[PLAYGROUP] IMCY Multilingual Playgroup in March 2014

Sorry for the short notice.
We are going to have the Multilingual Playgroup on Wednesday, 12th March, 13:30-15:00.

Attention! The place is changed to Furocho Chiiki Care Plaza (3F Multipurpose room).
About 10 min walk from JR/Blue Line Kannai station or 5 min from Blue Line Isezaki-Chojamachi station.

We are going to let children play freely, sing songs, do some finger play and read books.
Please feel free to bring books in your own language(s).

[HEALTH] PM2.5 Alert Information (by the City of Yokohama)

Not only pollen (that causes hay fever) and Asian Dust, the PM2.5 density increases in this season.

In this page, we can see if the PM2.5 high density alert is announced or not.
「現在、PM2.5高濃度予報等はありません」:Now there is NOT PM2.5 high density alert etc.
*Sorry, we don't know what sentence is used when it's on alert since we haven't seen it yet.
http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kankyo/mamoru/kanshi/pm25open/

When the alert is on,
1) we should avoid going outside without inevitable reasons
2) we should not do any sports outside for a long time
3) try to minimize the ventilation of the house/room
4) pay attention to those who suffer respiratory diseases, young children and elderly people

The alert will be announced at around 8 o'clock according to the measurement of 5, 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning.

[NOTICE] Child-Care Festa in Isogo Canceled

To our regret, the Child-Care Festa in Isogo on 15th Feb. was canceled due to the bad weather and the troubles of the means of transportation.

We've been preparing for the festival since December and feel really really sorry for this.

[ACTIVITY REPORT] International Festival at Kaminoki, 9th February 2014

We attended the International Festival at Kaminoki, Sunday, 9th Feb.
It snowed so heavily (the heaviest in the past 47 years in Tokyo area!?) the day before, and we still had problem with the means of transportation, especially in the morning. To our regret, many of the groups who were planning to attend this festival canceled and there were only three food booths including us.

There were not so many visitors in the morning, but around noon, more and more people came and we almost sold out our foods. In total, we sold 90 items (gulab jamun, date cake, kinako macaron, decorated cookies, Indian accessories, some other souvenirs from Europe, and hand-made items).

There were many visitors with young children and we were happy to have chance to talk with them (to introduce our activities).

And personally, we enjoyed Russian and Brazilian foods!! Yum yum.

Again, we would like to show our gratitude to those who supported us:
The staff from Kokusai Koryu Jyuku Kanagawa, the staff from Kaminoki chiku center, the customers, and our dear members.

The next festival is on 15th February at Isogo Kokaido Hall. Don't miss it!

[ACTIVITY REPORT] French & Multilingual Playgroup Feburuary 2014

We held the 3rd French & Multilingual Playgroup at Miyazaki Chiiki Care Plaza on 7th Feburuary.

The room where we used for this playgroup was spacious, so the children could play actively with toys like balls and blocks.

This time, we read some books in French, Japanese, and Spanish. All these books were colorful and cute. Besides the pictures, the words were made up in rhythmic tone. The children were really pleased with the colorful pictures and the sounds. Some boys were very excited and we realized again that how attractive picture books were for children.

We had a lot of fun together. Thank you for coming!

[IMCY] IMCY Rules and Regulations

Since the number of our Facebook members are increasing and to apply for some subsidies, we set up IMCY Rules and Regulations last year.

Here's the latest version:

English (download)

日本語 (download)

There's nothing complicated but very basic rules. Here's some pick-ups (but please try to read through the file above).

-If a member violates the rule(s), her membership will be revoked. The IMCY administrations hold the full right to remove the member from the group if the member did anything illegal or agains the interest of IMCY or if she is considered suspicious.

-As most of members (including administrations) are mothers of young children, IMCY respects that members put priority on their household.

-IMCY makes decisions by discussing among administrations.

-Each member, president and administrations of IMCY will not take any responsibilities regarding the information on the SNS (Facebook) and the blog.

-Members should confirm and judge the accuracy of the information obtained through IMCY.

-Members can post second-hand goods for sale on the SNS or the blog but the negotiation should be done personally.

-IMCY is a citizen's group and political, religious, or commercial activities are strictly prohibited.

-No member will use the name of IMCY for her personal benefit or does any work under the name of IMCY without the permission by the administrations.

-IMCY will not take any responsibility if somebody misuses the name of IMCY or conducts any event under the name without informing the administrations.

-As IMCY exchanges information on the Interent, we pay close attention to one's privacy.

[NEWS] Rubella Epidemic News

Here is an article on 31 babies born with rubella syndrome last year.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/14/national/31-japanese-children-born-with-rubella-syndrome-in-2013/#.UuIndf0kpD1

The latest report on Rubella infection
http://www0.nih.go.jp/niid/idsc/idwr/diseases/rubella/rubella2014/rube14-02.pdf

The ministry board put up the plan to stop the epidemic by next Tokyo Olympic (2020).

The city of Yokohama extended the support for vaccination until 31st March 2014.
http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kenko/hokenjo/genre/kansensyo/pdf/rubella-paper.pdf
1) Women who wish/plan to have a baby (*you can't take the vaccination if you are already pregnant)
2) The husband/partner of a pregnant woman

¥3000 for MR vaccination
There are 700 clinics/hospitals where you can have the vaccination at this price (with the support by the city). Please consult your doctor or ward office.
*You can't use this system if you have taken the MR or Rubella vaccination more than once.

Source (the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in Japanese):
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/kenkou/kekkaku-kansenshou/rubella/