2017.03.13
March 13 (Monday)
8:30 Centrair Chubu International Airport
14:00 Arriaval in Noi Bai Internationa Airport
18:00 Introductory Ceremony in Hotel Nikko, Hanoi
Students were excited to meet Viet Duke High School students again after 2 months. They had dinner together and had an orientation of the one week program in Japan.
March 14 (Tuesday)
9:30 Courtesy visit to the Ministry of Vietnam Education and Training
Mr. Nguyen Shuang Van, Director of the International Cooperation Bureau gave a lecture on the topic of relationship between Vietnam and Japan in terms of education. Students expressed appreciation and commemorative gifts were presented to Mr. Nguyen.
11:00 Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Students visited Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where the corpse of Ho Chi Minh, the father and Vietnamese founder and national hero, was placed.
Despite of weekdays, there were many visitors and students realized how big the existence of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam is.
14:00 JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) Hanoi
Mr. Seiji Kitazimi, advisor of promoting overseas investment and economic collaboration, gave a lecture on the economics of Vietnam and the activities of JETRO.
Many questions were raised from the students, such as what Mr.Kitasima think important in business and future prospective industries in Vietnam.
■Contents of the lecture (abstract)
○Economic characteristics of Vietnam
・There is an economic disparity between the north with experience of capitalist economy and south part without.
・Vietnam imports raw materials and produce domestically , then export products overseas, therefore domestic industries stay immature and there is not much added value remains in the country.
・Foreign direct investment has increased since 2007 after Vietnam has joined WTO
○Characteristics of business in Vietnam
・Low labor costs and young working population. However, circumstance may change with in next few years, therefore we have to come up with new countermeasures.
・Administrative and legislation system are not fully developed yet.
■Questions from students
Q : What do you mean by JETRO is "Providing business opportunities"? Where do you get the funds from?
A : We provide meeting rooms for business negotiation on the hardware side. For the software side, we provide business opportunities such as business convention/exhibition. Our fund come from tax.
Q : What is the most important thing at work?
A : Provide accurate information as an adviser. I try to utilize my Vietnamese language ability to obtain high quality information and to convey them.
Q : How do you overcome the gap in prices between Japan and Vietnam?
A : Most of the products manufactured in Vietnam are to export to overseas because the labor costs are low, they can sell the products with low price at the export destination. For the product in Vietnam, they try to use domestic materials as much as possible to keep the low prices. However, there are products need to rely on importing materials such as automobiles are sold with a high price. as a result, they do not sell well because of the price.
Q : What is the popular industry of the country with young labor force? What is the industry that will grow?
A : Industries with manual work have been main industries in the country. Due to the rise in the age of the labor force, highly value added industry with high productivity such as IT and software industries are expected to grow.
15:00 Temple Literature
This temple was built to worship Confucius and the place where first college was established in the country. Students prayed for academic achievement.
There was a group of local students who study Japanese language. They enjoyed interaction and deepened their friendship.
18:30 Welcome Party at AEON MALL Long Bien
Students had opportunities to talk to many supporters who were involved with the program such as Mr. Nguyen Shuang Van, Vietnam Education and Training Division,
Mr. Atsushi Yanagi, Embassy of Japan in Vietnam Acting Delegation Ambassador ,
Mr. Yasushi Iwamura, Representative Director and President of Aeon Mall Vietnam.
Students performed Japanese traditional dance to express their appreciation.
March 15 (Wednesday)
8:40 Bát Tràng Village
Students visited Bat Trang Village, suburbs of Hanoi, is well known as pottery village. They enjoyed opportunity to experience painting on mugs. Students get to bring finished mugs back home as memories of the program.
11:10 Shopping at AEON MALL Long Bien
Students enjoyed having lunch at AEON Mall which was newly opened last year as the first AEON Mall in Vietnam. They experienced shopping at the local supermarket after lunch.
14:30 Vietnam Military History Museum
Students visited Vietnam Military History Museum with many displayed items such as fighter planes, firearms and bombs. They learnt history of domination by foreign countries and resistance and history of Vietnam War.
15:30 Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long
Thang Long is the former name of Hanoi. Students visited the Imperial Citadel, the center of the Vietnamese dynasties from 11th century to the 19th century, and observed the magnificent history of Vietnam for hundreds of years.
March 16 (Thursday)
8:30 Kim Lien High School
Students visited Kim Lien High School students who are studying Japanese and English language. They were divided into groups, enjoyed having conversation on the topic of their school life and also enjoyed folding origami paper together. Yokkaichi High School students gave stationeries and sweets that they brought from Japan as souvenirs.
13:50 Hai Ba Trung Temple
Hai Ba Trung Temple worship Hai Ba Trung (徴姉妹) who were rebellious against later Han Dynasty in 1st century. Hai Ba Trung are honored as heroes.
14:15 Flower farmer
Students visited a flower farmer, Tan family. They enjoyed opportunities to experience making hats to cover the bud of flowers, plow the field with hoe, picking rose flowers. A mother of Tan family made beautiful rose bouquet for students.
March 17 (Friday)
Viet Duke High School
Viet Duke High School welcomed Yokkaichi High School student with Vietnamese traditional dance. After the welcome party, students were divided into three groups and observed English classes. After lunch, students observed Japanese language class, then attended art club and experienced hat painting then attended guitar club and enjoyed music performance. After school, host families came to school to pick the students up and they went to respective homestay home.
March 18 (Saturday)
9:00 Planting Sakura cherry tree
Students planted cherry tree with Viet Duke High School students and host families in Hoa Binh Park located in suburb of Hanoi. Mr. Takuya Okada, a founder of Aeon and Honorary President attended the event and planted tree together with students. We hope one day this cherry tree blossoms in full bloom will become a symbol of bridge connecting the two countries. After planting tree, students enjoyed homestay program and spent time with their host families.
March 19 (Saturday)
Students enjoyed one day homestay program. They came back to the hotel to attend farewell party with souvenirs and memories from their host families.
Att the end of the party, students mentioned in their speech that they learned the importance of cooperation through the program which motivated them to study hard so that they can contribute to make international relations better in the future. After the party, students teared to say good bye to their pairs and host families.
