JAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM 2019 Post-Trip Report

What is the JAL Scholarship Program?

The JAL Scholarship Program is a scholarship program operated by the Japan Airlines (JAL) aviation company and funded by the JAL Foundations. This program invites youths from across all over the world to Japan every year and provide them with a platform to forge international connections with one another through culture interchange. This program aims to enhance their understanding beyond national borders as well as develop young men and women who will assume future leadership roles in their own regions.

JAL Scholarship Program was launched in 1975 by Japan Airlines and have been a yearly tradition for the aviation company up till today. Each year has their own respective delegates of their own countries. This year, the program celebrates its 50th anniversary and I am proud to be the 50th representative of Singapore.

The JAL Scholarship Program is a prestigious scholarship program. I am grateful that I was awarded with the opportunity to attend it. The knowledge I have gained and the new friendships I have forged will be something that I can never forget and never let go. Here I write my thoughts and lessons learned throughout this trip.

Overall Highlight of this Program

This program invited 27 scholars from 15 different countries from all over the world. Each scholar was a representative of their own country. Firstly, to have 27 people from different parts of the world gather together in one place and to stick by each other as a team for 3 weeks was not your common cultural exchange event. You may expect that having so many people with their own respective backgrounds and culture to get along with one another might be a difficult task and risks friction, however, that was not the case at all.

We completely disregarded our nationality as we mingle together. I have to say, there was this point in time during the trip where I forgotten that I was a Singaporean. I have also forgotten that my friends are from different parts of the world. It just does not feel that we are different at all. Our common language was Japanese and that was the basis to communicate so there was no discrimination. The very few times when I was once again reminded that everyone is different and that I am from Singapore is when we gathered our passports together. Passports were the only proof that we came from different countries.

The main theme of this year’s scholarship program focuses on ‘Disaster Prevention’ and ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’. We visited the Tohoku (Northern) region to learn about natural disasters, then to Ishikawa to research about SDGs, and finally Tokyo to wrap everything up. I learned the importance and relevance of the theme with regards to our daily lives during the trip and I wish to inform more people about it.

Main Highlights of the Tohoku Region – Disaster Prevention

The first part of the trip invites us to the northern region of Japan, where the Great Tohoku Earthquake destroyed the entire area on 11 March 2011. We learned the essence of disaster prevention by visiting the destroyed sites and directly talking to people who lost their everything to the tsunami. 8 years have passed since the disaster and yet the area has not been fully restored completely. The scale of the disaster still remained unimaginable for me.

What used to be a lively bustling town was washed away and now remains are just ruins of what it was before. The people here are not afraid to talk about what they lost to the disaster. In fact, no matter how painful it is to bring up the tragic memories every time, they strongly believe that they have to talk about it, and not let anyone forget what it took away, nor take it as it did not happen. So, they share about their stories; spreading awareness to people like us, in hope that we share their stories back in our home countries.

As a Singaporean, never in my life have I given a single thought about natural disaster and the importance of the preparation against it. Granted, Singapore is a relatively safe country and located in an area where natural disaster hardly strikes, so naturally we will not think about it. Natural disaster does not discriminate against anyone and does not pick which country it wants to destroy. We are lucky to be in a safe zone, but others are not. So, we need to help them when they are in need – no matter how small the act or donation is, a help is a help for them, and they need it.

8 years passed, the region is still under revitalisation, but the people here remained cheery and living their live to the fullest every day. I think it takes a lot of willpower and courage to move on. I asked the victims, “How did you managed to stand up and move on from what you have lost?” and their answers were, “We were left alive. We have to live on.”

I will like to end off with a quote from one of the victims that will forever be etched onto my mind. “Hold your hands. Feels warm, isn’t it? This warmth is what tells us that we are still alive. The person beside you is still alive. This warmth, is the one and only thing, that we should all protect and cherish.”

"Live to see the sunrise tomorrow."

Main Highlights of Ishikawa – Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a collection of 17 goals set by the United Nation in the year 2015 for the year 2030. These 17 goals are blueprints to achieve a better and sustainable future for all. They address the global challenge the world is facing right now and calls for everyone to help one another to achieve the goals by 2030. The 3 pillars of SDGs are ‘Interconnection’ (all goals are interconnected), ‘Innovation’ (innovate for sustainability) and ‘Inclusive’ (to leave no one behind).

Prior to coming to Japan, I have zero clue about what SDGs is and the relevance of it. Despite attending many seminars about it, it was hard to grasp the concept. However, there is a card game called ‘SDGs 2030 Card Game’ and just by playing it, one could easily understand why these goals needs to be achieved. I will not go through the details of the game in this report, but to sum it up, our society is progressing into a world where our economy is flourishing at the expenses of our environment. The game taught us that there is a need to strike a balance between developing economy and consideration of the environment – that is, to be sustainable – and this is impossible if we do not collaborate with other nations.

I feel that we should spread more awareness about SDGs. For example, some food chains in Singapore have stopped providing straws for drinks but not many people know about the bigger reason other than reducing plastic usage – and that is SDGs. We should also involve ourselves by taking actions in line with the goals and contribute to creating a sustainable society for all of us.

The main highlight of Ishikawa is the ‘Asia Forum in Ishikawa’ event, where all of us had to work on a project with one of the goals in mind. We then had to present our findings out to the panels. While the presentation was hard (because SDGs was hard to understand and also it was done in Japanese), I had lots of fun working with the people. 

My team consisted of people from China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Vietnam and Australia. I noticed that all of us have different ways of working on a presentation and I learned a lot from one another. It was also surprising that the group discussion was very productive, where everyone just kept dishing out their own opinions and ideas. This was contrary to how group discussions are carried out here in my school which was why it was a refreshing experience for me. I hope to apply what I learned and be a better teammate, as well as a leader. 

After the forum was over, we celebrated with a culture festival. Everyone donned on their ethnic costume and showcased their culture! I partnered with the Malaysian and Indonesian and performed ‘Rasa Sayang’ as we all share the same Malay roots.

And with that, our stay in Ishikawa ended and we headed off to Tokyo.

Main Highlights of Tokyo – Graduation

We spent our time in Tokyo by doing field work and wrap it up with a presentation. Our time in Tokyo was the hardest part of our journey as it was the beginning of the end. All of us dreaded the end of it but time would not wait for us. But we all lived the moment to its fullest. 

As I walked up the stage to receive my graduation certificate, I once again realized that I was the representative of Singapore. As I am the sole Singaporean, I was the Singaporean over there. I was the embodiment of our country. Our culture, our language, our ways of living were showcased to the rest of the world through me. I taught them Singlish and for the rest of the evening, everyone started adding ‘lah’ at the end of everything they say. In return, they taught me Korean, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, etc. – the language where they come from.

But where we come from, didn’t matter. We are all citizens of the Earth. We all live in this one big world. Our nationality and our race are just labels. We are all the same. If everyone could just disregard their nationality, do not discriminate against certain races, lend a helping hand to one another, we could all come together and be one united civilization and live in a world without borders. This program demonstrated that that is not impossible. I want to live in that world with everyone. I want to create that sustainable world with everyone.

Conclusion

Time is transient, farewells are bittersweet.

But I always recall this – a river may split into little streams by the rocks, but the little streams will eventually come back together to become a river again downstream.

Fate is like that; our journey has come to an end and we have to return to the place we call ‘home’. But the friendships we forged and the memories we made transcends beyond the borders and will never devalue even as time passes. I think of it this way – 27 scholars from 15 countries. That means we are connected to 27 different parts of the world. No matter how frustratingly big the world is, there will always be someone there waiting for you anywhere you go.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone again. Everyone has their own little dreams to want to change the world. With the knowledge empowered from this trip, everyone strives hard to achieve their goals, everyone works towards in creating a better world for all of us. And so, when we ever meet again, I believe we will definitely meet in that better world that we want to create together.