Romanian Sweet Salami- World Record

It happened on November 3rd 2014 but the members of Kokusai Bunka Kouryu Club
and have been preparing for this year's big event for months.
Kokusai Bunka Kouryu Club or literally translated as International Culture Exchange Club
is a volunteer association that has its roots in Aomori city, Japan.

Romanian folkltale books in Japanese and Romanian

Last year we had a similar event at this place in Aomori.
Foreigners living in Aomori gathered and introduced their own country's culture like
songs, dances, cuisine, games, arts and many more.

Japanese crafts
International workshop 2014, Aomori

This year's event was called International Workshop and everyone present had
the chance to join a country's booth and enjoy creating something like a small toy,
play Japanese traditional games, dance, make and create their own style of Japanese garden design, join a Karate lesson or help making one of the world's longest sweet treats.

Reception
International workshop 2014, Aomori

The weather on this day was one the worst in this year's November but the strong wind and
the heavy falling rain didn't stop the large number of people from coming and joining the event.

International workshop passport 2014, Aomori

At the entrance every person was given a passport in which basic expressions and greetings from many countries were written on.

Useful greetings in various languages
International workshop 2014, Aomori

They had to find citizens from different countries like Korea, Russia, The Philippines, 
United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and 
Romania. For every citizen they spoken to they received a  stamp on their 
passport.

Guest's passport
International workshop 2014, Aomori

In the cooking room I was given the opportunity to talk about Romania, play games
with the present locals in Romanian and of course to make one of the longest if
not the longest Sweet Salami in the world.

Introducing Romania and playing games in Romanian
International workshop 2014, Aomori

The children were more than happy to put their sleeves up, cut the biscuits into litlle
pieces and help making the Romanian treat loved by many and made by the mothers and grandmothers in Romania. This treat is a very convenient sweet to do because it is easy
to make and all the ingredients are at everyone's reach.

Making the longest Romanian sweet salami
International workshop 2014, Aomori

Mixing the hot chocolate with the biscuits, dry fruits raisins and a few other goods
is maybe one of the most fun part of making the salami, for both children and adults.
Personally I am always enjoying it, especially the part when I have to take the remaining
dough off my hands( and most of the times it ends up eaten by me... yummmy :-) )

Romanian sweet salami
International workshop 2014, Aomori

This is was one of the sweets my grandmothers used to prepare when I was little. I remember telling them that I want to eat something sweet and not before long they 
were ready to serve me this delicious biscuits salami that always tasted like a delicacy.
The only reason why it is called a salami is because of its shape.

In case you are interested in making your very own sweet salami here is a link!
Enjoy! It is finger licking delicious! 
Daca sunteti in cautarea unei noi retete de salam de biscuti aceasta poate fi una!
サラム・デ・ビスクイツィ を作ってみたい方、レシピはこちらです

After the first part of the program ended, all the guests were invited to see a
mini concert where singers from Russia, the Philippines and Japan were invited to
sing. Professional and Gospel singers took the listeners for a few minutes into a
their world fascinating them with their voices.

Lyuda and Dada
International workshop 2014, Aomori

One of the singers, a local singer looking similar to a Japanese singer enchanted
the spectators by singing famous Japanese songs.

Fumiya@International workshop 2014, Aomori

Behind the stage, the World's Longest Sweet Salami was ready
to enter the stage, after the guests passing by decorated the salami with
colored sugar.

Salam de biscuiti, probably the longest in the world
International workshop 2014, Aomori

Much to our surprise, the local media that was present at the event posted a whole
page with the events main activity, the Romanian sweet salami. 
After the concert the salami was brought in front of everyone and together we 
measured it. It was 7 meters and 80 centimeters long and for the guests and our delight 
it was delicious as well. A few children came that stood in line once in order to 
receive one piece of the salami, came back after a few moments asking for more.

We are not sure if we were able to achieve the goal of making the longest Romanian 

sweet salami in the world but at the moment we believe this is a world record.

Romanian sweet salami in the news
日本語の記事

An amateur cameraman, Mr. 祥一滝山 from Aomori present at the event was kind enough to record all the event, edit and post it on Youtube.
I will post here a link with the videos: part 1 and part 2.

International workshop 2014, Aomori

It's been a short time of activity in international relations for this club but its domain of
activity has a long path back in history which we hope will continue to thrive many years
from now on.

Thank you!
Arigatou!
Multumesc!

2008 International Events

Flying to Romania
Originally uploaded by Mihai Florin Apostu Oota

After coming back from Romania, where me and my son have spent an unforgettable 1 month holiday together with the grandparents from Romania, we continued the preparations for the ISE 2008( International Summer Event).

We are a volunteer association in Aomori interested in organising events where people all over the world can join us and share ideas, happenings, talent and cultural aspects.

ISE 2008- July 13th 2008
Originally uploaded by Mihai Florin Apostu Oota

The first event took place on July the 13th at the International cultural exchange house situated near the Aomori Public University Aomori. A big number of students helped us make this event happen. Both the guests and the participants were excited to be there.

The participants coming from countries like China, Phillipines, Japan, Korea, Malaisia, Russia, Romania, Thailand, Vietnam made their own speech in Japanese, presenting something relevant about their own country. During the break romanian cheese and snacks were served( I wish we could have offered wine too).

After the speech, talented singers from Russia, Phillipines, America, Australia and Japan gathered in a piano, guitar, violin and beautiful voices concert.

Romanians in Japan
Originally uploaded by Mihai Florin Apostu Oota

On August the 17th 2008, Aomori city hall in collaboration with different companies and associations from Aomori organised the annual　触れ合い広場( Open Space Contact). The main route in Aomori that goes to the Train Station was opened only. One of the many groups organising the event presented a world traditional clothing fashion show. Among other countries around the world( around 30 where presented), Romania was presented by me and a romanian friend of mine living in Hatinohe. At the end of the Fashion Show we danced holding hands with the viewers on romanian traditional songs like Hora and Brasoveanca.

This day was a special day for me for two reasons- ①I would have never thought that on my 27th birthday ②I will be dancing on traditional romanian songs in Japan.


At the moment we are preparing for the second event that our volunteer association will organise on December the 14th. " Christmas around the world" is what we would like to present in this second edition( probably this will be the name of the event) and hopefully foreigners living in Aomori( and other prefectures) will make Christmas in Aomori be felt like it is in their own countries.

If YOU are a foreigner living in Aomori( Japan) and would like to be present at this event as a guest or collaborator don` t hesitate to contact me.
Let` s spend an unforgettable Christmas in Aomori!

Japanese Speech- Busy weekend

Sunday? Emotions, repeating the speech, dressing up, preparing to speak in front of almost 100 people. I debutated in the 12th edition of the local Japanese Speech Contest for foreigners living in Aomori and in the nearby areas. A few friends of mine joined the competition and I had the chance to meet other foreigners from China, Egipt, Russia, Phillipines, England. I was the only one from Romania.

Everyone picked their favorite theme and had five minutes to debate on it. All the themes had interesting titles . It was good to meet all the other participants before the contest. We all gathered in a room next to the hall where the contest took place. Some of us were eager to meet and talk, some of us had emotions just like before a contest when tens of people are waiting for you to speak. It was fun to speak to everybody. To some of them I was speaking in English and to others I was speaking in japanese. Don` t know why. Free choice?!?

I was the third one to enter the stage, after Alex from England( "Friends") and Son from China("One night in Tokyo"). Amazing! Fluent japanese, good introduction, beautiful theme, polite ending and smart responses for the jury.

And... here I am, on the stage, with the microphone that was near my chest. I had bend over to speak in it( not too smart to adjust it to my mouth). The name of my theme was- " My son, my good rival" . The crowed laughed a few times and then, off stage.
All the following speeches were original, funny, to the subject and well thought. I was standing in the middle of the hall, right in front of the stage. Even for me, a competitor, it has been interesting to see the others make their speech. A few times I couldn` t stop from laughing. If the next time I won` t be competing I will sure be standing behind looking at the competitors.

When the speech finished, the jury gathered in another room to decide the winners, while we had the chance to see a nice Hula Dance Show.

One competitor from China was nominated with " Beautiful performance" prize.
The competitor from Philippines was nominated with " Amazing Voice".

3rd place for the competior from France- "Mountain Hakkoda"
2nd place for the competitor from Romania- "My son, my good rival"
1st place for the competitor from Malaysia- "Japanese and Malaysian gastronomic culture" .

At the end of the competition we swapped telephone numbers. I would like to meet everybody now in a while and talk about... everything.

Today I took a trip to Hakkodate for an urgent visit.

Tommorow back to work

Did I tell you that Saturday after work I went for just two hours up the mountain? Yes I did, it is the previous post :D It was great, but from what I` ve heard from my friends, today and on Sunday, there was so much powder, almost 4 metres. No way to go off course.

Have a nice week!