e-ShortNews

I came across Ms. W, a staff member of our Japanese Language Classes, on a street corner during the season when Japanese plums give off a sweet smell. She said, “To my delight, the number of participants at the Japanese Language Night Classes jumped sharply in January,” adding how busy the volunteers were dealing with the situation. The Japanese Language Classes of Meguro UNESCO Association started in 1985 as a fruitage of the “Introductory Course for Study of Teaching Japanese.” Now, 7 to 10 classes are held 4 times a week with the total number of the participants from about 50 countries exceeding 400 (friendship members) in a year. One of the purposes of the classes is to convey the spirit of UNESCO to people around the world. This is a joint undertaking with the Education Committee. Furthermore, it serves as a “bridge” towards the participation in the nongovernmental UNESCO movement initiated by Japan. On March 3rd, one of our annual events, “Cultural Exchange through the Enjoyment of Various Countries’ Dishes” will be held.
Foreign residents in Japan have also interacted at the Meguro UNESCO International Friendship Youth Retreat. Mr. Sai Non Nutt from Myanmar was one of the attendees. In his country, he is doing an educational activity as a volunteer while working. He built a school at Kyaungkone in cooperation with Japanese fellows. Four youth members will visit the site led by Mr. Mitsutoshi Masuda at the end of February to find out what Meguro UNESCO Association can do from a viewpoint of young people. Of course, Mr. Sai Non Nutt will take care of them while they stay there for 7 days and 6 nights. I hope the visit will be fruitful.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the nongovernmental UNESCO movement. This month, people who are writing the manuscript for the “Chronicle of Sixty Years” to be published by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ) are very busy to meet the deadline. The movement owes its success to the wisdom and efforts of leaders who have met various challenges while working at each UNESCO association. I renew my respect for our predecessors. The chronicle has 60 or more pages describing events as well as the history and activities of each UNESCO association. The activities, ranging from those in small villages to those in large cities, are wonderfully diversified. They are not only unique. There are many impressive activities to attract young people in our search for a solution to the problem of our ageing leadership. (To be published in June this year).
I received the newsletter of another UNESCO asso-ciation at the beginning of the month. This is an excerpt from its President’s statement to members. “Thanks to the best efforts made by each member with a limited budget and human resources, I am proud that our association has achieved good results compared with other UNESCO Associations in Japan. This is of course the result of cooperation from members. I hope each of you feel proud.”
Our association also cannot be run without cooperation from many people - Ms N, Ms Y and other people who send us handmade goods when they cannot attend our bazaar, concerned city officials and others, those in charge of management such as secretariat members who spare no effort, children excited about singing songs in our New Year party, etc. I hope the circle of the nongovernmental UNESCO movements will spread even further across generations and races, and that each member will serve as a small “bridge” to share the nongovernmental UNESCO movement with other people.