MIFA offers various programs to introduce foreign cultures to Meguro citizens
in cooperation with Embassies in Meguro City.

◆ Chopin's Home-Poland 〜piano concert and lecture〜
Date: September 12 (Sun.),2010 11:00 - 16:00 Place: Nakameguro GT Plaza Hall (B1, Nakameguro GT, 2-1-3 Kamimeguro, in front of Nakameguro station) 11:00 - 11:10 Greeting by Polish Embassy 11:10 - 12:00 House where Chopin was born in Poland and other places he was living 12:00 - 13:30 Introduction to Polish traditional food, food bazaar, goods bazaar 14:00 - 15:00 Chopin's Music - concert by Masako Ezaki 15:00 - 16:00 Traveling and dining in Poland during Chopin's Year 2010 Polish hosts of Polish Forum TAMA Lecture about Chopin from his childfood before leaving Poland Audience listening to the lecture Food sales (sandwiches and cakes) Goods sales Handmade potteries from Poland （Bolesawiec） Pianist Ms. Masako Ezaki Ms. Ezaki played Chopin's anthologies

Organized by MIFA, Polish Forum TAMA in Japan
Co-organized by Embassy of the Republic of Poland and Meguro City
Inquiry: to MIFA

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◆Polish Festival.
"Polish Festival" was held on April 4 at Nakameguro GT Plaza Hall. About 150 visitors experienced Polish culture and tradition.
Date: 4th, April, (Sat.) 11:00-16:00
Place: Nakameguro Plaza Hall Organized by MIFA, Polish Forum TAMA in Japan and Embassy of the Republic of Poland Co-organized by Meguro City

Program

11:00 -	Greeting by Polish Ambassador Dr. Jadwiga Maria RODOWICZ
11:20 -	Introduction of Easter Traditions
11:50 -	Polish folk dance performed by "Mazur" group
12:20 -	Easter Meal (sale of hors d'oeuvre and cake)
13:30 -	Piano Consert by Mr. Michal Sobkowiak
14:00 -	"World Heritage sites in Poland" by Polish National Tourist Office
14:50 -	Mini-lesson of Polish Language
15:20 -	Lottery

Link to the website of Polish Forum TAMA in Japan (in Polish)

Table coordination for Polish Easter	Easter Eggs	Polish folk dance
Piano performance by Mr. Michal Sobkowiak	Presentation by Tourist Office

◆Egyptian Cooking Class with Short Talk（Egyptian Spring Festival)
"Egyptian Cooking Class with Short Talk" was held on April 15 at Midorigaoka Bunka Kaikan.
Embassy of Egypt organized the event and MIFA co-organized.
Dr. Eng. Ahmed EL-Salmawy , Culture Attache,Culture, Education and Science Bureau of Embassy of Egypt,
demonstrated and taught the Egyptian home cooking.
29 participants followed the cooking procedure and could cook delicious dishes.
Dr. Ahmed spoke about Egyptian Spring Festival, Ramadan fast , Egyptian customs and its culture.

Cooking Scene		Bamiya with Egyptian Rice, Shurbit Ads (Lentil Soup).		Dr. Eng. Ahmed EL-Salmawy's Talk

◆Thailand Culture Show & Painting Exhibition

Thailand Culture and Show and Painting Exhibition was held on Sep.25 (Sun) 2005.
Place: Nakameguro GT Plaza Hall, B1 in front of  Nakameguro Station
Incoooperate with: Meguro City and Meguro International Friendship Association
Program: Water color painting exhibiton and demonstration, Fruit and vegetable carving demonstration,
Thai traditional dances, Thai product bazzar, Thai movie observation, Thai food and etc

Program

Exhibition and Sales
Exhibition and sale of watercolor paintings, sale of Thai artifacts, Thai food sale started at noon.

◆Joint event with the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Cultural Festivalv was held on October 30(Sat) 2004.
Organized by Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Co-organized by: MIFA and Meguro City
Co-sponsored by: Meguro Bar Association

Program:

In the morning. there was an opening ceremony. At the opening ceremony, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan, the mayor of Meguro City and the Chairman of Meguro Bar Association gave speeches. About one hundred people were invited to the ceremony. Kazakh dances and music were performed and documentary movie was shown. At the lunch time people tasted Kazakh food. In the afternoon there was a concert and dances were performed. Slides were shown as well as a movie entiltled "Wolf Club Among People". A talk ws given about the experiences of staying in Kazakhstan. About 150 people attended in the afternoon.

H.E.Mr. Bolat NURGALEIV		Dances And Songs
Dombra		Kobyz

◆Joint event with the Embassy of Egypt

MIFA is planning to hold three Egyptian cooking classes with short talk this year.
Part 1 Date and Time: July 11(Sun), 2004 10:00AM-13:30
Part 2 Date and Time: October 17(Sun), 2004 10:00AM-13:30
Part 3 Date and Time: January 16(Sun), 2005 10:00AM-13:30

Report pf Part 1
Place: Midorigaoka Bunka Kaikan, 3F
Organized by Embassy of Egypt
Co-organized by MIFA
Programs of Part 1
Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Mabrouk, Counsellor of Culture, Education and Science Bureau of Embassy of Egypt
demonstrated Egyptian cooking..
The menu were Jew's marroow soup, buttered rice and stewed potatoes in tomato sauce.
After meal, having mint-tea participants listened to Prof. Dr. Ibrahim's talk about Egyptian food culture and customs.
The room was filled with 30 people. They all enjoyed Egyptian dishes.

Cutting Jew's Marroow		Prof. Dr. Ibrahim and Mr. Fathy		Stewed Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

Report of Part 2
Place: Midorigaoka Bunka Kaikan, 3F
Organized by Embassy of Egypt
Co-organized by MIFA
Dr. Meselhy R. Meselhy, Ph. D., Cultural Attache, Culture, Education and Science Bureau,
Embassy of Egypt introduced Egyptian ccoking on Oct 17,2004.
About 28 participants enjoyed his talk and egyptian cooking.

Dr. Meselhy R. Meselhy's Talk	Cooking Scene
Marinated Vegetable	Egyptian Dish

Report of Part 3
The same instructors for Part 1 and 2, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Mabrouk, Counsellor of the Culture, Education and Science Bureau of
the Embassy of Egypt and Mr. Fathy demonstrated Egyptian cooking.
The menu for the day was Papaganugu (eggplants and sesame paste), Egga (Egyptian omelette), and
Rozubi Raban (rice-dessert).
Lunch was served with an Egyptian bread called pita bread.
During lunch time, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim talked about pilgrimage and 'Id al-Adha.

Papaganugu (eggplants and sesame paste)				Ega
Bake the eggplant in an oven.	Peel the skin and cut off the tips of the eggplant. Mash the eggplant with a fork.	Mix eggplant with the sesame paste and spices.		An Egyptian Egg omelette

Demonstration and explanation of cooking		Talking about " pilgrimage and 'Id al-Adha".

A speech by Ambassador M. Serajul Islam	Ms. Reiko Kato, Chief Director of MIFA	Banbladesh Dancing

Curry, samosa, sweets and other Bangladesh typical dishes are very popular among visitors	The custom was introduced that the bride drawsMehndi(painting) on the palms of visitors.

◆Joint event with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland
1. An event to learn about Polish culture was held at the Nakameguro GT Plaza in December 2003.
Date & Time: Dec.13 (Sat) 2003, 10:00-16:00
Place:Nakameguro GT Plaza Hall (B1), I min. walk from Nakameguro Station
Organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland
Coorganized by MIFA, Meguro City

Program:
Polish Language Speech Contest
A lecture by the director of the Poster Museum in Wilanow
(Maria Kurpik, the director of the Poster Museum in Wilanow near Warsaw, the oldest poster museum in the world, introduced posters of Poland)

Polish Movies

Fifteen speakers participated in a Polish language speech contest and presented speeches on various topics, which showed all the effort that they had put into learning the language.
Many native Polish speakers were in the audience or served as judges for the contest. The hall was full of the sound of the Polish language.
Following the lecture by the director of the Poster Museum, the hall was full with members of MIFA, citizens, and graphic and art designers.
106 very valuable posters, grouped by era were shown through slides and narration.
The lecture was really fun and informative. The audience learned that the poster designs have been influenced by historical background and also learned about the importance and the attractiveness of poster art.
Two Polish Movies, which have not been released in Japan, subtitled in Japanese were shown on plasma display panels.
Students who majored in Polish Language translated and made the panels.
The participants remarked that they enjoyed experiencing a variety of aspects of Poland in one day.

2."Michal Sobkowiak Piano Recital "
- A Concert of Polish Music -

Time: April 28, 2003 (Mon) 7:00-9:00 pm
Place: Meguro Persimmon Hall (Small Hall)
Sponsored by: the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Japan
Co-sponsored by MIFA and Meguro City

A piano concert by an excellent young pianist, Michal Sobkowiak was held .
An audience of over 100 people enjoyed his delicate and powerful performance.
The program that night was the music of Chopin and Szymanowski along with
some popular Japanese music ending with 2 encores.
Mr. Sobkowiak, who speaks Japanese, told us that he would like to
live in Tokyo someday.
He left Tokyo for Warsaw the next day.
At the same time in the foyer, pictures by Emilia Lepecka Okuyama,
a Polish artist who is living in Tokyo, were displayed.

◆The Joint Event with the Embassy of the Democratic
and People's Republic of Algeria.

"Algerian Culture Festival"　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Time: Feb. 7-9 2003 Place: Meguro Persimmon Hall (Small Hall) Organized by the Embassy of the Democratic and People's Republic of Algeria. Co-organized by Meguro City and MIFA During the 3 day festival, over 1000 people visited and experienced the culture of Algeria. On the stage in the Hall, Algerian history and artifacts, musical instruments and native costumes were displayed. A speaker, who lived in Algeria, spoke about Algeria and then a cencert of classic Arabic music was performed. In the exibition space in the foyer, arts, crafts and ornaments were displayed. A demonstration of how to make Couscous was held, visitors experienced a tea-ceremony and Algerian food was sold. There were a variety of other programs as well. .

Tea Ceremony (Tasting mint tea and date palms)		Exhibition of potteries, textiles and folkcrafts

Culinary demonstration of national dish "Couscous"