World Cafe

We held the "World Cafe: A Global Living Room" event on July 11th.

For this session, we invited Joy (from Bangladesh) and Naru (from Venezuela) as guest speakers to interact with participants and introduce their cultures using simple English.

When people think of Bangladesh, they often picture the apparel products sold in the West and Japan. Bangladesh and Japan share strikingly similar national flags; the design reflects respect for Japan's rapid post-war transformation from an agrarian-industrial economy into a major industrial nation. The green represents "the fertile land and the vitality of the people," while the red circle symbolizes "the blood shed during the War of Independence and the rising sun." The cultural presentation covered a wide range of fascinating topics, including the seasons, food culture, and the education system. Joy also introduced local tourist spots known only to a native, offered participants the chance to try on traditional Bangladeshi garments like the "Panjabi" and "Sari," and showed us rare currency from the pre- and post-independence eras.

Venezuela is located in the northern part of South America. Although it is a country far from Japan, the conversation was lively, touching on familiar topics such as famous baseball players from Venezuela and the differences in greeting customs between the two countries. Since "Spanish and Japanese have similar pronunciations, making it easy to learn," we held a mini-lesson on Spanish, allowing participants to interact using simple phrases. We also discussed current events, such as the major earthquake that struck Venezuela last month; it was a relief to hear that Naru’s family, friends, and loved ones were safe.

Feedback from participants included:

● I learned about many differences regarding Japan. There were so many things I discovered for the first time.

● It was great to hear firsthand accounts about Bangladesh and Venezuela from native speakers.

● The explanations were easy to understand, as they used simple English.

● "I'm so glad I participated—it was wonderful to get a taste of the Spanish language and see the clothing!" were among the comments we heard.

Since the beginning of this month, Chikyu Hiroba has been collecting donations for the major earthquake in Venezuela, and many participants have kindly contributed. A big thank you to Joy and Naru for sharing such wonderful stories, and to everyone who took part!