202109011Seven students have been participating in the planning of the “Abiko International Festival” scheduled in November. The purpose of the festival is to promote exchange and friendship between citizens and foreigners living in Abiko. The roundtable was held so that the students might understand the background of AIRA’s establishment as well as its roles and activities. (No.21-9)

Venue: Abiko Civic Plaza No.1 meeting room (Zoom equipped)
Participants(without honorifics): Chuo Gakuin University,Faculty of Liberal Arts(Sato, Fuse, Aizawa, Hayasaka)
AIRA(-ditto-): Eight board members and Sakazume

AIRA accepts “international volunteers” at the request of universities. Under the recent social globalization, universities make their students participate in local volunteering in the curriculum to deepen interests in the communities and also to experience and learn social contribution and town planning.
This year AIRA received the requests from Chiba University and Chuo Gakuin University to accept seven students in total.
These seven students joined as executive committee members for the Abiko International Festival in July and have been working for international exchange.
AIRA’s activities have been restricted due to COVID-19. This time AIRA held this meeting to explain their businesses, volunteer activities, etc. so that the students might understand them in more details.
The roundtable-discussion was chaired by Mr.Hayasaka, Director of Dept. of Cross-Cultural Activities, while the other directors of each department explained AIRA’s activities. Main subjects are stated below;
1. Detailed backgrounds of the establishment of AIRA, the important roles that AIRA plays in Abiko and the activities by the members (festivals, Japanese language classes, interpretation, cultural classes, and so on)
2. What motivated the board members to begin to work for AIRA
3. What motivated the students to join AIRA this time and their volunteering experiences in the past

The board members joined AIRA for various reasons. One member was dispatched to AIRA by an organization, one of AIRA’s supporters, which he had belonged to. Others were invited to be AIRA board members when they were taking foreign language lessons or teaching at Japanese Language Class. Others wanted to make use of their past experiences of staying or travelling overseas. It seems that, at first, many of them joined in AIRA’s activities as they were invited by others, but gradually they came to be positive to serve for the society, to make use of their experiences or to utilize their spare time for the activities.
Many of the students said they had experienced volunteering since their elementary school days. They talked about how202109012 they felt through those experiences. “Volunteering work seemed to be interesting.” “I realized the importance of listening to others and of trying to understand their circumstances.” “I’ve learned to take a broader point of view.”
This time they are participating in AIRA’s activities with the recommendation from their universities, while they showed an interest in continuing their volunteering in some way after the festival.
When people talk about international exchange, it sometimes becomes an issue whether they can speak foreign languages, but one of the students told that he wanted to continue to have small experiences which he had never had or imagined before. Having an interest in different values and ways of thinking may be the first step to understanding different cultures and international exchange.

(translated by Katsumi Nakajima)