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International House Festival 2012 －With Energy! 2012－
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International House Festival 2012 was held at Hiroshima City International House on November 4 (Sun), 2012,
with the aim of furthering interaction between international students and other non-Japanese residents, and the people of Hiroshima City.
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This year was the twelfth time that the festival has been held.
Setting as its theme "With Energy! 2012", the festival aimed to promote international exchange and cooperation activities at International House, and demonstrate International House's energy and dynamism.
The opening ceremony was held on the second floor hall at 10:00am.
After a speech by Mr. Seizo Sakoda, the Director of International House, there was a performance by Puccina, a citizens' fanfare group, for a rousing start to the 2012 International House Festival.
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A variety of food stalls
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As with previous years the festival was held at the same time at the same time as the Kojin region's Kojin Ebisu Festival, and blessed with good weather, it was a lively, fun day with around 2,800 participants, exceeding last year's number.
Following on from last year, the international students wanted to use the opportunity of the Festival to make this an event that would encourage those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and for this purpose organized the Fukushima Support section.
Working together with members of the Fukushima Prefecture Association of Hiroshima, they set up a stall selling imoni (stewed potato), a specialty of the Tohoku region, that they had prepared the day before the festival.
They sold 300 dishes of the miso-based stew, full of taros, meat and other vegetables, together with Koshihikari rice from Fukushima, for a profit of 20,000 yen.
The proceeds were donated via the Fukushima Prefecture Association to people who have evacuated from Fukushima to Hiroshima.
The annual ANA International Students' Japanese Speech Contest was held again, on the theme of "My Source of Energy", and speeches were given by ten international students who had passed the qualifying round.
This year, the judging panel also included ten members of the public, and the level of the speeches this year was judged as particularly high.
The Grand Prix was awarded to Xing An, from Chinese Mongolia, who received prizes including a return air ticket from Hiroshima to Tokyo.
The Award of Excellence went to Khaldoon Hussein from Syria and Sun Yiwen from China.
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Speech contest awards ceremony
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At the annual "National Specialty Cuisine World Food Stalls Event", thirteen organizations from twelve countries or regions set up stalls in the area outside International House and served up a variety of cuisines from their home countries.
To ensure that the event was a "clean" event, the Reuse Project was adopted, using reusable plates and utensils that can be used again after washing.
Efforts were also made to reduce the amount of waste produced.
Mini-events were also held by the international students in the venue's hall.
There was a koto performance, dances from Mongolia, Nepal and Indonesia that are rarely seen in Japan, as well as piano and singing performances.
An event called "I Love My Homeland ― Chatting with International Students" was held in the training room, and students from sixteen countries spoke about their home countries.
Students who had just arrived in 2012 from Papua New Guinea and Nigeria put great effort into introducing their home countries in a mixture of English and a little Japanese, leaving a lasting impression on the audience.
Many of the Hiroshima citizens in the audience commented that having the opportunity to interact with the international students was an enjoyable and valuable experience.
In the Exchange Lounge on the first floor were a number of fascinating street performances and workshops by Hiroshima citizens,
including nankintamasudare (street performance using bamboo blinds), a balloon show, hula dancing, magic, ikebana flower arrangement, balloon art, and an environmental awareness section.
On the day, twelve students from Hiroshima City University and Hiroshima Jogakuin University and eleven members of the JICA Kizuna Project worked as volunteers with the international students to make this a meaningful day of international exchange.
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(Hiroshima City International House)
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