Cleaning Project Brings Together Japanese and Foreign Communities

Mie, Japan - On May 17, an activity promoting global peace was held in Ishigaki-ike Park in Suzuka City of the Mie Prefecture. Nearly 180 people participated in the local cleaning project and the music concert.

Co-hosts for the project were the Universal Peace Federation, United Filipinos for Peace and Advancement Mie-Nagoya Branch (Filipino Community in Japan), Suzuka Kameyama Catholic Church Community, and others. The Suzuka City Government cooperated in the project.

The festival had an international flavor with the participation of foreign citizens from the Philippines, who made up almost half of the participants, along with those from the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Moldova.

After the host explained the purpose of the event, cleaning supplies were distributed and participants who divided into groups started off for the clean-up. It did not take long before the litter bags were filled up with trash. The cleaning project became a good opportunity for Japanese participants who had little chance to meet foreign citizens to interact with them by overcoming the barriers of nationalities and languages.

The Suzuka City Government designated the cleaning area for the event and also provided 150 sets of drinks, litter bags and cotton work gloves. General Manager of the Foreign Citizen Communication Office of the City Government, Mr. Katsumi Tanabe, also participated in this event. “This sort of international exchange project on a local level is a great cooperation also for Suzuka City, which aims for multicultural co-existence. We hope this activity will continuously expand in the future,” said Mr. Tanabe.

One of the participants from the Philippines said, “I participated with my children this time. Our children are our future. Service projects of this kind give good opportunities for us foreigners to work with the Japanese people. I really felt we can work together by overcoming the differences of nationalities.”