20th Annual International Understanding and Cooperation Essay Contest
Elementary School Competition Winning Work

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What International Exchange Needs Now

by Yuki Watanabe
Fifth-Year Student
Fuefuki City Muncipal Misaka Higashi Elementary School

I tried to think about what type of international exchange we need now, with so much internationalization going on. I read in the newspaper a while ago that "exactly because we are in an age of internationalization, it has become important to understand the culture of our own country." So learning about the culture of your own country is the foundation for international exchange.

They say that the foreigners who come to Japan are all proud of their homelands, whatever their country, and that they have lots of knowledge about and can talk to people about the culture of their home country. And I heard that everybody who comes on home-stays ask questions about lots of different stuff in Japan, and almost always they then explain about how the same stuff is in their home countries. This made me think that by coming to Japan and coming in contact with Japanese culture they naturally start to compare the two countries.

And I though that for Japanese people, studying foreign languages either inside of Japan or on language study abroad programs lets us learn more about the Japanese language, and that experiencing a foreign culture lets us learn more about Japanese culture.

I have been going to English Conversation classes for three years. I started because I wanted to get used to and grow to like English, and now I can read simple English sentences and translate them into Japanese. But sometimes I read English picture books and I can't translate them into Japanese well. I can't turn them into the exact Japanese. That's when I realize that there are many Japanese expressions that I still don't know. This made me think that I first have to study Japanese very hard and become good in it.

They say that lots of the time you can learn more about Japan through the viewpoint of another culture. So I want to do a home-stay in England, which is an island country like Japan. When I did a little research about England I found out that there are lots of similar things with Japan. Like the royal family and the imperial family. Or afternoon tea and the Sado Japanese tea ceremony, where manners and ritual are important in both. And that you can sense the change of seasons in both gardening and bonsai plants. And chivalry and Bushido, which both are the basic spirit of our actions. And lots more. But I still don't have the knowledge to be able to compare the two and explain about Japanese culture. The world is getting smaller and smaller. So I think that what will be important is the ability to speak foreign languages and be friendly with foreign people. Of course studying English is important, but I think that studying culture is even more important. I think that it's also important to understand about world history, about how the world works and how the different ethnic groups of the world live. With that type of knowledge, I could interact as equals with people of a different set of values and become friends with them. If lots of people do that, then the world will have more peace and there will be a lot more international exchange.