Hello, how are you?

Last month was very interesting for me. Once more I went to Musashino Higashi School. I went with some Indonesian teachers to do an observation for education for autism.

This school using daily life therapy to all the autism students. Every autism students learn how to life in normal way, and how they have an interaction with the society. The school provide students with a very good facilities, like for sports, arts, music, cooking and computer technology which usually they who has autism are really good in that major.

What makes me so impressed is this school is a mix school between autism and normal student from kindergarten, elementary school, high school until senior high school. They also designed some quality time to mix the students so they could have a real interaction by doing some project together. The goal is how to make them helping and loving each other.

I think this is one of my role model to do my future project :  ‘media for disabled people’. I hope i could have another opportunity to do this kind of activity, next time.

Annisa
Indonesia | 7th batch

*ps : i cried when the children sung “twinkle-twinkle little star”…. hiks..!

I love Matcha. Matcha is now a common ingredient in any kind of sweets. It is not just for drinking but also used for culinary purposes. If you haven’t tasted matcha ice cream, pastries, cookies, castella and others, I highly recommend that you try one of these sweets.

NFSA scholars were given an opportunity to have an escapade in the land of tea – Shizuoka. Thanks to Akira who organized the said trip. It was a sunny day and everyone enjoyed the travel from Yokohama.

The overlooking view like the “green rolls cakes” signified that we have already arrived. Mrs. Mayo Suzuki (Vice President of Marushichi Seicha), Noboru Suzuki (Nakayama Tea Union President), and Akira Onoda (Assistant Manager for International Sales) welcomed us and gave us a warm greeting. We were very excited to explore the place and have a look in the production of tea. The thrilling part of the travel was the narrow uphill roads with Matcha trees all over the place. This kanji (茶, cha), was formed and trimmed on the mountainside by the local people in Shizuoka which is the origin of one of the best teas.

Mr. Suzuki guided us in the process of making the matcha. He said “due to extreme heat, there were teas that have been damaged”. And identifying the damage was a bit of a challenge. According to him, a dark blue green colored tea indicates it is not good. While identifying the bad teas and looking at the wide well-shaped field of tea, this experience really seize my day.
Marushichi Seicha received an honorary trophy awarded by the Majesty Emperor as “The Best Tea Producer in Japan”. Moreover, this company does not have a large number of employees yet they are able to manage. The company has well-focused goals of producing the best tea in the world that motivates them to be competitive and be the fastest growing producer of healthy drinks because of its benefits.

For the Shizuoka people, Matcha is their bread and butter. The long term process of preparing, planting, picking/harvesting and pruning under the heat of the sun and rain challenged the NFSA scholars, that this signifies a lot of preparation, brainstorming, and unity of action in order to achieve a successful harvest.

Mr. Masami Suzuki (President of Marushichi Seicha) visited us at the dinner party after the factory visit. He delivered an encouraging speech and spoke about the significance of being healthy. He said, “The secret of being young and energetic is by drinking tea”. A statement that made us burst in laughter.

We would like to thank Marushichi Seicha for their warm and accommodating welcome during our visit. If you would like to know more about this company click this link: http://www.marushichi-group.jp/profile/default.asp.
Haru No Kenshu 2010

今年の春の研修は、4月29日~5月2日までの４日間を28人の留学生と共に行いました。

1日目と２日目は、横浜のJICAで、そして3日目と４日目は、静岡県で行いました。

3日目に静岡に着いてからすぐに、留学生にとってはとても貴重な経験の一つとして、日本の伝統的な茶畑を訪問しました。

静岡県に入るとすぐに、茶畑が目に入りました。

四方八方茶畑という、慣れない光景にびっくりしました。

私がブラジルに住んでいた時には、サトウキビ畑やオレンジの木が並んでいる事はありましたが、お茶は今回が初めてでした。

今回は、特別に茶畑とそして抹茶工場の見学をさせて頂きました。

抹茶工場では、抹茶が出来る過程を丁寧に説明していただきました。

様々な機会を使って丁寧に茶葉を加工するという事を改めて知る事が出来ました。

さらに、今までの抹茶を作る際の苦労や努力などをお話ししていただきました。

天候に左右されやすい生産の量や質。

それらをどう改善するのか、どのように消費者の手までおいしく届くのかなどと貴重な話を聞く事が出来ました。

日本で伝統的なお茶がどのような思いで作られているのかを知る事ができてすごく良かったです。

そしてもう一つ感心したのは、大きな畑から収穫される茶葉からおいしいお茶にするまでのグループワークの大切さを今回の見学で学びました。

私達留学生もこれからうまくグループとしてまとまって、何か少しずつ自分たちが出来る事の結果を出していければと思います。

Group Discussion

Every year during the Haru no Kenshu, NFSA scholars have the opportunity to meet JICA volunteers and exchange experiences, information and have a great time together!

Being part of the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA), JICA is responsible for sending volunteers eager to make use of their skills and experience acquired in Japan to developing countries to work together with local people.

The four major types of volunteers are the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (ages 20 to 39), the Senior Volunteers (ages 40 to 69), and the Volunteers and Senior Volunteers for Japanese Communities Overseas.

The volunteers usually spend two years in developing countries, living and working with the local people while taking part in cooperative activities that can be included in seven fields: agriculture, forestry and fisheries, processing, maintenance, civil engineering, health and hygiene, education and culture, and sport.

During this years´s exchange, we started the activity with a warm group dynamics, in order to introduce ourselves and know more about volunteers destination and aims.We were placed in groups of volunteers according to our country of origin, so I was in a group that everybody was going to Brazil.
I was very surprised to see that everybody in my group would be going to different cities in Brazil, and in some cases, very far from the big urban centres like Belém in North Brazil near Amazon and Cuiabá, in Mato Grosso, Central Brazil, near to the Pantanal.

The group talks was very cheerful, and the volunteers were excited to talk with us and have the opportunity to practice their Portuguese or Spanish. Some of them were really good, with great vocabulary and pronunciation!!!

Most groups discussed the tourism spots and the typical food of each country, but some curious topics about boys-girls taste and relationships also came up!

I really enjoyed this activity and I was really touched by the excitement and the adventurous spirit of the volunteers! It really inspired me, and gave me a new breath to my journey here in Japan!

NFSA & Jica Volunteers

My life lately is very nice. I met a lot of people and a lot of intersted things. It’s like being a miss universe or something and doing the duties. Hehe..

I went to a school which has an autism program in Mitaka. They has a special classroom and a lot of special treatment equipment even a special toilet for the autism children. They also invite me to do an observation to the kids in their school. So happy for that.

I also went to see a man from the overseas minister, Hamada san. He’s very kind, and he talk Indonesian.. he told me about history of Nakano. He said that a long time ago, Nakano was a military and police academy base. But now, Nakano changed into a shoping tourism city.

I had fun with NFSA’s family in the seminar of the drawing contest exhibition. To meet the other scholar was really charged my spirit.

Kotaro-kun was also there. Hoho..He’s so cute!

The last but not least..

I met the trainee teachers from Cambodia. They’re so young. 20 years old. They’re so clever and has a very clear mission in their life. To make children in Cambodia have a good education. They said that there’re not a lot of teacher there. Young people there prefer to be a worker or a farmer. I hope they could do their duties as what they wanted, succsessfuly. And so do I..

I hope i can be able to have this kind of opportunity again next month..

Annisa | 7^th batch

Indonesia

Español

Estimados amigos,
Ya se han abierto las inscripciones para la Beca “Realización de Sueños” 2011.

El presente programa tiene como objetivo ofrecer una oportunidad a los jóvenes descendientes japoneses con un espíritu líder, a realizar sus sueños y proyectos que contribuyan al desarrollo de su país y de su sociedad local, en la búsqueda también de promover un mayor nivel de entendimiento entre Japón y su país de origen a través de la beca de estudios en Japón.

La inscripciones están abiertas desde el 1 de Junio hasta el 31 de Julio del 2010.

Este programa toma apoyo de la The Nippon Foundation (Nippon Zaidan)

Para mas informacion, diríjase a esta pagina web: http://www.jadesas.or.jp/ES/kenshu/02scholarship.html

Portugues

Caros amigos,
Já estão abertas as inscrições para a bolsa “Realização do Sonho 2011″.

O presente programa tem como objetivo oferecer uma oportunidade a jovens descendentes de japoneses, com espírito de liderança, a realizar seus sonhos e projetos que contribuam para o desenvolvimento de seu país e da sociedade local, e que busquem também promover um maior nível de entendimento entre o Japão e seu país de origem através da bolsa de estudos no Japão.

As inscrições estão abertas a partir do dia 1 de junho até 31 de julho de 2010.

Este programa tem apoio da The Nippon Foundation (Nippon Zaidan).

Para maiores informações dirija-se à esta página: http://www.jadesas.or.jp/PT/kenshu/02scholarship.html

日本語

みなさま、

２０１１年の「夢の実現プロジェクト」募集が始まったことをお伝えします！

この奨学金制度はリーダーの素質があり、居住国と日本との間の理解促進や居住国・地域社会の発展に貢献するために具体的な計画や夢を持つ若い日系人に対し、その実現のために日本留学の機会を与えるための奨学金プログラムです。応募待ってます！

募集期間：６月１日～７月３１日

詳しくはこちら：http://www.jadesas.or.jp/kenshu/03scholarship.html

English

Dear Friends,

We are happy to inform you that the applications for the “Nikkei Scholarship 2011” are open!

This scholarship aims to provide an opportunity to young Japanese descendants with a leading spirit, to realize their dreams and projects that contribute to the development of their country and their local society, also in pursuit of promoting a greater level of understanding between Japan and their country of origin through the fellowship in Japan.

Applications are open from June 1 until July 31 of 2010.

For more information click here!  http://www.jadesas.or.jp/EN/kenshu/scholarship/index_e.html