Mail Magazine for Kobe International Club members [Vol.7] English Version

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1 Mail Magazine for Kobe International Club members [Vol.7] English Version This newsletter is sent to Kobe International Club members in order to provide you with the latest information about Kobe. We hope it will be useful to you in your activities as Kobe International Club members. Contents 55 th anniversary of the Kobe and Marseille sister city relationship Japan s first National Model United Nations hosted at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies Multicultural Exchange Festival Our latest video U30 CITY KOBE is now online! 55 th anniversary of the Kobe and Marseille sister city relationship From October 1~8, 2016, over an eight day period, a delegation from Kobe including Mayor Hisamoto, Chair Ikeda of the City Assembly, the Société Franco-Japonaise de Kobe and 20 business representatives from companies in the city visited France to celebrate the 55 th anniversary of the Kobe-Marseille sister city relationship. During the visit, they attended commemorative events jointly hosted by the two cities (as seen in the above photo) and also took part in business exchanges with companies from the south of France. They also visited a science and technology research cluster in Grenoble and participated in the 5 th French-Japanese Meetings on Decentralized Cooperation which were held in Tours, the signing ceremony of the exchange agreement between the Association Amitié St Cyr Japon and the Société Franco-Japonaise de Kobé in Saint-Cyr sur Loire, and the Monmartre Wine Festival held in Paris. During these events the delegation strengthened Kobe s ties with

Marseille and other French cities while promoting the appeals of Kobe s tourism and specialties. - Mayor Hisamoto s visit to Marseille (report) https://youtu.be/wr0nocyleus (video) http://www.city.

2 Marseille and other French cities while promoting the appeals of Kobe s tourism and specialties. - Mayor Hisamoto s visit to Marseille (report) (video) (press release) Japan s first National Model United Nations hosted at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies The National Model United Nations was held for the first time in Japan this November at the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies as part of the celebrations for the 70 th anniversary of the university s establishment this year. This event provided an opportunity to promote the Kobe City University of Foreign Studies and the City of Kobe to the world. The conference was held over seven days from November 20~26 and around 330 students participated from countries around the world. During the conference four committees, the United Nations General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and High Commissioner for Refugees, were created and discussions and decisions were carried out under official United Nations rules. We also took this opportunity to promote Kobe s diverse characteristics as a Disaster Prevention City, Japan s largest producer of refined sake, and an International Port City by showing the visiting students and professors the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution, Nada s Sake Brewery Museums, the Kobe Municipal Foreign Cemetery and so on.

3 Multicultural Exchange Festival On October 23, the 10 th Yuenchi Park. Multicultural Exchange Festival was held in Chuo-ku s Higashi Kobe is home to around 45,000 foreign residents from 130 countries and regions around the world and approximately 1 in 30 residents are foreign, giving the city an abundance of international character. Higashi Yuenchi Park, which is located right next to what is now the Old Foreign Settlement, has been a park used by local and foreign residents of the city since Those who lived in the Old Foreign Settlement enjoyed playing rugby, baseball and other sports here and before long these sports became popular with Japanese people as well. Since then the park has been widely appreciated as an oasis in the city and the 2015 fiscal year s Future of the Urban Center of Kobe (Future Vision) included plans to ensure the park serves as a place of interactions. In June this year as a pilot program for this initiative a lawn was planted in the park. The Multicultural Exchange Festival was held during this pilot program and 26 booths were opened by 23 groups from 15 different countries. The festival was a great success and many people came to the park to enjoy culture from countries around the world such as food, music and dance in an event very fitting of Higashi Yuenchi Park.

4 Our latest video U30 CITY KOBE is now online! In the run-up to 2020, the Kobe City Government is incorporating measures to enhance the city s collective strength under the themes of Kobe, a city young people are looking to + Kobe, where everyone plays an active role. The Kobe 2020 Vision signifies these goals and the concrete initiatives that will be carried out to ensure Kobe enters a new phase of development and embarks on a path of stable growth. For Kobe to overcome rapid population decline and continue to be a bustling city, it is essential young people choose to live here to lead the next generation. We have begun production of a series of documentaries which put the spotlight on young people based in Kobe who are excelling in a variety of fields and hope these will further increase the current generation of young people s pride and love for Kobe. Furthermore, these documentaries also feature an original track U30 CITY KOBE by popular music producer, tofubeats, who is also a resident of the city. FILM#1 was released in August this year and introduces Masaya Tanaka, a young photographer currently receiving a great deal of attention from the fashion industry. In October FILM#2 was released and documents a prosthetist called Kazuki Fujimoto. FILM#3 was just released in December and features BMX* rider Yuki Shinkawa. Originally from Oita Prefecture, Yuki Shinkawa moved to Kobe having been attracted by its reputation as the home of BMX in Japan. As a female rider she is currently striving to create a new BMX scene in Kobe and also working day-to-day as manager of a BMX shop. We plan to make five documentaries by March 2017 for this project and will be releasing a new documentary roughly once every two months. *BMX Bicycle motocross (Japan BMX Federation) a sport in which competitors race using bicycles instead of motorbikes. - U30 CITY KOBE special website

5 We welcome your thoughts and requests, so please feel free to share your ideas with us. International Department, Office of the Mayor, Kobe City Government Kano-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe

Yokohama s International Strategy

Yokohama s International Strategy -Symbiotic Growth with the Int l Community- Takashi YANAGISAWA The City of Yokohama Frankfurt Representative Office Today s Topics 1) Yokohama s general information and