About Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club

Welcome to the Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club!

In Toastmasters clubs, many people learn about public speaking, presentation, and leadership through practice!

Founded in the United States in 1924, Toastmasters is a non-profit public speaking and leadership organization with a long history.
More than 280,000 members in 144 countries around the world learn from each other, practice and improve their skills through Toastmasters club training programs.

In Japan, there are 227 clubs with more than 4,500 members as of 2021.
Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club is an official club of Toastmasters International.

Top 10 Features of the Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club

●We are a friendly club!
We have club meetings with a friendly atmosphere and a sense of humor because our activities are held on weekend mornings.
While some clubs emphasize a formal atmosphere or conduct their activities in a business mode, such as weekday evenings, our club emphasizes a homey, fun atmosphere.

●Activities conducted in both Japanese and English
At every Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club meeting, there are sessions in both Japanese and English.
Although many clubs have a high level of English proficiency, our club creates an environment where those who are not confident in English or Japanese, such as those from overseas, can easily participate. At our meetings, we support them by sharing information related to the content of their speeches via ZOOM chat so that they can get a better idea of the speech or presentation even in a language they are not familiar with.

It is also possible to expand your speaking techniques in English while challenging yourself to give speeches and presentations in Japanese and improve your skills in the process.
Many other Toastmasters clubs are all English, all Japanese, or bilingual with a high percentage of Japanese, but our club has a good balance between Japanese and English.

●We are a global club that embraces diversity!
At Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club, we have members who are from overseas as well as members who have joined from overseas.
We respect the individuality of each member and enjoy interacting with each other while deepening our understanding of each other's cultures.
Overseas members look at English speeches from a native speaker's point of view, and conversely, Japanese members support the Japanese language challenges of overseas members and help each other improve their skills.
This is an ideal environment for those who want to learn to speak and present in a global community.

●Sunday morning activities for fun and skill development! We are one of the few clubs that is active on Sunday mornings!
We hold our club meetings on Sunday mornings.
This makes it easy for those who are busy during the week to participate in such activities.
Club meetings end at noon, so of course it is possible to schedule a Sunday afternoon. It is also possible to schedule time outside of Toastmasters.
Why don't you spend the Sunday mornings you have in a Toastmasters club and make the most of them?

●You will be assigned a mentor when you join the club!
When you join the club, you will be assigned a "mentor" to whom you can ask a variety of questions, such as how to prepare a speech or what your role will be at a regular meeting.
The mentor and all club members help the new member adjust to Toastmasters activities and become familiar with the club.

●We also value online meetings
We value online (ZOOM) meetings.
Even in a dual format where the venue in Kannai, Yokohama is connected to the online meeting room, we make sure that the online speeches can be viewed by the participants at the venue.
Conversely, we also make sure that participants on the online side can view the speeches given at the venue.
We have created an environment where attendees can learn regardless of which side they are on.

●Speech Contest Challenge!
Toastmasters Japan hold a speech contest once a year.
The format is Club Contest, Area Contest, Regional (Division) Contest, and then National Contest.
One of our club members even made it to the national contest, which will be held in May 2023!
In addition, the Kanagawa area also held a newcomer's contest, where our club's new members took up the challenge and won second place in the Japanese and English speaking categories in 2022. Our club members performed well in the contests, giving speeches of high quality by using their daily speech practice.

●We also hold public speaking workshops!
Our club holds public speaking workshops several times a year.
We invite club members and outside speakers on topics that will help you improve your public speaking skills and create learning opportunities.
In January 2023, we also held a workshop on how to find speech topics by inviting a national Toastmasters Japan champion.

●Lunch and online tea parties after meetings
We currently hold club meetings mainly online, but also at venues in the Kannai area of Yokohama.
After the meeting, we have lunch together at a restaurant in the Kannai area.
The "Lunch Master" is in charge of selecting restaurants. We choose from regular restaurants as well as new ones.
Online tea parties are also held regularly. Members deepen their friendship in a relaxed atmosphere.

●Club events are fun!
We also have small club events on Halloween and Christmas.
We make the virtual background of ZOOM Halloween-like and wear Halloween goods to make our meetings more exciting and fun.
We also have joint meetings with other clubs a few times a year to enjoy inter-club interaction.

This is what the Yokohama Ocean Toastmasters Club is all about!
If you are interested in our club, please visit us for a tour!