SWY 27 Overseas

Training Session

(2015)

Peru was designated as one of the five international destinations for the ‘Japanese Missions Abroad’ to travel as part of the SWY27 program. It was a great honor for SWYAA Peru to be appointed by the Cabinet Office and the Japanese Embassy as the official hosting organization in our country. The great experience of organizing the 7th SWYAA Global Assembly in 2013 was still fresh in our memories, and we accepted this new challenge with enthusiasm.

In close cooperation with the Japanese Embassy, we organized all the activities related to this project, including the Preliminary Inspection Mission that visited Peru in September 2014 (Mr. Tetsuo Oshikiri from the Cabinet Office and Mrs. Tamae Saito from CENTERYE). During an approximate of six months of work, SWYAA Peru arranged a comprehensive one-week program for this overseas training, covering Information and Media (I&M) Course contents, Peruvian culture, history and current issues, and the Nikkei heritage and Japanese influence. From February 13th to 19th we received 23 Japanese participating youth, accompanied by Ms. Mariko Saito (Leader of the Mission), Mr. Takahiro Togo (Liaison person), and Jose Sano (I&M Course Facilitator and Peruvian exPY).

Although it was a very short visit, we made our best to include a wide selection of activities in order to provide a general idea of our country’s richness and diversity. JPYs participated in cultural visits and workshops, academic lectures, official receptions, and social contributions activities; also having time to enjoy with home stay families, Peruvian kids, Nikkei youth, Japanese immigrants, and local exPYs.

It is important to highlight that none of this would have been possible without the collaboration of several hosting institutions that generously opened their doors to the Japanese Mission and gave us a hand arranging the details for our visit: the Japanese Peruvian Association, the Communications School of the Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), the Institute of Radio and Television of Peru (IRTP), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government Palace, the “Hermano Thomas Helm” Center, Leslie Patten Music Workshop, and of course the Japanese Embassy in Lima.