The 7th Sasebo Expo 2023 was held on Saturday, February 4th. This popular international exchange event was organized by our colleague “Sasebo Expo Team”, launched as a part of Sasebo Intercultural Project hosted by Sasebo City. Both Japanese and non-Japanese participants can experience each other’s culture together. This time, the theme of this event was “Culture × Learning × Friendship”.
2023年２月４日（土）、国際交流イベント「Sasebo Expo 2023」が開催されました。こちらはEチャンと同じく佐世保市の｢英語で交わるまちプロジェクト｣のもとで活動する「Sasebo Expo」チームが主催しています。 Sasebo Expo では日本人と外国人がお互いの文化を一緒に体験できる場を提供しているんですよ。今回は｢文化｣×｢学び｣×｢出会い｣”をテーマに開催されました。
This year, a total of one hundred people (Japanese: 55, non-Japanese: 45) joined this event. There were a variety of fun booths from the popular Sasebo top spinning and plate spinning to Japanese traditional origami, K-POP dance, and Mexican games.
今回は日本人55名と外国人45名の100名が参加。外国人に人気の佐世保独楽や皿回しを始め、折り紙やK-POPダンス、メキシコのゲームなど、さまざまなブースが立ち並びました。
The participants were divided into 6 groups and experienced each booth by the group. This facilitated communication among the participants. According to the questionnaire, more than 65% of the Japanese participants answered that they were, more or less, able to use English. And nearly 90% of the non-Japanese participants declared that they were able to communicate with the Japanese people.
参加者は６つのグループに分かれ、グループ単位でブースを回ります。そうすることで参加者同士のコミュニケーションが生まれました。アンケートの結果によると、日本人の65％以上が｢（大いに～やや）外国人と会話ができた｣と回答。外国人ではなんと90％近くの参加者から｢（大いに～やや）日本人と会話ができた｣との回答がありました。
There was a lot of positive feedback, such as “I liked this event” and “we would love to do it again.” There were also valuable comments for the next event, such as “I want to have more experiences small kids can enjoy with foreigners” and “I want to try kendama”. Now that most of the restrictions due to COVID-19 have been reduced. We are sure that the Sasebo Expo will become even more exciting in the future. See you soon at the next Sasebo Expo.
｢とても楽しかった｣｢また参加したい｣といった声が多数！ 一方で、｢幼児でも外国人ともっと一緒にできる体験が欲しい｣｢けん玉を体験したい｣など次につながる貴重なご意見も。コロナウイルス感染症による制限が軽減されたのを機に、今後ますます｢Sasebo Expo｣が盛り上がっていくといいですね。次回の開催をお楽しみに。
