Wakayama: DAY 4 (Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016) – General Meeting

In the early morning we arrived at Wakayama Prefectural Cultural Hall to prepare and rehearse for General Meeting. During that time, we did a rehearsal for 30 minutes on the stage. We then also prepared ourselves to answer possible questions and speak confidently in front of the audience.

Practicing for General Meeting

The General Meeting was held in the afternoon from 1 pm to 3.30 pm. There were presentations from five research category groups in the General Meeting. The five research categories were  “Disaster Prevention”, “Environmental Issues”, “Tourism and Culture”, “International Issues”, and  “IT and Communication”. The General Meeting of each research category was ran by two chairpersons who had the duty to present the summary of the Sectional Meeting and coordinate the discussion between the presenters and the audience.

General Meeting of "Disaster Prevention"

The General Meeting of my research category, “Disaster Prevention”, was led by Chiharu Anaba from Naga High School and Ryoka Seto from Koyo High School. After they had been reviewing the presentations of the Sectional Meeting as well as managing discussion, they presented the conclusion:

“From everything we heard and discussed, we can conclude that we high school students can and should start doing many things regarding disaster prevention. Some of those are thoroughly preparing, raising community awareness, and campaigns for government support.

First of all, thoroughly preparing for disasters begins with ourselves knowing what to do for a disaster. If we are initially able to acknowledge that we are safe, we can then help our family by forming a disaster plan with them. This could come in the form of acknowledging evacuation routes, preparing emergency supplies or designating meeting points. After this, we can prepare for a disaster within community by acknowledging the school emergency procedures as well as forming a plan to protect the elderly and disabled.

To raise our awareness about preparing for disasters, we can form a communication network by having high schools teach their students about disaster prevention and encouraging them to tell their family and friends about it. Awareness provides information and enthusiasm for people to know what to do before disasters and helps people to remain calm in the case of a disaster.

If we appeal to the government, they can take actions that affect all of us. And the government can do what we can’t do. For example, they can improve the facilities of evacuation centers. High school students can make request to the local government through petitions. If many local governments have the same issue, regional governments or even national government may take action.

We hope everyone here will try some of these things. Please encourage other people around you to do the same. Change starts with each of us, and together, we can make our world safer.”

Me, answering question from chairpersons

We did hope that the General Meeting could give insight and inspiration to everyone.

After the General Meeting had successfully finished, there was presentation of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Voluntary Program.

Next, the very fascinating Wakayama High School Student Quiz in English took place. This was a quiz competition in which every students participated. The students were divided into group of three where I was in one group with Teppei Enari and Itsuki Fukutomi. The first round was a true or false quiz. All groups could respond to the questions by waving paper showing true or false sign as the answer. One correct answer meant one point. Those who could immediately reach 15 points got into the final.

Some questions given required us to correctly guess names of famous people/cartoons/places, identify the correct grammar of a sentence, and spell word in English. Although my group did not get into the final, we were still happy because of the fun experience that we had gone through together.

My team for Wakayama High School Student Quiz in English

In the evening we attended Welcome Reception that was held at Daiwa Roynet Hotel. This grand and gratifying reception was hosted by the Governor of Wakayama, Mr. Yoshinobu Nisaka.

I and my teacher with the governor of Wakayama Prefecture

Girls!

Me and my friends from different countries

I proudly wore kebaya, an elegant traditional costume of Indonesia. During dinner, I had the chance to sing a traditional song of my country, titled “Bengawan Solo”. This beautiful song was written in 1940 by Gesang Martohatono, it is in the local kroncong style which is a popular folk style with influences from Portugese.

Performing "Bengawan Solo", an Indonesian song about Bengawan Solo river

There were also entertaining performances like a traditional dancing performance by my friend from Myanmar as well as Kendo demonstration by Japanese female students.

with my teacher and my friend from Myanmar

Performers of Kendo demonstration

It was a great honor for me to see and meet important dignitaries like the honorable Governor of Wakayama himself. It was also a definitely great night where I could also make friends with amazing participants from all over Japan and all over the world. We exchanged name cards, had nice conversations, and also took memorable selfies!

Selfie

Selfie!

Selfie!!!

Sadly, we had to say farewell to all of the participants from Japan at the end of this marvelous reception. But we did not let tears out of our eyes as we knew that our wonderful memories will last a lifetime.

Asian and Oceanian High School Students' Forum 2016