KIP知日派国際人育成プログラム

Regional Studies

2023 KIP Niigata Trip

On the first day, we listened to the stories of young farmers at Ozawa Farm, and enjoyed nature while sightseeing the industry of Minamiuonuma, a rice-producing region, and sake brewing. We had dinner with a university student and four local high school students. The second day we were mostly in Tokamachi City, where we visited a sightseeing farm and viewed the "Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale." We also thought about tourism and regional development.
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2023 KIP Gunma Trip

From June 16th to 17th, the participants went on a regional trip to Gunma Prefecture and learned about the history and industries of the area. On the first day, they held a forum themed “Ideal Personality That Is Required in the DX Era” with local high school students. Mr. Kitano, a KIP alumni member, made a speech, and they discussed the necessary skills in the DX era with the high school students. On the same day, they walked around Kanayama Castle, one of the hundred most famous castles in Japan. On the second day, they moved to Midori city and visited a soy sauce factory; besides, they learned about the history and industries of Gunma by strolling through the quaint streets in Kanra town, visiting Konjac Park, and going to Tomioka Silk Mill, a World Heritage site.　
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2022 KIP Yamagata Trip

From May 3 to 5, the participants visited Tendo City and Sakata City in Yamagata Prefecture as part of the regional studying trip for 2022. On the first day, they proposed measures to extend Tendo fruit as a gift to young people. After that, they learned about the Japanesene culture lying behind Japanese sake in a lecture by the president of Dewazakura Sake Brewery and toured a sake brewery. On the second day, they walked around the Dewazakura Museum and the five-story pagoda of Mt. Haguro, and learned about the history of Kitamaebune ships in Sakata. On the third day, they visited historical sites in Sakata, including the Sankyo Warehouse, the former Honma family's main residence, and the Honma Museum of Art, and watched a maiko dance performance at the Somaro Theater. The third day was spent at the Sankyo Warehouse, the former Honma family's main residence, and the Honma Museum of Art.　
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2021 Reginal Study Trip in Kushiro

The Kushiro training began with an idea competition. The participants were divided into three teams and kept preparing ideas for two months before the regional study. Aiming to revitalize the Kushiro economy, we created ideas to attract people to come to Kushiro while being involved with the industries selected by each team. The mayor of Kushiro and city officials commented on the ideas and taught us the importance of considering sustainability in business planning. We hope that Kushiro City will adopt new policies based on these three ideas. In addition, we held a student discussion with universities and high school students in Kushiro and were able to hear their passion for their hometown, Kushiro. We were impressed by the strong will of high school students to stay in the local area and support the evolution of Kushiro.
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2020 A regional study in Kochi

In mid-November, 8 out of 15 KIP Project members visited Kochi city, Susaki city of Kochi prefecture, Matsuyama city of Ehime prefecture, and Shikoku Karst for three days. We interacted with local fishers, members of voluntary organizations for disaster prevention, journalists, and college students. We learned how to promote the area’s economy, the problem and its solution of primary industry, and what the local people were thinking of and taking actions against the Nankai Trough earthquake. Under unforeseen circumstances due to the COVID-19 crisis, we did our best to carry out the regional studies. For example, we wore face masks almost all the time and disinfected our hands constantly during our trip. We also conducted self-restraint one week before the trip. Thanks to steady preparation, including such thorough infection prevention measures, this activity was very successful.
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2019 University Students’ International Conference in Mie (UNICOM)

From November 2 to 4, UNICOM2019 was held by MIE Prefectural Office and KIP. This year’s theme was “Marine pollution and food” and around 50 students took apart in this conference, including Local Opinion Exchange meeting, Debates, “Amamo” Reproduction experience and Inspection of Ise Shrimp in Shima. In the meetup with local people, we communicated with people who engage in Ise Shrimp Fishing and Oyster Farming industry. After that, we had a debate on about fishing problems. In “Amamo” Reproduction experience, all students took part in the process of growing “Amamo” and we had a better understanding of Fishing industry.
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2018 University Students’ International Conference in Mie (UNICOM)

UNICOM (University International Conference in Mie) was held for the third time from the 23rd to 25th of November, 2018, cosponsored by Mie prefectural government and KIP. This time, about 60 university students, including to international students, gathered in Kihoku-cho, in Mie prefecture.
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2017 University Students’ International Conference in Mie (UNICOM)

2017 University Students’ International Conference in Mie was held from Nov 3 to Nov 5 and hosted by Mie Prefectural Government and KIP. About 70 students including international students living in Japan gathered in Toshi island, Mie Prefecture. During these three days, we discussed issues of the local area, from both global and local perspectives,like environmental regulations and succession of ama divers.
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2017 University Students’ International Conference in Yamaguchi (JUNICON)

2017 University Students’ International Conference in Yamaguchi was held from May 3 to May 6 and hosted by Yamaguchi Prefectural Government and KIP. About 70 students including international students living in Japan gathered in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where Meiji Restoration originated. During these four days, we discussed issues which Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan and world are facing, from both global and local perspectives, visited Shoka Sonjuku and Meiringakusya to learn history, and experienced local industries such as Hagi-yaki and forestry.
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A Regional Study to Minamiuonuma City

From October 1st to 2nd, 13 KIP members and 1 KIP alumni visited Minamiuonuma City in Niigata Prefecture. We had a discussion with local people and students from International University of Japan. We harvested rice and learned how to make “Hazakake” (the place to put rice in the sun) from local farmers.This is the third time for us to visit Minamiuonuma. In the discussion, we considered some ideas for reactivating the town from various aspects of opinions of the participants.
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University Students’ International Conference in Mie, 2016

As a kickoff event for KIP’s 10th anniversary of its foundation, we had a 4day program named University Students’ International Conference in Mie (UNICOM), from Aug.31 to Sep.3, co-sponsored by KIP and Mie prefectural government. It was one of the biggest post-summit events held in Ise-city, Mie prefecture where the G7 summit was held this May. In UNICOM, we learned about the local history and culture, and discussed local issues both from local and global perspectives.
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A Regional Study to Minamiuonuma City

From October 3rd to 4th, 11 KIP members and 2 KIP alumni visited Minamiuonuma City in Niigata Prefecture. We had a discussion with local people and students from International University of Japan. We harvested rice and learned how to make “Hazakake” (the place to put rice in the sun) from local farmers.
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A Regional Study to Muroran City

From September 2nd to 4th, 9 KIP members visited Muroran city and its surrounding areas in Hokkaido. We had discussions with municipal officers and high school students about tourism. In order to understand industry and culture in the area, we also visited Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, Ainu Museum and a restaurant run by local elderly women. In addition, we enjoyed the beautiful night view in Muroran and the relaxing hot spring in Noboribetsu city, a city next to Muroran.
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A Regional Study to Nagano

From May 22th to 24th, 15 KIP members, three KIP alumni, and 14 NanoJapan members (overseas students studying Nano Science in Japan) visited Ueda city and Aoki village in Nagano prefecture. In Aoki village, We discussed the current situation and the agricultural issues of the Aoki village with the local people. We enjoyed various activities, such as rice planting and soba making with them as well as the discussion.
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Project2011 "International Education"

"Young people these days are inward-looking." This oft-spoken viewpoint is frequently projected in the media and buttressed with other supposed evidence that Japnaese exchange students in foreign countries are decresasing, freshmen employees willing to work aborad are decreasing, Japnaese students at Harvard are decreasing, and so on. This is seen as a problem because their ability as effective and worldly-wise human resources is percived to be unreliable even though we need the men and women who can servive in the globalized world.In such situation, we decided to analyze wheter "young people's tendency to be inward-looking" is true or not in this project. The purpose of this project is, therefore, to focus on the essence of this problem, to dicvoer how we can solve it, and to propose what we should od about focusing on "international education".