Personality Profile :: Tara French

Irish people appreciate the value of laughter and gaiety. They know that music, songs and dance can benefit serious causes, carrying them along further than they might otherwise go.

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The Ireland Fund of Japan is a serious venture that aims to promote cultural and communication links with Japan. It supports charitable, environmental and cultural projects in both countries. For these serious concerns, it raises funds through year-round events, many of which appeal to the fun-loving side of people. Some of the events spotlight activities in which Irish people are out in front, such as horse racing, fishing and sailing. High on its list of events for people in Tokyo to enjoy is the Emerald Ball, wonderfully named to suggest the brightness, the myths and legends of the Emerald Isle.

Tara French, born in Dublin, is chairwoman of this year's 12th annual Emerald Ball. She brings to her position managerial qualifications earned and practiced in an international career. Supported by a committee of Irish and Japanese volunteers, she is working for a "stylish evening" with many touches that are uniquely Irish.

Tara came from a family that valued education and qualifications. "I was exposed to other languages at a young age," she said. "From the age of 8, I spent my summers in France. From 14, I spent my summers in Germany." Subsequently she majored in French and German at University College Maynooth. After graduation she went to live and work in Frankfurt.

"I was mostly in management positions in telecommunications, managing 20 or so engineers solving international problems," she said. She met her husband, who was from San Francisco, in Frankfurt. Before they married, she transferred to Virginia. "My company there allowed me to redesign my schedule. I could continue working and studying," she said. In attendance at the School of Business and Public Management at George Washington University, she earned credits toward a master's degree.

The couple went to Ireland to be married. Tara picked up her work again in North Carolina, where they made their home until coming to Japan three years ago. Their baby daughter was born last October.

Tara appreciates the opportunities that the cosmopolitan city of Tokyo offers. She has added conversational Spanish to her fluent French and German, and keeps each language alive by the friendships she has made here with native speakers. Despite diverse influences, she has not lost her distinctive Irish speech. Her husband's knowledge of Dutch makes theirs a multilingual family. In finding her way to the Ireland Fund Japan and working for two years now for the Emerald Ball, she has learned many fine points of procedure, and made more international friends. Since the Ireland Fund depends largely on sponsors and donors, Tara has given much of her attention over two years to her contacts with major corporate sponsors, to whom she and her committee are grateful.

She says that the 70 million people within the Ireland Fund's global community comprise "the largest worldwide network of Irish people and friends of Ireland." The Ireland Fund of Japan, founded in 1993, was still very young when, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, it contributed to the construction of a green community center in Kobe. Later, it made possible the publishing of an anthology of Irish writing on Lafcadio Hearn, the author whose work illuminated the Japan of 150 years ago. The fund regularly assists the holding of the Asian-Gaelic Games.

The Emerald Ball this year will be held March 12 at the Palace Hotel in Tokyo. "The theme of this year's ball is Irish writers," Tara said. "Each table will be assigned an author, and we have 35 different authors. Many books have been donated, to be put on every table. Kenneth Joyce will be joining us and acting as MC." He is the nephew of James Joyce, the renowned commanding Irish writer of novels and short stories.

Against a decor of emerald and silver, bands will play traditional Irish music. Some ball-goers will wear kimono and some Western gowns, their escorts in tuxedos. "A lady from Riverdance is coming, with Japanese students of hers, to dance for us," Tara said. "The top raffle prizes are fantastic. The first is a round trip to Ireland, where accommodation will be in Irish castles."

Tickets at 25,000 yen each are available: click here

By VIVIENNE KENRICK
The Japan Times :: Feb. 21 2004
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