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Exchange Students

Activities

Hiroshima, Okinawa online tour and online meditation

March 5, 9, 18, 2021

He participated in online tours which were organized by Inter-University Exchange Project (Africa) in March. The former exchange students from Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS) visited Hiroshima and Okinawa to learn peace building, but it is very difficult for them to actually visit there due to COVID-19 this year. Hiroshima, Okinawa, and meditation are all deeply related to the course that he belongs to at PIASS, so it seems that it was great opportunities and became great experience for him even though they were online tours.

You can read his essay from below.

These were interactive online tours. It gave me knowledge, awareness and information about the consequences to Japan because of her involvement in the war. Although it was emotional for me. I was happy to meet the atomic bomb survivors, who are passionate to see the world without war. I have learnt courage and determination from speakers. Being online had increased my willingness to attend this tour physically. I think it is important to attend this tour online. It gives a good foundational background and prepared me with questions of curiosity that I would ask in future when I will go there. I was so amazed by the participants' discussion and openness. I felt how each one was sensitive to see the world without nuclear power. I thank ASC-TUFS enough to relocate the programs online. Otherwise, I could have missed everything. Shout out to Chihiro for her commitment and passion to prepare and co-coordinate all these activities.

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I know that meditation is absolutely important. Mediation requires passion, determination, and persistence. If you are persistent in practice, it enhances health and daily activities performance. At my home university, I learnt many theories about meditation but never got a chance to have practices. It was an opportunity and advantage to experience it. Because it was online it was not easy to integrate. I tried to follow the instructions of the facilitator. During this meditation time, I could feel calm and quiet inside myself. Before joining, I was not expecting Japanese participants. I assumed that mediation is practical among the majority of Japanese. It is a good opportunity for Japanese to have meditation experiences. The presence of diversity had made it enjoyable and interesting. Some participants shared how meditation had been helping them to overcome some personal difficulties in particular psychological and emotional feelings. In Burundi and Rwanda, we often learn meditation in books. I have never met someone who had made it practice. That is why I am feeling very excited that I have such a unique experience for the people of Burundi and Rwanda.

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