GRASSROOTS AMBASSADOR The JET Programme

For an Enjoyable Stay experience to provide interpretation strengthening ties between and translation, as well as support and the Philippines, and between the prefectural government in its and its foreign visitors.” in Shizuoka meeting with foreign visitors. In addition, she introduces Philippine Pamela Palma uses her career experience JAPAN culture during school visits and to support visitors and residents in Shizuoka, multicultural events. According to REPUBLIC OF Dogashima and other sightseeing spots in western Izu a prefecture located at the base of Mt. Fuji, THE PHILIPPINES offer spectacular views of Mt. Fuji over . Palma, “Family ties are strong, and long revered as symbol of material and spiritual richness the neighborhood spirit of helping each other out is alive and well in the Philippines. When I talk about Many foreign tourists visit the hot-spring resort town of Shuzenji in , Shizuoka. learned that this place is far more this, people tell me, ‘that’s how There is a pleasant walking course charming than I ever could have Japan used to be,’ and it makes through a bamboo grove along the river. imagined,” states Palma. Mt. Fuji, me happy that Japanese people n the 1990s, as numerous a UNESCO World Heritage site can can have warm feelings for the IJapanese corporations established easily be seen from Shizuoka. In fact, Philippines.” Palma also contributes themselves in the Philippines, the southern half of the mountain to keeping the local foreign residents Palma dresses in traditional Philippine costume university student Pamela Palma is located in . of Shizuoka, including roughly and shares with Japanese students the life and culture thought that learning Japanese The mountain’s conical profile is 16,000 Filipinos, abreast of vital in the Philippines. would prove useful in the future. especially beautiful when viewed information, using both English and After studying the Japanese language across the water. “It is wonderful to Tagalog. As this includes important at university, she continued her see Mt. Fuji on a sightseeing boat at life-saving information such as Japanese language training at a Dogashima or Miho-no-Matsubara. disaster preparedness, Palma plays About the Japanese language school after When my family visited from the an important role. She has also Japan Exchange and graduation. Philippines, they were also deeply assisted at the local police college Teaching (JET) Programme About the Her first visit to Japan was in moved by its beauty,” she says. as part of a case-study program that The JET Programme began in Japanese Exchange and 1996. “Japan was so clean and the Palma has also discovered that teaches police cadets how to help 1987 with the goal of promoting Teaching (JET) Programme trains were so punctual! The streets Shizuoka is a treasure trove of foreigners who do not understand grassroots international hardly had any litter and the trains food. “Shizuoka’s traditional wasabi Japanese. “Sometimes, when I think exchange between Japan and were rarely even a minute late,” cultivation is registered as a Globally the cadet understands my English a other nations, and is now one of she recalls. After that, she worked Important Agricultural Heritage little too well, I switch to speaking the world’s largest international exchange programs. at the Embassy of the United States System. The green tea produced here Tagalog to make it more difficult,” JET participants are placed of America in the Philippines and at is also famous. Its rich flavor is used she chuckles. in every region of Japan and a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank where to make the world’s most intense “The job of a CIR is wide-ranging, work in one of three positions: she used her Japanese skills to work green tea gelato. The seafood is also but I find it rewarding. I would like assistant language teachers (ALTs), with Japanese clients. “When I was delicious here. One of Shizuoka’s to continue doing helpful work by coordinators for international 41 years old, I applied for the JET fishing ports has the highest tuna relations (CIRs), or sports Programme, as I thought it would catch in Japan. For foreigners who exchange advisors (SEAs). suit my growing passion for Japan,” are not fond of sashimi, there is also In 2018, the JET Programme welcomed 5,528 participants, she explains. a deep-fried dish called kakiage and currently there are The JET Programme assigned made with sakura shrimp that is more than 68,000 alumni Palma to the Shizuoka prefectural really nice!” Palma is full of food from 73 countries living in all government, a place she knew little recommendations. parts of the world. about at the time. “To me, Shizuoka Working as a coordinator for Pamela Palma was just a place you passed through international relations (CIR) in the Born in Surigao del Sur, Philippines, Palma majored in business management at on the shinkansen when travelling Shizuoka Prefectural Government’s the Ateneo de Manila University. She worked at the Embassy of the United States The JET Programme official website of America in the Philippines, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, and University of between Tokyo and Kyoto. But after Multicultural Affairs Division, Pamela recommends this delicious deep-fried dish Asia and the Paci c in the Philippines. She has worked as a CIR since 2015. four years of living here, I have Palma makes full use of her career with crispy texture called sakura shrimp kakiage. http://jetprogramme.org/en/

28 29