Forging bonds from France to Japan!
It is June 2024, and we are one week out from the arrival of our new intern from ESIEA Graduate School of Engineering, France.
2023 was the inaugural launch of the program which saw two students, Pierre and Stanislas, come to Ibara and spend 2 months living and working in our city. Staying at the homes of volunteers from our Ibara International Exchange Association, as well as an extended stay at the highly-rated Pension Comet Hotel in Bisei Town, these two students had days filled with new experiences, interesting interactions and lots of Japanese.
As the CIR (Coordinator for International Relations) in Ibara City, I personally witnessed the language growth that the two underwent, during their long stay; from interpreting simple sentences, to being able to take a step back and watch them have full-fledged conversations.
As you may imagine, living with a Japanese host family has lightning fast effects on language comprehension while also allowing the chance to be immersed in the culture 24/7, learning things that otherwise may not be known.
Visiting locations around Ibara everyday, under the guidance of members of the Tourist Division was a chance to see what Ibara is really like, how tourists experience our city and in turn, how we can improve that experience for others from an outside perspective.
The programme is really an internship and summer camp experienced combined, mixing the desk duties of translation/proofreading, creation of materials promoting international exchange and to a lesser extent, programming, with cultural arts and crafts, museum visits, wild boar hunts and festivals. The internship provides the chance for the interns to experience Japan in an entirely unique way that is sure to stay with them for the rest of their lives.
A year on, one of our interns is now living in Tokyo as he completes a year abroad, while the other chose my home country, the United Kingdom, as the place for his continued studies.
These links both within and outside of Japan are a joy for me and the citizens of Ibara to see, and as we warmly welcome our next intern, Guilhem, we hope that he has a similarly fulfilling experience.
Please be sure to keep an eye out for updates about Guilhem and his stay!
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