Six student volunteers were recruited via the Nagasaki University Yatte Myu Desk student volunteer support service to serve as Nagasaki City sightseeing guides for 17 JICA participants from 17 countries.
On Friday, February 21, the students gave presentations in English on the three courses they devised and publicized the attractive feature of each course to the trainees.
Considering that this was the first time for these JICA participants to visit Japan and that they are bridge and infrastructure experts, the courses were presented in such a way that the participants could enjoy both the tourist attractions and the infrastructure of Nagasaki City.
In the afternoon of Saturday, February 22, the participants were divided into three groups, and led by the student guides, they toured the sights of Nagasaki City.
Using the streetcar, each group walked around the city for four to five hours. One group, for example, visited Glover Garden, Oura Church, Megane Bridge, and Dejima Omotemon Bridge.
The guides, students from the College of Engineering, carefully prepared the course and used their expertise to explain the history and structure of the buildings and bridges in English. In another course, the group was introduced to Japanese religious culture at Suwa Shrine and the history of exchange with China at the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and Shinchi Chinatown.
One of the JICA participants commented, “We had a very interesting and enjoyable guided tour. I am really glad at how hard the students worked on this tour,” Another participant said, “This is my first time in Japan, and I thought Nagasaki was a very beautiful city,” Yet another participant remarked, “The best thing was that I could interact with the students. I was able to learn about the city and how to get around, so I would like to go back to the places that piqued my interest by myself.”
