Fukui Friendship Ambassador Newsletter 2007 Vol.3

 

Hello everyone!

The rainy season in Fukui started later than usual this year, but rainy days are now becoming quite common. How are you all spending the early part of summer? Before too long, fireworks displays like the one in the picture will be held all over Fukui prefecture. How about coming for a visit at that time?

Four new Friendship Ambassadors have been appointed, so I would like to introduce them. Laura Kinnunen, from Finland, worked in Fukui prefecture for three years as an ALT. Celeste Donovan, from New Zealand, also spent three years working as an ALT. They will both be leaving Fukui after having contributed greatly to English education. Anna Urszula Porowska, from Poland, spent a year studying at Fukui University as a foreign exchange student, and she made it a point to interact with her fellow Japanese students. The fourth ambassador, MD. Nazrul Islam, from Bangladesh, has studied engineering at Fukui University since 2003 and has a reputation for being "good-natured, friendly, and outgoing".

It's nice to see the circle of Fukui Friendship Ambassadors spread, isn't it? We look forward to hearing from everyone, including our new Friendship Ambassadors.

Fukui and beyond...

• Government comes up with three proposals for restructuring the Foreign Intern System
  In May, the Japanese national government came up with three proposals for restructuring the foreign intern and trainee system. This system began in 1993, and now nearly 10,000 interns a year come to Japan from China, Indonesia, and other countries. The system is intended to contribute to developing countries through a transfer of technology, but one after another, companies that are abusing the system have come to light. Since labor standards do not apply to foreign interns, quite a few companies have their interns do manual labor for a low wage. Furthermore, it has been discovered that some companies engage in illegal practices such as withholding interns' passports or restricting their movements.
  Given these discoveries, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has proposed abolishing the category of "foreign intern" and having foreign workers enter the country as "trainees", to whom labor standards apply. The Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, however, has opposed this plan and put forth its own proposal to renovate and enhance the system for interns. In addition to these two proposals, Jinen Nagase, the Minister of Justice, has submitted his own plan, encouraging the government to abandon the intern and trainee system entirely, and to welcome into Japan not only foreign workers with specialized training or skills but also manual laborers. With such a variety of different proposals, debate within the government could quickly come to a standstill.
• Oriental Stork born in wild for first time in 43 years
  A baby Oriental Stork hatched on May 20th in the "Stork Park" in Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture. While the Oriental Stork is registered in Japan as a Special Natural Treasure, it is also an endangered species. This was the first baby Oriental Stork to be born in the wild in 43 years, since one hatched in 1964 in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture.
  Like cranes or herons, Oriental Stork are water fowl, but they stand 110 centimeters tall and have a wing span of 200 centimeters. This giant bird's territory is limited to eastern Asia, and a only two to three thousand birds are currently estimated to exist. Oriental Storks have been bred in Japan since 1988, and projects to return them to the wild are also being carried out. The birth of an Oriental Stork in the wild, however, is quite a rare occurrence.
  The baby stork born in Toyooka City has been growing steadily and is expected to leave the nest in mid July.
• Fukui Prefecture launches "Mothers First Campaign"
  Fukui Prefecture is hoping to support pregnant women and households with children by creating a child rearing-friendly environment. These support initiatives, referred to as the "Mothers First Campaign", include measures such as giving priority for treatment at hospitals to patients with children, increased priority seating on public transportation, priority checkout at supermarkets, and designated parking spaces. By creating such an environment, Fukui hopes to boast the "Most supportive system in Japan for child rearing".
  The Prefectural government has also contacted the Fukui Prefecture Board of Commerce to consider setting up a program to offer discounts and special perks to families with three or more children under age 18. At the earliest, the government would invite stores to participate this fall, with the program going into effect at the beginning of next year. 16,000 families in Fukui Prefecture have three or more children and would thus be eligible for such a program.
• Fukui Prefecture establishes five billion yen fund to make Fukui's local businesses more competitive
  Starting this fiscal year, Fukui Prefecture will establish a "Fund to Strengthen Local Businesses" in order to make its local businesses, such as production of eyeglass frames and textiles, more competitive. The national government is expected to contribute 80% of this five billion yen fund. Over a ten year period, the fund aims to support development of new products and opening of new markets and to help create new businesses with a high level of profit.
  Using profits gained from managing the fund, six million yen in aid will be furnished to Fukui's eyeglass and textile industries. Apart from eyeglasses and textiles, the fund will also subsidize initiatives that make use of local resources including traditional crafts, tourism, and products related to agriculture, forestry, and fishing.
  In addition to setting up a fund, Fukui Prefecture plans to hold overseas business negotiations and business matching events for the textile industry and to support the application of metal processing and surfacing technologies developed in the eyeglass frame industry to other areas.

Hello from Fukui!

This time, I, the editor of the Friendship Ambassador Newsletter, will offer my personal views on what makes Fukui special.
　　　　　　　　　　　　What Makes Fukui Special
　　　　　　　　　　　　By Benjamin Willey
I often ask residents of Fukui, "What makes Fukui special?" I get a rather narrow range of responses. The most frequent one is "uhh…" I suspect that, living between two major cultural centers, Kyoto and Kanazawa, people in Fukui have some sort of inferiority complex. My second, third, and fourth most common responses are, "the fish tastes good" "the water is tasty" and "Fukui is very green." Yet none of these answers set Fukui apart from any other rural area. What, then, are Fukui's distinct characteristics?
Although I'm not from Fukui, I'll try to offer my own answer on what makes Fukui special, based on having lived here for two brief years. Three things come to the top of my head. The first is how warm the people are. Unlike in the big city, I've found that store clerks and restaurant owners quickly remember who I am and are quite friendly. That's not all, though. When I submitted my change of address form (to a new address within Fukui city), the clerk at the post office kindly wished me on my way with the words, "So you won't be coming to this post office any more?" It's times like these that I'm struck by how, with such friendly people, the pace of life is in Fukui is nice and relaxed.
The second thing I like about Fukui is the Hokuriku area's unique weather. When I experienced the massive snowfall in December of 2005, far from being a point of pride, I thought that the horrible climate here was Fukui's greatest shortcoming. When spring arrived, though, and I felt the first rays of sunshine I had in ages, I found more pleasure in a clear, sunny day than I ever had before. The very fact that the weather was so bad during the winter made spring that much more enjoyable. When I was in college, I spent a year studying abroad in Ecuador, a small county in South America. I quickly grew tired, however, of Ecuador's "eternal spring", with its year-round consistent temperatures. The harsher winter is, the more welcome spring becomes. What's more, people in Fukui don't complain at all about donning boots and going to work or going shopping just like always when the snow starts to accumulate. I'm simply amazed by how people don't become depressed, no matter how many days in a row it's cloudy.
More than people's friendliness or the climate, though, what really sets Fukui apart is the local dialect. This is clearly Fukui's most unique claim to fame. Some people seem to avoid using it on purpose so as not to be labeled a "country bumpkin", but my favorite kind of people are those who shamelessly use Fukui's dialect. A few years ago, a friend of mine from Osaka told me, in his Osaka dialect, that "standard Japanese doesn't have any flavor." Indeed, the title for Fukui's NHK program "Hoyahoya jouhou"-a play on words, combining the standard meaning of "hoyahoya" ("just made") and its meaning in the Fukui dialect ("that's right") -is quite flavorful. Were this program, which provides useful information for daily life, to be called something like "Living Information", it would lose all its flavor. Along the same lines, they made a good choice in boldly naming the new building next to Fukui station "AOSSA" ("let's meet") rather than the standard Japanese "AOUYO". I was quite happy the other day when I heard some high school girls say in Fukui's dialect, "let's go to AOSSA!"; I knew without a doubt that I was in Fukui.
Next summer, I'll likely have to move away from Fukui to seek employment, and I'll most likely end up in a large city on the Pacific side of Japan. I'm sure I'll miss Fukui's kind store employees, the long awaited spring in Hokuriku, and the distinctive intonation used in the Fukui dialect.
I have no doubt that there are many other things besides those I've described here that make Fukui special. I would love to hear what local residents and foreigners who have lived in Fukui think.

Ambassador Interview

This time, we hear from Dang Hoang Giang, who used to live in Sabae City.

Ｑ：　How long were you in Fukui?
Ａ：　 For about three years.

Ｑ：　Please tell us about a pleasant memory you have of Fukui.
Ａ：　It might be strange to call this a pleasant memory, but after the torrential rains of 2004, I took part in some local volunteer activities during my summer vacation. I still haven't forgotten that experience.

Ｑ：　Was there anything you found difficult about life in Fukui?
Ａ：　Since public transportation isn't widely available, I had a rough time relying on my bicycle.

Ｑ：　What sort of food did you particularly enjoy when you were living in Fukui?
Ａ：　I'd have to say "mizuyokan" (a soft bean jelly).

Ｑ：　Do you miss anything about Fukui?
Ａ：　I miss the Fukui dialect. I love to travel, and I've been all over Japan. Japanese words and expressions are different in each part of the country, but I've never heard a dialect that places so much emphasis on intonation.
I also miss the friends I made in Fukui Prefecture.

Ｑ：　How are you putting your experiences in Fukui to use now?
Ａ：　I spent three years studying at the Fukui National College of Technology. Unlike university, students at the College of Technology had some free time on their hands, but nevertheless the system was strict. While I was being educated in that environment, at some point I was struck by the idea that a strict learning environment was precisely what had led the Japanese to turn their country into an advanced nation. I was filled with the desire to work hard for my home country. I also learned how closely connected my specialty, civil engineering and construction, is to people's lives when I volunteered during the summer after the torrential rains in Fukui. I started to think that, in the future, it would be my duty to become responsible for building up national infrastructure, thereby allowing people to live with peace of mind. I still feel the same way now.

Ｑ：　Thank you very much!