AN OBSERVATION TOUR TO OSAKA, KYOTO AND TOKYO; JULY 1-5, 2007
A REPORT BY GREYNE ANOSIKE-NIGERIA
INTRODUCTION: The tour which was a scheduled one was preceded by a week long daily briefings by the MTEC coordinator, Brandy Kaneshiro san and Naoko Nakama san.
The briefing was to acquaint participants with what to expect at the various places indicated at itinerary.
We were also informed of the intricate nature of the train movements in the various places.
SUNDAY JULY 1, 2007
The group left Naha airport aboard ANA flight number 1732 and arrived Osaka International Centre at about 5.15pm.Monday JULY 2: The day began with a visit to the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY where participants were warmly received by a representative of the Director General of the Centre, Professor Kubo Masatoshi who is a professor and Head-Research Centre for Cultural Resources at the museum Prof. Matatoshi in a two- hour lecture, gave participants a panoramic view of the evolution of the cultural history of Japan and its relations with other cultural entities in other societies outside Japan.
The lecture was followed in the afternoon by an independent tour of the vast museum. The tour of the museum concluded the day’s activities at4.30pm.Before then, we had had a group photograph with the Professor as well as presented him with a gift.

TUESDAY JULY 03, 2007
Participants checked out of OSIC enroute to the ancient city of Kyoto for a visit to the Kyoto International Culture Foundation.On hand to receive the OIC team was the President of Kyoto International Culture Foundation, Mr. Tatsushi Kani who in his brief remark welcomed the visitors and enjoined us to avail ourselves of the trip to Japan to learn more about the Japanese people and their culture.
He said Japan has a long history and a quantum of evidence to show for her cultural richness. The cultural properties, he noted, had been nurtured over a series of generations by the Japan forefathers.
Mr. Kani disclosed that the Foundation was taking advantage of its digital technology to replicate centuries old artifacts exactly to their original forms.
He boasted that his Foundation was the first in the world to take advantage of computer technology to restore the cultural heritage of the Japanese people. He described culture as being at the heart of the people of Japan and that the country had been able to restore centuries old works of art because all the necessary facilities required to technologically transform its history are available.
Mr. Kani in a short documentary, showed participants how the technology works using the biggest scanner in world. The scanner was customized for the Foundation by DAINIPPON Screen Manufacturing Limited of Japan.
THE KYOTO TEMPLE
Participants were later taken to UNESCO world heritage site-the Kiomis Temple.
It was a breathtaking spectacle as thousands of tourists from the world over mingled in and out of the temple despite the high temperature of about 30 degrees. An Italian family I met near the Temple said they were there from Reggina in Rome to satisfy their curiosity over the temple which according to them had magical powers. KYOTO obviously is the cultural and tourism hub of Japan.
WEDNESDAY JULY 04, 2007
The extensive and enormously vast cosmopolitan city of Tokyo was our host on the third day of the tour, it was a dream fulfilled as nearly all the participants except two, were coming to the city for the first time. From the bullet train that took only two hours from Osaka to Tokyo- a distance of 631 kilometers, to the hundreds of underground subways, the regularly scheduled bus services, the monorails, the state of the art cars, the thousands of latest designs in motorcycles and bicycles, the sky scrappers and the extraordinary cleanliness of Tokyo and indeed the Japan waterway transport system, give the Japanese capital, a characteristically beautiful and green city status.
The day began with a visit to the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MULTIMEDIA EDUCATION-NIME. NIME supports the spread and encouragement of education using ICT including e-learning in line with government’s new IT Reform Strategy. The Centre in collaboration with GLOBE- (Global Learning Object Brokered Exchange), is providing learning information from across the world. A briefing for the participants was conducted by amiable Professor YASULUKO TSUJI who said e-learning is popular in Japan and that with their help most universities in Japan have developed e-learning content using NIME’s Learning Object Metadata, LOM.
Professor Tsuji assured that NIME is anxious to establish relations with any universities any where in the world that have the capacity to relate with it.
From NIME, we were taken to the mesmerizing MUSEUM OF EMERGING SCIENCE AND INNOVATION-MIRAIKAN. It is a museum that documents the history (both ancient and contemporary) and the genesis of science and technology in Japan.
It is an awesome and intimidating edifice with magnificent technological innovations on display. I was excited to read about the science behind size of one’s brain and his intelligence and that the human body contains 14 billion nerve calls. I was able to understand a little about Space technology and its predominance in satellite engineering.
That museum is obviously what gives Japanese children added advantage in the world of hi- tech. Undoubtedly the second most interesting spot we visited. Fantastic, arresting, awe- inspiring and fabulous,

Thursday, JULY 05, 2007
Our last day in Tokyo was the most splendid as we visited Nippon Hoso kyokai Corporation-NHK. NHK is the sole national public broadcaster in Japan. A sprawling edifice located at 2-21 Jinnan Shibuya, Tokyo, NHK does its exploratory show of Japan in it 4th floor which has a 150 inch TV monitor. The Station receives no government subventions and is sustained by public subscriptions. This gives the Corporation annual revenue of 5.3 billion United States Dollars!
The Corporation has staff strength of 12,000 with 5000 of this number working at is headquarters in Shibuya.
With 23 TV studios the Corporation churns out 2000 programmes weekly. In one of the three brief documentaries showed us, it was realized that Japan has mounted a satellite in the Antarctica which has no life with a building there. How the officers who spent one year there according to our guide, survived remains an amazement.
Participants were happily conducted round some of the Corporation’s facilities by the manager in charge of international relations from where we saw what would go as the largest TV studio in the world.

FINDINGS:
It was easily discovered that the tour was carefully arranged to enable participants understand the wider application and utilization of Multi-media. From NIME to NHK in particular, we were arrested by deft display of the tenets of the ingredients of multimedia.
I personally observed that the strength of Japan lies in its respect for values and discipline. The value of hard work, honesty and respect and concern for less privileged nations of the world could be deduced from the conduct of both the government and the citizens.
As we moved from one centre to another, I appreciated the efforts of Japan in assisting the third world nations grapple with their technological backwardness by what it is doing through JICA.
Personally, I got some knowledge which I will certainly sell to my national broadcasting authority- NTA in respect of what I saw and experienced at NHK
Nigeria has an Open University which transmits its lectures through email and web sites. I think that is not enough as most of the students cannot afford the cost. It will be recommended that it buys TV times at which it can broadcast its lectures to its students. The procedure has made e –learning in Japan very through what NIME is doing. With the launch of NIGSAT 2- Nigeria’s satellite in space by the end of 2008, e-learning in Nigeria will receive a boost.
The tour confirmed to me that participants at OIC are better treated than their colleagues in other centers. We enjoy more freedom and attention than other centers.
For example, OIC lacks no recreational facilities whereas similar facilities are limited in other centers.
Our meals at OIC are highly subsidized so much so that while we are given a credit of 600 yen per day for feeding, a decent meal at TIC cost 600 yen.
Staff especially the front office desk is not friendly and seem very aggressive and uncomfortable with guests.
The rooms at TIC are smaller with only a TV set where as in OIC the rooms are much more comfortable within TV set and a DVD player. Films are rented at OIC from 5. Pm while in OSIC participants are allowed to borrow films only on weekends.
Every where including OIC participants in other courses are often intimidated by the presence of multimedia participants. It was the same observation in OSIC and TIC. Perhaps because of the nature of their programme, they are sociable and permeate any group with ease.
COMMENTS
1) JICA has provided opportunities for nationals of other nations to learn Japanese traditions and culture. It is reasonable to think that in OIC for example, opportunity should be provided for participants to form traditional dancing troupes to reflect the cultures of the various zones- example African dances, Caribbean, Latin American, Arab cultural dances.2) The multimedia course participants should be mandated to be producing a newsmagazine containing largely tit bits about happenings within the Centre. TIC is doing something like that but it can be better done here in OIC.3) These tours are actually designed to educate participants about the relevance of their courses to their home environment. If this one of the objectives, then 4 or 5 days are not enough. One appreciates the grave financial burden the Centers are putting on the Japanese tax payers.4) Consequently, our home governments can be made to bear some of the financial responsibilities especially part of the observation trips.Finally, I wish to commend the extraordinary sense of duty, service and diligence displayed by two tirelessly patriotic guides- Brandy san and Nana san.They were fantastic in the way we were shepherded.
They ensured no one went astray and even when one of us disappeared in the Tokyo subway, the two showed grave sense of concern and worry and immediately launched a search for him and got him reunited to the larger group. We salute their bravery and wish them well.
The entire group arrived Naha airport aboard ANA flight number 131 from Tokyo.








My Saddest Day on the Trip:Though the trip came well and ended well, the last day would remain the bitterest day of my three months in Japan. We had concluded the weeklong trip and needed to come back to TIC for our lunch from where were billed to head to the airport
As it is customary in TIC, You are expected to order for your food and tell the service ladies your table number. Your order would be brought to that table. For the two nights, I preferred table 28.So that very afternoon, I requested that my meal be brought to table 28. Each table has a space for 4 persons. Helen san from PNG and Len san from Brazil were already seated on the table. AS I sat on one end of the table the two ladies asked me to move to another table. To where? I asked. They suggested I could join Anita san on another table. I politely informed them that I had already indicated that my food be served me in on table 28.
Their own orders and mine incidentally arrived the same time. As the two ladies saw I had settled to eat on that table, they immediately carried their trays with their orders to another table.
I could not understand why I was being humiliated. I was not smelling; I was smartly and neatly dressed; I have a cute table manners etc; why would they treat their course mate so disdainfully? I was crying within me and eventually lost appetite. I did not eat my food again.
You dare not do this type of thing in my country. It was insulting, humiliating, racist, discriminatory and loathsome and rude for a person to be treated that way.
From the TIC to the trains, to the airport and even in the aircraft, the only persons I spoke to were Nan san and Abdul san. Brandy san at some point asked me whether anything was wrong as I had become suddenly withdrawn. I said I was okay.
I still feel enraged by the attitude of these two women who obviously have their own husbands at home and would for an opportunity to hit back at them.