Ontario Students Ready to Visit Japan on Kakehashi Project
Excited Ontario students are now preparing to take part in the Kakehashi Project, a new program funded by the Government of Japan by which 200 Canadian high school students will go on a 10-day study tour of Japan and the same number of Japanese students will come for a tour of Canada.
The aim of Kakehashi is to foster interest in Japan among youths overseas, as well as to promote cultural understanding and the Japanese brand, such as Cool Japan. The Government of Japan hopes to develop a network of exchanges that will lead to deepening mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and Canada.
In Ontario, 23 students from Guelph's Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute will go to Japan from Sept. 18 to 28 on exchange with Midorioka High School of Ibaraki, Japan, the students of which will visit Canada in March 2014. As well, students of Riverdale Collegiate Institute of Toronto will go to Japan Oct. 19 to 29 on exchange with Nara Women’s University Secondary School in Nara, the students of which will visit Canada in February 2014.
While in Japan, Canadians students will experience homestays, traditional Japanese culture such as the tea ceremony and karate, and be exposed to Japanese advanced technology in fields ranging from agriculture to rail transportation.
Centennial students underwent an orientation on Sept. 4 where they received the detailed schedules of their trip and learned on what points they will need to pay attention while in Japan.
The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF) will manage the bilateral program in Canada for incoming Japanese students while National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan will deliver the program for Canadian students going to Japan. The media release issued by the APF is here.
Students from Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph take a break
from preparing for the trip to Japan and pose for this group photo.
