With people of the world, let’s make a toast!
There were 138 people from 48 different countries who attended this year’s Gayagaya event, making it the most attended event in ica history. Many families and people of various ages and nationalities enjoyed singing, dancing, games and chatting. (Social Welfare Center)

• The Mongolian games were fun because I was able to talk with foreigners for the first time. (I)
• It was fun. I enjoyed the music and dancing. Both Japanese and Jamaicans were warm and friendly. (D / Jamaica)
• There were more countries that came here than I had thought. They really understood whole point of ica. (M)
• As the moderator, I was very nervous; but it was fun. I wore a hat and danced to Pico Taro. But of course, suddenly it became difficult. (L / China)

A gathering of people from around the world!

The eighth international event was held indoors. Twenty-seven foreigners appeared on stage and were welcomed with warm applause. The event had a friendly atmosphere. In addition, there various booths including a booth?that displayed?photos of past ica activities.

Sunday, September 4, Sano Public Hall Multipurpose Room

Twenty-five children, up to grade four of elementary school, and their parents listened to the stories of the students of Japanese learners from ica and also played Rock, Scissors, Paper. This year was a first time the mothers of the World Fun (intercultural exchange group for families) held the event. They found some time in their busy schedules for to prepare for this event and were careful to design the event to appeal to children’s interests.

Children and Adults Have a Good Time
I was a staff member from the preparation stage to the final event of the international exchange event “Let’s play with foreigners”. All staff members were struggling to find ideas that both children and adults, and both foreigners and Japanese would enjoy. On Saturday, natives of Sri Lanka, Korea, China, Bulgaria and the Philippines joined in and taught greetings in foreign languages ??such as “good morning”. Participants also learned how express animal sounds such as dog barks and took an animal bark quiz. There were plenty of things to do and see. For example, members asked such questions as?”What do you have for breakfast?”, others listened to a Sri Lankan songs and everyone joined?along in a Bulgarian dance.

Everyone was very excited about the Sri Lanka’s game where players were blindfolded and had to correctly place the elephant’s eyeball on the elephant’s body. No matter which country, we all laughed. It was so fun that time flew by.
(Hanako Sugimoto)

* J: com coverage broadcasts on Tuesday, October 6.

Eighty-eight people from twenty-seven countries exchanged words at Kansai International Center Hall. Attending, were ica Japanese learners and Japanese language trainees from the Kansai International Center. Japanese students and Japanese participants divided into small groups then gathered around tables and had lively exchanges in Japanese and English.

• I talked with two people from Africa. Although they were both from Africa, I could see various differences depending on the country. (Japan)
• I was impressed that they knew a lot about Japan , even though they had never been to Japan. (Japan)
• I talked with a person from country I was unaware of. It was interesting to learn about various countries. I wanted to talk with a lot more people. (Japan)
• I talked with people from five countries such as Congo, Afghanistan. They’ve been coming to this center for a month to learn Japanese. Although everyone has only been studying a month, I was surprised because their Japanese was good. (Japan)
• Everyone was friendly. The members ranged from young to old, so I learned a lot. (Ahmat / Chad)
• I’m glad I could talk with local people. My first impression of Japan was not so warm and familiar like this. However, I realized that the more I talk, the fewer differences I see; ?I find more similarities with Japanese people. In my country family is very important too. (Azamat / Kazakhstan)
• My Japanese ability was limited, but I’m glad that we could talk with Japanese people. I’m getting more motivated to learn more Japanese. (Tier / Indonesia)

Izumisano Summer Festival in Izumisano
August 20, 2016
Suehiro Park

Local gathering in Izumisano – the plan was to break the world record of 3,000 people dancing to the traditional song of Izumisano, Sano Kudoki, while wearing traditional yukata. It wasn’t broken this time?however. This year the number of participants came to about?500.

Totaling sixteen people and representing nine countries, Japanese language learners from ica and members of Kansai International Center, participated in the event. People?from various countries gathered and like good friends, enjoyed informal and carefree conversation.

●(On the left) Mei, a Philippine native with her two children. She’s been in Japan for seven years but this is the first time she’s worn a yukata. When she finished dancing she was interviewed by NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation). The interview was a great experience.

●(On the right) Nagamu, a Syrian native, selling her handmade work at the ica booth this year. Nishimura, who learned the craft in Turkey, introduced Nagamu?to the craft. Now Nagamu uses the technique to make cute?handmade earrings and accessories.

●Ratna, who was wearing a beautiful green national costume of Bangladesh also enjoyed wearing a yukata.

●Through ica, Yureka from Sri Lanka and Kuwan from Taiwan, recently became?very good friends.?On the day of the event they met at the bus stop in front of Izumisano Station and then arrived at the event together. Japanese, the language they both just started learning, is?their lingua?franca. Chamu, Yureka’s husband, is fluent in Japanese. He entertained people with his funny jokes and engaging conversation topics.

It was a good experience!

It was a very good experience. I was surprised that so many people danced wearing yukata to break the world record. Is Bon Odori related to Buddhism? There are thousands of dances in India too. The way of dancing is different in various ways… It was interesting to meet a lot Japanese people today. I also went fishing for goldfish. Is this a traditional type of game? I caught 25 fish with two paper fishnets. The trick is to use the edge and scoop up quickly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take the fish home?so I had to return them.
Gautam, India

Bon Odori in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2008

When I was a Japanese teacher in Malaysia in 2008 the Japanese Association in Malaysia asked my school to join in the Bon Odori event. With volunteer students and teachers,?I participated in the event.

We practiced at the Japanese Association building at night. Then, on the day of the dance I made a mistake and wore?a?white pair of shoes instead of a black pair. Despite my teacher status, I had made a mistake and the other ladies pointed it out. Luckily, I was able to?borrow some black shoes and eventually we danced in front of more than fifty audience members, including some VIPs.
(Kadodera / Japanese teacher)