Welcome to the Denver Takayama Sister City Committee
activities page

Our coming events, background, some past activities, related organizations

 

 
 
 
Steve Comstock, previous chairman of the committee, accepts an award on behalf of the committee from Midori Takeuchi, the Consul General of Japan in Denver. The award is a special commendation to our committee, jointly with the Takayama Denver Friendship Association, "for outstanding contributions to strengthen US-Japan relations through their joint activities over the last 60 years", awarded on July 29, 2020.
 
 
 
 
 
 

If you are planning on traveling to Japan, with our group or on your own, it would help to have some background information. Here is some useful information about traveling to, and within, Japan

 

Got that craving for Japanese food? Want to support your favorite Japanese restaurant? Hakken Denver and the Japanese Arts Network maintain an excellent spreadsheet listing our favorite Japanese restaurants (some you may not even know about) including name, location, phone, hours of operation, web - as well as describing their takeout and delivery options. A great resource!

 

Click here to get coronavirus information for Japan

 

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Events and Upcoming Activities

 

Regular monthly meeting
(Our monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month)
Tuesday April 20th: 6:00-7:00-ish; location: online via Zoom.

Click here to request the Zoom meeting info (If you have trouble, simply send an email to gilasakawa@gmail.com.)

 

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Virtual book club meeting
Tuesday May 4: 7:00-8:30-ish; location: online via Zoom.

Informal get together to discuss the book "Masks" by Fumiko Enchi .

From GoodReads: "...Masks takes its name from the Noh masks of Japanese dramas, and much is made of spirit possession. This is a curiously elegant and scandalous tale of sexual deception and revenge. Ibuki loves widow Yasuko who is young, charming and sparkling with intelligence as well as beauty. His friend, Mikame, desires her too but that is not the difficulty. What troubles Ibuki is the curious bond that has grown between Yasuko and her mother-in-law, Mieko, a handsome, cultivated yet jealous woman in her fifties, who is manipulating the relationship between Yasuko and the two men who love her."

Information and availability via Good Reads Website. Wikipedia has an article about the book.

Email Steve Comstock to request the Zoom meeting info (If you have trouble, simply send an email to steve@trainersfriend.com.) All are welcome, but please let Steve know you wish to attend so he can send you the link for the Zoom session

 

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Find out about the Committee calendar, budgets, and so on ...

A look back at activities and involvement of members and friends during 2019 - a retrospective (.pdf document) (Last updated 11 January, 2020)

And a look at the impact of our committee in the community in 2019 - (.pdf document) volunteer hours and dollars spent doing our work. (Last updated 11 January, 2020

Why Denver Takayama is relevant to the larger community - Japanese, Japanese-American, all interested in Japan - in Denver and Colorado (.pdf document) (Last revised 1 February, 2017)

Denver / Takayama: the first 50 Years an historical record in English and Japanese. (.pdf document) (Last revised 23 August, 2010)

Technical paper on emails
(.pdf document - Some thoughts on how to make email safer from hackers and more effective) (Written 26 March, 2015)

Getting a gun in Japan
(.pdf document) - No matter where you fall on the gun control issue, this article I found on Facebook has some intriguing ideas. (Uploaded 11 March, 2018)

 

 Web pages from past trips 

Journey Into Japan adult trip (October 5-19, 2019)

Visit by high school students from Takayama August 1-6, 2019

High school students exchange trip to Japan June, 2018

Essential Japan (adult trip) June, 2018

 

Other Organization's Activities

 

Appreciating the art form of Japanese Ikebana

Fri April 23rd 1-5pm /  Sat April 24th 9-5pm /  Sun April 25th 9-3pm - Gates Hall at Denver Botanic Gardens.

An exhibition of works by the students of Midori Allmeyer. Free with admission to the gardens.

Note: currently the Botanic Gardens requires visitors to reserve tickets in advance by calling 720-865-3500.

 

Discussion about Being Mixed Race

April 29, 2021 - 6:30-8pm MT
Sakura Foundation is presenting "Being Mixed Race: A Dialogue to Build Bridges & Understanding". Free, but registration required.
Meeting info and registration