Welcome to Tokyo Toastmasters Club!

--> Our next meeting is May 15th, 2008!

We will meet at Kyobashi Kuminkan this week only (Google map).

Hello and thank you for visiting the webpage for our club, Tokyo Toastmasters Club (aka Tokyo TMC), where we help people to enhance their public speaking, communication and leadership skills. Our club is the oldest Toastmasters Club in Japan--established in 1954--which you can see from the image of our charter which we have included above. Feel free to read more about the history of Tokyo TMC in an article featured in our December 2007 Club Newsletter (link in the Main Menu on the left) written by one of our past presidents and longest active member. Tokyo TMC is a part of Toastmasters International, a non-profit organization headquartered in California, USA.

Experienced professionals and beginning speakers alike can benefit from our practical, face-to-face learning program. Whether you're speaking to the board of directors, your customers, your co-workers or your kids, Toastmasters can help you do it better. You'll learn and practice in a friendly, comfortable environment with people who are there for the same reason you are—to become better communicators. Tokyo TMC operates in the English language and welcomes guests regardless of whether English is your mother tongue or your second (or third) language. You will find that all of our members are well-spoken and professional no matter their backgrounds.

You might be wondering how Toastmasters was originally started. Well, in October 1924, a group of men assembled by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley met in the basement of the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, U.S.A., forming a club “to afford practice and training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings, and to promote sociability and good fellowship among its members.” The group took the name “Toastmasters” in reference to the words of dedication prior to a toast over drinks (as written on the Toastmasters International website, it's true, we don't make toasters!). We are a local chapter of Toastmasters International (<--link), and one of some 80 clubs in Japan (District 76).

Today, Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization which gives its members the opportunity to develop and improve their public speaking abilities through local club meetings, training seminars and speech contests. Toastmasters International includes more than 220,000 men and women in more than 11,300 clubs in more than 90 countries. Tokyo Toastmasters Club has 34 members and meets at least twice a month in a beautiful and comfortable room at a centrally located venue near Ichigaya station (see below).

At Toastmasters, members learn by doing by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 to 30 people. Some clubs meet once a week for about an hour, although in the busy metropolis of Tokyo, we have decided to meet once every two weeks on Thursday evenings for two hours. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice conducting meetings, giving impromptu speeches, presenting prepared speeches, and offering constructive evaluation. Everyone has an opportunity to speak at every meeting.

Tokyo Toastmasters Club meets at:
May 15th only: Kyobashi Kuminkan
(Google Map)

Address: Kyobashi 2-chome 6-7; Tel: 03-3561-6340

• Ginza Line: Kyobashi Stn., Exit 6 (2 min walk)
• Toei Asakusa Line: Takaracho Stn., Exit A5/A6 (2 min walk)
• JR Tokyo Stn.　(9 min walk)

Regular Venue (from May 29th): Ichigaya Lutheran Center
1-1 Ichigaya sadoharacho, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo (map in English) (交通アクセス）
Tel 03-3260-8621
(*just to clarify, we are not in any way affiliated with the Lutheran Center other than the generous use of their beautiful meeting room.)

JR Sobu Line
7 mins on foot from Exit
Toei Shinjuku Line
7 mins on foot from Exit A1
Yurakucho Line/Namboku Line
2 mins on foot from Exit #5/6

We meet on the First, Third (and Fifth) Thursdays of the month.

Our meetings start promptly at 19:00 (7pm) and finish at 21:00 (9pm).

Please try to arrive about 15 minutes early.

Also, we often arrange for time to socialize after the meetings until about 21:30, and many members will grab a bite to eat and a drink after that.

--> Our next meeting is May 15th, 2008 (at Kyobashi Kuminkan). Hope to see you there!