Over 1 people participated in the three days of Japan ULS, in a large and varied program.

From research projects and doctoral improvements to dance Awa Odori contemplated “Japan ULS: Japanese Cultural Days”, organized by the University of La Serena with the support of the Embassy of Japan in Chile and the International Cooperation Agency, JICA.

The activities began with a participatory introductory talk about Japanese culture, from the story of the volunteers Daisuke Yoshida, Yuko Okamura, Masanori Hiwatari, Takeshi Nishimoto, Yoshinori Takeda and Karin Kodama, who brought the culture, the seasons of the year and others closer. attractive and interesting data comparing Chile and Japan; ending with the story of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro, former scholarship recipient of the Embassy of Japan in Chile and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, who recounted, through his experience, the perspective of a Chilean in Japan and its culture.

During the first day, the opening of the exhibition “The Country of the Rising Sun: A look at the Japanese country through calendars” was also held, which was attended by the Ambassador of Japan in Chile, Ito Takako; the president of the institutional Board of Directors, Ernesto Velasco; the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Luperfina Rojas, as well as university authorities, ULS officials and the general public.

Later, it was the turn of volunteer Tomoe Yokoyama, who collaborated in the Calligraphy, Origami and Manga workshops, in addition to carrying out the Judo and Kendo demonstrations.

In this regard, volunteer Daisuke Yoshida highlighted that “it was magnificent. I participated in these days for the first time, and I was very surprised because I was able to find many Chileans interested in Japanese culture. This event is a unique opportunity to unite different Chilean - Japanese cultures. Our country is on the other side of the world, so it is generally very difficult to experience in the daily life of Chileans.” Furthermore, Daisuke, affectionately called in the Municipality of Illapel as “Dandy”, highlighted an important theme that was related to his talk “A witness to the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and the value of Peace”: “The key to our culture is to respect to other people, that's why I want the participants to feel it through the activities of this event. Nowadays, some political or ideological differences are resulting in a lot of suffering and deaths due to the wars that are emerging in the 21st century. Therefore, I believe that this event is an attempt that will not only help spread Japanese culture, but which will also lead to peace,” he pointed out.

During the programming, a day was dedicated to delve into how the University of La Serena is linked to Japan through the academic field, through collaborative projects, where Dr. Masanori Nagao, researcher of the project “Recovery of High Value Bioproducts”, participated. Aggregate for Sustainable Fishing Activity in Chile (ReBiS)”, which is being developed together with Hokkaido University, with financing from the Japan International Cooperation Agency - JICA and the Japan Science and Technology Agency - JST. In the same instance, Dr. Toshihiko OTA, researcher at the Department of Physics of the ULS Faculty of Sciences and the SAPHIR Millennium Institute, a scientific research center funded by the ANID Millennium Scientific Initiative and hosted by the Federico Santa María Technical University, spoke. , the Andrés Bello University, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the University of Tarapacá and the University of La Serena, financed by the ANID Millennium Institutes program.

For his part, Dr. Ronny Martínez, academic and researcher at the Department. ULS Food Engineer and SATREPS ReBiS Chile Project Manager, emphasized that “the experience of knowing what researchers who work on projects associated with the university are doing is super valuable and not only disseminating what they do from the point of view of their specialty, but also that they can share their experience of visiting Chile, and try to explain to a general public what they do, because that creates more interest not only from the general public but also from other academics.” Furthermore, Martínez highlighted the positive aspects of the potential link between professionals, since “you can meet the Japanese or foreigners who work on projects here at the university and share the experience to encourage the exchange of researchers between different universities and also between projects, since Instances can also be created between projects that can result either in improving or facilitating the objectives of the projects or in the future in the development of new projects together.

Other activities included in the program were the Japanese Games; the talk on JICA Scholarships by Félix Jacob, a young regional professional who has received a scholarship twice to carry out further training in Japan, and by the professional Cynthia Álvarez, Training Program - JICA Chile Office; the Kamishibai show with the Kaze No Koe company; the Cosplay Contest; a participatory tour of the Japanese Park of La Serena “Kokoro No Niwa”, supported by the Pacific Mining Company CMP, and aimed at boys and girls from the NGO Edudown La Serena, guided by JICA volunteer Nobuko Yokokawa. Finally, as a golden closing to three full days of Japanese culture, the Pedro Aguirre Cerda academy culminated the days with a full house in the Aula Magna ULS with its “Symphonic Dragon Ball” concert.

At the closing, the Director of Liaison with the Environment and Extension of the University of La Serena. Mg. Carlos Varas emphasized: “We are very happy that the Japanese Cultural Days have been so successful in all their activities. We were accompanied by JICA volunteers who behaved spectacularly, all of them did a very dynamic job, they were very active; from emotion, from laughter, even from tears with the fact that “Dandy” told us the story of his grandfather at the time of the atomic bomb. So it was a very notable activity, very strong. We hope to repeat this soon and with the quality we had today and gratitude to all the people involved in the organization of this event.”

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Source: DIVEULS