| Fadley Faisal |
JENESYS, or the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths, is the Asian and Oceanian regional component of exchange programmes organised by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote people-to-people exchanges between Japan and the various nations of the Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions.
Around 4,300 youths were involved with JENESYS 2016 between Japan and Asean member states (ASM), Timor-Leste and India on May 16-23 2017, under the theme of ‘Economics’.
The Brunei delegation, assigned as 9th group ‘C’ in JENESYS 2016, consisted of Mohd Nurul Azmi bin Haji Zainal (group leader), Aqmar Nazhirah binti Hassan (second group leader), Mohd Farhan bin Azama, Mohd Fahmi bin Haji Mamit, Abdul Hakim bin Ahmad Zakaria, Noor Masyhadi bin Haji Moksin, Mohd Mirza bin Mohamad, Ahmad Najib bin Mohidin, Farah Fauzana binti Azama, Siti Norherda Veryanti Diana binti Adnan, Nurafidah binti Haji Anuar and Salni binti Mohd Sala.
They were joined during the trip by a delegation from the Philippines.
In an interview with the Weekend Bulletin, group leader Mohd Nurul Azmi shared his experiences as a programme participant.
“The ‘Economics’ theme was set to strengthen the Asia-Pacific economic partnership; and under this theme, approximately 2,360 youths from ASM, Timor Leste and India were invited to Japan,” he said.
Although JENESYS aims to promote mutual trust and understanding among the peoples of Japan and participating countries, and regions, to build a basis for future friendship and cooperation, it is not a training course to provide special skills or knowledge, but rather an exchange programme.
In addition, it also seeks to promote a global understanding of Japan’s economics, society, politics and foreign policy, to the public in ASM, Timor-Leste and India through the participants. Through the JENESYS programme, Japan endea-vours to foster close relations between participants and Japanese economic-related companies and organisations during the study tour.
Participants will receive compulsory assignments for the presentation and implementation of the ‘Action Plan’, proposed by each country’s delegation based on what they have learnt during the programme and how they might stay connected to Japan.
Each participant will be required to actively share his/her experiences during the stay in Japan – in addition to conveying information on Japanese society, history, culture, politics, economics and diplomatic relations through social media – both during the course of the programme and three months afterwards.
Participants will normally go through an orientation process upon arrival in Japan, which is then followed by a keynote lecture and breakout sessions.
Apart from the Workshop/Reporting session and the dissemination of information before, during and after the programme, participants are taken on trips to observe cutting-edge technology at universities, research institutes, private enterprises and museums.
Visits are also extended to local industries/companies, accompanied with sessions for opinion exchanges and exchange meetings.
Simultaneously, the programme also features traditional culture experiences and observation of historic buildings, apart from getaways in the form of home stays or ‘farm stays’ in Japan.
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