JICA Researcher's Welcome Party

When: Wednesday August 20th; reception at 18:40, Opening ceremonies at 19:00

Using Japanese summer food as a theme, we tried to introduce a bit of Japanese culture. There was Somen, Soba,Kakigohri,Wataame,watermelon, and more. There were no foods served that we thought would conflict with religious principles; the researchers were all glad that they could enjoy all of the food. The Turkish researcher, Semih gave the greeting on behalf of the researchers, and all of the researchers gave a self-introduction in Japanese. We also had the introductions to host families, and host friends; in all, seven families and two groups were matched with various researchers; we hope that they'll get along splendidly and make many happy memories over the next three months.

We also enjoyed a traditional dance from Paraguay, performed by the Arakawa family. "The Dancer Paraguacia" was performed in splendidly colorful costumes, the children looked so cute, and Emi danced beautifully. The closing music was "The Macarena", and somehow the whole room turned into a disco. The researchers continued to dance, eventually getting all the KIS members into the action. Altogether, it was a very enjoyable welcome