There is usually a lull in preliminaries during January and into February but I want to let you know what has been happening and what is coming up in the near future. If you have been checking out the news reel you will have seen that the Brazil regional rounds in Fortaleze and Rio de Janeiro and the Mexico preliminaries were held in February. The Brazil preliminaries is very developed with about 14 regional rounds leading up to the final preliminary in Sao Paolo to choose the representative for Brazil. This year is the 100th year of immigration from Japan to Brazil so the events are seen as contemporary cultural embodiments of these strong ties. Keep an eye out for regular updates on the Brazil events in the news section!

This year the Shanghai event in July will be the deciding ground for the China representatives. I am hoping to be able to attend the event to give you some direct information on how things go. The event in South Korea is scheduled for early June and Singapore will take place in early July. We may have the French representatives decided on the same weekend at Japan Expo in Paris. I'll try to get you as much information as possible on these events!