An information technology company based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, has started employing elderly people to teach Japanese to people overseas via online video calls.

The aim is to connect elderly people who tend to become isolated, such as those living in nursing homes, with foreigners who have few opportunities to study Japanese with a native speaker.

So far, both the teachers and the students seem to be enjoying themselves and making friends.

“September is a rainy month in Japan because of the typhoons. Do typhoons come to Thailand?” Teru Morisawa, an 87-year-old who lives alone in housing for the elderly in Kashiwa, asked a student in Thailand during a video call made on a tablet computer on Sept. 21.

“Sometimes, but not as often as Japan,” answered the student, a 22-year-old who studies Japanese at a university in Bangkok.

For about 30 minutes, they spoke in Japanese about Morisawa’s hobby of writing haiku and the foods they liked.

“I don’t have many Japanese friends, so I’m happy to actually speak Japanese,” the student said.

Morisawa taught three classes that day. “Helping people learn Japanese is a worthwhile thing to do. I never thought I’d get to know foreigners at this age,” she said joyfully.

The project, which was launched free of charge on a trial basis in August, is the brainchild of Manabu Goto, the 25-year-old president of Helte Co., an IT company based in Kashiwa.

When Goto was a university student, he sometimes spoke by video call with a woman living in a US nursing home that his mother knew through work. Then when traveling in Southeast Asia, he met a number of young people who said they were studying Japanese but had few opportunities to practice.

Eventually, he came up with the idea to connect elderly people in Japan with young people overseas, and started his company.

He installed a system that displays large-size text on the tablets to make them easier for elderly people to use. He visited elderly housing facilities, nursing homes and other places in the city to generate interest.

Currently, Goto is working with 11 elderly people at three facilities. It was his impression that many young people in Thailand were studying Japanese, so he reached out to universities in Bangkok and elsewhere and made agreements with them.

According to the Japan Foundation, an independent administrative agency, there were about 3.99 million people studying Japanese overseas as of fiscal 2012, an increase of about 300,000 people since fiscal 2009.

Goto would like to expand the number of users through such measures as having domestic nursing homes sign contracts with universities abroad, which in the future could be turned into a business.

“I’d like to create a place where various people can connect and overcome the differences of age and nationality,” Goto said.Speech

A succession of people visited the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on Friday as condolence books for Prince Mikasa – who passed away at the age of 100 the previous day – were made available for signing.

People were seen forming a line in front of the books at 9 a.m., when the signing commenced. The books were placed under a marquee in front of the prince’s residence in the estate to honour his memory.

Former Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Atsuko Toyama, who serves as the vice chair of the Japan-Turkey Society, had known Prince Mikasa – a scholar of ancient oriental history – since she assumed the post of ambassador to Turkey 20 years ago.

Toyama, 77, said she was once invited to the prince’s residence and heard about his participation in archaeological excavation research in Turkey. She remembers Prince Mikasa speaking calmly and looking audience members in the eye.

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Japan’s Prince Mikasa passes away at 100

Source:

AFP

Reuters

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“I admire Prince Mikasa because he maintained a steadfast attitude throughout his life, even in the war and postwar days. I’d like to express my gratitude for all his guidance,” Toyama said.

Another mourner was a 64-year-old housewife from Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, who once lived near the estate.

“I’m sad to have lost the prince, who lived through turbulent times and will no longer be able to pass down his memories about the war,” she said.

Japan Rugby Football Union Executive Director Hiroshi Konishi said Prince Mikasa contributed to the promotion of various sports.

“I felt close [to the prince] because he loved a wide range of sports. I would like to say ‘Thank you’ to him from the bottom of my heart,” the 70-year-old said.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the signing area is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the time being.

The “Renso no Gi” funeral service will take place at the Toshimagaoka Imperial Graveyard in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, starting at 10 a.m. on Nov. 4.

Foreign ministry says the Philippines agreed to put aside disputes to maintain regional stability

Some countries should “discard their unrealistic stance” over the South China Sea issue, as China and the Philippines are making joint efforts to promote the positive development of the situation, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

Spokesman Lu Kang made the remarks at a regular news conference, while commenting on a report from Japanese media that quoted a Japanese government official as saying that during Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit, Tokyo and Manila have reached consensus on Wednesday over “respecting the arbitral ruling” of the South China Sea.

The arbitration case, unilaterally launched by former Philippine president Benigno Aquino III in 2013, had deteriorated the China-Philippine relationship until last week when Duterte began a state visit to China to restore bilateral ties and enhance co-operation.

Lu said that during Duterte’s visit, China and the Philippines agreed to set aside disputes and enhance bilateral negotiations over the South China Sea.

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Duterte in China to promote economic ties

Source:

Reuters

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“We have noticed that President Duterte’s recent remarks are in accordance with the spirit of the consensuses (made during Duterte’s visit to Beijing),” he said.

“If you want to understand the stance of the Philippine government, it would be worth listening to what the Philippine leader said,” Lu added.

On Thursday, the final day of his three-day visit to Japan, Duterte said his country could conduct joint naval exercises with Japan, but repeated there would be no more war games with longtime ally the United States, and again vented his anger toward Washington.

Reactions to South China Sea ruling

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, AFP, Weibo

Duterte said on Wednesday that disputes over the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully.

Chen Qinghong, a researcher of Southeast Asian and Philippine studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said Japan, a country which does not have territorial clams in the South China Sea, has been trying to stir up trouble in the region, at a time when parties involved in the issue have been working to maintain regional stability.

“Through intensifying disputes in the region, Japan is attempting to sow discord between China and Southeast Asian countries, in an attempt to expand its influence in Southeast Asia and try to contain China,” Chen said.