JENESYS 2015 2.0 REPORT

JEROLYN NOGEP

JENESYS is a scholarship program that was initiated by the Japanese government few years back. JENESYS stands for Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for students and Youths. It is only eligible for students in tertiary institutions in Asia and Pacific counties, as long as they meet the requirements set.

Since I started my first year at the university I’ve never heard of JENESYS, or maybe they used are different name but until last year (2015) I saw a notice about JENESYS application on the school notice board. I want to know what it was so I went to JENESYS website and read about it and I was very interested. To be honest Japan was one of the least of the counties that I want to visit, especially because of the stories I heard about smog and polluted air. Since I’ve never been there I totally believed everything. Also, since I met the requirements I thought to myself, why not try and see some place different and learn something new. Last year (2015), I was given the opportunity to be in the 2015 batch of group 3.

The batch was divided into two groups; group 3 course A with the team, Japanese Culture and Language and group 3 course B which was the group I was in with the team, Tourism Policy. The 2015 batch was only PNG and Solomon Island students and altogether we were about 30 plus students including two supervisors for each group.

Day of departure (16/10/16): Port Moresby

All of us (3A and 3B) went together and when we arrived at Narita International airport on Saturday night and after going through customs check our course coordinator (Natsumi Ouchi), Translator (Hitomi Yamada) and the JOCA staff (Erina Noda and Atsuhiro Ohara) were already there waiting for us, so we separated from group 3A and went on our way to the hotel (Hotel East 21, Tokyo). On the bus we were briefed by the coordinator for tomorrow’s program, and for the first time we ate snack that was prepared in Japanese way. This was my first time to travel to a foreign country so I was a little bit scared however, I could not wait for the next day.

First Day (17/01/16): Sunday

At 8am in the morning we travelled to the Olympic centre for Orientation. Seeing the view of the city in the morning was so beautiful that I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life. Two JOCA staff were there for the orientation which was about 1hour 30 minutes. They introduced Japan and some of its history and also the purpose of JENESYS, which is to nature friendship and mutual understanding and to promote mutual trust and understanding. The interesting part in orientation was, we had our nick names written in Japanese by our coordinator and translator, which was pretty cool.

The next event was in the afternoon and it was the outdoor program where we went to the Meiji Jingu, a Shinto Shrine where we actually went up to the porch and threw a coin and do our prayers. It was really fascinating to see thousands of people including foreigners like us come to the shrine for prayer. Experiencing a different religion was something I thought I would never do in my life time but I actually did it, because Shinto has no concept of religious conversion but values for example harmony with nature and virtues such as sincere heart. I believe that it is true and it has great effects on people’s lives because my observation of Japanese people is that they have these values of life that reflects in their character, attitude and country.

From there we went shopping in a very busy street called Harajuku where we could even get lost in the crowd that was made up of different races, different skin and hair colour and texture and different accent. Their products were very high quality and we mostly bought souvenirs and other small items that we could afford.

The final event for the day was sightseeing, that was visiting Tokyo Tower. The night view from the top of the tower was extremely stunning and breathe taking and it was also the highlight of the evening.

Meiji Shrine Tokyo Tower Harajuku

Second Day (18/01/16): Monday

On Monday we were to leave for Thono city located in the Iwate Prefecture. Before that, in the morning we visited Nippon Travel Agency Co., LTD. Nippon was the travel agency that organized all our travel. They did a presentation on three topics; International sales, NTA’s inbound tour and Inbound market. The interesting things I learnt on the presentation on inbound market was that there is declined in birth rate and aging population and rise in working-age population that was as of 2012 and their research survey proved that in the next coming decades the two decreased categories will keep declining and the working-age population will increase gradually as they are also planning on implementing a decision to bring in foreigners to work in Japan to boost Japan’s economy. The most inbound consumption as of 2014 per person and per country was China followed by Taiwan and other Asian countries then Europeans. It’s a shame we Pacific Island countries don’t contribute much in Japan’s inbound market but I believe there are reasonable reasons for that. I also believe through the JENESYS program Japan’s inbound market with Pacific Island countries will improve in the next ten years because this program has made us realised how much we want to live in Japan for educational purpose, job and vacation.

Before 12am we got on the bullet train and travelled to Iwate and stayed for a night at Hotel Koyokan which we got to experience Onsen “Hot Spring”. I liked it very much because during that one night we experienced traditional Japanese lifestyle, from sleeping arrangements to costume which we wore kimono and the meal. It was so amazing.

Third Day (19/01/16): Tuesday

On Tuesday we went to Yakult factory in Thono city. It is one of Japan’s advanced technology and the Yakult products are also well known and purchased for its biological and medical purpose. The most significant ingredient used to make all products is the lactobacilli. Especially the juice it cleanses the intestine and the other products also keeps the body healthy and beautiful. We were each given a juice to drink were also allowed to look around in the factory.

Even though it was very freezing and snowy we got to experience snow playing. That was the enjoyable event of the program where we got to relaxed a bit, share and enjoy with each other. From there we went to hotel Aeria and stayed for the night.

Yakult factory Snow playing

Fourth Day (20/01/16): Wednesday

The first event for the morning was lecture at Thono city council’s office particularly on Thono city’s tourism policy. One big problem the presenter mentioned was that many tourists come to visit Thono but do not stay for long hance, most of them just pass through or return the same day and that is because of less number of hotels and other accommodation. One thing I realized about Thono was that almost all the young people live and work in the big cities while very few including most adults and old people live in Thono. Their aim is to bring back these young people that left and also to keep the remaining ones too, through certain things that they are planning on doing that would be of interest and attraction to them.

Afterwards, we visited Thono city museum. Seeing and touching the things that were in there was like stepping a foot into Japan’s past. Still most of these things have not extinct, they still practice, use and value them today. This was what challenged me most when I compared it with my country and realized that we have lost the values of our past and ancestors and it will keep fading if we do nothing about it.

In the afternoon we went to Furusato village to experience Japan’s local life “Kaze-No-Oka” (in Japanese). This village is known for its L-shaped houses and a very huge horse called Snow white. The house are originally traditional Japanese houses and the chief’s is the largest. Both the village and the horse is known for their roles played in Hollywood Japanese films. The thing that made the day more interesting was that we each had to paint our Kokeshi doll. The common painting was the image of Kappa that is told in stories to have exist in Thono.

The most exciting thing that happened in the evening was that we met up with our home stayed family and they took us to their homes. In my group there were three of us and we were all girls and the family we stayed with for the two nights was the Asanumas. Home stay was the highlight of Wednesday and Thursday and that’s when we got to truly learn and understand Japanese lifestyle. They live a very interesting life which they are hardworking and self- reliant and live a very healthy life which I admire so much. The only problem was communication because they don’t speak English but that’s when I had the chance to put into use the basic Japanese I learnt and also learned more from them and even used gesture which I’ve never done before. Nothing was horrible or unacceptable, every bit of it was perfect.

Thono city council Museum Furusato village Home stay

Fifth Day (21/01/16): Thursday

In the morning we walked to a nearby village and watched the Folk performance, a dance called the deer dance. We also did two performances there and presented them gifts. They taught us how to play flute and beat drum. However, we could not catch up tho.

A representative from JOCA held a workshop with us and she discussed with us the strong points and weak points of Thono city. After that we were placed into groups of four and five and were asked to discuss and list some points to improve attraction of tourists into Thono city and do up sales phrase from a foreigner’s point of view. My group particularly looked into their weak points and listed things and ways to improve these weak areas and for the sales phase all the groups did interesting catch phrases then we presented our discussions. The JOCA representative took our ideas and said she was very impressed and she would give them to the city council for consideration.

Before going back to our home stay families we visited the elementary and primary school students few distance from where we held our workshop. We the Papua New Guinean students and the Solomon Island students did a performance each and then exchange gifts with the students. I think it was the first time for the students to see dark skinned colour people like us so they were afraid at first when we tried to get closer to them, but finally they got comfortable. They learn in their own language and not English and what’s impressive was that, they rearrange Chinese language to Japanese language. I was even surprised when I learned that there are three different ways of writing Japanese language.

Folk performance Work shop School visit

Sixth Day (22/01/16): Friday

We left Thono and returned to Tokyo. The first thing we did when we arrived in Tokyo was visit the Subway museum. We looked around for a while and then we bought ourselves tickets where we had a ride on the subway train. We mixed around with the people inside but unfortunately we did not communicate with them we were quiet for the whole ride. We got off and went straight for dinner together with group 3A.

Seventh Day (23/01/16): Saturday

Saturday was our last day in Japan. Before we went to the airport we went to the Olympic Centre for reporting session. We were to report everything for the past six days and also answer two questions that were given as task on the first day. The questions were; 1) what is my concept of real Japan? My answer to that question is that, Japan is well organized, safest country, Generous and respectful people, Best of both worlds (modern & traditional), Encourage healthy living, etc. 2) How will I spread the word? I will spread the word through social media which I’ve been doing while in Japan, write an article in magazine, and verbally. Actually, we presented everything in our two groups to the JOCA staff, PNG’s ambassador to Japan, Samoa’s ambassador to Japan and representative of the foreign affairs.

Straight after we travelled to Narita and shopped at the mall and then in the evening we went straight to the airport and returned home. We arrived at 5:00am on the next day.

Reporting session Departing Japan

Something I would like to add on as one of the most enjoyable and unforgetful thing was the Japanese meals that we had throughout the one week. We were well fed and well taken care off. Every meal from breakfast to dinner was in variety and very delicious. 95% of the food I ate throughout the week were food I have never had before. I actually fell in love with Japanese food because after few days of eating those food made me felt better and healthier which I could really felt that change happening to my body. That is why I would like to encourage my family to eat Japanese food from time to time.

This trip was a once in a life time experience that I will treasure forever. I have learnt so much and everything I learned was new and interesting. I am very grateful for Japanese government for this wonderful experience and opportunity therefore, if I happen to be in a right position to contribute something I would gladly do so.