All that Travel: a trip to Miyazaki
All that Travel: a trip to Miyazaki
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  • 승인 2007.06.12 10:02
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  Our travel started at Gimhae International Airport with the chant, "Let's go to Miyazaki!"
  Our crew was excited and nervous; smiling at the prospect of our new adventure for the next 11 days and 10 nights. Before taking my 2006-winter final test, I had seen a notice about a student delegation to Miyazaki, Japan. One of my friends had earlier talked about his travels to Japan, and I had been quite impressed. So, I did not hesitate to apply for this opportunity to experience Japanese culture. Fortunately, I was selected as one of the student delegates.
  I would like to begin by briefly introducing the program and the city of Miyazaki. The visiting-program first began in 1998 and its main purpose was to promote cultural exchange between the universities of Yeungnam and Miyazaki. The event is held during the winter vacation and students visit each others' universities. Miyazaki City is located in Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu Province.
  Miyazaki is famous for its recreational resorts and its well-organized forests. My first impression of Miyazaki City was similar to that of Jeju Island, but the weather there was warmer than in Korea. The first Miyazaki-hotel the delegation stayed at was one of the Yomiuri Giants' winter training camps, and we all enjoyed the hotel room with its tatami floor.

  While in Miyazaki, the student delegation participated in Japanese classes, a home-stay program, and Japanese cultural-experience classes such as origami, the tea ceremony, and flower arranging. We also visited a biomass plant, the prefectural museum, and a hot spring in Evino City. Miyazaki is well known for its agricultural industries and the University of Miyazaki specializes in agriculture, education, engineering, and medicine. We therefore saw many farmhouses and had many agriculture-related experiences.
  For me, the most unforgettable experience of the whole trip was the home-stay. I, along with another YU student, stayed at the Nakaharas' house for two days. They treated us like their sons and we felt their true kindness. Furthermore, Mr. Nakahara knew how to enjoy life. The first day I stayed at the Nakaharas' house, Mr. Nakahara showed us his small log cabin which was in his front yard. He talked about his LP-collection and his hobbies which were reading, fishing, playing golf, and riding his 750cc Honda motorcycle. When he said that he was a public officer (maybe because of our Korean-style job prejudice) we could not help but wonder at his life-style. During the second day of the home-stay, we hung around the local area and went shopping with Mrs. Nakahara. After that, we said good-bye to the couple with a Korean-style deep bow.
  With the arrival of students from Nanjing Agricultural University, the program became a three-way cultural exchange between Korea, China, and Japan. This was more than I had expected and, according to the staff of the Center for International Relations at the University of Miyazaki, it was a very rare event to have a three-nation cross-cultural experience program at their school.
  When the students from both countries met on the first day's orientation, I felt a tension in the air. However, after the 'One Can Party' icebreaking get-together, held at the hotel restaurant and planned by the students, (and to which, we agreed, each student should bring only one alcohol beverage), we found a common oriental-familiarity. As time went by, we visited students' rooms, talked about various topics, and played Korean-style games. On the last day of the program, the Korean students had to leave Miyazaki earlier than the Chinese students. Even though it was 5 a.m. in the morning, many of our new Chinese friends came out to see us off. The send-off moved all of us so much that it still makes me sentimental today.
  I learned many things during this program. The first was about the Japanese national character. I saw that many Japanese were kind and polite and that they had a simple life-style. Many of them owned compact cars which they drove slowly, keeping strictly to the traffic regulations. The second was the cleanliness of the country. Wherever I moved in Japan, the streets were clean and well-organized. Another good point about the trip was the people such as my precious team members, Professor Kim Wook-hyun, Ms. Lee Jung-chun, Mr. and Mrs. Nakahara, and my Japanese and Chinese friends. Everyone is still important and meaningful to me.

  Through this program, I experienced the impact which the Korean wave (Korean popular culture) is having in Japan. Many Japanese and Chinese knew about and enjoyed watching Korean drama and listening to Korean music. Moreover, the world is getting smaller and I feel that we need to be more passionate about developing our cultural assets. We really need global capability in order to achieve globalization. .

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