Sister City Stories

Penrith and Fujieda
- 20years -

2004
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS
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Perth and Kagoshima
- 30years -

Tasmanian Youth Seconded to
Japanese Sister City for 3 Years

One of the most successful programs in terms of helping to deliver more globally-oriented and culturally open-minded Japanese local communities has been the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.

JET Participant coaching a Minamata boy to play rugby

It is this program for which CLAIR is most synonymous in Japan, and under which young university graduates from overseas are invited to contribute to international exchange and foreign language education in cities, towns and villages throughout Japan. Participants in the 2000 program number more than 6,000 and represent thirty-seven countries, including 422 participants from Australia and 353 from New Zealand.

Two types of placements are offered:

Coordinator for International Relations (CIR)
A CIR helps a local authority develop its global outlook. This assistance can include: editing and translating material; planning, designing and implementing international exchange programs; receiving guests from abroad; and, interpreting at international events. A CIR may also assist with language instruction for public officers and local residents.

Assistant Language Teacher (ALT)
An ALT is generally assigned to a senior high school, a junior high school or a Board of Education, to assist with foreign language education in the local area. The ALT may have a base school or move throughout local schools during the course of his/her tenure.

The story following is from a CIR seconded to Minamata City, the sister city of his hometown of Devonport, Tasmania.

"It seems that from my high schools days I was destined to participate in [the] JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program. After all, it was in my final year at Devonport High School that my association with JET first began. Although this was JET (Japan Experience Tour) of a different nature, it was on a visit to Hondo, a small town situated in Japan's southern island of Kyushu, during a two-week school trip, that I first became interested in Japan. Ten years down the track, fate it would seem has me almost back where it all began, living as a CIR (Coordinator for International Relations) in Minamata City at the southernmost tip of Kumamoto Prefecture, a short one hour ferry ride from Hondo.

While applicants for the JET Program have little control over their placement, Minamata's sister city relationship with my hometown of Devonport, Tasmania, virtually assured that I would be assigned to the Minamata City Government. Working on sister city projects between the two cities is where much of my time is devoted. September saw the conclusion of yet another successful sister city project between Minamata and Devonport. The culmination of over a year of planning on both sides saw sixty-two members of the Barrington District Choir visit Minamata on a one week exchange, the highlight of which was undoubtedly a joint sister city concert which attracted over 800 people to the Minamata Culture Hall. Minamata and Devonport's sister city relationship continues to strengthen with every visit by citizens of the respective cities and whether it be through translating letters between mayors, interpreting at civic receptions, or assisting with delegation visits, it gives me great enjoyment and personal satisfaction to play a role in helping to develop the relationship between both cities and in a broader sense, Japan and Australia.

In the interim of receiving and sending exchange groups between the two cities, I perform a wide range of duties both at my desk and in the community. Translating a speech on Minamata Disease for the Mayor, giving a talk at a local primary school, participating in the torch relay for the National Sports Festival (held in Kumamoto Prefecture this year), writing my monthly column for the Minamata City Newsletter, and preparing an upcoming exchange event for JETs and members of the local community are just some of the activities which have kept me busy over the past month. Having no experience in local government before coming to Japan, these exchanges are as beneficial for me as they are for my counterparts in learning how local government operates in Australia.

Every time someone says "g'day" to me in the street or participates in a Kanga cricket day, an "Aussie Rugby Sunday" or other exchange event I have planned, I realise that I have been successful in stimulating their interest in a country and culture very different from their own. Importantly, living and working in Japan, I find that what I teach I learn ten-fold in return. It is this knowledge of Japan, its language, its customs, culture and tradition I hope to share when I return to Australia. In this sense, although I will no longer be part of the JET program, I hope that my Japan Exchange and Teaching experience will not come to an end next year but will rather lay the stepping stones for a future in Japan-Australia relations."

The Barrington District Choir performs at the Joint Sister City Concert in Minamata.

FACT FILE Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture Population: 32,842 Minamata City Government 1-1-1 Jinnai, Minamata-shi, Kumamoto-ken 867-8555 Tel. (0966)-63-1111 Fax. (0966) 62-0611 http://www.minamatacity.jp/

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