What is SOOF?

• Make our stay here valuable and rewarding.
• Cultivate our identity as Japanese, and as a part of a multicultural community.
• Make our lives, its quality, and what we contribute to others, the best possible.

SOOF's History

Our first activity was a roundtable discussion in June '99, concentrating on Japanese women's issues such as: language barrier, career issues, identity issues, social and cultural adjustment, and readjustment for those who return to Japan. The discussion was quite a success, with 60 participants enthusiastically sharing opinions on common issues and problems they face living in the U.S. Now our focus is more diversified into empowerment for all people from Japan.

While SOOF is still developing, we have made progress through the following activities in our first year:

• Developed a core set of enthusiastic, active members.
• Created an e-mail list and supported communication among people in U.S., Japan, and a few other countries (our e-mail list currently consists about 80 members).
• Held a panel discussion with guest speakers who are Japanese women actively involved in community building in the Bay Area.
• Held a panel discussion on multicultural issues.
• Organized a successful art and cultural fair in San Francisco's Japan Town.
• Held a study meeting and discussion on Japanese women's issues.
• Are active in events such as - Shaping Japan Town's future.

SOOF's Mission

• To create a supporting network and to empower people from Japan in the United States & those who went back to Japan, facilitating issues such as language barrier, social and cultural adjustments, identity issues, and readjustment issues for those who are returning to Japan.
• To review our cultural identity as Japanese and search for a new identity and community awareness.
• To empower people from Japan and all others that everyone is entitled to have the power, autonomy and authority to create their own future regardless of their background or predisposition.

SOOF's Activities

• Study Group
• Guest Speaker Discussion
• Art/Cultural events
• SOOF Net: a free e-mail list for information exchange & discussion network on the Internet. Anyone can join SOOF Net even if you are not a SOOF member.
• Creating the SOOF web site and releasing a newsletter on the web.

SOOF's Goals in the Year 2000

• Publicize the best solutions to common problems through the use of the SOOF web site.
• Creating a referral service for Japanese people in the Bay Area.
• Participation in the development of a new community in Japan Town.

Participation in the NOSEI SUMMIT

At the SOOF meeting on 22nd January 2000, guest speaker Mr. Greg Tanaka talked about the details of the NOSEI Summit; we have decided to participate in the Summit that is scheduled on 19th February 2000. We are going to present Japanese newcomers' points of view on the Japanese American community and Japantown. To present our opinions, we conducted a survey on how SOOF members view the Japanese American community and Japantown. Based on the survey through Soofnet, SOOF will make sixty minutes presentation at the Summit.