The second half of the global passport program, which started in October 2002, was completed on February 22nd 2003. The children who participated in this program gathered at Kameoka Cultural Activities Center twice a month, and experienced varieties of foreign cultures. They met people from Denmark, Brazil, Holland, Canada, and other countries in this session and studied their culture.
On that day, the children made pinatas with the instruction by the coordinator for international relations (CIR) of Kameoka. In the commencement, they broke the pinatas after they were given the certificates.

Kameoka Exchange Center provides homestay programs 3 or 4 times a year. There are many host families in Kameoka who are very interested in international exchanges. Those host families gathered at Kameoka Cultural Activities Center and exchanged their information. Some participants were expert host families and accepted foreign guests many times, and they introduced their own know-how for a successful homestay. Also some foreign students who experienced KEC's homestay program last year joined this party. They talked about their experience with the host families. We plan to have the first homestay program in mid-April 2003.

The 56th of the Dream World series was held to present a movie special. The theme for this time was worldwide traveling. We invited Mr. Ian Ropke, the chief editor of "KYOTO VISITOR'S GUIDE," a monthly information magazine in English. He is a Canadian, who have traveled in many countries in the world. He appeared in his casual clothes for traveling and introduced some stories of his travels. He, after experiencing varieties of culture in the world, said Japanese people should be more proud of Japanese culture and should respect it.
After his talking, we presented "Peynet," a French-Italian animation film of 1974.

This Dream World Holland was the 55th of the series. Holland reminds us of windmills, but there are a lot of other interesting features in Holland. The main guest was Ms. Margarite Kurokawa. She lives in Saga-Arashiyama area in Kyoto and introduced many things about Holland. After reading a picture book and teaching a song for us, she showed some Dutch words which became parts of Japanese language. For example, "Otemba," which means "flapper," "Buriki," which is "tin," and "Randoseru," which is "school bag" are originally from Dutch. As a special guest, we had a Chinese painter who traveled in Holland before. His name is Mr. Ma Shu Mo, and he introduced his painting work in Holland. On that day, many children were present, so Margarite introduced some plays in Holland. The children ran holding a spoon with a potato on it, and hopped holding a big bag with both of their legs in it. We found some similarities in language and play between Japan and Holland. In the tea party, they enjoyed Dutch cookies brought by Margarite, and some of them tried traditional costumes of Holland. Everyone looked very happy to be at the party.

This event is normally held this season, but this year we decided to call it "Christmas Festa." The "Gospel Singing Circle," a women's group in Kameoka, performed some very nice gospel songs as a Christmas present in the opening. Several international students from Malaysia, China, and Cambodia joined this festa as special guests. They also joined our Summer Camp Program earlier this year. The international students and the CIR of Kameoka introduced some interesting year-end events and customs of their home countries. Then the members of our Global Passport Program presented a performance of their goals and dreams, and the children of our English conversation classes sang some Christmas songs. At the close of the festa, everyone enjoyed a small Christmas cake and soft drink, which was probably the most important thing for the children.

The Christmas season was a very suitable time of year for the Stained Glass Making Class for making Christmas decorations. The instructor Mr. Norio Shimizu, who studied stained glass in France, gave a short lecture introducing the attractiveness of stained glass. After hearing this lecture, the participants made candle stands, terrariums, and mirror frames. The process consists of cutting glass into small shapes and sizes, and connecting them with copper tape and solder. Using solder iron was a little difficult for beginners, but everyone enjoyed the process and created some beautiful stained glass designs.

This Dream World Brazil was the 54th of the series. It was not the first time to feature Brazil, but we enjoyed it inviting Ms. Karen Mine Harada, Ms. Juana Lucini, and Mr. Vinicius Lucini. Karen is a 3rd generation of Japanese-Brazilian, can speak Japanese a little, and loves dancing very much. She said most Brazilians love to dance. Juana and Vinicius were a married couple and introduced the culture of Brazil, such as music and language.
And we had two more guests: Mr. Iwao Okuhara, who is the chairman of Konohana, a social welfare organization; and Mr. Shigeki Maeda, who is the managing director of Ohmoto Esperanto Association. Mr. Okuhara introduced his own experience staying in Brazil. Mr. Maeda showed his pictures of traveling in Brazil. Both of them said Brazilians are very friendly and warm.
Then an artists group from San Francisco, Canyon Arts, joined this event. They were to have a homestay in Kameoka from the 24th to 25th, by the way. Everyone altogether danced a special Tamba Ondo Dance. That was specially arranged for Brazilian taste using bamboo instruments and the rhythm of samba. Everyone looked happy to dance to the music.

KEC had a "shinsho" calligraphy class. "Shinsho" is a sort of calligraphy work. You express your image of certain words and express your heart, as the word "shinsho" means "calligraphy of the heart." The participants picked some Japanese letters and wrote them down on Japanese paper using brushes and their own imagination. It is also fun to guess the original letters that the creators imagined by looking at their works. The participants created varieties of shinsho works. Some of them were easy to guess the original letters, but some were so elaborate and meaningful.

International Shogi "Kameoka Open" was held for two days as a tie-up program of KEC. This time two Swedish shogi players joined as well. Mr. Ryuzo Yasukawa, a fourth dan player, won the first prize on the main tournament on the 26th; and Mr. Ken Yoshioka, a third dan player, won on the 10-mimutes blitz on the 27th. People can make friends very easily and naturally through common hobbies, including shogi, even if they have some language barrier. We think we should continue holding this kind of programs in which they can make friends through certain activities.
The result is here

KEC invited a group of gymnasts from Denmark for the Dream World series for this month. The group, whose name is "Trouble Shooters," were staying in Kameoka to take part in the "Gymnaestrada in Kameoka" on October 27th. In the beginning, the children of KEC's Global Passport program performed their original "Kappa Dance." Then Erick Pedersen, the leader of Trouble Shooters, read "Clumsy Hans." This is a story by Hans Christian Andersen, who is a famous story writer for children in Denmark. Following the reading, Trouble Shooters performed a set of Danish gymnastics. Danish gymnastics are the origin of Japanese "radio gymnastics." Some movements of Danish gymnastics looked like ones of Japanese radio gymnastics, and the back ground music also created a similar atmosphere to radio gymnastics. This group demonstrated some very difficult techniques including repeated handstand exercises. After trying some of Danish gymnastics, the participants also enjoyed some Danish bread, which is made from Danish cheese.

"Tenkoku" is a very traditional seal stamp in Japan. It is used to seal calligraphy works, haiku poems, art postcards, and so on. KEC opened a class making this special seal. The participants designed an original character of their names, drew the mirror image of it on a piece of special rock for tenkoku, and carved the character on the rock. The process was so laborious, but they were very concentrated on it. They looked very satisfied with the tenkoku which is useful in many ways.

The global passport program, where children interact with foreigners and people of different ages, has started the second semester of this year. KEC recruit members of this program twice a year, and many new members joined in this semester. Most of the members were new for each other, but they made friends as they introduced themselves and played English songs and dances. Dream World Denmark is planned on October 26th and they are going to attend this event. They studied about Denmark and played with "Legos," a famous Danish toy.

This was a special course of KEC's English conversation class. In this "Cooking in English" class, all instructions were in English. In two of the five-time classes, they actually did cooking, and they made some apple cakes. They learned a lot of things which are useful when inviting foreign guests as a host family.

KEC staff joined "Let's Play in English!!" provided by the Inukanno Children's House in Nishibetsuin area. That was a series of classes, where children can be familiarized with English through many activities and plays. An English conversation teacher and the CIR (Coordinator for International Relations) of Kameoka joined these activities. The children studied basic use of English, played with Kendama (Japanese cup and ball) and paper balloons, and cooked special pizza and traditional soba noodle, which is a famous product in this area. This course was a four-part series of class. Also the children attending the Global Passport program of KEC joined this course on July 20th, and children from different areas made friends with each other.

Izayoi is the night when the lunar age becomes 16. An alfresco concert was held on the night of Izayoi. A matouqin player, SURI TU from Nei Mongolia, played some excellent music. Speaking of matouqin, we will think of "Sukh's White Horse", a famous Mongolian story, which also appears in some textbooks of Japanese elementary schools. Many people were so curious about the real sound of matouqin. In addition, the members of KEC's Music Workshop class played their new bamboo instruments, so called "togaqin". Ms. Eiko Hayashi and her disciples played Japanese "koto" and "shamisen", too. At the ending of the event, we could see the moon in the eastern sky. It was a little chilly on that day, but everyone enjoyed the Izayoi Concert.

This pottery class was a very special opportunity for the participants because they can experience the processes of making the form, finishing the surface, and painting colors. On the first day, they made the form at Kameoka Cultural Activities Center. Then they experience the rest of the processes at Mr. Nishijima the instructor's work place. They can look on the instructor's work and the kiln as well. Mr. Nishijima is very experienced instructing foreigners, and several groups from the United States visit him every year.

The fall semester of the English conversation classes will start on September 17th. In this demonstration, the teachers gave some advice for choosing classes that fit to the students' levels. The attendants listened to an English conversation on a cassette tape and determined which classes to take, depending on how much they could understand the conversation. One of the instructors told that just attending classes is not enough to acquire English conversation. They must study everyday, even outside of class. The attendants applied for the classes that they think fit to their levels.

This special trip to Kyoto City Rakusai Bamboo Grove Park was held as a trial of the Global Passport Program. Both the regularly-participating children and new children joined and studied the ecology of bamboo. There are a wide variety of bamboo trees in the park and the children were investigating them with interest.

KEC held an indigo blue dyeing class as a creative art course, which both children and parents participated together. The instructor, Eiko Hayashi, grows indigo in her garden and which was used for this class to dye a large silk scarf. In this class we didn't boil the ingredients to extract the color but simply ground it with a blender. The color is a green color, the color of indigo leaves, at the beginning of the process. Then the color gradually changes into sky blue as it is exposed to the air. The children looked very happy to join the event at the ending of summer vacation.

TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) is a standard of testing English communication skill objectively. It is sometimes used in employment exams of companies. This course was for those who are taking TOEIC in the future and studying for 600 points. The participants took a simulative TOEIC test and checked which part they did well and poorly. The instructor gave some advice and TIPS for real TOEIC test.

Children can be accustomed to English language naturally. This was the main concept of planning this Summer English Camp for Children. The children who are taking the Global Passport program and some more children from the public, 23 in total, joined this summer camp. The English teacher of Kameoka Exchange Center and some foreign students from China, Malaysia, and Thailand, who are studying in Kyoto and can speak English very well, also joined. They are involved in many activities with the children, and the children were familiarized with English language.
On the first day, they enjoyed bamboo handicraft, creating new plays, and barbecue. In the evening, they moved to "Wakagino-Ie", a facility of Kameoka City, and spent a night there. Before they went to bed, they listened to an old and a little scary story from Kameoka. They also listened to another scary story from America in English. On the second day, they moved back to Kameoka Exchange Center. A foreign student from Cambodia joined and the children studied Cambodian culture and its condition. They also looked at many pictures drawn by Cambodian children. Some children looked a little sleepy because they stayed up late the night before. But they recovered their energy by the lunch time.
When their families came to take them home, the children said to their parents, "The camp was so fun!!" We thought this program was very successful.

This time the Institute of Italian Culture in Kyoto helped us to hold the program of Dream World Italy. We had already picked up Italy as a country for the Dream World series, but we had very rich contents this time.
Sabrina Squarzoni, the guest speaker, read the story of "Pinocchio" as the introduction of Italian language. Everyone knew "Pinocchio", but few people knew the story was from Italy.
"Opera Chamber Trio" is an opera trio of soprano, clarinet, and piano. They introduced several opera songs, and the audience enjoyed "traveling in Italy via opera music".
And Sabrina explained the history and art of Italy using a video. The member of Global Passport Program, which is a program for children studying foreign culture, asked some questions to Sabrina.
The participants enjoyed tiramisu in the exchange party, too.

The Hyotan Philharmonic is an orchestra group that plays special "hyotan" or gourd instruments. This group had a concert at Kameoka Exchange Center last autumn, but they came back to play different instruments this time. Mr. Shunji Miki, the leader of the group, and Dr. Satoko Kubota, a professor of Kyoto City University of Arts, explained the types of bamboo instruments and their history. Then the group performed an excellent concert using some original bamboo instruments. The audience really enjoyed it and requested an encore. Then Mr. Miki and the group members played gourd instruments, too, which are their original instruments.
After listening to music, we enjoyed exercise. A group practicing so called "Life Saving Exercise", led by Ms. Noriko Iwamoto, introduced their exercise. Everyone, especially those who are from foreign countries, really enjoyed the exercise. Ms. Atsuko Makino and the group members of our music workshop also introduced some Asian bamboo instruments and played some music games.
On that day, the international students joining our homestay program and their host families attended the event, and we had a very good time together.

This program was held as one of our homestay exchange programs provided for the international students studying at universities in Kyoto Prefecture. The students can experience real daily life of ordinary Japanese families. We had a lot of applicants this year, too, and the selected 27 people joined the program. They joined a T-shirts making workshop instructed by Mr. Shigeo Kimura, an artist living in Kameoka. They also attended the exchange party of Kameoka International Exchange Association on that day. After that, they visited the host families, and learned real life of the ordinary families in Japan as well as Japanese culture. The program was for a very short time, only two days, but they could build a nice relationship that can last for a long time.

International Agricultural Exchange is a program in which international students, mostly from Asian countries, and farmers and general citizens of Kameoka study food and agriculture of each country. This time, the students of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University, led by an associate professor, Kazuo Ando, Ph.D., gathered at Kameoka Exchange Center and studied rice farming of Japan and Southeastern Asia with Kameoka farmers. They studied the species of rice as well as the way of farming. The most special thing was the students cooked some different types of curry from Asian countries. They used rice from Thailand. The curry was a little spicy and good, and everybody enjoyed it.

From May 20th to June 3rd, we received the Study Abroad Program from Oklahoma State University in the United States. The group from the landscape architecture program consisted of one professor and 13 students, and they stayed in Kameoka for about 2 weeks studying Japanese landscape architecture. They had some lectures at Kameoka Exchange Center, and they experienced actual Japanese gardening during the workshop provided by the youth group of the Kameoka Gardeners' Association. In addition to gardens in Kameoka, they visited famous temples and shrines in Kyoto as well. They also visited the Urban Environment Planning Institute in Osaka. This year they had an exchange program with the students of Kyoto University of Art and Design, and they shared their work from the same field of study. Japanese and American students got along very easily and enjoyed talking with each other.