Japanese students learn from eye-opening cultural experience
KUCHING: Global Incubation & Fostering Talents (Gift) facilitator Kimura Daisuke hoped their programme would continue to foster relationships among world citizens and rapport among youths in Sarawak and Malaysia.
“We brought with us students from Toyo University Japan to experience the true culture of people from different parts of the world, and for them to learn from this experience,” he said.
“This year we brought 11 students on a voyage beyond their home ground in Japan to Sarawak where we want to learn about races, cultures and religions so diverse yet communities live harmoniously irrespective of their backgrounds.”
Kimura said this before the closing ceremony of ‘ Diversity Voyage In Malaysia ( Kuching): 6 Days Global Citizenship Programme with Japanese Students at Kuching Polytechnic Sarawak’ yesterday.
The programme was closed by Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datu Ik Pahon Joyik.
Kimura said he had never felt so welcome before and was grateful for the great hospitality shown which enabled the success of their programme in Kuching.
“The first magical word I learned was ‘ makan’ or ‘eat’ that got me closer to local participants in the programme. This is what brought us all together,” he recalled.
This is the seventh time Gift had carried out the programme with Kuching Polytechnic Sarawak.
“This year our theme is ‘Diversity Voyage’ and over the last few days, we found the uniqueness of the diversity of culture and language here in Sarawak, and how the people are close-knit,” he said.
Kimura said the eight students from the polytechnic who participated in the programme showed Japanese students the Sarawak way of life, and how cultures and languages can bring people together.
“Our (Japanese) students who participated discovered many secrets of the Sarawak community and how they managed to live in unity from the many presentations by the polytechnic students. This is a learning process for us,” he said.
Kimura disclosed that development of diversity in Japan was new as 97 per cent of her people had the same ethnic origin.
During the programme, he experienced and saw how Sarawakians of different races and religion - Malay, Chinese, Dayaks and others - mingle and welcome the Japanese people as though they were one of them.
He was amazed to see that different places of worship were built in close proximity.
“We still have to make progress in this area of diversity and hope to inculcate this culture in our society. As citizens of the world, we should emulate this,” he said.
He noticed that foreign tourists and visitors in Sarawak were treated as equals with the locals.
“We learned from our experience and after this, I would like to open up to visitors coming to Japan without hesitation.”
Kimura said there should not be any form of discrimination or bias in this world as we are all human beings.
He thanked the students from Toyo University and the Polytechnic for joining the programme, and the staff for their hospitality in the last six days.
Kimura lauded the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture for their support and making their stay in Kuching a memorable one.
He looked forward to long-term collaboration between Sarawak and Japan in many fields.
“We need an environment where citizens of the world can learn from one another and live without fear,” he said.
Director of Kuching Polytechnic Sarawak, Kamaludin Daud was pleased that his polytechnic was chosen for the seventh time to conduct Gift’s programme.
He hoped student participants learned much from one another, and that both countries would work together in many fields to benefit their countries and youths.