[Date & Time] Sunday, July 7, at 10:15~15:15
[Spots] Hiratsuka Star Festival and Hiratsuka International Exchange Salon
[Visitors] 45 visitors including 10 JICA participants, 24 HIDA Philippine practice caregivers and 11 overseas students (9 from Yokohama National University and 2 from Tokai University) from 15 countries, with 25 from the Philippines, 2 each from China, Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Czech, and Cameroon, and 1 each from Serbia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico and 4 leaders and staff
[Attendants] 24 KSGG members
[Languages] English, Japanese and others
We took group photos and gave doll-shaped bookmarkers made of Japanese paper to the visitors before we started our tour. Throughout the world, it is a rare experience to walk under bamboos with gorgeous decorations including big mechanical dolls. Writing wishes on the strips of paper and tying them up to the branches of bamboos were popular among the participants. We heard that these bamboos would be dedicated to a shrine. As the traditional performing arts were performed at Mitsukedai Square this year, we could watch the wonderful performing arts very well. After that, we moved to Hiratsuka International Exchange Salon and the visitors enjoyed Japanese calligraphy, paper folding, cup and ball, cat’s cradle, and so on. I hoped the visitors studying in Japan could get a good memory that day and their experience would give some help in their life in Japan.
The Pleasure of Joining in the Star Festival as a Guide
The four of us were in charge of the group consisted of overseas students of Yokohama National University. They were from different countries such as South Korea, China, Myanmar, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Czech (two brothers), and in addition one Mexican joined us on the way. They were amazed at the long range of waving bamboos with decorations and delighted to see them. We were attracted to the behavior of every participant in high spirits, which reflected the country they came from. They wanted to have lunch individually and ate takoyaki (octopus dumplings), yakitori (grilled chicken), and yakisoba (chow mein), enjoying the culture of street stalls in Japan to the full.
In International Exchange Salon, they started Japanese calligraphy at first. After I wrote their names in Chinese character one for each of them, they began to practice writing them at once. A Chinese woman truly wrote it very well as might be expected. Each of them made fair copy on a card, which became wonderful souvenirs for them. Their smiles showed that they actually enjoyed doing origami (paper folding) and kendama (cup and ball) that they had seen in the Shitamachi Museum in Ueno, Tokyo.