The 551st Stated Meeting of Far East Lodge No. 1, F. & A.M. was held at the Masonic Temple located at 77-12 Honmoku Midorigaoka, Naka-ku, Yokohama on the 1st day of December 2007.
A lodge of MMs was opened in due and ancient form at 13:15 hours with WB Masaki, PM, WM in the East, WB Herrera, PM, acting SW in the West, and MWB Watanabe, PGM, acting JW in the South.
Then WB Masaki recognized the Distinguished Brethren as listed in the Tyler’s register of this date.
And he announced that this being our Stated Meeting for the month of December 2007, the first order of business would be the reading of the Minutes of our last Stated Meeting and all subsequent Special Meetings. The Secretary read the Minutes of our Monthly Meeting held on 10th November and they were APPROVED AS READ.
The Treasurer's report for the month of September was read by MWB Watanabe at the request of the Treasurer due to his absence, after which he moved and it was seconded that the report be accepted as read subject to the usual audit. MOTION CARRIED.
The Secretary then read the bills for the period after which he moved and it was seconded that the bills be paid. MOTION CARRIED.
Next was the report of the several committees: All committee reports were negative with the exception of the following:
RECEPTION OF PETITIONS: None.
BALLOTTING: WM of the Lodge reported that the Committee of Investigation had submitted a favorable report on the petition of Messrs. Mamoru Sato and Yasuyoshi Kajiwara. They were then elected to receive the Degrees of Masonry in this Lodge by ballot of the members present.
CORRESPONDENCE: The Secretary announced the G/L Bulletins and Minutes of GLECM had been tacked on the Bulletin Board in the Conference Room. He then introduced an invitation letter from Tokyo Masonic Lodge No. 2 for their 60th anniversary ceremony. Also, he introduced Edict 20 and 21 from the Grand Master and Secretary, and gave a brief comment on background of the Tokyo Valley, SR, especially for younger MMs in this Lodge.
CHARITY: Amount of ¥5,310 + $4.10 was collected from the Brethren present.
COMING SCHEDULE: The Secretary announced the tentative following schedule.
SICK AND VISITATION: MWB Katagiri telephoned the Secretary this morning, said that he had flu and could not join the meeting this afternoon.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: READING BY-LAWS: Article II, Section 2 of the Bye-Laws were read by the Secretary.
NEW BUSINESS:
Election of Lodge Officers for 2008: At 14:10 hours, the election was started with WB Herrera as teller, and the members of this Lodge elected the following Officers:
| WM | Janusz Buda, PM |
| SW | Takumi Masaki, PM |
| JW | Norihiro Inomata |
| Tre | Saburo Katagiri, PGM |
| Sec | Kazuhiro Watanabe, PGM |
After a short break, the elected officers made the following appointments:
| Chap | Larry Jackson |
| Mar | Rodolfo Herrera, PM |
| SD | Masanori Sagara |
| JD | Seiichi Honda |
| SS | Martin Sneathern |
| JS | Takashi Tsujii |
| Tyl | Kiyoshi Wachi |
INITIATION: At 15:15 hours, EA Degree conferral upon Mr. Tomio Ogawa was begun.
At 15:30 hours, with three distinct knocks the ceremony of the EA Degree began and the Candidate was admitted into the Lodge. He was obligated an EA by WM Masaki and the Working Tool Lecture was given by Bro Tatara, the Apron Lecture by Bro Honda and the Degree Lecture by Bro Sagara, all of them in Japanese.
The Charge was delivered by WB Masaki and after a short admonition on the basic protocol of Masonry, the Lodge was called briefly free from restraint for the purpose of congratulating our newly initiated Brother. The Lodge was then called back to labor and raised back to the MM Degree.
CLOSING: At 17:30 hours, the WM announced that he would proceed to close. Peace and harmony prevailing, this lodge was closed at 17:40 hours in short form with WB Masaki, PM, WM in the East, WB Herrera, PM, acting SW in the West, and MWB Watanabe, PGM, acting JW in the South.
The Secretary reported that regrets had been received from Bros Buda, Inomata, Takeda, Ogawa, Katagiri and Kanemitsu.
There were 17 brethren including an FC and 2 EAs. Also 2 Petitioners joined us during harmony before the meeting.
APPROVED:
TAKUMI MASAKI, PM
Worshipful Master
ATTEST:
KAZUHIRO WATANABE, PGM
Secretary