As we are noting in this blog, we will be making a debriefing session for our students to present their overseas studies of this summer. Presentation will be mainly about overseas field work of Taiwan, Indonesia and Korea, but also from students who studied in USA and Canada using “TOBITATE Japan” project.

   It will be held in September 3rd starting on 14:00 at Hall in 4th floor of Shiki museum. (http://sikihaku.lesp.co.jp/site_info/access.php)

   This session will be an open session without any applications, so not only students but parents and other people are welcome.

   The 17th Conference of Business & Social Organization for Asia & Pacific (BSOAP), which our students joined as a part of Korea field work, was introduced in Antong University homepage. Down below is the URL of the introduction.

To make sure, the page is written in Korean.
　Along with this homepage, it was also introduced in the radio broadcasting of Korea’s public broadcast (KBS).

   “After we said good bye to our guide Ms. Sol, we were safely back to Matsuyama via Fukuoka. During the stay in Korea, we were able to visit so many places, Andong National University, Dosan Seowon, Hahoe Folk Village, and Pusan, which was very valuable for us. We will pursue to the goal of BSOAP “Pursuing the synergy of Japan and Korea through continuous exchange between universities of Japan and Korea, and also the exchange not only universities and professors but the whole society” and work hard to make our research study more fulfilled.”

 
 
 

   There was an internet meeting with the eco-station of Freiburg in Germany at one of the Matsuyama city’s recycling center, “Recycle-kan”, and 2 of our student participated. Our students were able to participate on this meeting by the help of Ms. Yamashita, who is teaching in our research program of SGH curriculum, and staff members of Matsuyama city office.

   The theme of the meeting was “Thinking about environment from culture and habit of food in Japan and Germany”. In the meeting, after each other’s introduction, they took almost 2 hours (1hour and 50 min.) listening and asking questions about ①introduction of eco-station in Freiburg, ②explanation about the food and environment research program going on in eco-station, ③food culture of Germany and others.

   The efforts challenged in Freiburg were very interesting, which reminds us that the city is known as for its high standard of living and advanced environmental practices. For instance, they teach in elementary school about how to decrease plastic trashes, or they have planned a program to learn about food habit and environment by using, cooking, and eating vegetables cultivated in eco-station. It seemed to be a interesting meeting for our 2 students, they were questioning many things related to their research. Maybe 2 hours were short for them.

 
 
 
 

   “We attended at the ending ceremony of 17th Conference of Business & Social Organization for Asia & Pacific (BSOAP), and every participant received a certificate. Of course our students also hand it from Mr. Yamato Sato, professor of Keio University of Commerce. The certificate states “This is to certify that the above mentioned person has completed 17th CBSA (Conference of Business & Social Association) course organized by BSOAP (Business & Social Organization for Asia and Pacific) 2015.08.20 BSOAP organizing committee.””

   “Today, we visited Pusan Branch of Korea Miura Co. Ltd., the overseas office of Miura Company. Mr. Morioka, CEO of Korea Miura who is also an alumna of Matsuyama Higashi has taken time to welcome us all the way from his office in Seoul. He has taught us about the steps and company strategy Miura took to start globalization, how to build local corporation and about Korea Miura. He also answered our questions with some humor in it. After Mr. Morioka’s lecture, we moved to Lotte Water Park where Miura’s boiler is used. There were 10 boiler machines connected and each boiler machine has the power to exchange 3 tons of water to steam, in one hour. What we saw was the combination of Japan and Korea’s technology.”

 
 
 

   “In the afternoon, we visited to Hahoe Folk Village, a place where it was registered as a World Heritage Site on 2010. Hahoe Folk Village is a village home to descendants of the Ryu clan of Pungsan, where they lived and saved its history and traditional culture for 600 years. The village is also well-known for its traditional houses made in the Chosen period, and they are now people living inside. We also enjoyed Hahoe Mask Dance Drama Performance (Hahoe Byeolsingut Exorcism) which is a dance using one of the Korea’s national treasures, Hanoe mask.
We smelled the history and breezed the tradition of Korea.”

   “Today, we are visiting Dosan Seowon under the theme of “adventuring the Andong”. Dosan Seowon was built in 1561 by the Korea’s famous Confucian Li Hwang, and it was consolidate and developed as an academic place by his successor. This place played an important role as in a Seowon culture and the development of Confucian during Chosen period.”

   “The wind of Matsuyama Higashi is blowing in BSOAP!”



 

   “The second day of BSOAP was a discussion about “The local revitalization in aging society”. Our students expressed their skill learned in the school, and had communication with others. After 6 hours of discussion, made in separate groups, each group made a presentation. Miss Yoshikane and Mr. Hirata did presentation in their group. At last, by the balloting from participated students, No.1 was Miss Kawakami’s group, and No.3 was Miss Yoshikane’s group. After the discussion was a dinner in buffet style, and we all congratulated each other.”

   “Today we were participating at the opening ceremony of 17th Conference of Business & Social Organization for Asia & Pacific(BSOAP). We, the 5 high school students, were jumping in to the university students of Japan and Korea. Now is the time to use our English and little Korean!”

   “We are now heading to Korea for 5 days, from 17th to 21st of August, to attend 17th Conference of Business & Social Organization for Asia & Pacific(BSOAP) held in Seoul and to visit Miura Company’s Pusan branch. We are going to learn for our research program, and to deepen the knowledge of business economics and tourism.”

   A student having study at Firenze, Italy as a “TOBITATE JAPAN” project has sent us some comments for the stay. From her email, we could imagine she is having a wonderful experience in Firenze. “My study tour for 1 month is now almost over and 10 days left for now. How is everyone doing in this summer vacation? Here in Firenze, the temperature is almost same as Japan, but it’s more dry and hard sunlight which is a bit hard for me. The school I am attending is a language school so I am the only one high-school age student. There is a large age difference in between other students, but classmates and teachers are very kind to me and I am having fun learning Italian, which is very difficult. The class of Architecture and Interior design is also very fun. I am feeling the happiness of studying my favorite thing in my favorite place. It is a dreamy time having stay in Firenze, a town like an art museum. I will enjoy the happiness of this study and try more hard until the last day. Please enjoy your little remaining summer vacation!”

   We received all reports from the participants of Taiwan Field Work. Down below is their impressions about the field work. They seem to have a meaningful experience. For further report, we will be making a debriefing session in September 3rd starting on 14:00 at Hall in 4th floor of Shiki museum. (http://sikihaku.lesp.co.jp/site_info/access.php) This session will be an open session, so not only students but parents and other people are welcome.

♦Student impressions♦

  ♦Thorough visiting Japanese companies in Taiwan, I understand that understanding and confirming to the culture and way of thinking of that country or area is very important when expanding business globally. Although, I learned from them that you will also need a strong desire to commit company’s strategy such as “we are the best in on safety and environment-friendliness in the world”, or you cannot make it real.
I was able to feel the kindness of Taiwanese and their way of thinking, which is different from us, as well as the good points of Japan and Japanese. To grow up as a global leader, I think not only English skill but Chinese skill is also important. I would apply what I have learned in Taiwan to life from tomorrow. At last, I want to thank every person who have involved in this field work.

  ♦“You can’t do something globally if you can’t do it with Japanese.” “Being shy is OK but hating human is prohibited.” Communication is necessary when working together not only because you are Japanese and the other is foreigner but because both are human. I thought that it is important as a global leader to have a skill having discussion as many as possible with all your effort, repeat seeking and challenging, until it is accepted.
I would like to thank all the people, those who introduced us their companies, Ms. Tsai our guide, teachers who prepared and led us, and my parents who never went out of Japan.

  ♦①Kainan University…By communicating with university students, I was able to feel the cultural difference between Japan and Taiwan. I was also inspired by his attitude of learning different language and explaining attractiveness of Taiwan. I was able to feel the good points of Japan too.

②Shoukaiseki…I only saw him in textbook. I was able to learn history of Taiwan.

③Visiting Japanese companies in Taiwan…It was a meaningful time for me to have conversation with a person working outside Japan. I learned that having communication until both agree is very important. Also to learn not only the language but culture and nationality is important. By participating on this field work, I now have a will to learn more. And in the future, I want to work globally as a global person.

  ♦I was able to experience so many important things. I wanted to be a global person since I saw Japanese working hard in Taiwan and trusted by local coworkers. This was my first trip outside Japan, and I feel happy it was Taiwan. When I have opportunity, I would like to go to another country.

  ♦Through the visit in Japanese companies in Taiwan, I was able to hear from people who are now working abroad. They taught us the important points when working with people from other countries, and their experiments about cultural differences, which was valuable for me because I want to work abroad in the future. I also felt the connection over country by having relationship with University students. I will apply this experience to the rest of school life and future.

  ♦Taiwan was the second country I visited. The first was Germany. From both experience, what you need is your effort to talk and make questions aggressively from yourself to have communication. Of course language skill is needed, but moreover, if you have a strong will to communicate, you can do it with some gestures to support your language skill. Each country has differs in its own physical attribute, language, behavior, and culture, but I think there is common points across the countries. That is the feeling to care about other people. There are different ways to express their feelings, but the feeling of caring other people is common in any place. I want to go to more other countries and I want my dream come true.

  ♦I want to know more about the world, so I went to Taiwan, and I learned a lot what I cannot find when I was in Japan. When I arrived at Taiwan, it was full of differences. Smell, literature, traffic rules, foods, everything was different as I was imaging. Until then, I was thinking that understanding different culture is important through lessons and field work in Japan. But when I entered into the place full of differences, now I found myself searching similarities. I thought it is very sad to make a line between “my culture” and “your culture”. When you find similarities instead of just saying “It’s different from Japan”, you can feel relationship with the country and you will like it, which means you can understand the culture. When I work in a global world, I may stand to a cultural barrier, but the idea of “understanding culture” which I learned in Taiwan, I think I can overcome.

   We received all reports from the participants of Indonesia Field Work. Down below is their impressions about the field work. They seem to have a meaningful experience. For further report, we will be making a debriefing session in September 3rd starting on 14:00 at Hall in 4th floor of Shiki museum. (http://sikihaku.lesp.co.jp/site_info/access.php) This session will be an open session, so not only students but parents and other people are welcome.

♦Student impressions♦

  ♦The question I wanted to solve most by going to Indonesia was “does Japanese companies in Indonesia going to drop off, because of the increase in labor cost under rapid economic expansion?” As a result, I was able to gain conclusion for this question because I visited many companies and watch how it is in Indonesia. I was able to learn more during the visit, and this field work became a fulfilled visit.

  ♦A visit to Indonesia. Before the visit, I had some fear with a huge sense of hope. Now I am back, the scene I saw from the window was the most memorable sight for me. It showed jammed-up roads filled with cars and bikes, or a difference of wealthy square and poor people’s area divided by a single road. Along with other impressive experiences, the visit expanded my view and a way of thinking. As a result, this trip was a fun and meaningful adventure for me, even though I had fear at the beginning. I think I had grown up one size bigger.

  ♦The 3 days I spent in Indonesia was a series of valuable experiences. Those were traffic jams which we always got stuck into, difference in language, food and water, religious belief, and set of values, which cannot realize without a real experience. I also felt the power of momentum which Indonesia itself is expressing. There were many high buildings made in city, and all people were working hard for their wealthy dreams. On the other hand, there were places where it was left over from the growth. There were so many trashes on the road, not enough infra structure, and the economic disparity shown right near the city. Through this field work, I learned that to grow up not only the economic but the people’s mind is important for a real growth. And I think it is the same in Japan. If we all are complacent about the current, Japan won’t grow up. I think that to keep on growing is what we are hoped to do. Since I had opportunity to step on to the world by participating on this field trip, I was able to learn a lot. And now I have a dream to go and see other countries. This field work was something that I want to participate again.

  ♦The country we visited, Indonesia, is one of the aggressive economic growth country in ASEAN, which many Japanese companies are starting their business. In fact I saw many Japanese company’s advertisements and high buildings inside the city of Jakarta. But on the other hand, there were many poor people living next to those high buildings. I learned that in Indonesia, underneath the economic expansion, there are many problems such as economic disparity, needs of infrastructure construction, and others.

  ♦Indonesia had a vibrant city. People were very kind and frank. This field work was a fulfilled visit. Indonesia has 140 million more people as inter layer compared to the whole population of Japan, which means that the market is so huge that many Japanese companies tried to start their business. During the stay I realized the lack of my English skill. Indonesians are able to speak 4 languages. I will study more hard on English from now. Throughout this field work, I got interested in International cooperation, so I will study hard and in future, I want to be a person who go abroad and help people.

  ♦This field work was intensive days for me. From the first day, I had some fever and got a nosebleed, I am very sorry for those who helped me. The traffic jam was incredible, too much to compare with Japan’s traffic jam. I thought this is the first problem of this country. The high school students whom we met communicated very kindly to us. I was surprised that my English reached to them. But I also realized that my English skill is not enough. I want to study more hard than them. Most of Indonesians believe in Islam, and they were praying normally. I was able to know a place other than Japan. It was a very good experience.

  ♦I realized the difference of nationality between Japan and Indonesia through this field trip. At most, the sense of time differed than Japan, which was expressed in late structuring of infrastructure, even though it is a country project. Each country has its own nationality, which means that there are various nationalities in the world. I think to learn about other country’s nationality and acknowledge them is very important to live together with people who have different way of thinking in this global age. Japan has many great cultures, but if we force it to other country, it will make conflict. I realized that in this field work, which means that it was a great experience for me.

   “We all are doing fine in here at Hawaii. Today was the graduation day of this study tour. We received many congratulations from teachers, and we made speech one by one. We were able to realize that our English skill has improved throughout this stay of 15 days. During the graduation ceremony, we received fine graduation certificate, did some performances, and took lunch, which was very fun 2 hours. We will leave Hawaii tomorrow morning, and make step toward Japan. When we are back, please hear our stories of experiment!”

   A student having study at Milton as a “TOBITATE JAPAN” project is also back now, and send us some message. She has joined the sports study program, basketball. “I was able to feel good and bad things of outside Japan, during this 3 weeks. I made so many friends around the world, and had fun experiencing different type of basketball than those in Japan. I had little difficulty in hearing English, but I think I was able to tell what I want to say, which built up some confidence in me. This 3 weeks was very substantial and great experience for me.”

   A student having study at Nice as a “TOBITATE JAPAN” project is back now, and send us some comments for the stay. “I am safely back in Japan. Weeks I spend was very fulfilled and fun. It was a very pleasure for me to have such short stay during high school age! I will always remember thankfulness to everyone, and keep on trying hard.”

   “Today, we challenged Memory book, making Power Point Presentation, and had some interchange between students in Hawaii University. Next Monday is the last lesson in school, so we will keep on trying hard on it, and level up our English level, before return to Japan. This weekend is the last chance to have time with host family, so we want to a special time to make memory of this stay.”

   “From last night, students started to have homestay at each host home. Apart from school, students must have more things to learn during the stay. Today we had some Fra dance lesson, which took 50 min. and we were able to dance one song. We are going to show it when we are back in Japan!”