Reflection on VJYE (Vietnam-Japan Youth Exchange) 2016 (1) Võ Phước Minh Triết

 

    I had a wonderful memory. That is the most beautiful memory I will never forget. I felt very lucky to be selected to this program. At the beginning, I was very nervous because this was the first time I made a program for foreign students. However, the thing which attracted me was the Japanese students from Tokyo Keizai University in Vietnam – Japan Youth Exchange 2016 (VJYE 2016). So, this was a good opportunity for me to study and cultural exchange with you.

   For me, VJYE 2016 gave me many experiences and useful things. We learned, worked and supported together in 10 days. Only 10 short days, but we've had the pleasure and sorrow together. But after all, the most important thing is that we had gained the knowledge about life, people and culture of the two countries. In spite of many difficulties we had to face due in language and culture gap, we could understand and maintain a good relationship together. 

   The most impressive thing for me is that you are very talented, each person had individual strengths. In Orientation day, I had been conquered by your performances. Through the performances, I knew more about Japanese culture. The most unforgettable memory for me was a trip to Ta Lai Longhouse. That is a great trip. I did a lot of good work for the society with the Japanese students. There were a lot of hard work in Ta Lai, I used to think we could not complete work because we were accustomed to live in urban, a modern life. But when we arrived in the village of ethnic people in Ta Lai, we had to stay in the jungle, walked on the muddy road and did social activities that mainly use people's physical power. Difficulties were a lot but we had overcome.

  Beside that works, we had good memories together in Ta Lai. The experience that I had in this trip is the ability to group work, assigning work for each member and solving the problems occur at work. In addition, I also learned many useful things from your country. At school, I only learned about the culture of some country through Cross Communication subject. But when I joined in the VJYE 2016 program, I studied more cultural knowledge through communication and your performances. Besides, we organized various activities such as taking lectures about sustainable development goals (SDGs), sports activity, cuisine class and field trips. Through those activities we could learn each other's ways of thinking and cultures.    
   After I had taken part in the VJYE 2016, I got the experience about how to manage a program and communication skills. I would like to thank Ms. Thuc and Mr. Seki (and AAEE) for giving me good advices and necessary sharings for me more resilient when implementing the program. I would like to appreciate Hoa Sen University, Tokyo Keizai University and Asia Association of Education and Exchange (AAEE) for giving me a chance to participate in this program. Thank you very much. I want to say special thanks to Mai Kaneko, my lovely buddy. Maybe I cannot talk with you much but I always remember the first day we met. Thanks you Yuto Ishii, the swimming talent and first Japanese friend talked with me. Mayuka Anada, a strong girl with Snow White face. Besides that, I want to say thank you to Hiroaki Kitano, a great Taiko player also Hou Yikang, Yuki Yamada, Hiroaki Murakami, Koushiro Ikeda, Zijie Zeng, Suguru Kidachi, Sho Takeshita, Yuta Takahashi and Rino Yoshida. Thank you very much. “Friendship is not limited”, Cinderella from Vietnam.