right... so desu ne!

The study tour of Japan three years ago for the period March 24 – April 15 was made possible by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under its 2003 Japan-ASEAN Youth Friendship Programme for the 21st century. For many years now, Filipino youth have been sent to Japan under various studies to experience the country, its culture and its people through a programme of a little less than one month. I was a participant in the Local Development Group, representing the NEDA Region 10 Northern Mindanao Office.

The study tour started off with General Orientation for 5 days in Osaka. This was followed by the Tokyo Program for 5 days. An inhouse seminar for 3 days made up the Osio, Kanagawa Programme, followed by the 7 days Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Program. It ended with the 3 days evaluation programme back in Osaka.

The opening ceremony in Osaka launched the friendship program. Attending were JICA officers, the Philippine ambassador, all the Filipino participants and even the Vietnamese participants who were also in a similar study tour. During the Osaka Programme, lectures were given to deepen the participants’ general view of the country as well as their knowledge of the present situation of the Japanese people, culture and economy especially after World War II. Three sessions of Japanese lessons were also conducted to enhance the already acquired minimum Japanese expressions of the participants. This was necessary for the one-day exercise of the Filipino participants with the Japanese youth volunteers.

... all around me was the soft chill of early spring. And everyone we met happily awaited the first buds of the cherry blossoms. It was a heady combination.

The Tokyo programme began with the ride in the Shinkansen, the famous bullet train of Japan. The trip from Osaka to Tokyo indulged everyone with a view of Mount Fuji, the most revered mountain in the country. Moreover, the ride presented to the Filipino participants the hustle and bustle of the everyday life of a working person in the country. It also showed the ingenuity of the Japanese infrastructure, from their buildings to bridges, to tunnels and to road networks.

The Tokyo programme was filled with visits, lectures, briefings and excursions to include the Roppongi Hills; Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications; ASEAN-Japan Promotion Centre on Trade, Investment and Tourism; Edo Tokyo Museum; and, Honjo Life Safety Learning Center.

... spreading its two arms of buzzing city streets and silent cobbled nooks, Tokyo welcomed me, who, like a petulant child, wouldn’t believe this place existed until she finally steps down and breathes its cool breeze.

The Kanagawa programme was a three-day in-house seminar which was conducted in the Oiso Prince Hotel. Aside from the Filipino party, the seminar also had twenty other Japanese youth who participated in a one-on-one sharing and discussion sessions.

The Kanagawa programme enabled a closer encounter between the Filipino and Japanese participants. The in-house seminar brought about a personal understanding of the similarities of peoples despite the differences – not only through the workshops but also during the informal sharing during mealtimes and evening get-togethers.

... up and down the hill, through hedgerows, down the lane, around the azure pool, and into the warmth of the extended hands of friendship – that’s how we went.

The Yamaguchi Programme started on April 6 and was hosted by the organization, World Youth Friendship in Tokuyama. While in Yamaguchi, the group stayed in the Ad Hoc Marufuku Hotel in Shunan City. It was where the welcome party was held together with all the officers and members of the sponsoring organization.

Like in the Tokyo programme, various lectures and on-site visits were conducted during the Yamaguchi programme, to include the Tokuyama Technical Junior College, Kudamatsu Street Redevelopment Project, Mazda Auto Company, Horikoshigama Pottery, Yanai Power Plant, and Kisan Elementary School.

... the gray sand in the stretch of beach and the sunshine in the sea mimic the warmth of my home; but there the similarities ended, because this indeed, is a different place with its distinct agenda, and moving on its own cadence.

The Youth Invitation Programme provided the participants priceless opportunities to observe Japan’s local development and posed a lot of challenges for the young civil servants of the Philippines.

This would mean though that participants from the central or the national government would have bigger responsibilities in terms of applying the various lessons because most of the local development policies in the Philippines come from the central government.

From the perspective of the participants from the local government units and regional line agencies, the application of experiences would be on the formulation and advocacy of policies that promote good practices of Japan and applying these in the Philippine setting, and, capacity building program on key areas of local governance and development. Referring to the highlights of good Japanese practices and utilization of experiences would be helpful in the promotion of local development.

As the biggest challenge for the participants to this programme would be the translation of these experiences to the local setting, and replication of these learnings to the offices and local government units, the first steps to its realization would initially be done through testimonials in various public seminars or briefings, policy discussions, conduct of advocacy campaigns and project development.

... each day a new lesson was bestowed upon us – and we received them all with amazement and acceptance – and we wondered, what else is there? And then we wondered some more, what can we learn from this?

Japan welcomed us with the first tinges of spring, and as I listened and embraced the sessions and the activities, I realized that I too, was waking up. Japan, to me, did not boast of its development. The surrounding cleanliness and the industry of the people have been there, and I was just given the chance to see it. All along, they’ve been busy planning and creating and building and preserving, and it was a pleasure to view it and just be a part of it all for a few days.

If for anything else, I have created with this study tour a new network of acquaintances and friends. My host family was a delight, I found out that the Japanese volunteers and the youth during our in-house seminar have similar interests with me, and most of all, the local group I belonged to was more than I could bargain for. When at the beginning of the programme, there were nineteen other participants for the Local Development Group, at the end of it, there were already nineteen friends for me from all over the country: Jason, Nadz, Loren, Marge, Sosty, Rommel, Jane, Weng, Jhoe, Alvin, Rizan, Didi, Laryx, Milay, Dhonn, Sandy, Liza, Rex and Eunice.

The Japan study tour was a superb experience. Undeniably, I have gathered lessons and expanded my horizons. And though I believe that there is no place like home, I think that it also would not hurt for the home to learn a few good things from that place which played as our host for fantastic twenty-three days.

... nihon e kite yokatta desu. Ii omoide ga dekimashita. Taisetsu ni shimasu.

* An excerpt from my study tour report. In salute to a group now celebrating an anniversary of a great friendship.