On May 18th the IJCC held their Annual General meeting at the Irish Ambassador’s Residence in Tokyo.

The IJCC Patron, the Ambassador of Ireland to Japan Anne Barrington, opened the meeting and outgoing President Gerard Mulligan gave an overview of the previous year. A year in which we grew our membership, launched new branding, ran Ireland's largest Irish cultural festival and developed new interesting events for our members.

The members voted to elect a new President for the forthcoming year, Eamonn Murphy. And they welcomed 3 new Director's to the board.

Commenting on the year ahead, IJCC President Eamonn Murphy said "I'm looking forward to an exciting year, as we approach our 10 year anniversary next January. I welcome the 3 new Director's. I'm sure they'll make a strong contribution to the board and to the IJCC community."

IJCC Board for 2017 to 2018

• Eamonn Murphy - President
• Tsuchiya Yoshihiro - Vice President
• Phillip Greenan - Vice President
• Hashimoto Tamaki - Director
• John Fallon - Director and Treasurer
• Rick Grehan* - Director
• Paul Gilsenan* - Director
• Lorcan Brophy* - Director
• Gerard Mulligan - Director
• Andy O'Doherty - Director

• Conor Canavan - Auditor
• Matthew Connolly - President Emeritus

* new board member

Also, during the meeting, the members voted to allow two amendments to the Articles of Association.

Amendment 1

New Article 9 - Presidents Emeriti (a) After completing two elected terms as President, a former President shall automatically become a President Emeritus, unless he or she chooses not to accept, or otherwise resigns from, such appointment. (b) A President Emeritus shall be an ex officio non-voting member of the Board. (c) Each President Emeritus shall be a Corporate or Professional Member. (d) A President Emeritus will resign from such position while they are elected to additional terms as an Officer of the Chamber."

Amendment 2

Addition to Article 4 - Professional Member – Outside Kanto region (a) Addition of a new membership category to help us expand Professional Membership outside the Kanto region and abroad and taking into account that regional members have an extra financial burden to attend events. Annual Fee: 25,000 Open to: Professionals in a multinational or in a company which is not in a position to become a Corporate Member. They are based outside of the Kanto region.

END