VIETNAM – JAPAN EXCHANGE PROGRAM 2019 PERSONAL
REPORT
Reporter: Trương Ngọc
Thanh Phương (Quinn)
Ho Chi Minh City, 20th September
2019
After 2 months for preparation and 2
weeks exchanging with 10 Japanese delegates, Vietnam - Japan Exchange Program
has changed myself a lot in different ways of mindset and behavior. At the first
time, when I had been asked the reason why I wanted to join VJEP 2019, in my
mind is that I want to directly contact Japanese students to see differences
between Vietnamese and Japanese. Moreover, in my last personal interview with
professor Akinori Seki, he asked me my impression about Japan, and my answer is
‘Samurai spirit’. And during my 2-experience-week with Japanese delegates,
first and the most valuable thing I learnt from Japanese delegates is their
real ‘Samurai spirit’ which was delivered in their belief and performances, the story they told us about their history and culture (in National Performance),
how can they overcame pain of war and fight for justice (in drama play of Uncle
Sam) and how much they put the effort into every single scope of work. Also, I saw
another aspect of Japanese’s characteristic, Japanese is known as a courteous and
well-mannered person, so it is hard to approach them. However, it totally
changed my mind about their warm greetings and enthusiasm through their stories
they shared with me and every night we gathered together.
Especially, spending 5 days at Binh
Phuoc Province is the best moment for me in this journey. Because this is my
first time I arrived at Binh Phuoc and lived around ethnic minority people and
stay at my lovely host family. We all together taught primary students, performed
in front of 200 excellent delegates of the province, went trekking to Bu Gia Map
National Park and met The Border at Bu Dang province. From this experience, I
can understand more deeply about local people’s life, how they behave and do
their daily, how borders have to suffer and try to protect our boundary, get
closer to nature and learn how to survive in the jungle.
The topic of this year is ‘Environment’ and ‘Green Business’ which impress me a lot since I really concern about the current problem, not only in Vietnam but also in the world. And it is also included in the Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations in 15 years for people to follow and make it come true. Thanks to this project, I have an opportunity to search for green business in Binh Phuoc Province where I haven’t had a chance to visit and understand the environment and the obstacles that the government has to suffer to protect the environment. Finally, we came to the last with the presentation of finding a solution for Binh Phuoc Province by building a closed agriculture system to help farmers, purchase more agricultural goods, and sustain environments there. We didn’t rank the first place but we cherish every time we discussed and searched for information.
Even though VJEP has been gone to
the end for nearly a month, I still remember the very last moment we spent
together in a night prom of Common Project Homestay’s rooftop. I got a sharing
speech with all delegates and the most memorable value I still treasure at that
moment is when we stand under the light and sparkle like stars in the sky. We
all share laughs and tears together, sometimes we had conflicts and arguments
due to differences. But after all, I believe we overcame difficulties and
succeeded in finding ourselves in the new environment.
Lastly, I hope and believe the Vietnam-Japan Exchange Program will keep improving and inspire more students
from both Vietnam and Japan for participants to get a chance to share and acknowledge, and to keep a good relationship between the two countries for long.
