The ASIJ BBQ Doro Kami is conceived as a family-friendly, family-oriented gathering of American School in Japan alumni, faculty and staff, to be held on an annual or bi-annual basis over a mid-summer weekend. Attendees meeting during the current BBQ will determine the location of the next BBQ; a volunteer committee will then form to organize the next ASIJ BBQ. It is our stated preference that a BBQ location each year be found in the Midwest U.S. or Canada.

A Brief History

Sometime in the 1990's, former ASIJ faculty member Steve Myers began hosting an informal, annual summer gathering on the lawn of his home in Novi, Michigan. ASIJers in the area, and those passing through, were invited over for some convivial conversation, a few brews, brauts, burgers and ribs. He called the event the "ASIJ BBQ."

Fast forward a few years.

An ad hoc committe of Midwest region alumni assembled and a plan was mooted for a larger, more formal gathering in July of 2002. Arranged primarily as recognition of the American School in Japan's Centennial anniversary, the ASIJ 2002 Detroit Jubilee (as it was named) expanded the original BBQ occasion in both length and scope, including a weekend agenda of organized activities.

At the conclusion of the Detroit Jubilee, a new ad hoc group of Midwesterners formed with the hope of keeping the spirit of the ASIJ BBQ alive. Two basic concepts governing future BBQs were agreed to:

• Moving the BBQ location around on an annual or bi-annual basis would encourage more people - especially families - to make the BBQ a part of their summer plans. A new location every year would give attendees new opportunities each year for travel and sightseeing; families who found travel to a particular locale difficult one year might find the next location to be a more convenient destination;
• That a midwest US or central Canada location would be considered more "local" for those ASIJ families who don't live on the West or East Coasts (where ASIJ alumni already have strong and lively bases of activity). It is preferred to keep future ASIJ BBQs located within the central continent while extending an invitation to everyone involved with ASIJ, past and present, to attend no matter where they might reside.