De Liefde Club hosted the bus trip on 23 May, searching for the history of technology in Shizuoka Prefecture. 32 participants first visited ‘Pam’, the research laboratory of ‘Tokushu Tokai Paper’ manufacturing company, in Mishima. We toured around its huge exhibition space, impressed by the development of various paper-related products over the years. During lunch at the Japanese restaurant ‘Shoin’, a mini-size chest, traditional handicraft in Asakusa, was presented to Mrs. Fumiko Arima, our Japanese Representative Governor, from all the members of De Liefde Club as a token of our gratitude for her four years of whole-hearted leadership. Then, we visited Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces, which was registered as a World Heritage Site of ‘Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution’ in 2015, and the Residence of Egawa Tarozaemon, who learned Dutch studies and planned to build the furnace and other facilities concerning the coastal defense of Japan.
All the participants sang ‘Fuji no Yama’ in the bus while admiring beautiful Mt. Fuji through the window, which made the day all the more memorable.