Stories

Share: Sidebar: Protocol and Ceremonies

Sidebar: Protocol and Ceremonies

Written by Leslie Bedford

The opening of the Japanese House, a major cultural event in Boston in l980, capped a year of festivities throughout the city celebrating the Boston-Kyoto Sister City relationship. In 1990, the museum celebrated Shukuten, the tenth anniversary of the installation of the house and the completion of the Oda Sadanobu Japan Program Endowment, named for the father of trustee Yori Oda who worked for many years with Director Mike Spock to secure it.

Such ceremonies—and there were many over the years–presented interesting challenges in cross-cultural work for museum staff, trustees, and local friends. They always involved a great detail of planning and attention to protocol, which we often failed to do sufficiently well.