Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio
BY
Tomomi Nishioka
SUPERVISOR: Judy Yoneoka
Kumamoto Gakuen University
Oe 2-5-1 Kumamoto
Japan
2006/12/21
This thesis consists of approx. 4800 words
Page1
Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
概要
１９８７年１２月２８日、熊本市とサンアントニオ市は姉妹都市締結をした。それか
ら来年で２０周年をむかえる姉妹都市の歴史は様々な恒例事業（人事交流）によって
着実に築き上げられた。しかし、熊本市民にとっては中々「姉妹都市としてのサンア
ントニオ」が定着していないようだ。熊本城とアラモの砦から窺える壮大な歴史、水
前寺公園とリバーウォークを結びつける豊かな地下水と美しい緑。共通点を持ってし
て結ばれた姉妹都市を、学生間での認識の違いから、更なる交流を促進するためには
何ができるかを問いたい。
1. Introduction
This is a comparative study of the awareness of the sister city relations in
Kumamoto and San Antonio. Little attention has been given to those relations for
us, the citizens of these cities. One question we want to ask here is how
Kumamoto and San Antonio have grown up with each other. Also, this paper will
try to make suggestions as to what can be done to further promote our
relationships and exchanges.
The author realized one simple question during her stay at San Antonio
from 2004 to 2005 as an exchange student from Kumamoto Gakuen University.
Needless to say, Kumamoto has a sister city relation with San Antonio, and many
people in Kumamoto may know about this. In San Antonio she was expecting at
people in San Antonio should know about Kumamoto as well. However many
people seem to know almost nothing about Kumamoto. Why are there only a few
people who know about Kumamoto even though we have had a sister city
relationship for almost 19 years and we are having 20th year anniversary coming
next December. Was what she realized just a feeling or is it based on truth? This
is the starting point of this graduation thesis.
In addition, as we can see from the Internet, there is not much
information available for us in Kumamoto to understand and accept San Antonio.
Also Kumamoto Castle will be 400 years old next year. A variety of events will go
with the 400th anniversary of Kumamoto Castle each season starting in 2006. This
is a very good opportunity for Kumamoto to let not only San Antonio but also
other sister cities know about Kumamoto. Eventually it is strongly hoped that this
thesis will show what we can do to promote our relationships especially at the
grass roots level.
A good place to start is to take a look at the declaration which was
announced on December 28th, in 1987 between Kumamoto and San Antonio. This
Page 1
Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
was the second sister city relationship for Kumamoto. On the other hand, for San
Antonio, this was the seventh and the last one.
Agreement on the Sister City Relationship between the City of
San Antonio, U.S.A and Kumamoto City, Japan.
Whereas the City of San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A and Kumamoto City,
Japan have many similarities, and as the two cities aim towards
development for the future, it is agreed upon that exchanges including
but not restricted to the fields of education, culture, economics, industry,
and technology will be made, which will deepen the understanding and
friendship of the citizens of the two cities which in turn will help to create
good relations between the United States of America and Japan and will
lead to peace and stability in the world.
According to declaration, San Antonio and Kumamoto connected through a
mutual agreement as sister cities. This actually started thanks to a similar way of
thinking and common traits of the history such as castles and forts and nature
such as underground water and the river, and so on. On the other hand, on its 20th
anniversary next year, will the goals of this declaration to “deepen the
understanding and friendship of the citizens of the two cities” and “create good
relations between the United States of America and Japan” be met? This thesis
will focus on the relative awareness in both cities of each other especially among
students.
This thesis consists of three main sections, which are (1) background of
the relationship in both cities, (2) result of questionnaires to students in both
cities, and (3) conclusion and suggestions. As to the ‘Background of relationship in
both cities’, this is separated into 4 parts: (1)-1geography and population (1)-2
historical similarities (1)-3 activities and exchanges, and (1)-4 how the
relationship is publicized. The questionnaire was given to 60 students at
Kumamoto Gakuen University (KGU) and 19 students at University of the
Incarnate Word (UIW). Students at KGU were asked about San Antonio such as if
they knew that Kumamoto and San Antonio were sister cities. In contrast,
students at UIW were required to answer to questions about Kumamoto such as
whether they have ever been to Kumamoto-En Garden in the San Antonio
Botanical Zoo. The results were able to show something new, also tried to
contribute to both cities’ further promotion. Then finally, suggestions are made to
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
see how to improve the awareness of citizens towards their sister cities especially
at the grass root level.
2. Background of relationship between Kumamoto and San Antonio.
The purpose of the section here is to see the brief background of
Kumamoto and San Antonio. Also this part can be classified into 3 parts. (1)
Geography and population, (2) Historical similarities and (3) activities and
exchanges between Kumamoto and San Antonio. Firstly, we will examine brief
background of 2 cities.
Kumamoto and San Antonio signed to be sister cities in 1987, December
28th. According to Misaki Tateo, who works at Kumamoto city hall in charge of the
International Department, just when Kumamoto had been looking for a sister city,
at the same time, San Antonio had been looking for one as well. In addition to this
situation, having a sister city overseas was in fashion at that time. In this way,
Kumamoto started to prepare being a sister city in San Antonio. One of main
purposes was to become a more internationalized city.
In the same year, July, Kumamoto sent a sister city investigation team to
several candidate cities in U.S.A include San Antonio. Eventually this ended up
finding out that San Antonio had much in common with Kumamoto such as the
Alamo which has great history and River Walk which has both beautiful water
and greenery. These are similar to Kumamoto castle and Suizenji Park. This
was how the attention was paid to San Antonio.
Then on December 29th, 1987, the former mayor Henry Cisneros visited
Kumamoto and a ceremony was held there. From that day, our historical
relationship began. Since then, exchanges of people and tokens of friendship have
taken place. San Antonio has a Japanese garden, so called, “Kumamoto-En” inside
of the San Antonio Botanical Garden as a symbol of the friendly relationship
between both cities.
2.1 Geography and population
In this part of the section, the point is to see what geography and
population that each city has. According to “Kumamoto” (Wikipedia, 2006),
Kumamoto is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of
Kyushu, Japan. The latest survey shows that 1 the city has 670,252 citizens.
1
http://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/statistics/jinko/jinko/nenpo/H18/h18_2.xls
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
(September 1st, 2006)
On the other hand, Wikipedia “San Antonio, Texas” says that San
Antonio is the second-most populous city in the state of Texas after Houston and
seventh-most populated in the United States. As of the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau2
shows that the city had a population of over 1.2 million in 2003.
As we can see from both entries, generally speaking, compared to
Kumamoto which has almost 670,000 people, San Antonio has about 1,250,000
people. A population that is 1.8 times bigger than Kumamoto. Also, as to size of
land, San Antonio is 4 times bigger than Kumamoto. (Kumamoto is 266.26 square
kilo meter and San Antonio is 1,068) In addition to this, concerning to latitude
and longitude, coordinates in Kumamoto are 32°47′N 130°44′E and San Antonio’s
are 29°32′01.3″N, 98°28′11.2″W. In another words, that means San Antonio is
located almost the same latitude as Kagoshima which is in the southern part of
Kyushu island. So, if you go far west from Kagoshima, you will see San Antonio on
a terrestrial globe.
2.2 Historical similarities
Kumamoto Castle
2
The Alamo
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/4865000.html
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
Suizenji Park
River Walk
(1) Kumamoto Castle and the Alamo
As to Kumamoto Castle and the Alamo, there is one thing in common.The feudal
warlord Kiyomasa Kato constructed Kumamoto Castle about 400 years ago. The
castle has stone walls built in curved line; this type of wall is called "Mushagaeshi
(Warrior return)”and prevents the invasion by enemies. The castle was the stage
of "the Satsuma Rebellion", the last civil war of Kumamoto, Japan, which is
similar to "Fort of Alamo" when it became the stage for the independence of Texas
State. Let us begin with Kumamoto Castle.
(1)-1 Kumamoto Castle
Kiyomasa Kato is the one who built Kumamoto Castle in 1607. Due to its
many
innovative
defensive
designs,
Kumamoto
Castle
was
considered
impregnable. This was recognized in 1877, when the Seinan War occurred in
Kumamoto. This was the biggest during Meiji Period (1868-1912) and the last
internal war inside of Japan. At that time, the leader Takamori Saigo made an
attack of Kumamoto with 3000 militia. Even though against this amount of people,
Kumamoto Castle had been protected taking advantage of its impregnable
construct. In the end, the leader was defeated during intensive battle.
The number of visitors to Kumamoto Castle in 2005 is 774,828
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
compared with 796,162 in 2004. Although the number of visitors varies each
month, we can say the visitor rate has decreased by 21,334 people. Actually
Kumamoto Castle is going to be 400 years old next year, so now parts of
Kumamoto Castle have been under construction. There are going to be some
memorial events regarding to this. It is estimated more and more people will come
and visit Kumamoto next year.
(1)-2 The Alamo.
The Alamo is the monastery remains located in San Antonio, Texas. It
was in 1836, February when the Alamo battle begun. This is the battle called
Texas War of Independence between the Republic of Mexico and the rebel Texan
forces. On Feburary 23rd, General Sant Anna with 4,000 forces attacked to San
Antonio. This ended up killing all 189 San Antonio soilders after 13-days battle. 2
months later, on April 21st, 800 San Antonio soldiers lusted for revenge under the
command of Houston, and fought with the Republic of Mexico again. ‘Remember
the Alamo!’ This is the slogan for this battle. The battle finished with the victory
of the rebel Texan forces. As a consequence of this, San Antonio could get liberty
and its independence.
Because both Kumamoto Castle and The Alamo have a dignified history
as stated before, this is one of the reason why Kumamoto and San Antonio formed
a sister city relationship. As you can see from the former declaration, also there is
another reason concerning Suizenji Park in Kumamoto and River Walk in San
Antonio.
(2) Suizenji Park and River walk
There is one more thing in common between Kumamoto and San Antonio,
which is Suizenji Park and River walk which both have rich water.
(2)-1 Suizenji Park
Kumamoto is famous for its beautiful under ground water. In the article
Kumamoto city published3, they say Kumamoto has been called ‘the water city’
from a long time ago, because Kumamoto has a very good water environment.
There are just a few cities that are able to provide 670,000 citizens with under
ground water as the water service. Thanks to this merit, Suizenji Park was
constructed in the center of Kumamoto in 1912. The number of visitors to Suizenji
Park in 2004 is 407,045. On the other hand, 366,707 people visited in 2005. As well
3
http://www.city.kumamoto.kumamoto.jp/mizu_midori/index.htm
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
we Kumamoto Castle, the number of visitors have been decreasing lately.
(2)-2 River Walk
In this official website for San Antonio River Walk4, they introduced that
River Walk
2.3 Activities and exchanges
There are 6 kinds of exchange programs that the city opens to the public
on its Kumamoto city website. However they divide exchange programs for
students into 2 kinds (high school and university), but these are counted as one in
total, so we can say there are 5 kinds of exchanges in all.
First of all, there are exchange programs for students. Targets of this
program are students who are now going to a school in Kumamoto city. Every year,
2 university students can go to the University of the Incarnate Word as exchange
students from Kumamoto as well as 4 high school students in either Chihara high
school or Hitsuyukan high school (who can go to Saint Anthony or Incarnate Word
high school). The university exchange program started in 1988 and the high
school program from 1992. It was officially announced that there are 44 university
students and 40 students that were sent until 2005, last year.
In addition to sending students to San Antonio, Kumamoto city also has
focused on being a host city. As we can see from city website,
5
the number of
students which Kumamoto has accepted as exchange students are 38 university
students from 1988 to 2005 and 37 high school students from 1992 to 2005. In
total, 86 students in Kumamoto city have been sent to San Antonio and 75
students in San Antonio have come to Kumamoto. This exchange program is still
going, so there should be more than 6 students in San Antonio from Kumamoto in
2006 and 5 in Kumamoto from San Antonio. Actually this year, however, there is
only one university student from San Antonio.
The second exchange program was participation in Ai- Chikyu haku (the
exhibition of love and earth) and Texas day. This held from1st to 2nd August 2005. 3
people including a treasurer and the chairperson went to San Antonio.
Thirdly there are exchange programs among Kumamoto city public
teachers. This program started from 1994. Until last year, there are 76 teachers
4
http://thesanantonioriverwalk.com/
5http://www.city.kumamoto.kumamoto.jp/kokusai/kiroku/sanantonio.htm)
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
who’ve under gone though this program. However, unfortunately this is going to
be abolished due to lack of funds. (See Question 4 for more details)
The fourth program sent the present Kumamoto Mayor Seishi Koyama
and 7 other members of the Kumamoto municipal assembly to San Antonio to
build a more friendly relationship.
Finally, the fifth program is sending landscape gardeners to Kumamoto
En in San Antonio to repair it. This Kumamoto En was given to San Antonio from
Kumamoto in May 1989, which was over 17 years ago. Therefore, it became
dilapidated. On this occasion, the restoration teams of Kumamoto En were sent to
San Antonio and according to Mayor Kouyama’s speech that he gave in the
renewal ceremony, the team stayed at San Antonio for over 6 months in order to
repair the garden.
2.4
How the relationship is publicized
The relationship is published in a variety of ways.
In the Kumamoto City Official Website6, they introduce
San Antonio and the relationship of San Antonio and
Kumamoto. In the International Center which is located
near the City Hall, it has standing exhibits for sister cities,
not only San Antonio but also China and Germany during its regular hours. Also,
Kumamoto City has Street Car (Shiden) advertisements.
On the other hand, in San Antonio City Official Website7 they introduced
Kumamoto as below.
“Since establishing a Sister City charter in December 1987,
Kumamoto has quickly become one of San Antonio most active
counterparts. Over the past 15 years, the two cities have
developed over 170 cultural, commercial, educational, medical
and staff exchanges. Many of the programs are ongoing and
have been initiated by private sector institutions in both cities
such as universities, youth and ethnic organizations, chambers
of commerce, and professional business associations.
In 1999, San Antonio hosted a Women Leadership Conference
6http://www.city.kumamoto.kumamoto.jp/content/web/asp/kiji_detail.asp?ID=
2869&mid=2&LS=72
7http://www.sanantonio.gov/iad/kumamoto.asp
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
in conjunction with Kumamoto that earned our city the 1999
Sister City Award for Education. Starting in 1992, Kumamoto
began sending staff members to San Antonio to strengthen ties
between the two cities.
In addition to the website, San Antonio highly publicized the
renewal by putting it on the television.
3. Questionnaire
This is the questionnaire to examine if there are any differences between
the awareness that both cities’ students have of each other’s cities. 6 questions
were on the questionnaire. On the questionnaire, they ask how much and how
well people in Kumamoto know about San Antonio and on the other hand, people
in San Antonio know about Kumamoto.
3.1 Method
The subjects were 60 students at Kumamoto Gakuen University and 19
at University of the Incarnate Word. As conditions, in Kumamoto Gakuen
University, subjects are to be neither English majors nor English minors. Also, in
University of the Incarnate Word, subjects are to be neither Japanese majors nor
Japanese minors. In the questionnaires in KGU were taken place by professor Doi
who works at KGU during 2 of his classes. One was in Sociology for the students
of Hospitality Management, and the other was in Social Information Theory for
the students of Management. They were all done on December 12th. The
questionnaires from the UIW were taken place with the corporation by Angie
Hwang who currently works at UIW international office as an advisor. They were
all done on December 13th. 19 answers consisted of English, Athletics. Math,
Science, Nursing, Education, Business Department, and M.B.A., Ph.D.
3.2 Results and Discussion
The questionnaire results are below from question number 1 though 6.
1. Did you know that Kumamoto and San Antonio are sister cities?
a) Yes, I know it. →how and when did you learn about it?
(
below
)
b) I’ve heard of it, but I don’t remember where or why I heard it.
c) No, I don’t know about it at all.
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
Students at KGU
a) Specific answers
1. Streetcar advertising (1)
2.
3. By brochure at KGU(1)
I ' v e h e a rd
①D
exchange
program at KGU (1)
Ye s (6 . 7 % )
100
9
0
8
70
0
6
0
50
4
30
0
20
10
0
Through
of it
id
b e fo re (2 1 .
you
7%)
kno
N o(71. 6%)
Students at UIW
a) Specific answers
1. From Japanese friends (2)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2.
Through
Study
Abroad
Office(1)
Yes(31.6%)
I've heard of it
before(47.4%)
No(21.0%)
①Did you know that San Antonio
and Kumamoto
are sister
cities?
From these results,
we can
see that in UIW, the number of students who
know and who have heard of Kumamoto is almost the same, 70% of all, as
students who do *NOT* know about San Antonio in KGU. That shows San
Antonio is not well known to students in KGU.
This result was contrary to the expectations of the author as discussed
from her experiences in the introduction. One of the reasons for this may be the
International Center and the dormitory in 2 universities. In KGU, the
International Exchange Center is located almost in the center of the university,
however this seems to be for students from overseas, not for KGU students.
Regardless of plenty of materials and data about study abroad and also useful
Page 10
Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
information for international exchanges, there are not many students. Beyond
doubt, the International Center seems to be underutilized because of the location
and insufficient of appeals. It is where the 1st building on the 1st floor. The
International Center is almost in the center of KGU (See the map below). We have
13 buildings on KGU campus. Among those, the buildings working especially for
students’ classes are 6 buildings which are12th, 11th, 7th, 4th, 3rd, and 1st
building. Using for the students which mean there are many students passing by
in everyday life. (See an arrow below) We can say that the influence by the
brochure on study abroad from KGU has been holing well. However it is true that
there is very little that relationship from students to students. We need more
human relationship. Also, maybe it is time to change the way the International
Exchange Center is.
About the dormitory, at KGU we have 2 dormitories outside of the
campus which are for men and woman. Comparing with this, In UIW, there are 9
dormitories that include 13 buildings on campus. (Clement Hall, Colbert Hall
Dubis Hall, Avoca A to E, Marian Hall, St. Joseph’s Hall, International Conference
Center(called ICC) and ICC 2) Contrary to KGU not living with the International
Exchange Students, UIW living with regular students and the International
Exchange Students, this could affect the recognition of each other. In KGU,
International Students are to live on the same dormitory called, ‘International
Dormitory’ which locates about 5 minutes away from the KGU on foot. Even
though we know that the International Students need help in variety situations
Page 11
Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
since they live in a totally different environment than before, but doesn’t this
prevent from having communication with regular students and the International
Students? We will see in detail in the next section, ‘Conclusion and Suggestions’
2. Have you ever read or seen anything about San Antonio/Kumamoto??
a)
Yes, I’ve read or seen something.→could you tell me what, where, and when
you have seen if you remember?
(
Below
b)
)
No, I’ve never seen anything.
Students at KGU
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
a) Specific answers
1. Kumamoto City I
Yes(5%)
No(95%)
nternational Center
2. Downtown
3. When junior or
high school student
②Have you ever seen
anything about San Antonio?
Students at UIW
70
60
50
40
Y e s(3 1 . 6 % )
No (6 8 . 4 % )
30
20
10
Specific Answers:
See below
For this question, almost all the students in KGU haven’t seen anything
0
about San
Antonio.
Even
②Have
yo u e ve
r se ein
n UIW, just only 30% of all the students have seen
an yt h in g abo u t Ku m am o t o ?
something
about Kumamoto. Question 2 also shows the low recognition of San
Antonio in Kumamoto.
However, there were many interesting specific answers from San Antonio
students, such as Otemoyan dance by teachers from Kumamoto and Study Abroad
fair at the university. As to the exchange programs among teachers, see 2.3
‘activities and exchanges’ On ‘Study Abroad Fair’, we do not really have that kind
of events in KGU. If this sort of even would effect the students of recognition for
both cities as a sister city relations, it should be better to have one on in KGU
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
besides the meetings for the students who are interested in study abroad during
lunch break. In the lunch time meeting, the students who actually have been
abroad suppose to talk and give the students an advice. This plane is running by
the International Exchange Center about 4 times a year after the students came
back and before the study abroad exam.
3. Have you ever visited the ‘San Antonio Cabin’ in the Kumamoto Botanical
Zoo/the Kumamoto En Japanese Garden in the San Antonio Botanical Gardens?
a)
Yes.
(
I’ve
below
been
there.
→how
many
times
and
what
occasions?
)
b) No, but I know that there is such a place.
c) No, I didn’t know that there is such a place.
Students at KGU
a) Cases of answers
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1. 3times
2. Not clear
Yes(3.3%)
No, but I know there
is one(3.3%)
No(93.4%)
③Have you ever visited'San
Antonio Cabin' in the Kumamoto
botanical zoo?
Students at UIW
60
50
40
Yes(10.5%)
30
20
No, but I know there is
one(52.6%)
No(36.9%)
10
0
③Have you ever
visited'Kumamoto-En Japanese
Garden' in the San Antonio
Botanical Garden?
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
Kumamoto-En Garden and San Antonio Cabin were gifts to both cities
from each other to represent the relationship. However, in the existing
circumstances, it is quite obvious that not even 1 student in KGU of 10 has ever
been to the Kumamoto Botanical Zoo. On the contrary, interesting data can be
seen from the UIW answers. In UIW, over 60% of the students know that there is
Kumamoto-En, and among those, 10% have actually gone there. Compared with
KGU, there are 10 times as many students in UIW who know of Kumamoto-En.
This may be one reason that Kumamoto is better known in San Antonio than vice
versa.
On the occasion of repairing Kumamoto-En, the mayor of Kumamoto
named Seishi Kohyama and the other delegation went to San Antonio to celebrate
its repair completion. They tried to spread not only the name of Kumamoto, but
also the history and the plan the way Kumamoto is going to be for the future. That
could have affected to the students’ awareness of Kumamoto to some extent
because the mayor’s presentation was on the air at that time.8
4. Do you know anything else about San Antonio, U.S.A/Kumamoto, Japan?
a) Yes, I know it in detail. →what do you know? Please write down something
you can think of. (No Answers)
b) Yes, I know a little about it.
c) No, I don’t know anything else at all.
Students at KGU
100
90
80
70
Yes(0%)
60
50
A little
40
bit(13.3%)
30
No(86.7%)
20
8http://www.city.kumamoto.kumamoto.jp/Content/Web/Upload/file
10
0
④Do you know anything else
Page 14
'San Antonio'?
Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
Students at UIW
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes(5.2%)
A little bit(47.4%)
No(47.4%)
④Do you know anything else
'Kumamoto'?
It seems to be extreme that almost no one has been to the Kumamoto
Botanical Zoo in Kumamoto to see San Antonio Cabin which is a gift from San
Antonio in 1989, May. This result should be related to the number of people who
visited the Kumamoto Botanical Zoo in Kumamoto. These days, the number of
visitors has decreased in the Kumamoto Botanical Zoo. The actual number in
2004 was 684.890, and in 2005 was 571.215.
Students at KGU
5. Do you want to know more about San Antonio/Kumamoto?
a)
Yes, I want to know more about San Antonio.
b)
Sort of, if I have a chance.
c)
Not really.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes(1.7%)
Sort of, if I have a
chance(66.7%)
No(31.6%)
Page 15
⑤Do you think you want to know
more about San Antonio?
Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
Students at UIW
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes(36.8%)
Sort of, if I have a
chance(42.1%)
No(21.1%)
⑤Do you think you want to know
more about Kumamoto?
Towards to this question, more than half percent of students want to
know each other in 2 universities. Interesting point was that even they do not
know about each other very much, still they would like to know more. This means
that the relationship should be better if the further promotion would be done. This
tells us the needs to spread each other in both cities.
Students at KGU
6. What do you think should be done in order to promote awareness of
Kumamoto/San Antonio as a sister city to San Antonio/Kumamoto?
(
below
)
Valid answers are 24, and here are the cases of answers.
① To have more advertised activities through mass media (41.7%)
② To spread special products and traditions of Kumamoto in San Antonio. (25%)
③ To make Kumamoto more urbanized. (8.3%)
④ To have an event in San Antonio. (4.17%)
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
⑤ To have more active exchanges of people. (4.17%)
⑥Other (16.7%)
⑥
⑤
④
%
③
②
①
0
10
20
30
40
50
The ratio of having more advertised activities to the whole is about 40%.
This answer includes newspapers, magazines, and TV. Especially ‘advertising’
seems to be the key word. They feel that the advertising Kumamoto to San
Antonio using media is the fastest and effective way. In the section of ‘other’ there
are some opinions toward to both cities.
1.
Even in Kumamoto, there are not many people who know about
San Antonio, it can be said that there should be less people who
know about Kumamoto in San Antonio.
2.
At first people in Kumamoto should know about themselves, and
then we should understand people in San Antonio, or cultures
and so on.
3.
We should make more approaches to San Antonio from
Kumamoto.
Although students at KGU seem know almost nothing about San Antonio,
they still would like to know. That’s a favorable and well-disposed answer as
mentioned before. It is hoped that this questionnaire might help them to know
about San Antonio as a first step.
Here are the answers from 5 students from UIW about what should be
done to promote Kumamoto:
Students at UIW
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
① To have a speaker from the City (the exchange city worker) during the
orientation.
② To have parades, food Festivals
③ To use Internet through UIW website
④ Mayors of San Antonio and Kumamoto should meet publicly.
⑤ To market Kumamoto more.
As to No 1, this is covered with the exchange program that Kumamoto City
provides. In reality however, as we’ve seen from the background section ‘2-3
exchanges and activities’, unfortunately, due to luck of funds, the public exchange
programs were stopped this year. If they were continued, this would lead to the
further promotion. Also as to No 2, there is one big parade called
HINOKUNIMATSURI in Kumamoto once a year. In that parade it may be
possible to have a San Antonio advertising car or something similar. As to No 3, in
the UIW website, there is a site for study abroad but not for advertising
Kumamoto. This could be a good opportunity to put Kumamoto on the website.
For No 4, actually the mayors met but it did not seem to be publicly, so when they
meet next time, it is probably better to have them meet not only a private place
but also an open place. To market Kumamoto more as stated in No 5, this is a
difficult problem because it will need more and more help not only from
Kumamoto City but also the private sector. However if this is going to be put into
practice, Kumamoto would become more well-known in San Antonio.
4. Conclusion and Suggestion
As a conclusion, from what we have seen from the questionnaires above,
these results have shown unexpected aspects. Not only Question 1 but also the
other Questions are contrary what the author had expected as stated in the
introduction. UIW students have higher recognition rate of the other sister city
than KGU students. In addition to this, there are more students who know about
Kumamoto in San Antonio than vice versa in general from the questionnaire.
Additionally, the main reason for this given on the questionnaire is
through FRIENDS. In UIW, since all the dormitories exist on campus, they are
more likely to have connection with exchange students. In KGU, as well, there
should be more and more connections between KGU regular students and the
International Students. It might be hard to change the location of the dormitory,
but in school festivals at KGU, for example, there could be a store or booth. The
questionnaire results demonstrated that connection between students can lead to
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Relative Awareness of Kumamoto and San Antonio (Nishioka)
enhanced awareness; thus by having them at the cultural school festival in KGU
which is held in at the end of October in every year as biggest event in KGU
should help increase Japanese students’ awareness of San Antonio. Also, the KGU
International Center can make more positive approaches to the students by
organizing Study Abroad Fairs like UIW does.
As a suggestion, since in Kumamoto various events for the 400th
anniversary of Kumamoto Castle are to be held each season starting in 2006 from
the countdown event on New Year’s Eve, we could have a special booth for
advertising San Antonio at some of the events. Also, having Kumamoto Castle
400th anniversary is a good chance to invite sightseeing people from San Antonio.
This is actually what the Kumamoto mayor presented in San Antonio when he
went to San Antonio in 2005. Since Kumamoto has a traditional festival each
summer, this could be a good opportunity to make people realize that Kumamoto
has a wonderful sister city, San Antonio.
Although it is quite hard to see the beneficial effects of exchanging people,
the most important thing is to keep continuing the exchanges. It is indeed
unfortunate that the teacher exchange program from Kumamoto to San Antonio
has been cancelled due to lack of funds.
When all is said and done, the people’s motivations are best factor. This is
related to question No 5 (Do you want to know more about Kumamoto/San
Antonio?), but the way the relation is going to be built is strongly influenced by
the way the people are. The more people want to know about the relationship, the
better the relationship will be known in the end. We should keep exchanging at
the grass root level to help accept each other. Hopefully, the relationship between
Kumamoto and San Antonio as sister cities will become better and better in the
future.
5. Bibliography
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