The ATJ (Association for Teachers of Japanese) held a reception at the Japan Information Center, the Japanese Consulate General in Chicago, USA, which commenced at 6:30pm, March 31st, 2005. Teachers of Japanese and those involved in education of the language, more than 180 people in total, joined the reception from all over the US. The event, which is the greatest opportunity of fellowship among those engaged in Japanese language education in the United States, progressed in a friendly and peaceful atmosphere throughout, with Chairperson Makino of the association serving the participants as the master of ceremony.

We were among the major sponsors of the event, which also included JP Trading, a US subsidiary of ours, among others. At the reception, we introduced to the participants some latest learning materials published by more than 30 Japanese publishers, while providing other information to them. The participants highly appreciated everything we did.
Our President Ayamori greeted the participants as someone from the publishing and distribution business, saying all of us, as the pioneer in distribution of Japanese language learning materials in North America, would work even harder to help promote Japanese language education there.
In addition, we displayed much more publications of Japanese language learning and Japanese culture studies than usual at the AAS (Association of Asian Studies) exhibition held from April 1st through 3rd. Many teachers visited our booth and appreciated the breadth and diversity of publications we carried.