JASH Weekly Update 5/14
Dear Members and Friends of JASH, Welcome to our JASH Weekly Update! We hope this email finds you and your family safe and in good health. As many of you know, one of our major educational programs is the Asian-Pacific Children’s Convention (APCC) in Fukuoka, which is a two-week homestay and camp experience for delegations of 11-year old students from over 40 countries and regions throughout the Asia and Pacific regions held annually in July. In light of the current pandemic, the head APCC office in Fukuoka decided to cancel the 2020 convention and are currently working on alternative programming for this year’s students.
We at JASH have the honor of interviewing, selecting, and preparing the Hawaii delegation of Junior Ambassadors (JAs), and we have been regularly meeting with our diligent 2020 JAs since their selection in December. Although they cannot visit Fukuoka this summer, our delegates and chaperone have eagerly continued learning about Japan with us through bimonthly virtual workshops. This month, we will learn about Wa-shokuiku “Japanese food education,” as well as Japanese sports culture (both current and traditional). By the end of May, our JAs will be experts in Japanese table manners; know all about the production of luxury fruit; be able to do rajio taiso “radio calisthenics” by heart; and will be eager to start practicing a martial art at a local dojo!
(L-R) Rhegen Villarimo, Jacqueline Furuta, Sandy Takeda (2020 Chaperone), Rain Young, Loch Moorman, and Rich Kiyabu (2021 Chaperone) share about their families during their last in-person workshop on March 7.
We are grateful that even though we cannot send them on an adventure to Japan this summer, we are still able to foster their interest in Japanese culture, broaden their horizons, and support them on their journey in becoming globally-minded leaders. For more information about the APCC or our other educational programs, please contact JASH Education Program Director Takako Miyazawa (tmiyazawa@jashawaii.org). With aloha, Christianne Ono Program Assistant
