On February 10, 2023, I was invited to lecture for the Ishigaki study trip which is part of Tsukuba University’s Central Asia/Japan Human Resource Development Project (NipCA). On this field trip, ca. 15 exchange students from Central Asia visited Ishigaki and learned about the island and the Yaeyama region with themes such as SDGs and sustainability. It is a program that encourages to rethink internationalization and future urban development. As a foreigner working and living in Yaeyama, I talked about the diversity and cultural protection of the Yaeyama Islands, primarily focusing on the topic of Yaeyama dialect-language. The venue was the International Coral Reef Research and Monitoring Center, a perfect location for the theme of sustainability. The international students actively asked questions, and it was a valuable experience and memory, also for myself.
