Collaborative Learning Abroad

2016

Intercultural Communication and Technology:
Preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics

Chiba University, Japan
Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, Finland

Intercultural Communication and Technology

GlobalStudy
ProgramTheme and PurposeDuring the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic
Games, a lot people from all around the world
will come to Tokyo to enjoy sport events, local
cuisine and a distinctive atmosphere and quality ofstay in Tokyo and Japan. But we should not forgetthat some Olympic games, such as surfing, will beheld in Chiba prefecture and possibly in its rural areas. Finally, everyone will bring good memories andpositive impressions back home and will tell stories
about the sense of security, good organization andhigh level of service.
But what about the communication with people inTokyo? What can visitors from all over the world
including people from different areas of Japan learn
about life in Tokyo and Chiba? Therefore, a question is how to facilitate communication between
people with different cultural backgrounds and language barriers in rural and urban areas?
In the beginning of this program, professors from
Chiba University and Seinäjoki University of Applied
Sciences (SeAMK) discussed how to apply technology and create new products and services to solve
problems or create demands. Therefore, the idea to
use technology as a possibility to solve all communication problems came in to this project.
The research could be summarized into thesequestions: How can we make communication
between different people easier with the help oftechnology? And how could technology facilitate
intercultural communication?
When we say culture, it doesn’t simply refer to people from different countries. We are using a slightly
wider definition of culture.
1

Theme and PurposeOne’s culture can be also largely shaped byfactors of generation, race/ethnicity, gender,
sexuality, language, disability, etc. The program
was based on two stages: the first stage concentrated on Isumi, a rural area of Chiba prefecture,and the second stage included Tokyo and the urban area of Chiba city. In the first stage, Isumi, oneof the candidate cities of hosting Olympic surfing
games, was used as a case study of a rural area. It
was a good opportunity to have collaboration with
Isumi city, because they were looking for new ideas
about how to improve their own community by attracting people with different cultural backgrounds
for the purpose of migration and tourism. After our
visits to Isumi, students were expected to comeup with realistic suggestions and make their final
presentation about how to improve and make theIsumi area more attractive. Students were asked
to introduce ideas supported by technology andnon-technology-related ideas, which were meant to
attract visitors from different regions of Japan andother countries. In the second stage, we did several
field trips to the urban areas of Tokyo and Chiba.
Students were asked to extend their ideas generated in Isumi to the urban settings of Chiba andTokyo cities. And for the final presentations held on
23 September, students came up with suggestions
on how to improve communication and help people
to understand each other better in rural and urban
areas. In conclusion, all students worked hard andcollaborated with each other and finally they wereable to produce interesting ideas and valuable suggestions.

2

Schedule and Collaborators

Main Course

Pre-Course

Day

Contents				23 MayFirst meeting, Explanation about the topic, Pre-Course Education and Program

20 Jun8 Aug

Presentation of home works, Introduction of selected research papers
Cultural Presentations Workshop 1st day

9 Aug

Cultural Presentations Workshop 2nd day

10 AugCultural Presentations Workshop 3rd day
Presentation about the preparation for the Olympics in Chiba city

5 Sep

Revision of cultural presentations

6 Sep

Planning of Field trip to Isumi
Field trip to Kaihin Makuhari (Chiba-city) area

7 Sep

Preparation for the workshop

September
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

Arrival to Japan of SeAMK students
Start of Workshop; Introduction about Isumi; Team Building; Cultural
Presentations by Chiba University and SeAMK students; Welcome dinner
Field trip to Isumi; Tsurigasaki coast; Seeing Kazusa-Jūnisha Festival; Researchat Taitō coast; Lecture by the president of Isumi Railway company
Cooking activities in Misaki community center; Learning Japanese folk dance;
Riding Isumi Railway
Revising the findings of research in Isumi; Brainstorming about the possible
solutions
Revision of first ideas, Development of concepts
Sightseeing and research in Tokyo and Chiba
Sightseeing and research in Tokyo and Chiba
Presentation by each team of their final concepts; Preparation for presentations
Isumi Final Presentations and field trip to Kaihin Makuhari (trip to the locations
which will host Tokyo 2020)
Field trip to Odaiba; National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation(Miraikan)
Rural & Urban: Extension of ideas generated in Isumi for the urban settings;
Preparation for Final Presentations
Final Presentations, Data collection and text preparation for the
GSP brochure; Farewell party
Free dayDeparture to Finland3Professors and Coordinators of Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences•••

Anu Aalto, School of Health Care and Social Work
Jussi Kareinen, School of Business and Culture
Tapio Pihlajaniemi, Manager of International Affairs

Professors and Coordinators of Chiba University
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Kenta Ono, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Division of Design Science
Ayako Nagase, Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Algirdas Paskevicius, Lecturer, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Atsushi Abe, Associate Professor, Office of Community and Innovation
Yoshie Kato, Assistant Professor, Office of Community and Innovation
Satoko Shao-Kobayashi, Assistant Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Ioannis Gaitanidis, Assistant Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Hiroki Igarashi, Assistant Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Isumi City Hall, Marine products, Commerce and Industry,
Tourism Department••••

Yoshihiro Shoji, Section Chief
Kazuhiro Ogata, Group Leader
Mika Nakada, Staff Member
Katsumi Ishii, Group Leader

Isumi Railway Company•

Akira Torizuka, President

Rakudo-Kai•

Kuni Ando, Representative of Rakudo-Kai

Chiba City Hall•

Makoto Akiba, Staff Member of Olympic and Paralympic Games Promotion OfficeThis program would not have happened without the help of
the citizens of Isumi city.

4Pre-Course Education and Main Program

Cultural PresentationsT

his workshop started with the cultural presentations prepared by teams from each university. The cultural presentations were prepared
as a team-building activity for all students toknow each other and learn about different cultures, interesting traditions and unusual activities.
The preparation of cultural presentations played avery important role during the pre-course classes
by improving the cooperation between students ingroups and as an activity to start the intercultural
exchanges and cooperation.
Students from Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences prepared the following four presentations:
Winter Opportunities in Finland, Finish Holidays,
Odd Finnish Summer Sport Activities and Joulupukki/Santa Claus.
Winter Opportunities in Finland: our group wanted
to express how Finnish people experience winter,the longest season in Finland. During the wintertime, it is not possible to stay a long time outdoors,
so one important way to communicate with people
is to join associations. Moreover, long dark hours
gave us a great chance to decorate the houses using lights including LED lighting which is cost -effective and environmentally friendly.
Odd Finnish Summer Sport Activities: lately our nation’s success has not been great in the Olympics.
So, the Finnish Olympic Committee should propose
new sports that we, Finns, could succeed in better. We introduced Wife Carrying Obstacle Race,
Sauna Championships, Air Guitar Championships
and Swamp Soccer. These could also be one of thefoundations of tourism in Finland.
5Pre-Course Education and Main Program

Cultural Presentations
O

riginally Joulupukki was a pagan tradition
and the Joulupukki was a man-goat and wassometimes referred to as Nuuttipukki. Santa Claus
is such an embedded part of our world and children
annually send over 700,000 letters to the Finnish
Joulupukki in Lapland and these letters are not justfrom within Finland. Our group chose this topic as
we felt it would be engaging for the students.
Finnish Holidays: we chose four most interesting
holidays for our presentation: Easter, May Day, Midsummer feast and Christmas. We introduced theorigins, traditions, typical dishes and other interesting features for each holiday. Each team member
had their own holiday to talk about.
Finally, students from Finland surprised all Chiba
University students with prepared presents andwith the appearance of Santa Claus.
Chiba University students prepared four interestingpresentations: Bukatsu - club activities in universities, Konbini - convenience stores, Japanese highschool uniforms, and Positive and negative meaning of the Japanese word Yabai.
Konbini: our presentation was about convenience
stores. In Japan, we have the biggest numbers of
Konbini and today they are not just selling products
but also function as lifelines. We introduced two important social roles of them: helping aging society
and assisting people in emergency such as natural
disasters.
Club activities: Bukatsu in Japanese is the uniqueculture in Japan. It helps students to improve themselves. However, there are some problems becauseof too much expectation for Bukatsu from school.

Our team suggested to set Bukatsu as a circle atschool or university to suit everyone’s lifestyle, andlet everyone enjoy activities.
The meaning of word yabai: in our life we have
many opportunities to use yabai. We can use yabaiin positive meaning and in negative meaning. Opponents may say we cannot express subtle differences or we will not command other words. Supporters may say language is constantly changing
or yabai can force people to think what the speakerhas in mind.
School Uniforms: the theme of our cultural presentation was Japanese high school uniforms. We
introduced history, function, and current situationof school uniform for high school girls. Throughmaking this presentation, we found that the school
uniform is a kind of tool for showing their youth,
cuteness, pureness, and so on. Now, you can see
Japanese high school uniforms all over the world,
so we think that Japanese high school uniforms
are becoming an icon that symbolizes Japan, likekimono.
6Main Program: 13th September

Field Trip to IsumiIn the first stage of this program, students had afield trip to Isumi, one of the candidate cities tohost Olympic surfing games. Authorities of Isumi
city were looking for new ideas about how to improve their own community by attracting people
with different cultural backgrounds for the purposeof migration and tourism.
During the first day of field trip, six teams of students used the pre-arranged plans to visit different
stations and areas. Research was done by making photos and observing how stations and areas
around them are organized, how information in thearea is presented. Later each team visited Tsurigasaki coast to enjoy the Kazusa-Jūnisha Matsuri.
During this festival, local communities surrounding
the town of Ichinomiya send mikoshi, or portableshrine, and about one thousand people to carry it
along the coastline of Tsurigasaki where they run bycarrying the mikoshi through the shallow waters of
Kujukuri-hama beach. Finnish students witnessed
the spirit of the Japanese people who have stayedtrue to the tradition of coexistence with god andnature. Later all students walked to the Taitō coastand did a short research by making photos andlistening to a guide talking about the area and thesurfing activities. Taitō coast area was considered
as a suitable place for the surfing event. Surfing at
the Summer Olympics will make its debut during
Tokyo 2020. In the second part of the day students
went to the City Hall in Ōhara to see the presentation by the president of Isumi Railway company.
Finally, everyone enjoyed local food and one night
stay at ryōkan, or traditional Japanese inn.
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Main Program: 14th September

Field Trip to IsumiThe second day of field trip included a shortvisit to market to research and buy local food(fishes and vegetables). The acquired fishes andvegetables were used in the Misaki community
center for cooking activities. The representative ofRakudo-Kai, Kuni Andō, taught all students how tomake Hana Sushi and how to prepare a shark dish.
SeAMK students introduced Finnish cooking tradition by preparing a very tasty salmon soup. The
cooking activities were used as an opportunity toshare experiences about Finnish and Japanese cultures and it was the best possibility to spend timewith local people and learn from them about Isumi
area and its traditions. After the lunchtime with citizens of Isumi, students learned to dance Japanesefolk dance. The folk dance learning was interesting and fun for all students, but it was not the final
planned activity for that day. The trip continued toŌhara station. From Ōhara station everyone rodethe train of Isumi Railway to Kuniyoshi station. At
that station students received an explanation fromthe staff of Isumi Railway about the Kuniyoshi station. The full field trip, research tasks and activities,
stay at Isumi and interaction with local people,
helped students to understand about the lifestyles
in the rural area and the gained knowledge and experience were used by each student to start thinking about the task and develop their first ideas andconcepts. The time spent together in Isumi allowed
Chiba University students and Seinäjoki Universityof Applied Sciences students to enhance the coherence of teams and suggested the idea to meetin Isumi city next time.
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Main Program: 15th - 19th September

Workshop in Chiba
During two days students were working inteams at Chiba University and revised the findings of research in Isumi. First of all, students had
to identify problems and stakeholders, secondly
they brainstormed about the possible solutions. It
was found that Isumi area has fresh air, nice beachand nature, helpful people and a combination of
everything that would offer a lot of opportunities
for development and improvement. Some strong
points of Isumi were identified and taken into consideration too: surfing waves, sea views, natural
beauty of area and a lot of space to expand. At thesame time, some weak points were identified, forexample: undefined symbols or lack of symbols
and information, lack of promotion and advertisements, undeveloped local infrastructure and public
transportation for the international tourists. Latereach team concentrated their attention of one
specific strong feature of Isumi or tried to think
how to solve identified problems and improve theinfrastructure or services for visitors and local people. After the introductions of their first ideas, eachteam received the feedback from professors andmade some adjustments. During the second dayeach team developed ideas further, shared withother teams and received the final feedback fromprofessors. During Monday students prepared their
final presentations about Isumi and did their rehearsals of presentations. It is possible to conclude
that even after a very short visit to Isumi and limited
in time team work at Chiba University, students
were able to come up with interesting ideas andrealistic suggestions on how to improve and makeIsumi area more attractive.
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Main Program: 20th September

Isumi Final Presentations
E

ach team produced their ideas supported bytechnology and non-technology-related solutions, which were meant to attract visitors from different regions of Japan or tourists from all aroundthe world. Presentations were performed mainly
in English and partly with comments in Japanese.
Despite the different understanding of languages,
all presentations with well-illustrated slides helped
to make the presentations and ideas easier to understand. During this program and workshop all
students were able to learn how to communicate,work in teams and how to make presentations indifferent countries with very different language. After each final presentation, students received comments from staff of Isumi City Hall, Marine products, Commerce and Industry, Tourism Department
and from professors. All comments helped students
to understand how their ideas can be realistically
implemented in the Isumi area and at the sametime the prepared concepts gave local authorities
some inspirations and ideas on how to improve andmake Isumi area more attractive for the tourists andeven make it better for the local people. We hopethat some ideas generated during this program andworkshop will be applied in Isumi area before andduring the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
The final presentations dedicated to Isumi area
finished the first stage of GSP-B program andstudents were ready to extend their ideas andthoughts about Isumi to the urban settings of Chiba
and Tokyo cities. The following pages present thesummaries written by students on their final presentations about Isumi.

10Isumi Presentations
Together is Better

Team 1: Vuokko, Sami, Annie, Sana and Narumi

We went to Isumi to see there what kind problems and attractive points
we could analyse. Our part was to observe the environment and to
identify what kind of problems in that area should be changed. Compared to busy and stressful Tokyo life-style, countryside with beautiful
landscapes and fresh air made us feel more relaxed and comfortable. Nature is a very good possibility for any citizen to escape fromthe urban life. The attractive points of Isumi consist of things that areprobably not the newest and not technological innovations. We foundsome problems in Isumi: lack of information for visitors and no signs inEnglish. Also, there was no proper map. Our solution was to find a way
to make a new map and signs also in English and to encourage local
people to believe that their city is a really interesting place to visit andthat they need to keep Isumi attractive even after the Olympics.

Closer to People

Team 2: Koh, Yuma, Alma, Han and Joel

When we went to Kuniyoshi station, we found attractive features:
Moomin theme park and nostalgic atmosphere. However, there were
problems of accessibility: a map too complicated to read and a narrowsidewalk. We made solutions to use pictogram on maps to help everyone, even disabled people and foreigners to understand directions ordestinations easier. The roads in Kuniyoshi were almost empty except
for a few cars, so as a result, pedestrians who have a baby carriage ora wheelchair can use sidewalk without worries. And we suggested thatcleaning and decorations around the station and Moomin Valley are effective. And also making good use of its valuable nostalgic atmospherewould be good, such as using retro buses or setting that kind of vending machines. In order to open the door and welcome people, Isumi
needs to spread out its unique and attractive points more.

Promotion Improvements

Team 3: Kirsi, Mikko, Kaisei and Soyoka

Before visiting Isumi city, we found out that there was a lack of information in English. And during our Isumi field trip we visited the Ōhara Station area and we found similar problems. Our suggestion for improving
the area is that the web pages should be designed to meet different target groups. We suppose, in order to attract a lot of tourists to the area,
Isumi city authorities and tourist companies must make closer cooperation and work together. We suggest that creative ways to promote thearea are needed. For example, making humoristic videos that becomehuge hits in social media. These videos could even be made by local
high school students. Another example is to cooperate with popular
bloggers, who could promote the area. By these promotion actions, theawareness about Isumi could attract new potential visitors.

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Information to the People

Our team visited the Isumi city area in order to research the chal- Team 4: Spencer, Minami, Kirsi, Kyosuke and Essi
lenges locals face when tackling communication and decided to finda solution for the issue of information availability. We looked specifically at what unique ‘spice’ the Isumi area has and we created ‘The
Isumi Taste’. This slogan outlines the unique combination of Lifestyle
experience, cuisine and landscape that the Isumi area has to offer, as
we believed these three things combined was a unique characteristicof Isumi. To address the challenge of information accessibility wecoupled ‘The Isumi Taste’ idea with an online information portal. This
portal could include, accurate information about the Isumi area bycovering all categories about hotels, local services, safety advices andmany more. It could be, a centralized source of information that is upto-date, accurate and accessible by all audiences.

Isumi Sea Waves

During our field trip we noticed that Isumi city has a lot of problems. Team 5: Erkka, Iida, Moe and JunyaFirst, we experienced an inconvenience of public symbols and pictogram, for example, the difference between medicine shop andhospital. Tourists may misunderstand these symbols and to solve thisproblem, Isumi city needs to change unclear symbols into universal
symbols. Second, Nami-no-Ihachi’s sculpture like the Isumi wave isthe most powerful resource for promotion of sightseeing places, but
local people know about them just a little bit. Therefore, we suggested
that they need to organize a workshop to make these sightseeing
resources better known and if you want to have some souvenirs or
products to promote your local area, you will have to hold a design
workshop related to the sculpture and other sightseeing spots anddesign these souvenirs and promotional materials.

New Gate to the Beach
In Isumi we concentrated on Taitō area which is the one of the most Team 6: Miei, Emu, Anne-Mari, Vili and Juulia
important areas, because that is the gate to the beach where theOlympics might be arranged. We made some notes about things thatare not functioning there and decided to develop the attractivenessof Taito area by easy and low-cost ways. Our target group is young
adults whose passion is surfing. We wanted to make area more comfortable for surfers by adding some decorations to the station andmake more clear information for tourists. The theme for decoration isbeach life with all the colours, palm trees, surfing boards and Isumi’s
big waves. We also want to expand all decorations to the beach byadding there bars, restaurants and beach boxes where people couldchange their clothes and eat their own foods.

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Main Program: 20th-22nd September

Field Trip to Makuhari and Odaiba
A

fter the final presentations dedicated to Isumi
area, students did a field trip to the places
planned for Tokyo 2020 in Kaihin Makuhari. This
trip started the second stage of GSP-B program.
Students were expected to extend their ideas
generated in Isumi to the urban settings. Students
went to Makuhari to think about the Intercultural
Communication and Technology and to discuss
about how infrastructure should be improved andprepared for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Kaihin Makuhari area, Chiba city and Tokyo Metropolis. The organized trip to Odaiba areain Tokyo was the most related field trip to technology and science. The field trip to Odaiba started
at the National Museum of Emerging Science andInnovation (Miraikan). In Miraikan students learned
how things are happening in our world from thescientific point of view and enjoyed hands-on contact with science and technology from exhibitionsof latest technologies, global environment and life
science. Especially, the experience based classes
and demonstration of Asimo robot attracted everyone’s attention. Later the field trip continued in
MegaWeb, Toyota City Showcase, History Garage
and Venus Fort. In the end of the field trip, students
observed old and new means of transportation andhad a possibility to learn about the futuristic application of technology and science in transportationindustry and daily life.
Compared to the field trip to Isumi, this field trip
gave a totally new and different experience.
The next day, students continued their group work
to prepare for the Final Presentations and Discussion Session at Chiba University.
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Main Program: 23rd September

Final Presentations
Twenty-third of September was the final day of
the GSP-B Program and this day was dedicated to the Final Presentations, to the text preparation for GSP-B brochure and to the final datacollection. Based on all gained new experiences
and field trips in Chiba city and Tokyo Metropolis,
each team prepared their final presentations andextended the ideas generated in Isumi to the urban
settings of Chiba city, Kaihin Makuhari area and Tokyo Metropolis, where there sport events of Tokyo
2020 Olympics and Paralympics will take place.
After receiving certificates of attendance of GSPB program all participants realized that it was not
the end, but it was the beginning of our further cooperation. Everyone realized that a lot of problems
need to be solved and a lot of things should be improved in order to prepare for Tokyo 2020 Olympics
and Paralympics. Professional and volunteers fromJapan and other countries could work together andcreate a good organization of sport events andensure a high level of services for local and international guests before, during and after Tokyo 2020.
After the final presentation all students and professors from Chiba University and Seinäjoki Universityof Applied Sciences shared their ideas about theintercultural communications, the importance ofcollaborations and how to improve program andworkshop of Global Study Program for the nextyear.
After a long program, but just two weeks of workshop, all teams showed good results that were
presented in their final presentations and reports.
The summaries of six final presentations are written
by students and presented in the next pages.

14

Final Presentations
Multi-Communication Info Center
Team 1: Vuokko, Sami, Annie, Sana and Narumi

Our presentation concentrated on tourists and on the kind of information they want to get. In a new place, for tourist, it is difficult to get acertain information. In Japan, communication become difficult if you
can’t speak local languages, but sometimes just body language and facial expressions can help to communication between local people andvisitors. As a tourist, even if you have collected a lot of information before your trip, there might come many unexpected problems. To solve
all the communication problems, we discussed how to apply technology and finally, we introduced: Info Friend Desk, Culture Info Bank,
Simultaneous Interpretation Robot and a lot of helpful tools for physically, visually or auditory disabled people. Our robot could facilitate thecommunication by talking any language, translating immediately andby using facial expressions and eye contact.

Accessibility Improvement
Team 2: Koh, Yuma, Alma, Han and JoelOur concepts were created for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games
2020 by using technology as a solution. We made a presentation basedon research in Makuhari and Odaiba. Our group concentrated on accessibility improvements and on how to show directions and otherinformation. In the final presentation, we gave remarks about what was
missing and what could be improved in the areas designed for local
and international guests. We presented good example (collected during
research trip in Odaiba and Makuhari), things that need to improve andsuggested how to improve problematic areas. By using picture or pictogram and different languages it is possible to increase the visibility andunderstanding of a lot of information for people from different countries
and cultures.

Communication by Pointing Out
Team 3: Kirsi, Mikko, Kaisei and Soyoka

Sometimes, Japan is not a convenient country for foreigners. ManyJapanese people cannot speak English and often there are misunderstandings between Japanese and foreigners. In order to avoid thiskind of situation, we need to create something that can make people
understand each other beyond the language barrier. We think that oneof the best solutions is to use a tablet or monitor which shows clear
and useful information. For example, at a restaurant, customers tap amonitor and tell waiters about their allergies and religions. In this casecustomers and waiters do not need to use the same language to communicate. This example can be applied in stations, hospitals and otherplaces where language barriers may exist. In addition, we expect that
more and more people would join volunteer groups for Tokyo 2020,
because by using tablets they don’t need to learn new languages.

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Simplified Train Map

The goal of this task was focused on improving multicultural commu- Team 4: Spencer, Minami, Kirsi, Kyosuke and Essi
nication using technology. Our team used brainstorming and debatedseveral potential ideas. Our initial ideas were analysed and discussed
until we chose the most viable and helpful idea. For our final presentation we identified that the Tokyo metro map can be confusing
and too complicated for visitors. In order to make a smoother travel
experience for visitors, we created an interactive map that provides
travel information, such as travel routes, cost of journey and platform
information. This information was specified in accordance to what
type of location the user desires, for example shopping locations. We
expanded this idea further by providing station exits information sothat users get all the information they need from point A to point B.

App for Easier Communication
While starting the final presentation we had to think about all theTeam 5: Erkka, Iida, Moe and Junya

things we have seen and experienced during this program. We
gathered our experiences together, and started to think about our
problems in communication with each other. At first we had manykind of problems, like language barrier, manners and transportation.
So we thought that a smart-phone application could be the thing thatsolves our problems. We devised an application that could include
automatic translator, road and train maps, information about food andrestaurants; also there could be information about sightseeing places.
The application could help tourists who will arrive to Japan to enjoy
the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. After the application is
installed, you could learn manners and get all useful information assoon as you want.

O-linkO-link is a mobile application which brings all the information and people with same interests together during the Olympics. Olympics is not
only sports event, but also cultural event, so it is important to connect
people from different cultures to celebrate together. O-link application
makes Olympic event more enjoyable for everyone because people
could find there all the necessary information about sports, restaurants
and main event. It also offers information about pre-events which arefor example: exhibition matches, live music and tailgate parties. Other
useful features are chartrooms to connect people with same interests,
discount coupons to cooperating restaurants and table reservation
service. The information and features are available offline except all
chartrooms and reservation services. This application is designed tobe easy to use for everyone.

16

Team 6: Miei, Emu, Anne-Mari, Vili and Juulia

Participants

Chiba University
Kyosuke Yamamoto, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Soyoka Nakamura, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Junya Kobayashi, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Minami Adachi, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Narumi Sakata, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Yuma Wakui, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Kaisei Inoue, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Koh Takeda, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Moe Kikuchi, Faculty of Engineering
Miei Kimura, School of Nursing
Emu Odagiri, School of Nursing
Sana Okada, Faculty of Education

17

Through this program, I realized that interculturalcommunication happens in every relationship between morethan two individuals who have different backgrounds, so theword best describing GSP is “inter-human communication”.
- Kyosuke Yamamoto

Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences
Annie Yli-Leppälä, School of Health Care and Social Services
Sami Katajamäki, School of Health Care and Social Services
Kirsi Nurmi, School of Health Care and Social Services
Vuokko Yli-Kesäniemi, School of Food and Agriculture
Anne-Mari Kalemaa, School of Food and Agriculture
Ngoc Minh Han Nguyen, School of Business and Culture
Spencer Cutlan, School of Business and Culture
Alma Kovanen, School of Business and Culture
Vili Rajamäki, School of Business and Culture
Iida Killinen, School of Business and Culture
GSP was a great opportunity to work with people from
Juulia Riippi, School of Business and Culture
different cultures and explore Japan and Japanese culture.
Kirsi Mattila, School of Business and Culture- Juulia Riippi
Essi Salo, School of Business and Culture
Mikko Lehtojoki, School of Technology
Erkka Uimonen, School of Technology
Joel Puputti, School of Technology
18Intercultural
Communication
and Technology

Contact
web : http://cie.chiba-u.ac.jp/liberal_arts/gsp.html
E-mail : cireglobal@chiba-u.jp20