みなみ市民活動 ・多文化共生ラウンジ情報誌

英語版

In February 2016, the New Minami Ward Office Building To Open
The new building consists of the ward office, the public hall, the fire station, and the public works office.

The new Minami Ward Government Office will open at 08:45, on Monday, 8 February 2016.

The present ward office will open until Friday, 5 February 2016. Please do NOT confuse!
The Public Work Office, Fire Station, and Public Hall will move one by one to the new building.

■Address of the new building:33, 2-chome, Urafune-cho, Minami-ku, Yokohama■Transportation:
14 min walk from Koganecho Station of Keikyu Line
8 min walk from Bandobashi Station of Blue Line, Yokohama Municipal Subway
Train-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<Urafune-cho Bus Stop> Municipal Bus #68, #102, #158 & #324; Keikyu Bus #110
<Minami Ward Office Bldg (Minami-ku Sogo Chosha Mae) (New Bus Stop)>
Municipal Bus #79 & #158; Kanachu Bus #To 45; Sotetsu Bus #Asahi 4; and Keikyu #110
Bus
<Shuttle Bus Service> Municipal Bus; between western area of Minami ward and the new Ward
Office; test operation for one year------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Parking
space for 132 vehicles; height up to 2.3 meters
Parking
Available 24 hours a day; charged; Use of public transportation is advisable

School Guidance Viewed By the Elementary School Principal
The school guidance means an orientation lecture, in three languages, namely, Chinese,
English and Japanese, by the Minami Lounge for foreign related parents and guardiansof the children who are to enroll public elementary and middle schools in Minami ward.
We interviewed Mr. Fujimoto, the head teacher of Minami Yoshida elementary school.
In his school, more than 50 per cent of the pupils are foreigners or foreign related ones.
Various actions, therefore, are taken by the school for the children to experience thecultures of others. During “the greeting week”, they greet each other by saying “goodmorning” in many languages. They enjoy world cuisine at “MY World Lunch”, andlearn food cultures and characteristics vary in the world. At the “Relation Hours”,
they enjoy games of other peoples. And more.
Flows of foreigners never stop to this school where already many pupils with different cultures andcustoms are studying. We asked the principal whether there had been any changes since the school
guidance started in April.
Fujimoto replied that, after the guidance, the guardians became conscious about themselves as
guardians whose children were attending new school. As the lecture gave them in advance concerning anidea of the school life in Japan, they see the difference from their original countries.
“I am happy, as a head of a school, that the parents now understand that they have to make efforts to
get used to the school life, as well as their children do. Although it is not a simple matter to understanddifferent cultures and tolerate each other, we can do it working with the families, school andcommunities.” “My dream,” he continues, “is that the children studied at Minami Yoshida will love eachcountry and love each culture of the world, and dispatch the good points of, not only Minami Yoshida but
also Yokohama, to the world.”
It is impossible to learn all the school system by only one lecture. He hopes to have a second guidance
after children started the school live, so that we can obtain questions from the guardians and takefollowing up actions.

Report about ‘Minnano “Wa!” Festa’
On Saturday, 28 November 2015, ‘Minnano”Wa!” Festa’ was held. It was a beautiful warm autumnday, and there were as many as 1,110 people came to the festival. We appreciate very much for theparticipants, i.e. the friends with the citizens’ activity groups, the teachers of the neighborhood(Machi-no-Sensei), voluntary supporters of foreigners, and many, many friends!!

Chango performance

Philippine danceLet’s sing together!

Thai dance

Biwa performance

Tai chi practice

Brass ensemble

Mt. Fuji on the day

The MCs of the stage

MC for speech presentation

Japanese speech presentation► Minami Lounge provides consultation about daily life in multilanguage
1. Information and advice concerning daily life (free of charge)
Office hours: Sunday - Saturday: 09:00 - 17:00 (Closed on the 3rd Monday of a month)
Phone: 045-232-9544 (Japanese) / 045-242-0888 (below listed languages)【Available languages on the days of the week】
SundayMondayTuesday
WednesdayThursdayFridayChineseChineseChineseChineseChineseChineseEnglishThai
Tagalog
2. Free consultation about law, visa, or education.
Appointment is required by phone (045-242-0888)-Saturday
ChineseOther Consultation Services below:
Yokohama Association for International Communications and Exchanges (YOKE) Information Corner(Phone: 045-222-1209) Open hours as follows:
Monday – Friday: 10:00 – 17:00 (closed 11:30 - 12:30 for lunch break)(Inquiries are accepted until 16:30)
2nd & 4th Saturdays: 10:00 – 13:00 (inquiries are accepted until 12:30)
Available languages: English, Chinese, Spanish and Japanese
Closed on Sundays, National Holidays, from 29 Dec thro 3 Jan, and1st, 3rd & 5th Saturdays★ Minami Lounge is operated by YOKE on behalf of Minami Ward Office