The Japan Foundation, Mexico
HIRATA Yoshimi, MATSUDA Ryoko, UKAI Kanako

Down Below America

If you look at a map of the world, you will see that Mexico is located to the south of the United States. And what do you see further south? Perhaps Brazil? No. The countries found immediately south of Mexico are Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Many readers may have heard of these countries but not know exactly where they are located. The Japanese-Language Specialists here support Japanese-language education not only in Mexico, but in Central America and the Caribbean as well. There are numerous countries in this region, both large and small, but the total scale of Japanese-language education activities known to the Japan Foundation in the region is admittedly small compared to Mexico in terms of teachers, institutions, and learners. But still, there are teachers in each country who are working hard every day, motivated by a passion for Japan and Japanese-language education, as well as learners of Japanese who put great effort into studying the language driven by their interests in a country so far away.

Central American and Caribbean Network for Japanese-Language Education

Teachers from the ten Central American and Caribbean countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago have gathered to form a Japanese-language education network called the “Central American and Caribbean Network for Japanese-Language Education” (Red Centroamericana y del Caribe para la enseñanza del idioma Japonés)(hereinafter “RCCJ”). The majority of the teachers comprising the RCCJ are Non-Native Japanese Teachers (hereinafter “NNT”). Among the member countries are those in which there are no Native Japanese Teachers (hereinafter “NT”), so every teacher is an NNT. Given that the RCCJ is comprised of ten different small countries, some of which have different official languages, the official language of the network itself is Japanese. To maximize the effectiveness of the network, monthly meetings are held via the Zoom online meeting system in which the representative teacher from each country participates, and despite the fact that Japanese is the official language, the discussions devolve into a variety of languages, including Japanese, English, and Spanish, once the meetings get exciting. The main activities of the RCCJ are to support a variety of Japanese studies and to host seminars on Japanese-language education for the Central American and Caribbean region. The RCCJ held the” 2nd Central American and Caribbean Japanese Language Speech Contest” and the “10th Central American and Caribbean Japanese-Language Education Seminar” in 2018.

The Central American and Caribbean Japanese Language Speech Contest

The 2nd Central American and Caribbean Japanese Language Speech Contest was held in the Dominican Republic on Saturday, October 13, 2018. This regional speech contest was attended by the talented winners of each national level Japanese-language speech contest in the region to compete in giving the best speech in Japanese, but also as an opportunity to deepen their connections with Japanese learners in other countries who they do not usually get a chance to meet. The winning prize of the contest was a study trip to Japan of roughly two weeks. The funding for the trip was collected by the teachers of the RCCJ by selling t-shirts and Japanese food at the national level contests and asking companies for sponsorships. The teachers worked very hard for the benefit of the learners.

The contestants of the 2nd Central American and Caribbean Japanese Language Speech Contest

The Central American and Caribbean Japanese-Language Education Seminar

The Central American and Caribbean Japanese-Language Education Seminar (hereinafter the “Seminar”) is held in a different host country each year, and the details are discussed during the monthly meetings during which the division of roles is also decided. The 10th Seminar was held in El Salvador in 2018. The 1st Seminar in 2008 was organized and run by a team primarily featuring members of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Overseas Cooperation Volunteers dispatched to the region for Japanese-language education. However, the 10th Seminar was organized and run entirely by NNT in a demonstration of the capabilities they have achieved over the past 10 years. As the Japanese-Language Specialists dispatched to Mexico, our role was to give advice on organizing and running the Seminar, and to serve as a speaker at the Seminar. Due to the difficulty of meeting directly, we use Zoom and email to discuss Seminar operations and lectures.

In addition to learning from the Japanese-Language Specialists through their lectures, participants in the Seminar are also able to learn a great deal from each other through discussions. Furthermore, the possibility to meet teachers from a variety of countries is an extremely valuable opportunity for the teachers because the networks in each country are more limited. There is also an event at the end of the Seminar, called the “Reception”, during which Japanese culture is introduced. This event is designed so that all participants and presenters can have fun together, including dance and song, introductions of Japanese festivals, and cultural quizzes. Japanese people might have trouble telling the difference between the various cultures in Central America, but a closer look reveals that each indeed has its own color and form.

I look forward to the unique “color” and “form” of the Seminars created by the RCCJ, and I will continue to support them.

Closing Ceremony of the 10th Central American and Caribbean Japanese-Language Education Seminar