I was also really pleased that we made what seemed a few years ago to be a brave decision to put Projects Abroad’s financial HQ in Mongolia – it couldn’t have turned out better. Oko banzai!

Shanghai certainly has its international side. For example, I discovered that the Chinese for “soft poached eggs” is “soft poached eggs” and, gratifyingly, I wasn’t expected to eat mine with chopsticks. Teddy is our great new desk-officer; he can speak English and German in his quiet refined way and answers all emails almost immediately – this is because Teddy, like all my Chinese colleagues, really cares about the volunteers as individuals who give up time, money and energy to do their wonderful work of helping others or improving themselves. Kay sets a fine example; she really understands, in an extraordinary cross-cultural way, what motivates our volunteers and exactly how to help them get on in China. Kay Banzai!

While I was in Shanghai, the Obama result came in and the world changed. And the Glenrothes result came in and Britain changed. Barack Banzai! Gordon Banzai!