Activity Report

Forty-eight viewers enjoyed learning about the city of Rome and its people.

Bonsai has been one of the most popular workshops held by the Minato UNESCO Association.  Because more than 70 people applied for the 30-seat limit, we had to decide the participants by lottery.  We are planning two additional Bonsai workshops during Fiscal 2022, one in December (pine tree for the New -Year-decoration) and the other in next March (cherry tree).  Please apply for these events if you are interested.

We carried out the field study tour titled “Find Out More About Forests, Rivers and Sea of Tokyo” with the co-sponsorship with Minato City Board of Education and Aquatic and Marine Environmental Education Research Laboratory of The Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT) supported by General Incorporated Association Takeshiba Area Management and General Incorporated Association Takeshiba Town Design.  31 people ranged from elementary school students to adults in addition to 40 TUMSAT students participated in this tour.  We visited canals as well as Sumida River by cruise boat in the morning, and Furukawa River and Kanda River by bus in the afternoon during which we all thought over forests, rivers and sea of Tokyo as well as the interrelationship among them.

MUA’s 40-year-long history must have countless episodes to be shared.  We’d like to keep up this annual contest as a platform where Japanese-language learners can demonstrate what they have acquired.   We hope this flagship program will help in promoting cross-cultural understanding.

Comments from MUA staff: Our initial plan was to recruit 30 attendees but ended up with 70 due to great popularity.  We divided the attendees into groups and they worked in a science classroom and a conference room.  Most attendees were in parent-child combinations.  There was an infant girl, at age one plus, who ardently drew nice pictures.  Children drew their favorites images, such as Mt. Fuji, sunflower, and the costume pattern from a popular Manga’s hero, with crayon and water-base pen.  Once their kites with different images were completed, the children started kite-flying on the playground covered with artificial turf.