Feb 5th 2017 O.A.
VerdeXchange
From January 29th to 31st was the VERDEXCHANGE Green Marketmakers Conference & Expo in LA, discussing environmental policies and technology. In this event, decision makers widely discuss about California’s energy saving, accumulation and water infrastructure issues. Companies and organizations also promote their latest technologies. SB350, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act was signed into law by the California state legislature stating by the year 2030, reusable energy will rise to 50 percent. Hearing this, 10 Japanese business have promoted their latest environmental technology that may help the state’s water shortage problem. The Japanese government are also connecting the environmental decision makers for both Japan and the US by using the connections built by the Consul General of Japan in LA. Kazuo Furukawa of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization held a debate with California’s environmental decision makers and spoke about Japan’s technology in making a smart community for a greener environment.
LA MIta-Kai New Year’s Party / Rei Marimura Concert
January 29th was Keio University’s reunion for the LA Mita-Kai, celebrating the New Years in Irvine. There, alumna and singer, Rei Marimura was invited from Japan and held a mini concert. The LA Mita-Kai was founded 55 years ago and currently holds about 250 members. Wide range of age groups from graduates to current students participate and hold pride in the club. At the New Years celebration, announcements of new board members and event announcements were held. After meal was Rei Marimura’s concert. Rei Marimura started her singing career when she was still a student at the university. Her song that was released in 1968, when she was in her fourth year of college, became a trend that year. She was active in the “college folk” era and is said to be the first female college student singer. She took a break for awhile but later came back in 1998 and is still continuing her singing career. After this event, Marimura sang at other locations, like the retirement homes in LA.