Hello! I am Shikata, a teacher of geography, history and civics.
Again after a long absence, I will herein report on our fieldwork in Indonesia! The final report is about what happened after the Global Environmental Research team and the Fair Trade Team joined.
On the evening of January 6, both teams arrived at Universitas Islam Indonesia; reunion after one and half a day.
On that night we stayed at a seminar house of Universitas Islam Indonesia.
Then on January 7 (Thursday), a busy day started!
On the morning we visited the ruins of Borobudur, a World Heritage Site.
(Ta-dah!)
(Ta-dah!!!)
In the bus tour to Borobudur, we could talk with many students of Universitas Islam
Indonesia.
(Everybody is smiling)
A local tour attendant Agus interpreted politely!
We visited coffee plantations.
(There is a civet cat!)
Lunch time...
An exchange meeting at Universitas Islam Indonesia!
First our students made a presentation.
Presentation about Smart Village
And about Fair Trade.
Both teams spoke in English. I wonder if they could make the contents understood enough.
After the presentation, there was an exciting question-and-answer session.
(Somebody asked a question!)
Thereafter the teams separated to make a discussion.
About 6 to 7 Indonesian university students surrounded each one high school student.
How grateful!
Of course everybody speaks in English.
One of the students said, "I was very happy to have been able to communicate with each other in English, with neither side using native languages". Yes! Such efforts are most important!
After leaving Universitas Islam Indonesia, we visited a Satellite Office established by
Osaka University at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia.
It is very valuable that Japanese university's satellite office is in Indonesia.
One of the scientists explained about their projects carried out in cooperation with both universities. This was also a useful experience for us.
On January 8 (Fri.), the final day, we left Jogjakarta toward Singapore, a transit port.
By taking advantage of a transit time, we could do sightseeing in Singapore.
Perhaps we could have firsthand knowledge of the diversity of Asia, which we could not understand from the visit of Indonesia alone.
But I wonder whether we could truly understand Asia, not as a superficial knowledge.
Then we left for Japan by night flight. On the morning of January 9 (Sat.), we separated at the airport. Good by!
Later on students were requested to submit a report.
Some students found the possibility of local revitalization in the Indonesian small hydraulic power generating facilities; others understood the significance of fair trade.
The students seem to have learned a lot more things, whether they can express in words or not.
Particularly, the most important is that we could have an opportunity to meet various people through the fieldwork.
I hope that you will be able to fly high in the future from these experiences!
That's all about a series of my reports.
Next I will explain about our new activity toward the next year.
Thank you very much!