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THE JAPAN TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2016

G7 Kurashiki Education Ministers’ Meeting in Okayama(Publicity)

particularly importantExamining global education issues Educationin facing world’s challenges
The G7 Education Ministers’ Meeting
will be held in Kurashiki, Okayama
Prefecture, on May 14 and 15, withrelated ministers of the Group ofSeven and others from internationalorganizations gathering to discuss
global education challenges.
Under the theme of “Innovation inEducation,” representatives fromJapan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S., the EuropeanUnion, the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development andUNESCO, among others, will discuss
education’s role in fostering peace
and prosperity in the world.
The meetings, symposiums andother events are to be held at Kurashiki Ivy Square in the Kurashiki Bikan
Historical Area, a space that maintains traditional structures and a historical atmosphere. Meeting
participants will also travel on excursions to visit schools and places ofinterest in the area.
In connection with the education
ministers’ meeting, the city of Kurashiki hosted the G7 Kurashiki Children’s Summit at Kurashiki Ivy Squarein March. The summit was attended
by some 240 junior high school andhigh school students from Japan andother G7 countries, teachers, Ministerof Education, Culture, Sports, Scienceand Technology Hiroshi Hase, theorganizing committee of the G7 Education Ministers’ Meeting and others
involved in education.
Yaame Iseki, a senior at Seishin
High School, delivered a speech onher experience attending the ninth
UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris inOctober.
Iseki then facilitated a panel discussion, titled “Think Globally, ActLocally,” in which children from theG7 countries spoke in English about
education in the future.
They released the “G7 Kurashiki
Children’s Summit Declaration,”
which contained four pledges: We will

Kaori Ito
KURASHIKI MAYOR

I am very honored
the city of Kurashiki
will host the G7 Education Ministers’Meeting in 2016.
As the world is fullof challenges such asenvironmental protection, the eradication of poverty andpeacekeeping, the role of education
is particularly significant. I expect
meaningful discussions will be heldin Kurashiki and the city is fully pre-Children from G7 countries discuss education at the G7 Kurashiki Children’s Summit in March.

respect others as ourselves; we will doour best as students; we will act
locally; and we will think globally.
The declaration will be sent to Haseso that he can present it at the G7
Education Ministers’ Meeting.
As a center of education and culture, Kurashiki is the ideal venue forthe education ministers’ meeting. The
city is home to many researchers,educators and people who have contributed to cultural development.
Kurashiki Ivy Square is one of Kurashiki’s main cultural centers and tour-ism sites. The square was created afterrefurbishing a spinning mill datingback to the Meiji Era. It has a hotel,restaurants, multipurpose halls andvarious museums.
In May, green ivy will cover the redbrick of Kurashiki Ivy Square, providing a vivid and multicolored backdrop
to the retro atmosphere.
Kurashiki Ivy Square is part of theKurashiki Bikan Historical Area, oneof the most popular tourist sites inJapan. Thanks to the many whitewalled buildings, the area is nick-pared to welcome guests from allover the world.
Kurashiki is a city with a history ofurban development that has had afocus on education and culture sincethe Edo Period. Attracting 5 million
tourists a year, Kurashiki is a globally
popular tourist destination that isseeing an increasing number of foreign visitors. It also has many cultural and tourism events throughout theyear.
I sincerely hope the Kurashiki G7
Education Ministers’ Meeting inOkayama will be an opportunity formany people to get to know thebeauty of Kurashiki and visit us.

CITY OF KURASHIKI

named “the town of white walls.”
Traditionally built houses line thebank of Kurashiki River and the imageof the buildings and the willow treesreflected on the water is fantastic. Thecity also maintains its traditional
theme with the white-walled Kurashiki-kan (Tourist Information Office).
Kurashiki is also home to the Ohara
Museum of Art, which housed the firstcollection of Western art in Japan. The
Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area features an exotic mixture of Japaneseand Western influences with soft

Kurashiki Ivy Square

CITY OF KURASHIKI

lights beautifully illuminating thespace in the evening.
Thanks to collaboration between
the municipality and area residents,
the area preserves many buildings theway they were in the Edo Period andMeiji Era. The community-wide project is well known throughout Japanand the area has won various prizes,

including the Asian TownscapeAward.
The breathtaking scenery is just oneof many things visitors can enjoy.
Other sites such as the Kurashiki
Museum of Folk-Craft are also interesting and the many shops selling traditional crafts and local delicacies
offer something for everyone.

City boasts long history in addition to natural beauty

Kurashiki Bikan Historical Area

CITY OF KURASHIKI

The city of Kurashiki faces the Seto
Inland Sea and enjoys a mild climate
with little precipitation. The city of
about 480,000 population lies in thesouthern part of Okayama Prefecture,
which is known as “sunny country.”
In the western part of the city,which was a prosperous trading hub
in the Edo Period, the Takahashi
River runs into the Seto Inland Sea.
The city is divided into eight areas:
Kurashiki, Mizushima, Kojima,Tamashima, Chayamachi, Sho, Funaoand Mabi. The venue for the G7 Education Ministers’ Meeting is in theKurashiki area.
Mizushima is a heavy industrial
area and Kojima is known for theproduction of school uniforms andjeans. Tamashima is known forpeaches while Funao has abundant
sweet peas and muscat grapes. Mabi
is known for bamboo shoots.
Manufacturing is a major industry
in the city, as it is the fourth-largest
municipality in terms of shipping
manufactured goods, including pet-rochemical goods and cars.
Additionally, the city of Kurashiki
leads other municipalities near theTakahashi River in a consortium totackle the issues of the aging society
and work together in making the area
prosper.
In March 2015, the city and othermunicipalities near the river set up acommittee to promote collaborationin development and came up withthe vision for a growth strategy in theTakahashi River area. The city isplanning to promote the Takahashi
River area via the G7 Education Ministers’ Meeting.
For visitors, the Kurashiki Bikan
Historical Area offers many attractions such as the Ohara Museum ofArt, Kurashiki Museum of Folk-Craft
and Kurashiki Ivy Square, but otherareas of the city also have attractions
to lure visitors.
For example, there are large commercial developments near JR Kurashiki Station, while the Kojima area,in the southern part of the city, isOkayama Pref.
HiroshimaTokyo

JR Kurashiki Station is a 35-minute bus
ride from Okayama Airport, which is anhour and a half from Tokyo by air.

OsakaOkayama Airport

KurashikiCity

The city of Kurashiki, with a populationof 483,570 (as of April) and an area of355.63 sq. km, boasts easy access to anearby airport and a major train station.

JR Okayama Stn.

JR Kurashiki Stn.

home to Washuzan Hill and Ojigatake Hill, famous for their beautiful
landscapes in Setonaikai NationalPark. As the home of jeans in Japan,
Kojima Jeans Street and the JeansMuseum are fondly visited by denimlovers. The Nozaki’s Historical Residence, which belonged to an Edo

It is also just 17 minutes from JROkayama Station, which is serviced by theSanyo Main and Hakubi lines. JR Okayama
Station is 3 hours and 17 minutes fromTokyo Station and 45 minutes from ShinOsaka Station by shinkansen.
By car, it is about 10 minutes from theMizushima-Hayashima Interchange.

Period salt merchant, and the Kojima
School Uniform Museum are also inthe area.
In Tamashima area, visitors canenjoy nostalgic streets dating to theShowa Era and tea culture in a location dedicated to maintaining an oldtown feel.

KURASHIKI WELCOMES THE WORLDJapanese and Western, retro and modern; Kurashiki boasts beautiful streets and an exotic atmosphere.
Enjoy tradition, culture, delicious food from the Seto Inland Sea and other things only available in Kurashiki.

HonmachiStreetWashuzan
HillSpecialty
Goods

Kurashiki
Foods

For more information, see http://www.kurashiki-tabi.jp/for/en/

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