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Japanese Youth Exchange 2018 presentation 

Published: 31/10/2018

Chloe Stark, Lucy Harrison, Cllr Cunningham, Andy Cowling, Joan Cuningham, Alex Moutrie, Jess Randell & Grace Davies

Six Flintshire students who travelled to Japan for the 2018 Flintshire Optec Japanese Youth Exchange gave a dazzling presentation of their experiences recently.

The six young people talked about their experiences to an audience of other students interested in applying for the 2019 exchange at a Presentation Evening hosted by Cllr. Paul Cunningham, Chairman of Flintshire County Council. 

Alex Moutrie, Andy Cowling, Chloe Stark, Grace Davies, Jessica Randell and Lucy Harrison visited Japan in August to stay with Japanese host families in the towns of Murata, Kawasaki and Zao.  They discussed their experiences of Japanese life, including living with a Japanese family, what kind of food they ate and the places that they visited during their two week stay. 

They also talked about hosting their Japanese students in this country, showing them aspects of Welsh culture and spoke about the bonds of friendship that were created over the four weeks of the exchange. The students showed slides of their visits to Tokyo, shrines, and places of natural beauty and other images of their many activities such as traditional paper making and attending festivals.  

Councillor Paul Cunningham, Chairman of Flintshire County Council, said:

"The links that have been forged by this exchange are unique in offering the opportunity for both countries to come together to exchange ideas and learn about each other’s way of life and culture. The youth exchange has proved to be a major success for developing an understanding and tolerance, particularly in our young generation, which can only be of benefit to future international relations. I would like to thank the Flintshire Optec Japanese Youth Exchange Trust for its continued and generous funding of the Flintshire side of the exchange programme and also the received generous assistance provided this year by Toyota UK, Deeside, Calbee UK Ltd and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation." 

The Flintshire parents who welcomed Japanese students into their homes agreed that it had been a ‘once in lifetime’ experience for the whole family, and they would recommend it to any family whose child was interested in applying for the 2019 exchange. 

The exchange is coordinated by Flintshire Optec Japanese Youth Exchange Trust and open to all students aged 16 -18 on the 1 September 2018 in full time education in Flintshire high schools and colleges.   

Applications for the 2019 exchange are due to be returned by Tuesday 6 November.  For further information or application forms contact Karen Jones, Japanese Youth Exchange Coordinator on 07759295984 or by email to karenjones@flintshire.gov.uk.