Speech by Consul General of Japan in Miami, Eiichi Kawahara
For The Three Florida High School Students Flying to Japan
as Part of the JET Memorial Invitation Program
（ＪＥＴ記念日本語高校生招待事業―フロリダ高校生3名の壮行会挨拶）
July 14, 2011
(Japanese Consul General hosts sending off reception for three high school students studying Japanese on July 14 from 6:00 at the residence of Japanese Consul General)
Good evening,
皆様におかれては、ご多用中のところ、お出ましを頂き誠に有り難うございます。
今日のメインゲストは、日本語を学ぶ3人のフロリダ高校生達です。
I would like to welcome to my house all representatives from the different academic institutions that teach the Japanese Language in Florida present here.
I also want to welcome the three students we are here to honor as well as all other guests. To all of you, I wish to express my appreciation for your gracious presence.
I would like to recognize the active role of AFTJ, the Association of Florida teachers of Japanese, in the instruction and dissemination of the Japanese language, which strengthens the ties of friendship between Florida and Japan and serves to ‘shorten’ the distance between both. It is, in part, thanks to their efforts that these students have been chosen for this amazing experience.
さて、
ＪＥＴ記念事業は、3月11日の東北大震災・津波の際、不幸にして亡くなられたＪＥＴとして活躍中の米国の若者2名（テイラーさんとモンゴメリー君）を悼み、国際交流基金が、今年からの5カ年事業として開始した日本語を学ぶ米国高校生を招待するプログラムです。ＪＥＴとは、日本全国の約１千の自治体が、公立中学・高校の英語教師、自治体の国際交流指導員などとして受け入れております。現在、世界各国から約５千名の方がＪＥＴとして日本各地で活躍中と聞いております。
Upon completing one day orientation in San Francisco, 32 high-school students from the United States, all of whom study the Japanese language, will visit Japan for 10 days from Tuesday, July 19th to Thursday, July 28th. They are the first students to take part in the JET Memorial Invitation Program for U.S. High School Students, hosted by the Japan Foundation.
This is a five year program, initiated this year by the Japan Foundation, in praise and memory of the achievements of two young Americans who lost their lives in the northern part of Japan known as Tohoku during the great earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. The two Americans were participating with the JET Program as teaching assistants of English classes at Japanese schools in two towns in Tohoku. We mourn their sacrifice and their families’ loss. We appreciate that the Japan Foundation has chosen to commemorate their lives by honoring their commitment to education, Japanese culture, and international communication in this way.
We are very pleased that three Floridian high school students, who have already been introduced, were selected. These American students have excellent grades in their Japanese classes as well as in all other subjects. Twenty girls and twelve boys in the 11th and 12th grades were carefully selected from a total of 276 high school applicants. You can easily imagine how bright these students are.
The program will encourage the students to deepen their knowledge of Japanese language and culture, thus enabling them to act as a bridge between Japan and the United States in the future. They will be visiting Japan during their summer break and will be studying at the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute in Osaka and other facilities.
This Program is expected to be an opportunity to help young people from the United States to deepen their understanding of Japanese language and culture.
During their visit to Japan, the students will participate in Japanese conversation lessons, Japanese cultural events, exchange activities with local high-school students and JET participants in the Osaka area, as well as tours of cultural assets in Kyoto, among other events. They can also make one-day visit to the Tohoku Region (Iwate).
These students will learn and experience, among other things, the punctuality of train services, the safe and environmentally soundness of mass transportation systems, and the reconstruction progress in the tsunami devastated region in northern Japan.
After March 11, we have received warm encouragement and tremendous support from the United States as well as other countries. There is an international solidarity with Japan. I would like to convey with my gratitude and the gratitude of all Japanese for the many expressions of friendship received in the aftermath of such great natural disasters.
I will refrain from taking too much time so as not to spoil the buffet prepared by our chef of Italian cuisine.
Thank you.
|
