Hiroshima City International House Festival 2011
― Valuing Every Individual Friendship! ―
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On November 6, 2011, the Hiroshima City International House Festival 2011 was held at Hiroshima
City International House. The aim of this event is to promote further interaction between
international students, and other foreigners living in Hiroshima, and Hiroshima citizens, and at the
same time provide the students with an opportunity for social participation. This is one of
International House's biggest events.
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International students participated in the festival
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Following on from last year, the festival this year was again held at the same time as the Kojin
Ebisu festival and the Thanksgiving festival of the sheltered workshop, Hiroshima Minami Jyusanjyo.
The event, with its strong international flavor, attracted around 2,700 visitors, more than the
previous year. With its lively atmosphere, the event was a very enjoyable day for all participants.
After the Great East Japan Earthquake that hit on March 11, 2011, the international students
received various kinds of support from friends all over the world, and this strongly reaffirmed to
them the importance of every individual friendship. In response, they set Friendship as the theme
of this 11th festival, with a view to further enhancing exchange activities with city residents.
To ensure that the international students' opinions were reflected in the festival, planning
meetings were held with the students' association "Ryuwakai", made up of resident students, to
discuss events, participation methods, PR activities, preparation work, etc, to prepare for the
festival. As a result, there was a more balanced allocation of time for each of the different events
than last year, and a fuller festival program. This year ten Japanese students from Hiroshima
University's International Division also participated as volunteers.
At 10am, the opening ceremony was held in the second floor hall. After a speech by Mr. Seizo
Sakoda, Director of International House, there was a performance by Buccina, a citizens' fanfare
group, for a rousing start to the 2011 Hiroshima City International House Festival.
In the area outside International House was the annual "National Specialty Cuisine World Food
Stalls Event". Fifteen organizations from eleven countries set up stalls, and served up a variety of
cuisines from their home countries. Following on from last year, in addition to the south bicycle
parking area, food tents were also set up on the north side facing Ozu Dori Road, providing a lively
atmosphere for citizens and others on the street.
This year the Exchange Lounge on the second floor was converted to a food court, where a
"LUNCH TIME PERFORMANCE" was held thanks to support from citizens' organizations. Visitors
enjoyed the music as they ate.
This year once again we switched from plastic containers to paper containers as an environmental
measure, and also made efforts to reduce the amount of waste.
The ANA International Students' Japanese Speech Contest was held in the hall on the second
floor (sponsored by All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.). Speeches were given by ten international
students living in Hiroshima Prefecture who had passed the qualifying round, on the topic of
"Japanese People I Have Met". Citizens at the venue commented "I was surprised at the way the
international students view Japanese people" and "The sight of them enthusiastically giving their
speeches moved me".
In the first half of the afternoon, an event called "I ♥ my homeland – Chatting with International
Students" was held in the second floor training room, where international students introduced their
home countries. This was a chance for citizens to hear about countries that they were interested
in from international students and Hiroshima City Coordinators for International Relations, and each
of the sections for the seventeen countries and one region were bustling with people.
In the latter part of the afternoon mini-events were held by seven groups of international
students from seven countries. A Chinese international student performed a traditional Japanese
dance together with a member of a citizens' organization, and there was also an instrumental
performance from Turkey. An international student from Elizabeth University of Music Graduate
School gave an instrumental performance. This year there was also a K-POP dance performance by
students from Yasuda Women's University, which is regularly involved in exchange activities with
the international students.
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In addition there was also a Great East Japan
Earthquake Charity Bazaar in the Exchange
Lounge on the first floor, where the international
students sold "friendship potatoes" (sweet
potatoes) that they had made. The 30,652 yen
collected as proceeds was sent to areas
affected by the earthquake in Tohoku via Japan
Red Cross. There was also an art and photo
exhibition by the international students in the
first floor Exchange Lounge.
This year there were sections set up for
portraits, glue resist dyeing and body painting,
thanks to support from those from Hiroshima City
University and Rainforest Foundation Japan (RFJ)
HIROSHIMA.
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"Friendship potatoes" charity bazaar
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At the closing ceremony the ranking of the food stalls was announced, and the festival ended with
all promising to meet again next year.
Hiroshima City International House Festival 2012 will be held on November
4th (Sun) at Hiroshima City International House>>> |
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(Hiroshima City International House)
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