'Star Walker' fosters local Tongan-Japanese cultural exchange [1]
Thursday, November 6, 2008 - 13:12. Updated on Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 15:55.
Students who are studying the Japanese language in Tonga have launched a new 'Star Walker' activity that helps improve their conversational Japanese outside of the classroom and also encourages them to learn more about their own Tongan culture.
Kuninobu Kawazu a JICA volunteer teaching the Japanese language at Tonga High School in a press statement today said that the school's Japanese Guide Club launched 'Star Walker' to foster a cultural exchange between the Tongan students and the Japanese expatriate community.
The club was established on April 16, 2008, meeting every Wednesday after school, with mainly Form 5 Japanese Language students and is expected to expand and include other levels in the future.
"The goal of the Guide Club is to provide practical opportunities to use the Japanese language outside of the classroom, and in October launched 'Star Walker', an activity where the members take Japanese people for a tour simulation as a practical training of Japanese language," he said.
JICA volunteeers in Tonga are supporting this activity as guests of the tour.
The tour route leaves from Tonga High School, visiting the Basillica, Mala'ekula (Royal Tombs), Friends Cafe, the Royal Palace and Pangai Lahi before stopping off at Cafe Escape to converse with their guests.
Said Kuninobu "the participants understanding of the language has improved along with their conversation with native speakers.
"Through the Japanese Guide Club 'Star Walker'" participants not only gain a deeper understanding of the Japanese language, but also reinvigorate an understanding of their own culture," he said.
The name came about because Tonga High School has a star symbol in its crest.