[inspic=553,,gal,0]The staff just arrived in Suita, Osaka and received spiffy jackets. Looking sharp is part of the job!
Category Archives: 訪問地
Suita City is Getting Ready to Meet the New WCJ Class
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At a recent meeting in Suita, Osaka, college students came together to discuss the contents of upcoming World Campus — Japan activities.
They are planning to give a casual Japanese language session, a Japanese traditional sports experience as well as an interactive tour at the World EXPO park.
They are excited to make new friends from around the world!
Wrap-up – Super Happy Sunshine Funtime Tour
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Less than two months. It was a short amount of time but enough for a bunch of strangers from fourteen countries to come together. During that time we learned, we played, we had fun, we got frustrated, we overcame, we laughed, and we cried together. And as a group, we successfully completed the World Campus International summer program. Yay!! Congratulations!! 😉
There were great times where everything was peachy and fun. From hiking Mt. Taro, to the walking tours of Tokyo, to attending the Peace Ceremony in Hiroshima. Everything was not always super happy though. There were also demanding times where we met challenges. From our first “Thank-you Event” rehearsal, to our struggles in “getting over the rope”, to our final goodbyes at the airport. Those were difficult times but we always somehow prevailed as a group.
It is hard to imagine the amazing experiences we would share when everyone first stepped off the bus at the Music Village in Ueda City. Everyone seemed so different and I did not know how the group would mesh together or how long it would take. Living together at the Music Village for the first few days obviously allowed us to connect sooner but I would like to commend everyone for being so open and personable to those that would join later. This program can only succeed if everyone works together, plus it is also a lot more fun when everybody gets along. Thus, it was a pleasant surprise for me to see such harmony in so little time.
Although WCI is not an academic program, it is undeniable to state that we all learned much during the tour. Staying with host families offered us the best opportunity to experience Japanese life and culture. What we have learned was not just relegated to Japanese culture either. Because we were such a diverse group, we were able to learn a little bit about the other countries too. We were all put in an uncomfortable situation in a country foreign to many of us with so many different personalities. Such as life, sometimes the personalities conflicted, yet we all learned about ourselves and how to handle such uneasy situations.
It might be cliché to say, but our little community was much like a family. Every one of us went through tremendous highs and deflating lows but we were always there for each other. Although we are parted now, our shared experiences will never be forgotten. Thank you all for the wonderful memories. It is very difficult not to get overly nostalgic when reflecting back on the tour but it was truly a super happy sunshine funtime.
(Guang Yeung, USA)
広島での灯籠流し
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２００８年８月６日に、World Campus — Japanのメンバーは、様々な国から来ている人達や地元の人達と共に広島の灯籠流しに参加しました。儀式は原爆の日の夕方から夜にかけて行われ、その間中、青、緑、赤、ピンク、そして白い灯籠が夕闇の中、元安川を下って行きました。日本の仏教徒達はご先祖様が毎年子孫に会いにやって来ると信じています。灯籠の光は被爆者の魂を天国へとまた導いてくれるのです。
６３年前の原爆投下を大勢の人々が思い起こしている姿は静かな美しさを醸し出していました。
世界平和への強い願いを何千人もの人達が死者へ送りました。私、ディビッド、グァング、そしてイルッカを含む数人のWorld Campus — Japanのメンバーもこの感情的な儀式に参加する特別な機会を与えられました。考え深く書かれ、灯籠に託されたメッセージは、どれもが世界平和、世界中の愛、そして被害者の安らかな眠りを祈願していました。ロウソクに火をつけ、霊の帰り道を照らすようにとそれらの灯籠は川の流れに放たれました。世界中からやって来た、心に愛と世界平和への願いを持つ人々に囲まれたこの経験は実に美しく素晴らしいものでした。
（アメリカ合衆国出身、ツァング・ジャニス）
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
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On the surface Hiroshima city is a good example of a well-developed and very industrialized Japanese city. Tall buildings, heavy traffic, and very crowded trains filled with busy Japanese commuters on their way to and from work. You can experience the Japanese lifestyle in Hiroshima, no doubt about that.
But the name of the city hides a more terrible side, a side which most people around the world are more aware of. Most of the world is more familiar with the fact that Hiroshima was the place where the first Atomic Bomb in world history was dropped on a city. In the morning of August 6, 2008, we participated in the annual peace memorial ceremony. The ceremony lasted for one hour with a silent prayer and peace bell at 8.15 (the exact time of the A-bomb drop) as its emotional highlight.
The mood was very melancholy and heartfelt during the day. Almost half a million people from Japan and abroad gathered at the ceremony in honour of the 80,000 people that past away on August 6, 1945, the approximately 60,000 people who died in the very first year directly caused of the radiation around Hiroshima and the Hibakusha, the people who survived the bomb with a life of sickness and emotional scars. Everyone of course recognized the all-important theme of the ceremony – Peace.
Prominent persons such as the Prime Minister of Japan, a representative of the United Nations, as well as the mayor of Hiroshima spoke at the ceremony. Among the things they talked about was how important it is not to forget what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in order to avoid the usage of nuclear weapons in the future. To achieve this universal goal it is necessary for countries to be empathic towards each other, even when it is hard to understand different customs and opinions sometimes.
We can not change the past, but by respecting other countries and cultures, we minimize the risk for future wars.
With the hope nuclear weapons never will be used again,
(Christian Damgaard, Denmark)
