Japan Bound Youth Ambassadors Depart Monday, June 10

Twelve high school youth and two trip chaperons will depart San Jose from SFO on Monday for a 12 day trip to Okayama, with visits to the Hiroshima Peace Museum and other cities of Japan. Coincidentally, this year’s Sister City Citizen Exchange participant, Dr. Mayumi Yoshida, will also be in Okayama. There she will be meeting with various educational resources in the hope of sharing good ideas between the groups.  I must point out that Dr. Yoshida was instrumental in the high quality of the Youth Ambassadors from the area. It seems that all are excited to go to Japan this time. Please help us with your hearts focussed on good weather for the trip! It is rainy season, after all!

Is it too early to thank the International Affairs department of Okayama, Ms. Ishii and other staff for working so hard for this visit? I don’t care, it is a big job with lots of coordination required. Thank You! And of course to the Board Members Kazuko and Bob Green for donating so much time and energy and printer paper to this project.

The group will be hosted by the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco hours before the flight. The hour-long presentation there will be lead by Consul Kei Hagiwara with assistance of the intergovernmental affairs department of the Consulate. It is a good way to learn about how the consulate works and to get an introduction to Japan.

The group is flying from SFO, we hope that the next group can depart directly from San Jose.

We plan on posting a short introductory video of the students this weekend on this site and on our YouTube account. Bon Voyage!
Bob Green, Secretary [and chaperon]

A California Man Who Protected Some Japanese-American Farms Passes at 101

The New York Times has an article about the passing of Bob Fletcher, a Sacramento area person who helped save the farms of Japanese Americans who were interned during the Second World War. I am reminded of the excellent museum in San Jose’s Japantown that tells stories of those internment days and the attitude of people with or against the Japanese Americans at the time.

Here is a link to the New York Times article: Click here

Here is a link to the Japanese American Museum in San Jose: Click here

Japan Needs More Women Workers while We Need ...

The aging of the Japanese population and the lack of a major immigration policy is leading Japan to a situation where there may not be enough male workers to meet future needs. A recent article in Atlantic Magazine, “Working Women Are Japan’s Only Hope for Avoiding Economic Catastrophe”. The article contains an interesting chart showing the percentage of working women in various countries over time. The curve for Japan approximates a horizontal line while most countries, including the US, climb steeply.

from ‘china.homestaynow.org’ blogOne of the challenges for local Sister Cities is that it is difficult to arrange home-stay opportunities for visitors from our overseas* Sister Cities as so many families do not have an adult at home in the day.

We welcome your comments as to how we can address this issue in our relationships with San Jose’s and other local Sister Cities want to encourage person to person friendships.
* is Mexico and Costa Rica overseas? Well I define it that way here.

Japan Men's Soccer Team Qualifies for World Cup

The first of 32 teams has been selected for the next FIFA World Cup. It is Japan!
As a nation, both men’s and Image: hilderincfc.com Hilderincs Football Club, Singaporewomen’s soccer is quite popular. The Youth Ambassador 2013 Japan trip  participants will visit a practice facility of the Women’s Soccer team in Okayama prefectures. They will get to meet some of the players for a little while, while traveling in Okayama prefecture. This will occure next week.

We send our congratulations to the Men’s Team and good luck to them in the upcoing competition.

Dr Mayumi Yoshida Selected as Sister City Citizen Exchange Person

The Board of Directors has selected Dr. Mayumi Yoshida, a long time supporter of our Sister City group and for San Jose City, as this year’s Citizen Exchange awardee. Mayumi is well known by us for her translation duties she has performed for various Sister City and Okayama visitor programs. For the last two years she has also acted as Youth Coordinator, assisting the Speech Contest Team and encouraging participation in the Youth Ambassador programs.

Holding a Doctorate from UC Berkeley in Chinese Culture, she brings many nationalities and cultures together. She is from Nagoya, central Japan, and has been doing a lot of work in the field of college preparation. She will be in Okayama at nearly the same time as our Youth Ambassador trip and we hope to see her there, perhaps at the Welcome Party in Okayama. Dr. Yoshida is very interested in finding ways to improve the acceptance of students into the universities they wish to attend, teaching ‘after school’ classes here in the valley. As Japan has vowed to increase the world-wide reputation of their universities, there are changes that will likely make university prep even more important. Dr. Yoshida is hoping to be able to learn and share between the two different systems.

The San Jose-Okayama Citizen Exchange program has been running for several years. Our group has provided coordination with Japan and travel assistance, usually by way of airfare. We have supported candidates from education, civic improvement management, architecture, and librarianship in recent years. If you would like more information about this program, contact the Secretary at the email link below.