Meeting between JETAA New Zealand and Sister Cities New Zealand
~Article from Raewyn MacGregor, JETAA New Zealand Country Representative~
On Saturday, 14 May 2016, representatives of Japan Exchange and Teaching Alumni Association (JETAA) New Zealand chapters: Auckland, Wellington and South Island met with officials from CLAIR Sydney and representatives of the board of Sister Cities New Zealand and the Sister Cities New Zealand Youth sub-committee.
The JET Programme – 30 Years
This year celebrates 30 years since the establishment of the JET Programme. The Japanese Government created an initiative to support local municipalities and educational institutions in Japan, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) Programme. Its mission was to foster grassroots internationalisation. By hosting nationals from other, mainly English speaking countries to live and work in Japan, Japanese people can experience other cultures. Equally, by living and working in Japan, a JET participant can learn about Japan, expand their horizons and have a more in-depth cultural understanding achieved through first-hand experiences. In this way JET and sister cities programmes have a lot in common.
Sister Cities New Zealand – 35 Years
This year, Sister Cities New Zealand (SCNZ) is also celebrating a milestone, its 35th anniversary. The Sister Cities programme was developed after World War 2 in an attempt to foster connections and create peace at a global level through personal interactions and understanding the world’s diverse cultures. By building people-to-people relationships, friendship ties would be made across the world.
CLAIR brought us together
Director of CLAIR Sydney, Katsunori Kamibo, and his staff, Motohiro Suzuki and Toshiya Komatsu, visited Wellington to meet with JETAA Country Representative, Raewyn MacGregor and JETAA Presidents and committee members from Auckland (Amelia Sirimanne – President and Jo McCarthy – committee member), Wellington (Michael Roberts – President and Natalie Liverant – Vice President) and South Island (Ryan Smith – President and Caroline Pope – Past President). We discussed JETAA activities planned for the 30th anniversary and sister cities relationships. Then we met with SCNZ. Sister Cities New Zealand representatives included Hiromi Morris – President, Mayor Ray Wallace of Lower Hutt – Vice President, Bing Ying Lou – Youth Director, Linton Rathgen – Director (and past president of JETAA Auckland), Aaron Liew and Lewis Gibson – youth sub-committee (also JETAA members).
Certificates of appreciation
Sister Cities New Zealand surprised both JETAA and CLAIR by presenting them with certificates of appreciation for their activities supporting people-to-people relationships between New Zealand and Japan. This was a surprise to JETAA because this is what we do every day. For many JETs and JET Alumni we’re living the Sister Cities mission without even realising it. It was an honour to be recognised by SCNZ and we hope to continue discussions on this crucial topic into the future.
JETs in sister cities in Japan
Many JET participants are placed in one of New Zealand’s 41 sister cities in Japan and provide vital bridges for Japan to learn about New Zealand culture. Country representative, Raewyn MacGregor, noted in her opening remarks that the prefecture she lived in did not have any New Zealand sister cities, and how she felt that it was her duty as a “Toyama Friendly Envoy” to note it before pointing out the six other members of the JETAA in the room who had lived in sister cities. JETAA members discussed their experiences in Japan as a New Zealander who might not be from their town’s sister city but could provide some small insight about what life is like in New Zealand while living there.
The meeting
The meeting discussed how we can work together, what SCNZ can do for JETAA and what JETAA can do for SCNZ. How could we work together to enhance people-to-people relationships and support sister city relationships in New Zealand? How could we work together to help JET alumni resettle in New Zealand when they leave Japan?
Two ideas
Two main ideas were put forward at the meeting. These were that:
- SCNZ can help JET alumni find jobs in local government through its membership.
- JETAA can help SCNZ build/rebuild sister city relationships by providing a pool of volunteers who already understand Japanese culture.
JET alumni already have knowledge of Japan and/or New Zealand’s sister cities in Japan and are often excited to share that knowledge when they get back. Some seek jobs in international relations but struggle to find them immediately when they return. Many local governments need their expertise but do not know how to find them. JET alumni may find jobs this way or may be able to help with sister city relationships in a purely volunteer capacity. We hope that this will be easier now.
We also discussed how we can get more New Zealand JET participants placed in sister cities in Japan. We decided that sister cities could be promoted up front when people apply for JET.
Civic sister cities groups in New Zealand have a lot of JET alumni involved as volunteers. This provides them with opportunities to stay involved with Japan-New Zealand people-to-people activities when they get home, especially if there is no JETAA chapter nearby. JETAA thanked SCNZ for looking after its people when there is no chapter.We’ll stay in touch.
After the meeting we continued the relationship building between SCNZ, CLAIR and JETAA with a dinner which allowed the conversations to continue.
SCNZ and JETAA have very different purposes but share a common purpose of people-to-people connections and grassroots internationalisation. Both sides hope that this will be the start of a close and fruitful relationship. Thanks CLAIR for bringing us together.
