View source for Project East Meets West

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Project: East Meets West}}{{fancy2|text=
A moneyraising campaign to finance the trip of [[Japanese]] [[fan]] [[Tetsu Yano]] from [[LA]] to the [[Philcon II]]. [[Tetsu Yano|Tetsu]] arrived in the [[USA]] on May 14, 1953, and was guest of [[the Ackermans]] during his stay. [[Ack]] and the [[con committee]] also footed most of the bill for the trip. 
}}

According to [[Bert Campbell]] in a [[loc]] to ''[[Hyphen]]'' 5 ([https://fanac.org/fanzines/Hyphen/Hyphen05.pdf November 1953]), about efforts to create [[TAFF]], this [[fan fund]] was not a big success:
 [[Forry Ackerman]] was telling me that he has finally given up his faith in American [[fandom]]'s co-operation for such things. Despite all the [[publicity]] he put out concerning [[Tetsu Yano]], he received just <u>one dollar</u> from the great masses of fans. Tetsu's trip was financed by Forry and by generous donations from [[Bill Hamling]] and [[Kris Neville]] -- and Forry had to part with valuable [[collectors]] items at the [[auctions]] to raise a very small amount of cash.

Apparently unaware of Yano’s contributions to [[sf]], [[faned]] [[Walt Willis]], recipient of the [[WAW With the Crew in '52]] fund, replied:
 I don’t think we should be discouraged by the Tetsu Yano affair. After all, <u>I</u> made it. Admittedly,  there was that powerhouse [[Shelby Vick]], and I had to write my guts out over the affair ... but on the other hand that was a purely [[American]] project -- [[British fandom]] didn’t even hear about it until it was a success -- while this will be worldwide. With all due respect to Forry Ackerman, who is just too generous for this world, the Tetsu Yano affair was fundamentally [[fuggheaded]]. Who the devil is Tetsu Yano that anyone should pay his fare to [[Philadelphia]]? If he had done something in fandom or even got himself heard of, or if he represented some Japanese fan group that had, I could see some point in it. But the idea that any bloody Jap who chooses to express an interest in [[science fiction]] should have his passage paid across the American continent for it is just preposterous. Publicity is not enough -- there has to be some sort of <u>personality</u> interest aroused, enough to produce the, as it were, tension ... capacitance ... that results in flashover. 


[[File:EWfund.jpeg|frame|center|''From [[Philcon II]] [[Progress Report]] 4.'']]


{{fanfund | year=1953}}
[[Category:fancy2]]
[[Category:Asia]]
[[Category:US]]