By Misato Tarui
What is "Kyoto Irodori EXPO Kotoiro"?
An event was held at Kyoto Station Square to build momentum six months before the Osaka-Kansai Expo. The purpose was to think from various perspectives, including companies, organizations, students, and children who are active in Kyoto, about "what can be done" in Kyoto in the future when the Expo is held in 2025.
On the day of the event, the venue promoted the Expo in every possible way, including not only stage events, but also experiences, merchandise sales, PR booths, etc. The venue was bustling with people looking forward to the Expo!
CEC members on stage
What students see as the future beyond the Expo “Students × Expo × Future”
While sign language dances and mini concerts were being held, we at CEC also spoke about the vision of our activities, "From tourism that's just for sightseeing to tourism that's also for learning and having fun," and introduced the tourist guides and events that our students are involved in.
Kyoto is a city where traditional crafts and performing arts, food culture, modern architecture, temples and shrines, gardens and more are all readily available, but we believe that in addition to being entertaining, there is also joy to be felt by gaining deeper knowledge. We felt that CEC's assistance for a "fruitful" trip based on this perspective was a valuable opportunity to raise awareness not only among our customers, but also among Japanese people and people living in the city of Kyoto.
At CEC, we don't just help with travel; we also work to promote interaction between students and those involved in the tourism industry . Being able to introduce these examples allowed us to once again be reminded of how rewarding our work is.
We hope to then put the know-how we have gained through our activities at the Expo site.
In the second half of the event, we spoke about our expectations for the Expo from a student's perspective .
Children's Reporters in Action
The "child reporters" played an important role as hosts at the event, and CEC members were also asked questions. They asked questions like, "What discoveries have you made through your CEC activities?" and "Is there anything we can do at the Expo?" As we thought up answers to these questions, we had the opportunity to once again reflect on the meaning and role of our activities as CEC, and we felt that this gave us a strong awareness of the importance of conveying information from the perspective of a wide range of generations.
Talking about the Expo with the children has also increased their expectations for the event.
A child reporter asks a question to a CEC member
The more I feel this way, the more tense my hands become.
I wondered if I could convey my message in the right words and with the right voice... I still remember the tension I felt before the presentation. The more I thought about wanting more people to know about CEC's activities, the faster my heart beat got and before I knew it, my hands were sweating...
The stage presentation at "Kyoto Irodori EXPO Kotoiro" was also an opportunity for us CEC members to vow to scale up our future activities.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who participated on the day, to the event organizers who gave me the valuable opportunity to speak, and to the CEC members who shared the same tension and experience with me. Thank you very much!
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