Culture & Education
2016/11/1
MIRAI Program - Leah Cooke
My name is Leah Cooke and I’m a UCC student in my final year of an Arts degree, focusing on English and Asian Studies.
I was given the distinction and privilege to partake in the 2016 MIRAI program, which saw myself and 69 other students and graduates from across Europe and the Caucasus travel to Japan for a week, made possible due to generous funding from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Throughout the course of a single week, spanning from September 8th – 15th, we were brought to several areas of cultural and historical significance in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. We were afforded the opportunity to learn about and interact with many different cultural aspects of Japan, spanning from religious traditions, to pivotal historical events, to modern business practices. We were brought to temples such as the beautiful island of Miyajima, the quiet reverence of the stunning temple at Byoudoin, and the picturesque splendour of the Fushimi-Inarii shrine. We were led through the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, learning about the events of the A-bomb with a sober respect, and listened to the harrowing account of a survivor. We basked in the elegance and beauty of the Kyoto Goshyo, and saw the development of a fishing village at the Edo-Tokyo museum. All of which we did while learning about each other, as participants and as delegates to our home countries.
To say that the MIRAI program was and still is important to me would be a severe understatement. I have known for years that I am enamoured with Japan, its culture and its heritage, and to be given a taster of these things ignites an incessant need to return as soon as possible! I feel as though I would need a lifetime to visit all the places that I would like to go in Japan, and I’d certainly like to use the JET program as a springboard for that; but to be given the opportunity to travel there for a week and to learn so much in such a compact time span is exceptional. Every morning since I’ve come back, I’ve woken up wishing I was back in Japan!! The MIRAI program hooked me, and I know that many of the other participants feel precisely the same!
Having participated in the MIRAI program showed me the reality of how amazing Japan is as a society and culture, and made me realise how much I wanted to share my passion for Japan to everyone around me.
I was given the distinction and privilege to partake in the 2016 MIRAI program, which saw myself and 69 other students and graduates from across Europe and the Caucasus travel to Japan for a week, made possible due to generous funding from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Throughout the course of a single week, spanning from September 8th – 15th, we were brought to several areas of cultural and historical significance in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. We were afforded the opportunity to learn about and interact with many different cultural aspects of Japan, spanning from religious traditions, to pivotal historical events, to modern business practices. We were brought to temples such as the beautiful island of Miyajima, the quiet reverence of the stunning temple at Byoudoin, and the picturesque splendour of the Fushimi-Inarii shrine. We were led through the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, learning about the events of the A-bomb with a sober respect, and listened to the harrowing account of a survivor. We basked in the elegance and beauty of the Kyoto Goshyo, and saw the development of a fishing village at the Edo-Tokyo museum. All of which we did while learning about each other, as participants and as delegates to our home countries.
To say that the MIRAI program was and still is important to me would be a severe understatement. I have known for years that I am enamoured with Japan, its culture and its heritage, and to be given a taster of these things ignites an incessant need to return as soon as possible! I feel as though I would need a lifetime to visit all the places that I would like to go in Japan, and I’d certainly like to use the JET program as a springboard for that; but to be given the opportunity to travel there for a week and to learn so much in such a compact time span is exceptional. Every morning since I’ve come back, I’ve woken up wishing I was back in Japan!! The MIRAI program hooked me, and I know that many of the other participants feel precisely the same!
Having participated in the MIRAI program showed me the reality of how amazing Japan is as a society and culture, and made me realise how much I wanted to share my passion for Japan to everyone around me.
