The 22^nd International Festival was held on November 20^th and 21^st last year.
　Following on from the previous year, this time the scale of the program was drastically reduced to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, and thorough infection prevention measures were taken. On the 20^th, six programs were conducted via online streaming only, and on the 21^st, three programs of lectures and presentations, four programs of Japanese cultural experiences, and one program of online streaming were conducted at the International Conference Center Hiroshima, both in person and via online streaming.
　We were also able to hold hands-on programs that were not possible in 2020, and could hold this event with meaningful content on the theme of international exchange and cooperation.

Program held on November 20

　As a continuation of last year's online project using the Zoom web conferencing tool, six organizations, including citizens' groups and public organizations, spoke about their organizations, presented their activities, and gave lectures.
　Each organization used images and videos to make the event easy to understand and to keep the participants engaged.
　The programs held and organizations are listed below.
・Historian Sanyo Rai and Japanese history (Hiroshima's Historiographers)
・Japanese and World Nature Exploration Presentation Session (New Japanese Association of Galapagos Studies)
・UNICEF and the children of the world (Hiroshima Association for UNICEF)
・Youth International Exchange Activities Presentation Session (Hiroshima City Board of Education, Youth Development Department, Education Development Division)
・Hiroshima City University, Faculty of International Studies Open Lecture: "The Contemporary World and Minorities and Diversity: From the book series 'Looking to the Periphery'" (Hiroshima City University, Faculty of International Studies)
・Barbara Reynolds, the woman who walked with the hibakusha (World Friendship Center)

Program held on November 21

　In the popular annual talk show held jointly by our Foundation and Japan International Cooperation Agency Chugoku Center (JICA Chugoku), Mr. Takashi Maruyama, known as the creator of books "Encyclopedia of Unfortunate Animals" and "There's a reason why they became extinct" appeared as a guest. He introduced his cross-cultural experiences in the various parts of the world where he traveled to create his animal illustrated books, as well as the slightly "unfortunate" aspects of animals.
　In the first half of the talk show, Mr. Maruyama talked about his experiences of living and working on an ostrich farm in Israel, searching for animals in the surrounding desert, and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. At the same time, he shared anecdotes about the animals he met along the way.
　In the latter half of the session, Ms. Ayako Noda, the head of animal care at Hiroshima City Asa Zoo, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2021, came on stage to talk about anecdotes from the park in the form of a dialogue.
　Ms. Noda told valuable stories about giant salamanders, such as the fact that Asa Zoo has the largest number of giant salamanders in Japan, and the reason why is that they take good care of the local species. She also spoke about the problem of the Japanese native species and the alien species from China. 　Hiroshima Messengers, who promote exchange activities with six sister and friendship cities around the world, held a project to introduce each city. A total of 11 Hiroshima Messengers wore traditional costumes and colorful sashes designed and made by themselves for the occasion. In a very festive atmosphere, they introduced the charms of their assigned cities and their exchange activities with Hiroshima in an easy-to-understand and enjoyable manner. There was also a quiz contest with prizes and a raffle, which was enjoyed not only by the participants but also by the Hiroshima Messengers themselves. One of the participants commented, "This is the first time I learned about the active exchange activities between Hiroshima and its sister and friendship cities. It was a good opportunity." 　This lecture was held on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary in 2022 of the sister city affiliation between Hiroshima and Volgograd, Russia. It was an opportunity to learn about the tragedy of the Stalingrad Offensive, in which the city of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) suffered great war damage, and to consider the significance of the sister city affiliation between the two cities.
　The lecturer, Mr. Takeshi Oki, has a wealth of knowledge about the damage caused by the war in Volgograd, as shown in his book on the Stalingrad siege, "The Russo-German War: The Disaster of the Extinction War", which won the 2020 New Book Award in Japan. In the lecture, Mr. Oki spoke enthusiastically about the background of the battle, the actual damage, and the situation in Volgograd at that time, showing diagrams. At the end of the lecture, a question-and-answer session was held. 　This year, two online events were held. The first part of the tour was a "mystery tour" with two foreign residents of Hiroshima joining as guests. Participants were asked to guess their country of origin based on photos and anecdotes about food, clothing, housing, and culture. In the second part, a former JICA Overseas Cooperation Volunteers member who had been dispatched to the Republic of Ghana in West Africa served as a lecturer and introduced the Adinkra symbols of Ghana. These are symbols that represent concepts and sayings and are used in articles such as patterns and logos. They are also arranged in various combinations and used as a means of non-verbal communication. At the end of the session, participants created their own original Adinkra symbol and explained the meaning behind the symbol. 　The Japanese traditional culture experience program was limited to foreign residents of Hiroshima and held with a set number of participants.
　At the kimono dressing experience run by the instructors of Nichiwa kimono-dressing class, participants wearing gorgeous furisode (long-sleeved kimono) were happily taking commemorative photos inside and outside the venue.
　In the Japanese-style room on the third floor of the International Conference Center Hiroshima, a tea ceremony was held by members of the Ueda School Wafudo. In order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19, a maximum number of participants per hour was set to avoid congestion, the spaces between seats were widened, and paper bowls were used to ensure that participants did not share the tea bowls and they could be disposed of. In a quiet and calm atmosphere, participants were able to experience the Ueda Sōko style of tea ceremony. At other venues, there were also calligraphy workshops by members of the Department of Calligraphy, Faculty of Letters, Yasuda Women's University, and an exhibition of ikebana flower arrangement by members of the Hiroshima Branch of Ikebana International. Participants experienced various aspects of Japanese traditional culture.