[Recap] Junior Ambassador Welcome Party

The Nanka Wakayama Kenjinkai had a great time with a fun group of guests from Japan on Tuesday, August 11, 2015. For the very first time, the International Friendship Association (IFA) and the Wakayama International Exchange Association (WIXAS) worked together to bring a group a young students from Japan to Los Angeles for a cultural exchange program. This group, the Junior Ambassador Friendship Mission, consisted of middle and high school students. 

 

Thanks for coming!

Click below to "read more" and for more photos. Thanks to Tom Kohtani for the pictures.
Rafu Shimpo Article (in Japanese): Link

Mr. Masahiro Joyama (WIXAS) and Mr. Shin Yamamoto (IFA) accompanied the following seven students from Japan to Seattle and then Los Angeles: Aoi Hiramine, Risa Funase, Kurumi Kawamura, Madoka Saka, and Kyoka Arai from Wakayama, Kanon Suto from Aomori, and Haruka Nakamura from Chiba.  

After a day of visiting various attractions around LA, the junior ambassadors returned to the Redac Gateway Hotel in Torrance for a casual dinner party.  We opened with speeches from NWK President Toshihiro Arichi, Mr. Joyama, and Mr. Yamamoto.  They had the chance to try classic Japanese American favorites like chili rice and Chinese chicken salad catered by Cherrystones while meeting many of our kenjinkai members.

After dinner, the ambassadors treated us to a variety of performances and demonstrations.  They started by introducing themselves to all of us in English. Then, they did a Japanese calligraphy demonstration.  Our members were moved by the fact that they customized their demonstration to fit our interests by writing Wakayama-related words including Koya-san and mikan (tangerine).  Next, Haruka Nakamura from Chiba wowed the audience by speedily calculating a long addition problem with only an abacus.  Kanon Suto of Aomori led the rest of the girls in a dance from her hometown of Aomori that is normally performed at the Nebuta Festival. 

Suto (right) leads the Nebuta Festival Dance

The girls also coordinated a musical performance for us to give our members a taste of both traditional and modern Japanese culture.  NWK members were happy to hear the ambassadors sing an old favorite, "Furusato," contrasted by J-pop songs and dances to artists like AKB48.  And in true Japanese American spirit, the junior ambassadors also sang a beautiful rendition of "God Bless America."

Finally, after an exchange of omiyage between the program and event coordinators, it was time to say goodbye to our new friends.  Although it was a short dinner, we all had fun talking and learning new things about one another and international cultures.  

Thank you for taking the time to visit us, JAFM! We hope to meet you again someday! To our members and attendees - thank you so much for taking the time to come to our event. We hope you enjoyed meeting the Junior Ambassadors and we thank you for your continued support of the kenjinkai and our events!