Square Dancing in Japan?
Welcome to
Otori
Squares
A short 10 minute walk
from Meguro Station on the Yamanote line in Tokyo, you will find the Otori Square Dance Club, (Otori in English means "Big Bird").
Otori Squares is one of the oldest square dance clubs in Japan,
and one of over 308 square
dance clubs scattered across the
country.
As with all square dance clubs throughout the world, all the calls are in good ol' down home American English.
Otori Squares
invites you to join us
Every Sunday Evening
6PM - 9PM
Due to Scheduling
Difficulties, the meeting place CHANGES between
the Meguro-Ku Kumin Center (6f) and
the Shimo-Meguro Residents/Juku Center (B1)
See the Map below, and accompanying directions for exact location.
Contact: Mineko Azuma at aazmaiij@gol.com.
or refer to the schedule below for current meeting place.
Weekly dances include Beginner*, Mainstream, and Plus levels*
Japanese callers volunteer their time. We are fortunate to have 5 callers who call for Otori Squares: Mamoru Hara (author of the Japan Caller's Association Newsletter), Toshiyasu "Chuck" Matsunaga, Eiichi Kurosawa, Mitsuko Akui, Yoshiaki Sekiguchi.
How To Find Us:
Map of the Meguro Station area
WALKING: From Meguro Station area, travel west on Meguro Dori (down hill) to the river. You should keep to the right hand (north) side of the road. Cross the bridge at the Meguro River, and turn right, following the pedestrian walk-way north toward Ebisu. (In the distance, you should see the green netting of the golf driving range off to the right, and - if it is dark - the lighted exterior of the pedestrian bridge that crosses the river and leads directly into the Kumin Center complex.) Follow the pedestrian walk-way as it borders the river. As you near the Kumin Center, you will see some tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool on the left. Shortly after this, the walk-way will divide in two, with a ramp leading to the left, up to the pedestrian bridge. At the top of the ramp, turn left into the Kumin Center complex. *Once in the court yard, turn right and enter the "L" shaped building on the right. There is a restaurant on this level, and large glass doors. As you pass through the second set of glass doors into the building, turn left and go to the end of the hall. To the left in front of you, you should see an elevator, take this to the 6th floor. The room is just to the left and forward of the elevators.
*Please note that for the orientation dances, we will be meeting in the GYM, which is the first building on the left as you enter the complex. There is an indoor swimming pool in the basement (as seen through the windows), a bowling alley on the floor above, and the gym is on the floor above that, and can be accessed from the outdoor stairs opposite the doors to the bowling alley.
*4th Floor "Circle" room can be found in the "L" shaped building, however, as you enter the central glass doors, go up the stairs next to the 1st reception desk. On the second floor, walk past the 2nd reception desk, and turn right in the corridor just beyond. Take THAT elevator to the 4th floor. Follow the hallway to the end, and the "circle" room is the last room at the end of the corridor.
BY CAR: There is very limited parking available at the Center. Please tell the attendant that you are with Otori Squares. From Meguro Dori, turn North onto Yamate Dori, and cut to the far right. After two traffic lights, the third light that you will come to will have a right turn lane. Stay in this lane, turning right and keep to the right side of the two East bound lanes. (Look for "RENOWN" on the left and a small TEC sign on the right.) At the next traffic light, turn right again. (These streets are narrow.) Follow this street to the end and turn left. Shortly, you will see a bridge crossing the river, and a street entering at a sharp angle from the right. Turn sharply to the right at this intersection, and the Kumin Center parking will be directly in front of you. After you park your car, take the elevator (to the right of the entrance to the under building parking) from the parking garage directly to the 6th floor.
TO SHIMO-MEGURO RESIDENTS CENTER:
WALKING: From Meguro Station area, travel west on Meguro Dori (down hill) to the river. You should keep to the left (south) side of the road. Cross the bridge at the Meguro River, and continue toward Yamate Dori. You will pass a line of covered side walk stores. At the end of the shops, will be a small street on the left. (Landmark, "Pub House OZ" on corner.) Turn left onto this street and almost immediately turn left again. You will see a small playground to the right with an adjoining Juku building. Enter this building, and walk down the steps to the first Basement. Sorry, no parking!
| Otori Squares holds orientation classes in March and September. Beginner lessons start after the orientation classes in March, and continue for 10 weeks, for the modest fee of 5,000 yen |  |
Schedule for July/August, 2002:
Regular Club Dance Schedule
July
7 - Kumin Center 6F
14 - Shimomeguro Juku B1
21 - Kumin Center 6F
28 - Shimomeguro Juku B1
August
4 - Kumin Center 6F
11 - NO MEETING/Plus party
18 - Kumin Center 6F
25 - NO MEETING/DoSaDo party
Plus Level Workshop Dance Schedule
July, August
July 13 - Koreisha Center 1-4:30pm
July 27 - Koreisha Center 1-4:30pm
August 10 - Koreisha Center 1-4:30pm
August 24 - Koreisha Center 1-4:30pm
Otori 44nd Anniversary
date: May 26, 2002
place: Kamata Kumin Hall
time: 10:00am - 4:00 pm
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Round Dance Classes begin in April and run for the entire year. They usually meet in the Koreisha Fureai Center 2F. Every Tuesday 6:30 - 8:30. Cue Instructor, Horie-san. |
National 2001 Statistics:
(as per the April, 2001 issue of the Japan
Square Dance Association Newsletter)
| Location | # of clubs | # of members | # of couples | # of "solo" men | # of "solo" women |
| Hokkaido | 35 | 737 | 46 | 88 | 649 |
| North East | 20 | 665 | 75 | 118 | 547 |
| Kanto (Tokyo) | 128 | 4517 | 504 | 989 | 3528 |
| Nagoya | 57 | 1698 | 192 | 393 | 1305 |
| Osaka | 28 | 1307 | 76 | 128 | 1179 |
| West | 40 | 861 | 84 | 141 | 720 |
| Total | 308 | 9785 | 979 | 1857 | 7928 |
Thanks to the folks at:
Thank You Links
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This Square and Round
Dance WebRing site is owned by the Otori Squares. Want to join the Square and Round Dance WebRing? |
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