１９ｔｈ Culture and Industry Festival
On April 29, the Culture and Industry Festival was held in the Saijo Shopping
Arcade. Entitled “Africafe” (Africa Café), this year’s international booth held
activities with Africa as the theme. The booth enjoyed great popularity from thestart to the finish. Our success was largely due to the help of many volunteers, so
we thank everyone wholeheartedly.

Vol.23June 2019

The café booth wasa great success! We
also introduced
games from Africa.
Children andadults alike had anenjoyable time.

ContentsCulture and IndustryFestival (SANBUN)

1FUN FUN English ~Let’s Play Using
English! ~2

Saijo-China
Friendship Exchange
AssociationIntroduction

2

Hue Traditional
Handicraft FestivalReport

3

Dates with Diana

4

Events &Announcements

4International Relations Saijo
is a quarterly newsletter
published in Japanese, English, and Vietnamese by theSaijo International Ex-Saijo High School students who
had participated in the recent
Study Tour also shared theirexperiences with guests.
We held a djembe （African drums）workshop
with foreign exchange students from Nigeriaand Lesotho. The sound of drums reverberated throughout the venue.

Left：JohnRight: Ishmael

Beloved sambusa are often eaten as a snackor light meal in East Africa. 400 sold! Our
high school volunteers were quite busy!

change Association (SIEA).
We welcome your comments,questions and submissions.

Saijo International Exchange Association 164 Akeyashiki, Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)52-1206 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

2International Relations Saijo＜English Language Intercultural communication in Saijo (ELIS)＞

16th Annual FUN FUN English ~ Let’s Play Using English! ~Amidst the gentle spring breeze and warm sunlight of March, children came one after the other to our reception where we handed out
red, blue, and yellow handkerchiefs, dividing them into teams. Thus,
the 16th Annual FUN FUN English ~ Let’s Play Using English ~ began.
80 Saijo elementary school students (including this year’s first-yearstudents) gathered at the Komatsu Community Center to enjoy competitive group games and a shopping game to get snacks with Saijo’sALTs and CIRs while using English.
At first, there were children who were not used to English and whofelt shy speaking to people from different countries. However, thecheerful, smiling faces of the non-Japanese volunteers brought power to the event and helped the children
overcome their shyness and speak more smoothly. They became more naturally animated, and everyone’s spirit seemed to dance with joy. It is our mission to cultivate the zest for life, adaptability, expressiveness, dynamism, and imagination of our developing youth as well as to advance our initiatives through English activities.

How interesting!

This is fun!

I want to try!
We treasure these feelings.
In the future, we will
endeavor to carry out similar
activities with everyone!

《 Saijo-China Friendship Exchange Association Introduction 》
Our association has developed a long-lasting relationship with China, especially with Saijo’s Friendship City
Baoding. This July, we plan to host a proactive exchange with the students ofHebei University who will come to Saijo. Recently, our volunteers have implemented observational trips to various parts of China.
2014 Baoding City (Hebei University, First Central Hospital)
2015 Northeastern Region (Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian, Lushun)2016 Hebei Province, Shandong Province (Jinan, Qufu, etc.)2017 Beijing (Peking), Tianjin, Chengde
2018 Henan Province (Luoyang, Shaolin Temple, etc.)
This year, we plan to visit Guilin, which is considered
the world of landscape paintings.
Here are pictures fromLongmen Grottoes
our recent trips!

Baoding First Central Hospital (2014)

Friendship City Monument (Baoding)＜Inquiries＞【TEL】090-7571-7333 Mr. Ochi 【Annual Membership Fee】2,000円【E-mail】yuezhi5danjiri@gmail.com
Harbin (2015)

Saijo International Exchange Association 164 Akeyashiki, Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)52-1206 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

International Relations Saijo

3

This was my third visit to Hue. I was able to engage with many more Vietnamesepeople during this visit than during my previous trips. I had a great experience be- Cà phê sữa （Milk Coffee）
cause I had conversations with many people, such as the chief administrator of Hais so tasty!!!
noi and the students of the Hue University of Foreign Language Studies Korean Language Department. Our group went to a workshop on making beanbags and yoyos. We
also made beanbags with the visitors who came to Saijo’s booth at the Hue Traditional
Handicraft Festival. Just as in Japan, there were Vietnamese people who could toss
the beanbags skillfully and those who could not, but we were grateful that everyone
took interest in joining us.
I think that the effort I made to study in the Saijo International Exchange Association’s Vietnamese language course made this visit better than my previous ones.
After all, speaking a foreign language with people from that country teaches you thejoy of learning another language. This experience will be a motivation for my futurestudies. Xin cảm ơn (thanh you) Anh Thy - Vietnamese teacher. (Kyozo Teramachi)

Hue Traditional Craft Festival 2019

Beanbag and Yoyo Workshop

Exchange with Local Staff

Welcome Party Toast with Hue Mayor

Exchange with Ethnic Minority
Textile Artisans

Sightseeing in Hoi An(World Heritage Site)

Exchange with Artisans who Make
Paper Lotus Flowers

I participated in the Hue Traditional Handicraft Festival as one of Saijo’s volunteer supporters this year. We hosted a beanbag and yoyo workshop at the exhibitionbooth. The women volunteers sewed bags together and showed visitors how to complete them. The men provided yoyo demonstrations and helped by attaching rubberbands to beanbags to make yoyos. There were so many visitors that our 3 womenvolunteers could not work fast enough to supply the demand, so for the first time ina while, I held a needle and thread. Also, as I was wearing a monk’s clothing, manyof the guests asked to take pictures with me in front of our Mt. Ishizuchi backdrop. I
shared information about Mt. Ishizuchi and photographs of Mt. Ishizuchi in winter on display.
It was my first visit to Vietnam, but wherever I went, I felt a strong consciousness toward Japanese people. Even when we purchased beans for thebeanbags at the local market, I could hear people refer to us not as Korean orChinese, but as people of Japan (Nhật Bận). While we volunteered at the Saijobooth, each participant conveyed affinity for Japan, making the workshop ahuge success. I could personally feel their consideration and warm-heartedness
for us Japanese people.
The people of Hue also invited us to a welcome reception where we sat asguests of honor during the opening ceremony. I felt moved that everyone involved was aware of our visit from Saijo. Thanks to the people of Hue and thePurchasing beans for beanbag
other members from Saijo, I had a wonderful trip. Should the opportunity arise, yoyos at a local market
I hope to enjoy a leisurely visit to Vietnam. (Hiroyuki Kondo)
Saijo International Exchange Association 164 Akeyashiki, Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)52-1206 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

4International Relations SaijoDates with Diana“We drink coffee to stoptime.” My new Turkish acquaintance had told me. Lastmonth, I visited Turkey and learned about the culture
and lifestyle through the local people, but a conversation
on Turkish coffee made an especially deep impression.
In America, coffee culture has some diversity, but coffee
franchises like Starbucks are ubiquitous. Customers using coffee shops for free wireless internet, friends enjoying sugar-loaded Frappuccinos, and people rushing somewhere with paper coffee cups in hand are hardly rare.
While you can see this spectacle in Turkey as well, it isrelatively uncommon and limited to large cities. As coffee
is brewed in keeping with tradition, there is no way torush Turkish coffee. Time is essential. Therefore, people
drink coffee when they want to stop time. About 10
minutes are needed to brew one cup. Even then, you can’ttake a sip right away because the finely ground beans are
not filtered. First, you must wait for the coffee grounds tofall like snow to the bottom of the cup. Only after they
have settled, can you enjoy your coffee. The ritual may
end for most Turkish men after they finish drinking, butthere is a 2nd chapter for which the women tend to stay.
Next, you flip over your coffee cups and make a wish
before you proceed with fortune telling. Once the cup hascooled down, you look at the patterns within your friend’s
cup and she looks at yours to tell each other’s fortunes.
The side where your lips have touched the cup reveals
everything that is intimate – private sentiments that you
keep concealed in your heart – while the other side shows
the mundane, practical matters like financial health.
Though you tell each other’s fortunes, the ritual isn’t re-ally about the fortunes or the fortune-teller’s interpretations. It is about what is going on inside.
What each person is currently facing, experiencing, ortroubled by is important. The fortune telling is meant togive comfort and hope. It is also a conversation starter.
No one has to feel bad about sharing anything because weare all human. At some point or another, we experience
the same joys and the same sadness. Through coffee, weget the feeling that we are all one, as it is about coming
together and setting things in order.
So, why talk about Turkish coffee culture? As I listened
to this story, I reflected upon international exchange, intercultural understanding, and the way that we spendtime. Even though I cannot speak Turkish, I could communicate with some of the locals because English has
become the language for global means of communication.
Although I do not believe that everyone must become fluent in English, I do recognize that with English as a tool,
there is a greater possibility for conversation with peopleof various nations and, thus, more opportunity to learn
about them and their cultures – a chance to widen yourperspective. As a result, little by little your outlook on theworld and on your own life will change.
Thanks to the English language, I could enjoy deep,
thoughtful journeys throughout my travels. However, I
still think it is important to learn other foreign languages
out of respect for other cultures. When we mutually respect each other, it is natural to want to learn anotherlanguage. Therefore, I would like everyone who studies
English to reevaluate why you learn it. Of course, it may
be for work or perhaps as a precaution against cognitive
impairment. But don’t you think that, more than anything, we learn foreign languages to have meaningfulencounters with people of foreign nations?

Events & Announcements◆ Saijo Fan Club Tour Guide Course
Let’s share the interesting and charming aspects of
Saijo with local non-Japanese residents! Take part in thiscourse to hone your skills as a bilingual guide for the Saijo
Fan Club Tour.
[Course Dates] July 4 ~ Aug. 22 (Thurs.) 9:30~11:30(6 Thursdays ~details sent upon application to the course)[Tour Date] Aug. 30 (Fri.) 9:30~16:30[Where] Saijo Welfare Center(Tour will take place throughout Saijo City. Details to be
confirmed during class on July 4)[Conditions] Above high-school age, intermediate toadvanced English language abilities, must participate inthe tour
[Capacity] 8 students[Application period] June 10 (Mon.) ~ 28 (Fri.)[Applications & Inquiries] TEL 0897-52-1206◆ International Cook-Off with ALTs
We will be hosting a cooking class to introduce the simple
home recipes of Saijo’s ALTs. Participants will also have achance to play some games and have fun using English!
[When] Aug. 27 (Tues.) 10:00~14:00[Where] Omachi Community Center[Who] Elementary school students in Saijo[Capacity] 20 kids (first come first served) [Fee] 200 yen
Please bring an apron & a bandana[Application deadline] Aug. 16 (Fri.)[Applications & Inquiries] TEL 0897-52-1206

EditorNotes

We’ve published our first NEWS issue of theReiwa era! Going forth, we will aspire to write
articles that our readership can enjoy. (伊)International Relations Saijo Staff
Hiromi Itou (伊)Read in fullDiana Marie Linton (ダ）(English Translation)color！
Nguyen Bui Anh Thy (ア）Saijo International Exchange Association 164 Akeyashiki, Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)52-1206 FAX(0897)52-1200 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/