Please check the photos taken in trains or at the airport from this URL.
More than half of children are having the experience of being abroad for the first time ever and they excitedly departed!
Here are the reports they wrote today.
They had some practice of speech today as they will have heaps of opportunity for speech in Cairns from now on.
They had some practice of speech today as they will have heaps of opportunity for speech in Cairns from now on.
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Day 1 Project Nana Maruyama
We did speech at Fukushima station. In the Shinkansen Espress train, I did speech to 2 foreigner people and got advise from them.They told us how to read English and intonation very kindly.Also they asked us some questions.I was bit confused with many unfamiliar words.But They repeated slowly for me and I could get it. Foreigner people are very kind and gentle. I never forget that I could come to Australia with many people's support. I would like to spend a day by day with appreciation. I would like to know more about host family who I stay with. I really enjoyed today and I would like to do my best tomorrow. I can't speak English yet, I would like to speak English more after these 10 days. |
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March 24, 2018
Wakana Takeda One of the reasons why I applied for this program was because I wanted to change for the better. I can be indecisive and think too much, and when push comes to shove, I find that I’m not able to quickly take actions. I’d like to reflect on my weaknesses and I want to be intentional about changing for the better. For this reason, I would like to be proactive in communicating with others and stretch my English abilities in the coming days. No regrets! I want to enjoy every moment! My goal is “challenge”. I would like to take up on opportunities as they arise and try things that I would have previously thought “no”. Today was a day of transition and I feel tired. Also, it was the first day of speech practice. I was prepared, but I felt very nervous at the beginning. After the speeches, there was a time of ‘free talk’. When people asked questions, I was confounded and lost for words. As I carefully thought about the meaning of the question, I missed the timing to ask back for clarification. I felt apologetic for not being able to communicate effectively even after the people had said that I’ve done well with my speech. It’s sad when conversations don’t flow, so from now on, I decided to say honestly and simply that I don’t understand. This is better communication. When I do my speech, I hope that I don’t just simply read off the script but that I really own it and say it in a way that reaches other people’s hearts. What I’ve learnt today, I will apply tomorrow. I will try my best to change for the better. |
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Mio Sagawa. When I did speech in the Shinkansen Express, I could let people know about Fukushima well.
They gave me advise and suggestion, I would like to follow. .My English is not well, but I am so happy to tell people with my own words. There are many opportunity to talk about Fukushima in Australia, I will not be shy about it, and I would like to talk to people positively. I never forget to say hello, courtesy, good manner and gratitude at home stay. I would like to keep my potential open all the time. |
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Kohki Hisada. Firstly I thougut this project will start tomorrow, today is only transfer day.But It wasn't at all with good meaning. I talked about Fukushima with 3 people from overseas.They've already know what happened in Fukushima and Dainihon Earthquake and nuclear accident in Fukushima.It makes me happy.
I never forget appreciation for people support us.I will do my best to to open my value and potential and improve my English skill. |
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Sumire Kuge
My first day in Cairns with my host family was full of expectations and worries. It began with departure from
Japan, with many opportunities to practice speech. To be honest, at the beginning, it felt scary. However, as I began talking with people from overseas, and seeing that they were so kind to listen, I began to start enjoy talking to them and about Japanese culture. I talked about “koinobori” and “hinamatsuri”. There were moments of language barrier and it was frustrating to not be able to communicate, but thankfully, they were very patient in listening to me and this made me feel happy. It’s my first time to go out of Japan, and there are so many things I don’t understand, but experiencing people’s warmth and kindness along the journey has been reassuring. It’s only the first day and much more adventure later await! I look forward to meeting more people and I’d like more people to understand about Fukushima. In the coming ten days, I hope to meet as many people as possible, to interact with them and to share with the world about what’s happening in Fukushima. |
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March 24, 2017
Mahiro Fukuda Mr Kodama... lol. When in a bus towards Narita airport (?) he suddenly asked “do you want to do speech?”, I was so surprised. I had heard from previous participants about this, and at that point I realised that it was true. The first person to listen to my speech was Kevin from China. He was so kind. He would nod as I said aloud my speech and I remember I was very happy. When conversations stop, he would speak in Japanese, and even if I asked the same thing again and again, he would patiently repeat for me. I’m so glad it was Kevin who would listen to my speech for the first time! The second person to listen to my speech was Mike from Australia. Mike would only understand English so it was a bit of a battle there… Mike was really kind, too, and he said my speech was really good. That made me happy. lol. I taught these two gentlemen how to fold origami. I folded crane. I had this strange feeling that even if I can’t continue conversations in English, I can take actions instead to share good things about Japan! So I just took out origami and started to fold it. I’ve found that people from overseas don’t have much experiences with origami so when they fold paper, the corners don’t align exactly or areas where the papers get creased. But when they finished folding, I saw them saying “Wow!” and “Beautiful!” and this made me feel so happy. When I gave them the crane I folded, they would say “Thank you!” or even “Arigato gozaimasu!” (in Japanese) and it made me feel like I’ve done something good. It was only about 5 to 10 minutes from the moment I showed the origami paper to when they finished folding it, but within that short period of time, I was able to show them a little bit of Japanese culture. Cultural experiences like kimono and kabuki would take a lot of time and money, but origami is more accessible and readily available. I would like many people to know about origami. Origami was one of the reasons why I applied to this program. When I was stuck indoors during the disaster, my grandfather and grandmother took me to Tō-no-Hetsuri (a cliff overlooking a river in Fukushima), and there I met this old lady… Was it a coincidence or destiny… I don’t know, but I feel that it was meant to be. Mr Kodama said, “What you are experiencing now will come alive in 3, 5 and 10 years time”. I resonate with this phrase when I think about where I was 5-6 years ago. At that time, I folded many origami and became good at it. This then led me to think that I would like more people to know about origami in Australia, which then led me to apply to this program. So it is true that present actions lead to new opportunities in the future. There are many people in this world who live in poverty, who live just to survive. For such people, I would like them to know this simple art of origami. You don’t need expensive fabrics or props and equipment. You just need paper. But I do know that there are places where even having paper can be hard. One day, I would like to go to such places and donate origami paper. But I know that is hard as well. So to begin with, I’d like to start with donating money. To be honest, before this program, I hadn’t thought deeply about donations and giving before, but on my first day of program, I had the opportunity to think a bit more about world affairs. |
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March 24, 2018
Sumire Noda Today pretty much ended with just moving from place to place. But in this time of transition, there were various experiences. On the train from Ueno to Narita, I got to practice my speech three times to people from outside Japan. At first, I didn’t like it because I couldn’t speak or listen to English at all. However, once I started conversing with them, I realised that I can overcome language barrier with expressions and gestures! I can’t do my speech perfectly yet but I was really happy to experience that what I wanted to convey got across more or less. I found it difficult to listen and understand what people from overseas are saying. I hope that in Cairns, as I converse with many people, I get to brush up my communication skills!! At the airport, I made friends with a boy from some other country!! Even though we met for the first time, he was so friendly, something that is not very common in Japan. From tomorrow, I will start my home stay in Cairns! I want to be proactive in conversations and to share about Fukushima to people!! |
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MIzuki Nomua Day2 of Project
I was very nervous for first day of project, but everyone met were very kind and walm hearted. I spent moving almost day but I could found person who has the same interest as me.It became a fun day. I could read what I wrote as speech, but I was impatient as I couldn't communicate afterwords at all. I was worried about about could I communicate with my host family? But I told that I will overcome anything with my own power infront of my family and news paper reporter.So I will do my best. During 9days in Cairns, I will do my best and I would like to study hard and enjoy each day. My purpose is to overcome my English level currently not good at.I would like to listen and talk a lot more.
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I will update this facebook page as below, please check it out as well.
https://www.facebook.com/smilewithkids/
Today (26 MAR) from 1pm to 2:30pm, we will have a Talking Session by Kim Forde from Mr Emerald Wind Farm at the Cairns City Libruary.
This event will change to talking session with Fukushima Kids because Ms Kim cannot come to Cairns because of heavy rain. (Update: 26 Mar 10:10am) Everybody welcome, please do not hesitate to join!
Thank you very much.
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