　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　By Hiroshi Tohyama a vice-chairperson of Youth Activity Committee.
　
　I attended the "World Youth Encounter for UNESCO Clubs & Associations" conference that UNESCO center held at Manresa, Spain as a representative of Japan from May 6 to 13.　Forty-one people　from 21 countries were present at this meeting, so we not only shared our knowledge and ideas but also deepened the interchange between young people of foreign countries.　For example, among the participants, I saw an Israeli and a Palestinian talk friendly to each other.

　The meeting started formally on May 7.　The first day had an opening ceremony and an explanation about the conference.　The following day, we were split into　three groups, "Present and Future of United Nation", "Conflict Transformation " and "Dialogue between Civilization".　There then followed three days of listening to lectures and discussing the contents with other delegates.　I attended the "Conflict Transformation" group and found it exceedingly stimulating.　We went discoing and talked in the night.

On May 11, we all went to Barcelona.　On May 12, the final day of the conference, we summarized what we had discussed so far, and tried to give shape to a proposal made by some participants that the information and know-how of UNESCO clubs in various countries should be shared on the internet.　 I would like to suggest that Meguro UNESCO take part in this program and have an exchange with many UNESCO clubs in the world.

I want to write　much more, but　I will summarize my thoughts. I attended the UNESCO World Youth Conference and had three strong thoughts:

3. Japan.　Are we proud of "we Japanese"?　Are we proud of "our country Japan"? and why can't we speak these messages?　This　meeting forced me to think about my identity.

Preparations for the retreat are somewhat behind but this is in no way due to a lack of effort from members and the helpful cooperation of OB&OG.　"We must enjoy it, in order for the retreat participants to feel happy".　With this policy, we are thinking of various programs.　This retreat will add group activities compared with former retreats.　We hope this will increase communication between participants.　I thank young people & foreign students in Japan for attending meetings during their free time, but we still have a lot of work left to do.　If you are interested in the retreat, please assist our work.　If you can assist with ‘only’office work this is no problem.

On June 3, I went to Kasairinkaikouen as a pre-event of the Retreat.　The participants were 19 persons and 2 babies.　We gathered at the south of Hamamatsucho station at 10:00 a.m.　We went　by boat from Hinodesanbashi to kasairinkaikouen.　We were on the boat for 1 hour, but the weather was good and the wind comfortable so we had very good time.　After lunch, Matsui & Nagashima, who are unable to go to the retreat but　wanted to participate in this event, took charge of leading us in some games. So we introduced

ourselves, played a game of borrowing things from a person, jumped a rope and so on. We had a very happy time.　I explained this year's retreat and dispersed participants at 4:00 p.m.　After the breakup, some people rode the Ferris Wheel, which is highest in the world.　I hope all those that participated in this trip can attend this year's Retreat.

　Hi, this is Miho Saijou. Although I haven't seen you a long time, I wanted to tell you that I will go to graduate school in the United States, which was my long-time wish.

　My major will be "Leadership in Educational Administration" since Meguro UNESCO has influenced me a lot, I'll continue my education, focusing on education. Luckily enough, I have been given a job to teach Japanese while I stay in the USA. I'm very happy to have such an opportunity to introduce Japan of which I am proud. My life will be busy, but I'm ready for it.

Now I am in Niigata, my home town, preparing for my departure. I'm going to leave Japan on June 8th. Because of this, I'm sorry I cannot take part in the Retreat. Despite the distance between Japan and the U.S., I want to keep in touch with you all and encourage ourselves.

　My e-mail account will be mihonapo@hotmail com.When you e-mail me, write in Roma-ji (I know it's very inconvenient) because the computers at the campus do not understand Japanese. My e-mail "So-net" account will no longer be valid from June.

　Finally, I want to thank all of you (sounds like a farewell? ). Let's keep in touch. I wish you all good luck. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　Miho Saijou

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