私たちが今週過ごした場所は取手といいます。東京から近く、電車で約1時間の距離です。取手は自然がたくさんある小さな街です。
取手の初日は忙しく、ユニークな一日になりました。それは短い時間内で特別な役割を任せられたからです。
その役割とは、取手に100年以上前からある4件のお店のために、宣伝方法を考えるという事でした。街の進化と共にお客さんが減り、街に住む人たちも個人経営のお店には興味を示さなくなりました。
今回、訪ねたのは酒蔵、節句人形店、漬物屋、道具屋の4件です。
4件のお店で経営者からの説明と見学を終えた後、私たちは宣伝方法を考えました。
プログラム参加者はこの4件のお店を見学し、彼らの経営方法を学び、彼らの商品を見せてもらって貴重な時間を過ごすことができました。そして一生懸命、どんな宣伝をすれば良いか考えました。私たちの役割が彼らの期待にこたえられていれば良いなぁと思います。私たちは100％楽しみました。
The Spring & Summer Slide Shows of most of our partner cities are now available on the “Konichiwa from Japan”-section of our Website. Please take a look!!!
If you have been following our program or our blog, you have no doubt heard about our “Arigato Event.” Performed near the end of each of our stays, the event is a way for us to say Thank You to the communities and host families who have worked so hard to bring us into their world. These communities do most of the work needed to make World Campus International a success. In each of our events, there is a section that highlights the talents and creativity of our participants. This summer we had some members who decided that their talents went better together than on their own. Having never met before the program, these participants put a little Elvis, some Sax, a vocal rhythm track, a traditional Japanese instrument, and a world class voice together to create this amazing rendition of the classic, “Love Me Tender.”
Over the past few weeks, we have given everyone a glimpse into the World Campus — Japan program. You have heard a lot about what we do and how we felt as we did it. We now want to let you hear one of our participant’s thoughts after she returned to the “real” world. Meghan Kuts participated in program 1 and 2 of the WCI Summer 09 tour. She made this video a little more than a month after she returned home. Take a look!!!
Summer 2009 Program 2 was about relationships. World Campus International said good bye to some important pieces of our puzzle and welcomed in some new participants that would prove invaluable to success. Participants from all over the globe pulled together to become more than a team, they became like family. The participants said hello and goodbye to two more host families in Mito and Toride. They had the chance to speak to the mayors and the vice governor of Ibaraki prefecture and see Japan from the eyes of its leaders. They took a day hike through the beautiful Japanese countryside while getting to know a lot of people on a personal level. The group teamed up with host families to fly strings of 35+ kites. However, the most talked about day of the program was a day spent with the young employees of Exxon Mobil. Through artful facilitation and creative communication, the World Campus – Japan members and the Exxon Mobil employees experienced a day that changed many perceptions from both groups. Take a look for yourself, you will surely get a taste of WCI through these pictures.
(Jay Kinsel, Production Manager)
