This will be his second visit after performing 11 concerts in August 2011 in the Tohuku area for the disaster victims. He is planning to visit the area again in March, which will be one year exactly since the devastation.

Sponsors of the concert are the Japan-Greece Society, the Japan-British Society and the Japan Emergency NPO (JEN).

The music to be performed includes composer Hadjidakis’ “Three Greek Pieces” (from “For a little white seashell”), Say’s “Black Earth” (“Kara Tropak”), Takemitsu’s “A Song of Love” (from Uninterrupted Rest) and Chopin’s “Ballade No.4 in F minor, Op. 52”.

The Greek residents in Japan, as well as all Japanese, are kindly invited to this charity concert of March aiming at offering some help to those in need.

Doors open at 18:30 on Friday, March 16. Ouji Hall is located on Ginza 4-7-5 Chuo-ku (for more information visit www.ojihall.jp) and the fee is 4,000 yen (free seating). For early reservations made in February the fee will have a discount of 500 yen.

Further information is posted on “Greeks of Japan”, a community website created to unite the Greeks and people interested in Greece who live in Japan.

For those interested please contact Fay Savaidis on faysavaidis@ever.ocn.ne.jp by the latest on February 29, 2012, or visit http://www.greeksofjapan.com/.

Moreover, the Greek professor will now formally begin his close partnership with the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER) of Kyushu University, in search of ways in which hydrogen affects the mechanical behavior of construction materials.

Mr. Aravas accepted the invitation of the renowned Japanese University with great pleasure and satisfaction. “The Research Committee of I2CNER had submitted its proposal to include me in its research programme, and I am more than happy to be able to travel to Japan on January 28 for the initial meeting” said Mr. Aravas.

The I2CNR is the sixth and most recent member of the WPI Research Centre Initiative, which was founded in 2007 by the Ministry for Education, Culture, Science and Technology of Japan.

Upon explaining his object of study, Mr. Aravas mentioned that the research programme will focus on extracting energy from hydrogen. “Besides the many benefits hydrogen-based energy can display, there is one evil: hydrogen erodes materials and decreases their strength. Our work is to solve such problems.” said Mr. Aravas.

Having worked for 16 years at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Pennsylvania, the Greek professor has underlined that his cooperation with the Japanese Institute will also be beneficial for the Greek Center for Research and Technology — Thessaly (CE.RE.TE.TH.), which was founded in 2006. Mr. Aravas is the current director of the “Mechatronics Institute” in CERETETH.

Nick Aravas was born (1957) and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece, where he studied Mechanical Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and graduated in 1980. He received his M.S. (1982) and Ph.D. (1984) in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

During his graduate studies he worked as a Teaching and Research Assistant, and in 1982 he received the “J. O. Smith Award for teaching excellence”, which is presented every year by the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of UIUC to an “outstanding young teacher in Engineering Mechanics”.

In 1987 he received the “Presidential Young Investigator Award” presented by the President of the USA “in recognition of ability and potential for contributing to the future vitality of the scientific and engineering effort of the Nation”.

From 1999 to 2002 he was a member of the first elected University Administration and held the positions of Vice Rector for Research and Development and Chairman of the Research Committee of the University of Thessaly. When the Engineering School at the University of Thessaly was formed, he was elected as the first Dean of Engineering and served from 2004 to 2007. Prof. Aravas has also served as Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and as Acting Chairman of the Departments of Civil Engineering and Computer and Communication Engineering at UTH.

Prof. Aravas has worked as an engineering consultant for various companies in the areas of mechanical and aerospace structures, metal forming, ceramic- and metal-powder processing, analysis and design of composite materials, computer manufacturing, etc.

One of the most populated countries in the world is Japan. With about 127 million people, it’s hard to get around. It’s even harder for the Greek immigrants that have been living in such a populated country to find other Greek natives to form a community. In spite of the chaos that surrounds Japan, some Greeks found a way through internet a technology to form a Greek community for the Greek immigrants living there. The heart and soul of this community is Greek native, Fay Savaidis who works night and day to make this small Greek community possible for Greek immigrants living in Japan.

Fay Savaidis, a Greek native who has been living in Japan for the past 20 years, had a remarkable idea about a year ago, to connect Greeks who live in Japan and other Greeks who live in other countries around the world including their native country Greece. Fay wanted to find Greeks who have been living in Japan and start a new Greek community in order to unite them. Her only problem was that Japan is a very overpopulated country and to get from end of the country to the other is almost impossible.

Fay then decided to start an online community to unite Greeks living in Japan and also Greeks that live in other countries around the world. Also because she was concerned about her two children growing up in Japan that they may never learn of their Greek decent.  The community website “Greeks of Japan”, which was established by Fay Savaidis and created by Christos Makiyama, was launched just last year. Since then its members are increasing having about 190 members worldwide. Sixty Greeks from Japan, 40 Japanese natives who are interested in the Greek culture, 60 Greeks from Greece who are interested in their fellow natives who are living in Japan, and 30 other Greeks who live in other countries around the world. Some of the Japanese natives that have joined Fay’s online community have children who live in Greece or are married to Greek natives and want to learn more about the Greek culture. Fay also holds a class once a month on a Sunday for about an hour and a half, which she teaches speaking, writing, reading and listening to Greek. She also teaches various Greeks songs, games and the history of Greece to children of Greek decent.

A year later membership for the website has been increasing through networking or just by internet search. There are no fees to join and all expenses are covered by Fay. The idea for this community website was triggered by Fay in 2008 after a book that was published by Anastasios Tamis,  “Greeks in the Far Orient”, which then granted her the title as the Japan researcher. Fay wanted to know who these Greeks are who are living in Japan and what they can bring to the community. She wanted to introduce each of their talents and what those talents can do for the Greek community in Japan. On the website Fay introduces Greek restaurants in Japan, where various Greek products are sold, Orthodox Christian churches, Greek language schools, events and a forum amongst members, blogs and various photos of each member.

Fay Savaidis was born and raised in Ptolemaida, which is North of Kozani just north of Greece. Fay moved to Japan in 1989 after graduating from college. She is happily married to a Japanese man and has two lovely children Savas, 12 and Athina, 5 years old who were born and are being raised in Japan. Since moving to Japan Fay has not faced any problems by the Japanese natives. Her attitude has been accepted by the Japanese people. Fay has never acted against their customs and traditions and abides by their rules. One small problem that Fay could say has faced in Japan is that the Japanese people are non-expressive. They do not express their feelings such as happiness or sadness and you never know what they are truly feeling; most of the time the things that they express contradict what they are truly feelings on the inside. This in Japanese is called “Giri” or “Tatemae”, which is what their morals teach them. Their morals tell them to think of the other person first then to think of themselves first, which are the opposite if the Western morals. This may be frustrating to someone who is not used to these morals but because of these morals the Japanese have managed to keep peace in their daily lives.

Making friends in Japan can be quite difficult at first because the Japanese keep their distance at first but once they get to know you, you are friends forever. Fay’s children who are born and raised in Japan don’t have any problems making friends at school and the speak Japanese fluently being that they were born in Japan.

When Fay first moved to Japan 20 years ago, being a westerner in Japan was like being an alien. Now 20 years later all of that has changed and Japan as a country has become a popular destination for many westerns and they don’t feel like “aliens” anymore. Especially in the city of Tokyo it is now trendy to be a westerner or a mix between westerner and Japanese.

The way of life in Japan is very different from the way of life in Greece and many other Western countries. One example that came to Fay’s mind was how people in Japan are very organized. The Japanese program their every move and every task that they are supposed to do each day. Every single appointment and task is pre-booked and scheduled in advance with detail and care. For westerners this may seem mundane but for the Japanese it has resulted in perfect organization and they are capable of accomplishing many things in one day. The service in banks, post offices, etc is pretty fast. Each worker is trained and is specialized for their station, which means that they can’t do anything other than what they are trained to do, which is also very different from Greece and other Western countries.

Fay has no intentions upon returning to Greece being that for the past 20 years Japan has become home to her and her family. Fay visits Greece with her family in the summer but she can only stay three weeks because of her busy schedule back in Japan. Her children love Greece because of the all the freedom the country provides, the climate of the country, the friendly and kind people that Greece has. They find all of these things fascinating but they feel more at home in Japan.

Fay was never expecting that her community website would be such a worldwide phenomenon and is extremely happy and satisfied. She feels that her mission to unify Greeks in Japan and around the world is being accomplished. Fay says, “As long as I keep having the positive support from members, my aim is to continue updating with information related to the two countries keeping us together”.

Throughout the year, Fay organizes gatherings and events for members of her website to meet each other in person. Fay’s website is www.greeksofjapan.com and she is encouraging for more Greeks to join from around the globe. The more the merrier.

The Greek champion shared his medal with the Chinese Zhang Chenglong. Tsolakidis performed his routine in excellent fashion, including two moves that bear his name (Tsolakidis and Tsolakidis 2), to win his first ever World Championships medal.

He had qualified for the final in eighth place, but managed to get the only medal for Greece in the event.

This distinction also secures Tsolakidis automatic qualification to the 2012 Olympic Games. (ekathimerini)

Taking into consideration the state of emergency following the accident at the power station Fukushima Daiichi, on the eastern coast of Japan, The Greek Atomic Energy Agency advises shipping companies and crews of Greek vessels as follows:

-Avoid places close to the site of the accident

-Follow the instructions of local authorities.

For more information contact The Greek Atomic Energy Agency at:+302106506700, +302106506803, +302106506714, or via email at: info@eeae.gr

Christos Makiyama, a Greek-Japanese resident of Yokohama – a city about 15 miles south of Tokyo- talks about how he experienced the 8.9 magnitude earthquake. In our video call he also told us that most Greeks of Japan are in good health.

Fay Savaidis and Christos Makiyama have created a website for Greeks in Japan, www.GreeksofJapan.com, that this difficult time has helped the communication between its Greek members.

“If Japan wants to survive in a globalised world economy and to advance its integration with the burgeoning East Asian economy, it essentially has no other choice but to accept foreign migrants, while making full use of domestic human resources,” he said.
“A key question is not whether we should accept foreign migrants or not, but how we should accept them,” he added.
Australia has a points-based system that grants permanent residence to skilled migrants who gain enough points under the system. The U.K. has a a tier based immigration system, which has some similarities to the Australian immigration system.  It also allows skilled immigrants to enter the country without the need for a job offer. The United States has a complicated system that allows entry of skilled immigrants on a number of employment-based visas.
Whether Japan will implement similar policies remains to be seen. The number of foreigners moving to Japan has increased in the last decade, but very slowly; from 1.5 million ten years ago to 2 million today.
“The annual intake is estimated to be 50,000 to 60,000 as far as the last 10 years is concerned. We think such a number is too small,” Ito said.

I found myself in the country of the rising sun. I was a guest at a Japanese friend’s house and thus found myself cut off from everything Greek. One evening, Tokyo, where I was, was hit by a hurricane. Since we could not leave the house we were surfing the Japanese internet. We suddenly found ourselves on a Japanese web page where the only thing I could make out was the Greek flag. My friends translated the text for me and it turns out it was advertising the only Greek tavern in the city of Tokyo. We immediately called the restaurant and my friends set up an interview with the owner the very next day.
5pm, Kouagoe, Giorgos tavern. There’s a big photo of Parthenon right outside the building. The name of the tavern’s name, which is “George’s tavern”, is written in Japanese. A great big Greek flag hanging on the restaurant’s main entrance asserts the building’s “greekness”. The owner greets us as we enter a place reminiscent of the traditional taverns of Athonos square in Thessaloniki. With Kaio’s help –my Japanese friend, we get introduced. Mr. Mourata Matsousinge gave up his Computer Programmer position in Honda to open a Greek tavern, the only Greek tavern in Sushi Capital, Tokyo.
His love for Ballan dances drew him to travel to distant Boulgaria. This is where he first started taking dancing lessons and got to try Bulgarian food. Two months later, he leaves Bulgaria feeling dissatisfied with the gastronomical reality, the restaurant service and the communist regime. “Despite all of the above, I realized that us Japanese do not know a whole lot about European food.
Three years later he returns to the Balkans to attend dancing classes. This time his destination is exotic Greece. His getting to know Greece was meant to change his lifestyle as well as his profession.
“In 1978 I go on holiday to Greece and I attend dancing lessons. I also start discovering my favourite cuisine, Greek. I visited several Athens taverns and I realized a tavern is not just a restaurant. it is a place that embodies its own philosophy on how to live one’s life. It embodies a Greek philosophy of life” stresses Mr Matsousige.
While on holiday in Greece he buys his first bouzouki and learns to play on his own while listening to Greek rebetika songs. He suddenly stops talking to me and showcases his bouzouki knowledge by expertly playing the famous “Fragosyriani” song. I was speechless. He continues his narration holding on to his latest acquisition, no less than a baglama (another traditional Greek musical instrument)!
“I learned to play on my own, since I never took lessons in Greece and, in Japan, I am not sure whether there is even one other person able to play bouzouki. Naturally, the fact that I know how to play the guitar made it easier for me. In general, I do not consider it hard to learn to play bouzouki. However, learning to speak Greek is very hard. I can only say 5 or 6 words in Greek. Japanese people find it particularly hard to learn to speak Greek.”
Once his trip to Greece is over, he returns to his Computer Programming job in Japan. However, he remains greatly affected by Greek culture. Two years later he returns for another holiday in Greece.
“Greece was the “refuge” that protected me from the stress of my day to day life in Japan. Your country offered me some of the most care-free moments of my life combined with the taste of Greek food. Taking this into account and quite tired from my job, in 1997, I made the decision to quit my job at Honda and come to Greece in order to learn how to cook Greek food. I stayed in Athens for two months and volunteered to work for “Acropolis” tavern (without pay) in order to learn how to cook Greek food. After that, I returned to Tokyo and opened up “Giorgos tavern”. I named it this way because I believe half the male population of Greece shares this name. A lot of friends and acquaintances thought it was crazy to leave my well paid job at Honda to open a restaurant that sells strange food –which is what they called Greek food. These are the same people that now come and eat that strange food every Saturday.”
This year the tavern will complete its 8th year of operation. The menu includes souvlaki, gyro, tzatziki, mousaka, stuffed tomatoes and anything you would expect to find in a Greek tavern. The food is accompanied by “Mythos” beer and Greek wines, which Mr Mourata imports from Greece (after having consulted the Greek Embassy). However, what makes “Giorgos tavern” famous to those Japanese people who are in the know as far as international cuisine goes, is the live music which is no other than solo bouzouki played by the owner, Mr. Mourata.
“In the beginning things weren’t easy”, Mr Mourata tells us.
“The first three years were a little bit hard because it is hard to expect someone in Japan to open up to Greek cuisine as the only European cuisine known in Japan is French cuisine. It is difficult for a customer to trust someone they do not know. In the beginning customers were very concerned about what they would be eating at my tavern. However, after the first bite of Mousaka or souvlaki, the no longer doubted how delicious the food was. As time went by, word got around and we are now enjoying a great reputation. I no longer have any time to rest because I cook, I play bouzouki and I teach dancing to everyone interested in learning to dance to Greek music.”
Apart from managing the tavern, Mr. Mourata also teaches reek dancing at a Tokyo dancing school twice a week. He knows hasaposerviko, zeibekiko, sirto and kalamatiano.
The only negative thing, he says is touristic places’ taverns’ owners who try to take advantage of tourists by not serving their best food to them.
Mr Mourata’s next trip to Greece is scheduled for next summer. He is going to his favorite Thessaloniki where he will meet his old friends.

But before we indulge in food and drink, let’s pause for a moment to appreciate ancient history. Greece is, after all, the cradle of democracy. It was in Greece that man came up with the idea of one man, one vote — as long as the man didn’t happen to be a slave or a foreigner, of course. In quick succession, the Greeks invented the wheel, and then the barrel; followed by what is known today as Retsina.

At least part of the credit for inventing Retsina is due to the marauding hordes that invaded the land in olden times. In order to fool looters, the ancient Greeks mixed resin into their wine so that it would be left alone. Two side-benefits of this strategic move are that the resin preserves the wine and also keeps the blood pressure down. That’s why you seldom see two Greeks all worked up over such trifles as who’s the best midfielder of all time, or whether Turkey is a closer neighbor than Albania — at least not after a few glasses of Retsina.

But back to Tokyo, where Nik, who learned his trade at his father’s taverna since he was ten, is now the unofficial goodwill ambassador of the Greek Retsina Association. Of course Nik has stories to tell about other Greek wines, too. Ask him about Ouzo, for example.

Greek people are not just a tad more genki, they also tend to live longer. This has as much to do with the preservative quality of resin as with the types of food best exemplified by Nik’s home-cooking style of menu. Olive oil plays a large part in it, as well as goat’s cheese, fresh salad, garlic, yogurt, cucumber, and all the healthy things that have, regrettably, disappeared from most modern-day diets. Try Nik’s gyros, spicy beef served with pita bread, feta (goat’s) cheese, tomato, onion and olives. Or check out moussaka, a pie with several layers of potato, ground beef, eggplant and cheese besamel cream. And keep the tzatziki coming, that tasty mix of yogurt, garlic, olive oil, cucumber and salt that goes so well with pita or any other bread.

The interior of The Aegean is full of Nik’s original wood-carvings. Check out the old kotos with strings removed and now resembling the Elgin marbles. It makes you feel like you are inside a cozy taverna by the sea.

B1, Oriental Bldg.,
3-18-3 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku

Tel: 3407-1783
Fax: 3409-0268