Cross-cultural Understanding Workshop Series #3 "A Glance at the World"

On September 4^th, the third workshop of the cross-cultural understanding series ‘A Glance at the World‘ was held.

The topic this month was ‘Let’s make a treasure box of Japan”. This workshop was led by Ms. Ito from the JICA desk in Yamagata. The workshop started off by a refreshing introduction to the Philippines, which was where Ms. Ito went as a youth volunteer through the JICA oversea program. She showed the audience 10 unique items from the Philippinesincluding its flag, money, traditional costumes, and even ketchup made from bananas! Afterwards, the audience was divided into two groups, where they brainstormed ideas for 10 items that they thought represented Japan. The final list includes items such as manga, green tea, rice ball, and so on…The audience found it surprisingly difficult to think of items that they would use to explain Japanto foreigners. Perhaps, understanding your own culture is the first important step to cross-cultural understanding.

The 4^th workshop, ‘My Neighbor is a Foreigner” will be held on October 31^st, 13:30 – 15:00. We will use survey responses to find out how foreigners view Japan and learn about their findings and opinions from living in Japan. Looking forward to seeing you at the next workshop!