Record of Our Activities

 On October 17th, the students had a lecture about understanding foreign cultures given by Mr. Futatsuyama, a graduate from Kyoto University who specializes in Asian and African cultures.

[Lecture Notes]

＊In his study, he conducts fieldwork mainly in small villages in Tunisia, a country located in northern Africa.

＊What he found in Tunisia:

    The culture is completely different from Japan’s. 

     Example: toilets have neither seats nor paper

　　　　　　　brides and grooms have separate wedding ceremonies

＊In conclusion…

It is important not only to accept foreign cultures but also to RE-construct our point of view or way of thinking based on what you found in foreign cultures.

[the participants’ comments]

＊I learned how important it is to try to understand foreign cultures.  Before the lecture, I didn’t try to do so very much.  But now I want to know more about foreign people and their backgrounds, and appreciate them.

＊I think I have to change my attitude toward different cultures.  I want to actually go abroad and see a lot of inspiring things, so that I can take a broader view.

＊I understood that things like lifestyles and concepts of love are very different from those in Japan.  It is a great thing to experience these different ideas by actually going there, and I wanted to go abroad like him.

 On 5th, October, a special workshop with staff from United Nations University was held by UNU-IASOUIK.  Yuto Kitamura and Eri Yamazaki came as moderators.  Mr. Kitamura gave a lecture on SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and Ms. Yamazaki instructed the students in the workshop.

After the lecture, the students were divided into groups and discussed three themes:

＊What is “Sustainable Society” in Japan?

＊What is “Sustainable Society” in Kanazawa?

＊How will society have changed by 2030 and what’s their role in society?

After discussion, they shared their opinions with one another.

[the participants’ comments]

＊According to the lecture, the United Nations picked up 17 goals and divided them into small parts.  I want to learn about their contents.  After the lecture, I thought about “Sustainable Japan and Kanazawa” and found it difficult to connect the lecture with those goals.  But by sharing our opinions with members of my group, we found that we can connect “Sustainable Japan and Kanazawa” with SDGs.  As a result, we found what we should do in terms of “rich water.”

＊I deeply felt that thinking about solutions for abstract problems is very difficult but very important. 

＊All the participants took part in the discussion very actively and expressed their opinions very well.  Some students said that that was the first time to think about such a serious problem, and that they could do something to solve it.

 On September 12th, Yosuke Nakai from Waseda University and Yoko Inagaki from Kanazawa University, who graduated from our school, were invited and spoke about their experience on the theme of “ways to become an internationally-minded person.

[the participants’ comments]

＊I have become more interested in international jobs through this lecture.  Especially, I noticed it is important to have an unchanging idea in my heart, and I thought I should have it at once even if it is vague.

 On September 10th, Prof. Michiko Watanabe from Keio graduate school was invited and asked to give the students a special lecture on the theme of “the skill to analyze a phenomenon ~the skill of thinking with statistics as a world common skill”

[the participants’ comments]

＊When I attended this lecture, I felt its title was strange.  However, I finally took its meaning for passing the data we make by analyzing phenomena to the future.  I want to be a person who is successful in the world by using data and graphs efficiently.

＊Statistics can allow us to predict uncertain things and make them certain.  We can apply this advantage to various problems, from those of small groups like a club team or a company to worldwide problems.  I think statistics is one of the most useful studies and I have become more interested in it.

　From August 17th to 19th, the ‘Global Leadership Program’ was held, in which the students had discussions with foreign students from Tokyo University and other universities, and made presentations for them.  Some students from this school (1st grade:23 people, 2nd grade:10 people) joined this program.

[the participants’ comments]

＊I clearly understood about the image of foreign countries and how to communicate with people in English.

＊Now, I strongly want to study abroad and communicate with foreign people. I was so glad to join this invaluable program before I go abroad.

＊I had hesitated to talk about my dream because I had been embarrassed about speaking about it in English, but I realized that discussing dreams with others is wonderful.  It was fun to hear others’ dreams, and I decided to keep making efforts to achieve my dream.