15th Taiwan Japan Student Conference Held in Tokyo

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan hosted a welcome party for participants in the 15th Japan Taiwan Student Conference in Shinjuku in Tokyo, on February 9, 2020. It was attended by a representative of the Japan–Taiwan Exchange Association, sixty Taiwanese and Japanese university students, and a special guest was Mr. Wada Kenichiro (和田健一郎). He is now a member of the Shiroi City Council in Chiba Prefecture but he was one of the cadres involved in the very first conference. He himself studied in Taiwan, and based on his experience there, he encourages Japanese students to consider studying there and to take exchanges with Taiwan as an opportunity to build up their global vision, and become actively involved on the international stage in the future.

Huang Guan-Chao, the Director of the Education Division of TECRO Japan, welcomed all the university students from Taiwan and Japan. He told them that he hoped that this conference would give them a deeper understanding of the cultural differences between the two countries, and also encourage them to study abroad.

Speaking as a senior member of the community who had studied in Taiwan, Wada Kenichiro expressed his hopes that young Japanese and Taiwanese students would be open-minded about each other's cultural differences and respect and understand the multicultural contexts we now have. This will help us achieve the real purpose of communication.

Japanese university students established the Japan Taiwan Student Conference group in 2005, to promote exchanges between young students in Taiwan and in Japan. This group has been cooperating with its counterpart group in Taiwan, the Taiwan–Japan Student Exchange Association, since 2006, and holding an annual conference in Taiwan and Japan, alternating year by year.

This year’s 15th conference was held in Tokyo, from February 8 to February 13. It included a range of activities and presentations, and the participating students from Taiwan and Japan discussed issues related to multicultural symbiosis, the environment, economics, medical care, labor, and education.