Introduction
My name is Cookie and I made this blog for my friend Yuichi, who started a language exchange community in Kyoto, Japan. I also wanted to help him advertise his plans, goals and the community we are trying to building. Since he has done so much for our group I would also like to give something back.
Language exchange is about sharing and exchanging ideas from different people, making friends, building deeper understanding to the different cultures from people you wouldn't wouldn't normally meet. It's exhilarating getting to know new people and most importantly it's always fun.
So if you find this interesting, please join us on our journey.
So without further a do I introduce to you Yuichi
Greetings
Greetings everyone, my name is Yuichi.
It has been a while since we had a gathering because of the pandemic, and I am so happy that we were able to do so recently, particularly in March and in April.
I hope if you are reading this you are safe and well.
Question
Are you interested in the culture of other people?
Are you interested in the mindset and outlook of people that grew up in a different environment?
Are you interested in making friends that you would think unlikely to meet any place else where?
Are you a person who is just curious or just want to practice or speak English?
Meet up: https://meetu.ps/c/52904/MckfG/a
About me
I used to live in Thailand as a Japanese teacher, because I wanted to be involved in the Thai community. In my journey abroad, not only did I learn a lot of things from different people, but I also learned something more about myself as an individual and my passion for relationships with other people. I got to know me Yuichi, rather than as a Japanese.
After returning I want to give something back to the community, sharing what I have learned and encouraging other people to know themselves more through language exchange events. This is what got me started in hosting.
At that time, I met Ms. Rie of Kyoto Laundry Café, and started hosting events there. Acting as a bridge to connect people, locals and foreigners in Kyoto, and it turned out to be hit and up until now we are continuing it.
Place: https://kyoto-laundry-cafe.com/
The Pandemic
The pandemic hit and face to face events were all canceled. It was a difficult time for all of us. But they say, “Difficulty is just another form of opportunity”, so I chose not to stop and so I created OUCHI International, an online community for language exchange, that aims to connect different people through online events. And with OUCHI International we also gained a chance to reach out to people outside of Kyoto.
Details of OUCHI Internationals is in this article:
https://ouchideinternational.com/ouchi-de-international%e3%81%afmeta-life%e3%81%ab%e5%bc%95%e8%b6%8a%e3%81%97%e3%81%97%e3%81%be%e3%81%99/
Getting back to it
After the Pandemic we are back with the events in meeting face-to-face. Online is great and all but let’s face it, meeting other people in person is always better.
We aim to be the number one international exchange event in Japan, I know that is a quite hefty goal and maybe to brazen I might say, but I do believe we can do it. Passion is what drives a person and for as long as I am doing this, I do believe we can do that.
How to Achieve our goal of being number 1:
On our goal to be number we focus in these factors of the Event.
- To give back to the community to a degree we call Sanpo Yoshi. Meaning not only it will benefit us but also the other people that are involved in this event and give a positive affect to society.
- To give satisfaction to our participants by satisfying their interest whether it is knowing other people’s culture, practicing English, or just wanting to make friends.
- Creating a warm environment in the shop that everyone can enjoy, that everyone can feel comfortable and feel at home. They say to really get to know a person, you need to make them feel comfortable first and we believe in that.
- Also aim to give back to all the people who have helped in setting up this event in whatever way we can.
- But the most important is finding new ways to connect people locals and foreigners alike.
We experiment on different ways to realize our goal. We take surveys, communicate with customers in the shop and accept comments in order to better the experience of future people coming to the shop.
And we receive some really nice comments as well for example this one.
This is me Yuichi
It brings me joy getting these types of feedback so I will continue to give it my all to be even better.
To see people communicate and having fun, knowing other people’s culture, satisfying their curiosity, it give a fulfilling feeling. This is me Yuichi, this is my passion, this is what I love to do, and so for that I will move forward to put this event on top.
Asking for Help
As much as I love doing this there are certain limitations on what an individual can accomplish so it would really be appreciated if we could get some sponsors for our event, If you know anyone that is willing to help please do not hesitate to contact me.