After two month lectures about general knowledge about rural development in Japan, current situation in Odai Town and skills for fieldwork, from June, our three working groups started their preparation for making group research proposals. By using the 1st period of Monday and Friday, participants are working together actively. Group advisors are also taking part in group meetings or discussions. Look forward to the research proposal presentations on June 26.
Today, Prof. Kusaka provided an intensive, critical and comparative interpreation about political history of the Philippines. He reviewed the colonial experiences, independent revolution and democracy development in the Philippines. The comparative point of view on the continuties and differences of Filipino’s identities and their attitude towards history and their experiences enhanceed our understanding of the country and people.
As 2nd lecture about Odai Town, on June 5, our participants enjoyed lecture by Mr. Nishide from Odai Town local government for DFW2015. This lecture was about the depopulation of Odai Town and their solutions and strategies for solving the problem.
Participants raised many questions to Mr. Nishide in order to further understand the situation in Odai town. It seems they have started recognizing their own interest in Odai town and current work is to further narrow down their focus and move forward to structure the research. Look forward to their proposal presentation in the end of June.
Today, Dr. Aser comprehensively introduced Coron, our field for OFW2015, from diverse dimensions including economy, goverance, education and culture. This lecture provided many information for our participants to further understand the situation in Coron. Meanwhile, it also raised many questions for our participants to further explore and narrow down their research interests and focus. Look forward to their progress!
On May 29, 2015, we are pleased to invite Mr. Tolu Sawahara from Minamata City KUGINO RURAL CENTER to introduce his rural development philosophy and practices in Kugino area, Minamata City. His experiences are very helpful for our participants to further understand the real situation and issues in rural Japan. Also, it will become good reference for them to design their own research in Odai Town in Mie Prefecture in October 2015.
On May 27, 2015, Professor Hirofumi Nagahama from Mejiro University talked about value education and education reforms under the globalization in the context of the Philippines. He left an very interesting question for participants which is “How the Philippines should make balance in their education reform between accommodating domestic needs and initiating global education reform at the same time? “. Students who are interested in education issues in the Philippines raised questions and had further discussion with Professor Nagahama after during and after the seminar.
DFW2015 Working groups had group discussion after a preliminary seminar on May 25, 2015. Participants started to narrow down their focus on their interests and concerns about issues in Odai Town. Look forward to their presentation in the end of June.
Shifting from focus on economic development in the Philippines, Dr. Aser B. Javier, visiting scholar of Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University and Professor of University of the Philippines Los Banos, provided us a comprehensive lecture about the Philippines. The lecture started from community development perspective and extended to national governance, local goverments, education, local economy, culture and so forth. It told us diverse perspectives of the Philippines. Meanwhile, it enhanced our understanding of a country from social structure to development paradigms. Participants also actively raised many questions by contrasting their experiences and cases of their home countries with the cases in the Philippines. Many hints have been pointed out for our participants to further consider for their research design and reserach plan making.
On May 13, 2015, Prof. Jonna P. ESTUDILLO, from National Graduate Insitute For Policy Studies, provided us a seminar about economic development, Green Revolution, and food security in the Philippines. Detailed data, heart-touching videos and comprehensive explanation enhanced our understanding of the relevant issues in the Philippines. The information about Coron is very helpful for our participants to understand the general situation of the field where we are going to visit in September. In the end of the seminars, students actively joined the discussion and exchanged information together.
Today, we were pleased to invite Mr. Nishide from Odai Town Office to provide an introductory lecture about Odai Town for participants of DFW2015. The lecture included geography, environment, population, industry of Odai Town. It also introduced development plan of the town and practice for short-term and long-term development of the town.
Our participants raised some questions to Mr. Nishide and exchanged some basic idea about Odai Town. We hope this introductory lecture is helpful for our participants to deepen their understanding of the situation of Odai-Town and to be able to find interesting research topics for their exploration in July and Octore, 2015!
Speical thanks is given to Nora san and Mizutani san who kindly interpreted Mr. Nishide’s presentation to English!Otukaresamadeshita!
