In May 2004, 26 people representing six international schools in the Kanto area met and formed the first International Alumni Council, Japan.

Last year, IAC Japan held its first event. Called the Block Party 2005, the event brought together 600 alumni from over eight international schools in the Kanto area. This year on June 10, Block Party 2006 will be held in the field of St. Mary's International School in Tokyo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine. According to Theodore Skillman, president of IAC Japan, "The number of participating schools has more than doubled, stretching well beyond the Kanto region from Hokkaido to Hiroshima. We expect the turnout for the Block Party to be even greater this year."

Skillman, born to a Methodist missionary family in Tokyo, had most of his schooling at The American School in Japan. His daughter is now a student there. He feels the need for IAC Japan because men and women who attended English-speaking international schools in this "double-culture country we grew up in" share a common, unique experience. "We speak the same language, whether it's English or Japanese," he said. "It's the way we speak." While each international school has its own alumni council, putting them together strengthens the groups and their networking routes.

Paul Guilfoile, chairman of the Block Party Coordination Committee, was born in California. His father, in the military, brought the family to Japan, and Guilfoile became a schoolboy at St. Mary's. He says he was the fourth Guilfoile to attend St. Mary's, and his son is now the ninth. "We have all been very close to St. Mary's all these years," he said.

When Skillman returned to the States for his senior year, he was homesick for Japan. As soon as he could, he brought himself back and entered Sophia University, Tokyo. He studied Asian history and government, and graduated in 1980.

The interruption in Guilfoile's Japan life came when he entered the United States Army. He spent three years in communications and radio maintenance in Ft. Stewart, Ga., before he, too, returned to enter Sophia. He took his degree in business economics in 1984.

Skillman went further at Sophia by undertaking intensive study of Mandarin in a postgraduate course. He spent a summer at Fudan University, Shanghai, perfecting his command of Mandarin. He said: "At that time China was going through the Gang of Four period. It was also beginning to open up to countries around the world. It seemed an opportune time to open new doors. Mandarin gave me a third country."

Skillman regularly uses his Mandarin in his business operations with China, with which his own company, Skillman and Co., has strong connections. In 1982 he introduced the concept of specialized personal and business stationery to the Japanese market. Since then he has steadily built DearCards products, and expanded the categories to include gifts, china, jewelry, accessories and promotional items.

Guilfoile applied his business acumen effectively with some of the biggest names in advertising and joint venture enterprises. He served as account director with J. Walter Thompson Co., Japan, and Hakuhodo Inc., moving on to be vice president and representative director of Joseph E. Seagram and Sons Inc. until becoming, four years ago, chairman and representative director of Pepsico, Kirin-Tropicana Inc. (Japan).

Both men appreciate the advantages that their international schools gave them, and justify their decisions to make Japan their home. Both of them feel that IAC Japan will bring alumni closer to their old schools. Its practical value, they believe, lies in the support it can give to its members. The new organization, they say, takes that extra step to bring in all those people who will benefit from knowing others in similar situations to their own.