Reports on Henyang, Hunan, China by the goodwill missionSix delegates led by the superintendent of the Ritto Board of Education Yoko Iwasaki visited Hengyang City from November 16 to 21 last year.

Visiting Henyang enjoying traditions and culture built during the long history, I was impressed with many encounters. I was moved by all those excavated items, heritages, their behavior that they respect their ancestors, setting off firecrackers, and that teachers and students work on in a body for the next generation. We felt relaxing and could deepen friendship further more. It was also a good chance to reassure Japanese society, culture and education all are good.

I was surprised to see that the land is vast, roads have many lanes, there are big discrepancy between urban areas and suburbs, and they have their old history. I thought they are never negative but always positive living seriously. As for education, their school system is that an elementary school and a Jr. high school are put together and students are all residential. In urban areas, English is taught from the first graders of elementary school, and students are divided in accordance with their grades.
Although it is different from Japanese in the way of thinking, custom, and natural environment, human beings are equal in the world. I think it is important to interact with each other, with understanding politics, economy, culture, history, and society based on equality.

I saw China whose people feel the depth of their own country's history and be proud of it, and work on educating, having the foresight in the future. It was also a good chance to think of the definition of international exchange. I was convinced that it is important to understand mutual histories, politics, and societies in order to build the world where there are no racial and religious discriminations and where people respect one another.

It was the first time I visited China and surprised with the vastness. I was nervous about a happening forced us to wait at the airport of Shanghai for five hours because of the army drill. After that, however, our schedule were carried out smoothly, which were to visit a museum, the city hall, elementary and Jr. high schools in the city, Mt. Nanyueheng that is a tourist site and place for religious trainees. Students in both the elementary and Jr. high schools welcomed us with their music, and I was impressed with their lively eyes..
Delegate Noritsugu Yoshikawa
One of the some things that surprised me was an alcoholic beverage named jiuguijiu, whose alcoholicity is 40 something−as strong as your throat is burned. I was marveled at the custom with which they make a toast with three glasses of it at a time. It was also incomprehensive to me that that vast country extending east to west has no time difference.
I could meet the three of the five trainees of agriculture who had come to Ritto a few years ago and who I had met at RIFA's Japanese class. Two of the three accompanied with us for three days. I realized that they are the people who make much of friendship.

It was the second time that I visited China as the interpreter. Waiting for five hours at Shanghai Airport and the suddenly changed schedule by the Hengyang City made me nervous and tense a little to interpret the talk with the vice mayor a little. Thanks to all the stuff members' kindness, I could keep working as the interpreter. I'd like to be helpful, making precious the knowledge and relationship I got there.
Delegate Toshio Iwamoto(Director of Citizen Activity Promotion Division and Secretary General pf RIFA) We were very welcomed by the executives of Hengyang City and they let us observe a local play called xiangju. It was the visit that we found they want the children to study Japanese and they themselves want to study Japanese.

The booklets of the reports on the 6th Goodwill Mission to Hengyang, Hunan, China are available. Please call 551-0293 if you need.