VOL. 1, No. 7

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

THE

NMUN KOBE TIMES
Kobe City University of Foreign Studies

Autumn Foliage Greets Delegatesin Kyoto and Hiroshima

Left: Delegates smiling before Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto.

Right: Delegates listening to Keiko Ogura, hibakusha in Hiroshima.

Surrounded by curtains and carpets ofcrimson leaves of maple trees and yellow
leaves of Ginko trees, some 250 delegates andtheir faculty members immersed themselvesin the Japanese autumn in the ancient capitalof Kyoto, and also in the resurrected city ofHiroshima and its neighboring Island of Gods
across the Seto Inland Sea: Miyajima. About
100 of NMUN visitors participated in a tour ofKyoto and 150 others in a tour of Hiroshima
and Miyajima on Monday, which were put
together by the students’ organizing
committee at Kobe City University of Foreign
Studies (KCUFS). The participants will switch
destinations on Tuesday. Each group isaccompanied by some 50 student volunteer
guides who have been preparing for thisoccasion since this summer.

KYOTO
The group of delegates to Kyoto left Port
Island where their hotels are located by buses
that took them to the old city in two hours.
They first visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine inFushimi Ward, about two kilometers fromKyoto Station. Fushimi Inari is an important
Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto that famousfor its thousands of vermilion torii gates,
which stand in two rows behind its mainbuildings. The delegates walked along the 70meter paths along the tori, the main landmarkof the shrine that was built almost 1300 years
ago. The Fushimi Inari Shrine is the grandhead shrine of several thousands of shrines
around Japan dedicated to Inari, the protectorof grains, (to be continued to the next page)VOL. 1, NO. 7

NOVEMBER 22, 2016(continued from Page 1)
in particular rice. Inari is enshrined as a god of fertility,
prosperous business and peace to the household and has been
revered by many people. Foxes are thought to be Inari's
messengers; therefore visitors can see many fox statues allover the shrine grounds.
From the Fushimi Inari Shrine the delegates and their
guides headed for Kiyomizu-dera temple, about threekilometers to the north. Kiyomizu-dera is an independent
Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto.
Originally constructed in 778, it was burned repeatedly—due to war and incidental fires—andits present buildings were built in 1633, ordered by Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third Shogun of theTokugawa family. The delegates walked up Kiyomizu-no-Butai, the temple's stage that protrudes
from the side of a mountain and is supported by 13-meter-long wooden posts. From the stage, they
enjoyed a magnificent view of the city of Kyoto dotted with autumn foliage.
After feasting on a lunch of traditional Japanese cuisinethat featured tofu in a pot, the delegates moved on to Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion, which was built by Ashikaga
Yoshimitsu, a general in Muromachi Era, more than 600 years
ago. The delegates viewed the building that is covered by gold
foil on lacquered walls,
which was rebuilt in1955 after it was burned
down by arson in 1950.
Student
volunteer
guides explained how
some literary works were based on the incident, such as
Kinkaku Temple by Yukio Mishima which is considered one of
the masterpieces of modern Japanese literature.
Kiyomizu-dera and Kinkaku-ji are a part of the Historic
Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, designated as UNESCO World
Heritage in 1994, which encompasses 17 locations in the city and its vicinity, including 13 temples, 3shrines and one castle.
HIROSHIMA
The group of delegates to Hiroshima left the hotel for
Shin-Kobe Station, where they took the Shinkansen (“bullettrain”) to Hiroshima. After arriving at Hiroshima Station, they
took buses to Hatsukaichi, a neighboring city about one hour’sdrive to the west, where they crossed the Seto Inland Sea byferryboats to Miyajima Island. The real name of Miyajima is“Itsukushima,” named after the daughter of Sun Goddess. Thisis one of Japan’s three famous sights, along with Matsushimain Miyagi Prefecture and Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture.
Over three million people visit Miyajima annually, which isitself only a small town of about 1800.
As the delegates and their guides stepped on the island, they were greeted by deer, which local
people have long believed were the God’s messengers. They walked through the corridors of theshrine whose buildings are coated with vermillion lacquer. With the assistance of the student
volunteers, the delegates learned how to pray to God at the Itsukushima Shrine. Then they viewed
the floating torii gate from the open-air stage extending to the ocean from the main building. The
delegates also walked through the shopping arcade where they found some unique Japanese things
on the island, such a big wooden rice scoops.
(to be continued to Page 3)
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NOVEMBER 22, 2016(continued from Page 2)
After lunch on the island, they traveledback to Hiroshima by ferryboats and buses.
Arriving at the Peace Park, they walked to theAtomic Bomb Dome, one of the few remaining
physical evidences of the tragedy that happenedon Aug. 6, 1945. Hiroshima Peace Memorial
Park was built on the former residential area
near the site of the ground zero—the point ofground immediately below where the atomic
bomb burst—in 1954. They walked around thepark, visiting such memorials as the Flame ofPeace, the Bell of Peace, and the Children’s Peace Monument.
Then they entered the Peace Museum, where
they viewed such artifacts as a lunch box withcharred rice and the tricycle of a three-year old boy
who wa s killed by the bomb while riding it. They
also listened to the story of Keiko Ogura, a 79-yearold peace activist, who was exposed to the bombwhen she was eight years old.

Joaquin Miguel Silva Alcantara, a 20-year-old
student at the University of Asia and the Pacific in thePhilippines, who represents Vietnam (ECOSOC), said he
was fascinated by the temples and shrines in Kyoto.
They reminded him of Hakone, near Tokyo, anothertourist destination in Japan he visited last year. “I likethe way they were built beside mountains. We can enjoy watching the changing colors of autumn
leaves, too,” he said.
On Tuesday, the faculty and delegates will switch destinations; those who traveled toHiroshima will go to Kyoto, and vice versa.
NMUN has a tradition of visiting some culturalplaces in the host country before the conference
begins. The places to visit are often places ofimportant historic value for the country or theinternational community.

For example, last year the NMUN was held in Olomouc,Czech Republic, and delegates toured Ausc hwitzBirkenau, a former site of the Holocaust during WorldWar II.
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NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Photos: The delegatesgoing to Hiroshima
by Shinkansen bullettrain.

Proud of Japanese Hospitality
As a volunteer for the cultural visit to Kyoto, Mei Nishio hopes that guides will share with thedelegates about the aspects of Japanese goodness, especially “hospitality.” At first she didn’t know theJapanese culture well. After she studied it and then went to Kyoto, she discovered
it is more interesting to visit temples having the knowledge of history andmeaning of the structure, which she couldn’t realize when she had visited
previously. That’s one reason she wants to share the knowledge with thedelegates. She also said it is very important to help visitors become aware of themanner and etiquette involved in visiting shrines and temples, e.g. like omairi(paying homage) because she thinks that it’s important for guides to tell not only
the facts and history of the place, but also to share Japanese values from theviewpoint of culture. A freshman at the Chinese Studies Department, Nishio feels
some anxiety about her ability to communicate in English with delegates, yet she knows what is
important: “The priority is to enjoy. Of course, I am responsible for it. But if I were a visitor, I would
want the guide to be happy, too. So I want to enjoy this opportunity.”
Reflecting on War Through Hiroshima
Asami Suzuki, junior of English Studies Department, who is one of the assistant leaders of culturalvisit to Hiroshima, wanted to get involved in the NMUN in some way, but she did not have a special
interest in Hiroshima at first. When she was invited to be an assistant leader, it washard for her to accept the opportunity right away. Since she anticipated no other big
prospects coming to her, though, she accepted “I have been nervous, but looking
forward to it,” she said. Suzuki was born in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, which
was burned out by air-raids by the US Air Force in World War . Because of thishistorical background, her elementary school emphasized the tragedy of war in apeace studies class, which made her fearful of war. Since then, she could not facewar. After becoming an assistant leader, she has come to think of the people whosuffered from bombings. “So far, I have not been able to face war squarely enough,but through learning about Hiroshima, I have gradually formed my own ideas about war,” she said.
Unexpected Opportunity Brings Satisfaction
Yuka Omichi, junior at KCUFS’s English Studies Department, likes to meet and talk to people, andthat’s applied to be a student volunteer. However, it was not until about a week agothat she was asked to handle the task of Kobe tour guide to fill the staff shortage. She
had already been assigned to work as a volunteer for the Delegate Dance after theconference, so being a tour guide was an unexpected request and she had to prepare
to conduct the tour on the very day. During the tour, she realized how difficult andimportant it is to convey ideas to others, much more so in English. She is at leastsatisfied that she could share the attractions of Kobe with the participants. She wasimpressed by what one of them told her: that she was happy to just see the sea
because she lives in a place where there is no sea and she felt relaxed to be here.
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NOVEMBER 22, 2016

Japanese Castle
By Nanami Takano
There are hundreds of castles around
Japan, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Many of themwere built in the 15th and 16th centuries, when thecountry was ruled by generals such as Oda
Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa
Ieyasu. Some have been reconstructed after WorldWar II, while others are the original, historicbuildings.
Twelve original castles are still standing in
the country; Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture,Matsumoto Castle in Nagano prefecture, Inuyama
Castle in Aich prefecture, Maruoka Castle in Hukui
prefecture, Hikone Castle in Shiga prefecture,
Himeji Castle in Hyogo prefecture, Matsue Castle inShimane prefecture, Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle inOkayama prefecture, Marugame Castle in Kagawaprefecture, Kochi Castle in Kochi prefecture, IyoMatsuyama Castle and Uwajima Castle in Ehimeprefecture.
Himeji Castle, one of the World Heritage
sites, is the most visited castle on Japan tours. It is
nicknamed the White Heron Castle because of its
beautiful exterior of white stones. The buildingand its surrounding beauty fascinate visitors in allseasons. Amazingly the castle has neverexperienced serious damage from either natural
disasters or wars, which is pretty unusual for aconstruction of this age. Himeji was an importantmilitary site during World WarII; therefore, it

was one of the bombing targets. Though a bomb
was dropped on the tower, miraculously it did not
explode and the castle had no serious damage.
Getting into the castle requires passing
many defensive tricks like twists and turns
designed to stop trespassers from reaching themain tower. The entrances are very small, so only
one person can pass through at a time. These
clever defenses may make it difficult for tourists
to arrive there, too!
The city of Himeji, with half a million
inhabitants, is the second largest city in Hyogo
Prefecture. In addition to the castle, there aremany tourist attractions including other historicalplaces and local food. It takes about one hourfrom Osaka or Kyoto and about 40 minutes fromSannomiya. If you ride a bullet train, Shinkansen,
it takes about 30 minutes from Shin-Osaka, about
20 minutes from Okayama, so it is very
convenient to reach there from major cities
around Kobe.

Reference: http://www.tabian.com/tiikibetu/kinki/hyogo/himejijyo/mame.html

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photo from www.pakutaso.com

By Atami Tomae

Coffee is brewed in various ways; Japan has
a long cultural history of coffee.

offee! Japanese people love
coffee, and Kobe has many cafésfor people who work, study, or
want to have a good time withfriends. Ueshima Coffee House(medium cup: 400yen), Nishimura Coffee (530),
Starbucks (tall: 320), Tully’s Coffee (tall: 370),
Doutor Coffee (medium: 270) and so on. These cafésstay open until around 23:00. They also have goodmeals. If you want a cup of coffee at a budget price,
try McDonald’s, which offers 100yen coffee (small:100yen, medium: 150yen), or, how about trying one
of Japan’s amazing convenience stores? Most
konbini have coffee makers and make fresh coffee(small: 100yen, medium: 150yen). If you don’t havea minute to spare while the fresh coffee brews, justask the clerk for a chilled coffee drink in a can.
You’ll find various rich types of coffee (about 140250yen). The aroma and taste are good. When it’slunchtime, please stop by one of the bakeries inKobe. Most of them have space to enjoy bread withcoffee. They offer bread, pastries and sandwiches
from morning with the warmest, most pleasantaromas. These days, the kinds of café are increasing.
Thus, we are offered various choices.
Japan has a long history of cafés.

___________________________________________

C

Coffee arrived in Japan during the Edo period. The
first coffee was introduced in Nagasaki at Dejima, aDutch trading house. The first Japanese café is  (kahityakann) in Tokyo.
In the Meiji era, many cafés opened which werecalled  (kafee) and Japanese intellectuals
spent time there. Café Pulista was opened in 1913 by
Ryo Mizuno and offered real Brazilian coffee not
only for intellectuals like Kenji Miyazawa andHakusyuu Kitahara (famous Japanese poets) but also
for the common Japanese. This café still offers goodcoffee in Ginza, Tokyo. Coffee’s popularity grewquickly. However, the Japanese government bannedcoffee in 1944 because it was regarded as a luxury;
the government forced the people to live thriftily.
After the war, coffee reappeared in 1950. During the1950s, various kinds of cafés were established. Jazz
cafés with live or recorded jazz; tea-rooms withclassical music; sing-along coffee shops where
customers sing along with the piano or accordion;
Go-Go cafés that are like a kind of club. In the 1960sand 1970s, Jyunn-kissa (coffee house) became
popular. Each master offered the best coffee forcustomers, and coffee lovers had their own ikituke (ashop which the customer regularly patronizes). In the1970s and 1980s, almost all cafés had freematchboxes, featuring original designs (with a map)
as an advertisement. Japanese people collected thematchboxes. If the design was rare or interesting,they were especially prized.

References:
The 100 wisdoms to enjoy your coffee(Asahi newspaper),Breakfast (John Steinbeck)6