Activities Report for the 2007 August JICA Participants
Nigeria Papua New Guinea Honduras Ethiopia Mongolia
Solomon Islands Benin Zambia Vietnam Iran
Niger Brazil Myanmar
Courtesy Call
Date： August 20 (Mon)
Place： Kosaka Town Hall
On August 19th 14 interns from 13 countries came to Kosaka to participate in the 2007 Group Training Course in Developmental and Sustainable Mining. On the following day, there was a courtesy call for the interns at the Kosaka Town Hall. The interns were able to meet the various town officials. The interns this year seem to be very energetic and fun loving so be sure to get out and meet them!

Meeting the Host Friends

On August 22nd the recently arrived interns were able to meet their host friends. In addition, we introduced the events that have been planned for them during their stay.

Welcome Party

Date& Time： August 23 (Wed)
From 6:00 pm
Place： Tenshikan


Whenever the JICA interns come to town we make sure to hold a welcome party for them. Everyone who attended this year's welcome party greatly enjoyed it. The interns particularly enjoyed the karate performance. Even though they were young elementary school students, the interns were surprised by how hard they could punch and kick and break wooden boards. Additionally, everyone was very moved by the powerful taiko performance of Acacia Daiko. Be sure to click the above link and check out pictures from the party.

Kunizakai Festival

Date： September 1 & 2 (Sat & Sun)
Place： Lake Towada
The JICA interns' timing was perfect. They had just come to Kosaka and were able to go and participate in northern Tohoku's famous Kunizakai Festival. Click the link above to see pictures from the event.

Japanese Class

Dates & Time： 4：30〜5：30
8/28（Tues), 9/4(Tues), 9/25(Tues), 10/2(Tues), 10/16(Tues), 10/23(Tues)
Place： MINETEC 2 FL
In order to help out the interns with communicating during their stay, we will be holding some Japanese classes for them. Currently, we're looking for anyone who can come and help out!
When we practice conversations we need people to pair up with the interns and help them with their dialogue. There's no need for any kind of language teaching experience. Andrew will be there, so there's no need to worry about speaking English either. So don't be shy and come on out!
Help! I can't speak Japanese!

Flag Painting

Date & Time： September 29 (Sat)
1：00〜2：30
Place： Central Park
As we all know, everytime a JICA intern or other foreigner comes to Kosaka we invite them to paint their flag on the flag wall in central park. Even though there were no new countries this time around, we still invited the interns to come touch up their flag and have their picture taken. Click on the link to see pictures from the event.

International Cooking Class

Date & Time： September 29 (Sat)
Cooking： from 3:00
Eating： from 6:00
Place： Sepamu
After the Flag Painting, KIS held their annual International Cooking Class. There was a lot of delicious food from Vietnam, Brazil, Nigeria, Mongolia, Hungary, and (of course) Japan! Everyone ate till they were full, and many ate past that!

Japanese Cultural Experience

Date： October 27 (Sat)
Place： Sepamu
At this event we introduced kimonos, the tea ceremony, origami, tosenkyo, and other aspects of Japanese culture. For those who didn't normally have the chance to wear a kimono, they brought their own and were able to put it on. This was an event where not just the JICA interns, but even us locals were able to enjoy some Japanese culture. Through the tea ceremony, tosenkyo, ohajiki, and other games and cultural traditions we had a lot of fun with the JICA interns and were able to help them experience some traditional Japanese culture.

Farewell Party

Date & Time： November 13 (Tues) from 6:30
Place： Sepamu
Click this link to read the representative intern's farewell speech.
3 months have passed and it has become time for the JICA interns' farewell party. At the party we enjoyed some delicious food, saw some dance, shamisen, and taiko performances, everyone was even able to participate in dancing as well as a sing-a-long. This was truly a great event for the interns to end their time in Japan on. Click on the link above to see pictures from the party.