This year (1997) the Vietnamese Lunar New Year party was held onFebruary 6 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the club in the D-building of theRIKEN International House at the Wako campus. This was the first time Vietnamesescientists and their friends held such a party in RIKEN. The reason issimple: In 1995 the only Vietnamese working in the Wako Campus of RIKENwas Dr. Nguyen Dinh Dang. Starting from 1996 the number of Vietnamese inRIKEN increased to 4: Dr. Nguyen Dinh Dang of the Cyclotron Lab., Dr. VuNguyen Thanh of Microbiology, Mr. Nguyen Hao Quang and Mr. Nguyen TienDung of the Radiation Laboratory. With the arrival of the family of Dr.Kevin Hahn (USA), whose wife - Mrs. Jeana Hang Hahn - is an ethnic Vietnamese,the number of all Vietnamese scientists and their family members in RIKENbecomes 7. While we thought it was appropriate to get together with ourJapanese friends and colleagues on such an occasion we regret that we couldnot hold a bigger party as the cooking capacity of our ladies (they areonly two: Mrs. Dang and Mrs. Hahn) is limited and no one from us but themcan cook real Vietnamese dishes.
With the active help and participation of our Japanese friends inRIKEN we enjoyed a delicious party with Vietnamese dishes, Korean kimchi(made by Mrs. Hahn, whose husband - Dr. Kevin Hahn - is an ethnic SouthKorean), Japanese beer and sake, Japanese cakes. There have been the representativesof four nationalities (Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian) and fivecountries (Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Russia, and USA) at the party. Enclosedare some pictures taken at the party. I hope they can offer you some feelingonhow we spent time in the last evening of the old year. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Photo1 : Mywife cooking dishes for the party at home.
Photo 2 : Fromleft to right: Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung (one of two CCNS system manager, VietnamAtomic Energy Commission), Dr. H. Yabuki (director of the InternationalCooperation Office of RIKEN), Dr. Y. Watanabe (Radiation Laboratory) andmy wife.
Photo3 : Fromleft to right: Prof. T. Ebisuzaki (director of Computer Science Lab.),Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung (one of two CCNS system managers), Mr. H. Furusawa(the expert, who is teaching UNIX and network to the CCNS's managers),Dr, H. Yabuki (director of the International Cooperation Office of RIKEN),and my son - Nguyen Dinh Dong (holding the camera).
Photo 4 : Fromleft to right: Dr. H. Yabuki, Mr. H. Furusawa, Mrs. H. Yoshida, Mr. NguyenHao Quang (one of two CCNS system managers), my son - Dong, Dr. A. Yoshida(Radiation Lab.), Dr. K. Hahn (Radition Lab.), Prof. V. Soloviev, Mrs.J.H. Hahn and Hahns' son - Christopher, Dr. Y. Yutani (deputy directorof ICO).
Photo 5 : Prof.V. Soloviev, Mr. M. Seki and Dr. K. Hahn.
Photo 6: Fromleft to right: Mrs. J.H. Hahn, my son - Dong, Mr. Nguyen Hao Quang, Dr.A. Yoshida and his wife Hidemi. On the background at the r.h.s.: Dr. VuNguyen Thanh (Microbiology Lab.)
Photo 7: Fromleft to right (front): Dr. K. Hahn, his wife - Jeana Hang and son - Christopher,Mr. Y. Yutani (ICO).
Photo 8: Fromleft to right: Dr. K. Hahn's family, my wife - Thuy Mai (in red ao dai),explaining how to eat the Vietnamese crab soup (rie^u cua), and Dr. VuNguyen Thanh.
Photo 9: Fromleft to right: Prof. T. Ebisuzaki, my son - Dong and Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung.
Photo 10: Mywife, my son and I.
