In October 2011, the 10th plenary meeting of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC 21) was held in Seoul, South Korea. I was responsible for managing a PR booth of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for the ANMC21 exhibition, which was held prior to the meeting.
The ANMC21 exhibition was held to promote public recognition of the ANMC 21 member cities in the hosting city. The exhibition site was very busy with families and tourists coming from South Korea as well as from outside the country.
Each member city had its own presentation booth. Using visual materials and hands-on displays, the member cities introduced some of their popular tourist destinations, traditional toys and games, and native costumes. A special painting exhibition was also set up separately to show colorful pictures drawn by elementary school children from each member cities of ANMC21. The theme for the painting was “Waterside Play,” which was chosen to match one of the meeting’s themes, “waterfront development.” One of the works submitted by a student from Tokyo was done by using a chigiri-e (torn-paper art) technique, and some visitors liked it so much that they asked me if they could take the work home with them. I felt very proud and happy as if they were praising me, although I also felt bad that I couldn’t fulfill their wish. The artwork was brought back to our office and was displayed in the TMG building.
On the stage, a variety of performance programs from traditional music and dance to martial arts such as tae kwon do were presented. We also brought two street performance teams from Tokyo, whose skills and techniques are officially recognized by the TMG, to show their traditional and modern Japanese juggling to please the spectators. We selected the performers based on Japanese elements in their presentation as well as the quality of the skills. I was very glad that we chose the right performers.

I was working behind the Tokyo's booth to prepare the presentation of paper balloons, which are one of Tokyo's traditional craft arts, when someone called my name. I turned my face and found a lady, who I soon learned was Ms. Poteet Morales, an ANMC21 representative of Metro Manila. We had spoken over the phone often but saw each other for the first time. Ms. Morales managed to make her way to Seoul after experiencing two major typhoons, which had hit Manila right before the meeting and had caused flooding and a wide-scale power outage in the central part of the city. As I spoke to Ms. Morales and learned about Manila from her, I became more and more interested in the city. I eventually decided to make a personal trip to Manila in the following month.

I visited Metro Manila in the following November. While it was wintery cold in Tokyo, I felt like I was experiencing summer again in the Philippines. Guided by Ms. Morales, I was allowed to tour the buildings of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and learned about the city's disaster prevention plans and a flood monitoring facility. At the flood monitoring facility, I saw a number of monitors displaying various information, from weather conditions to the amount of water, which were all supervised by hard-working officers. There were some beds for employees who would have to work overnight in case of emergency situations. After I listened to a presentation by Metro Manila at the ANMC21 meeting on its flood management plans, I was reminded that a major flood could happen in the city at any time.
What impressed me most, as a sightseeing part of my trip, was Taal Volcano, which is located near Manila. I took about a 2-hour bus ride from the Metro area to a town called Tagaytay, and then took another ride on a smaller public bus called a jeepney packed with locals for about half an hour. How splendid was the view of the world's smallest volcano as well as its surrounding areas!
In the evening of the day I visited Tagaytay, I had a dinner with a new ANMC21 representative of Metro Manila, Ms. Dorotan. I had met her once at the ANMC21 exhibition and we were happy to see each other again. We had traditional Filipino food that used fresh seafood from the nearby ocean and talked about lifestyles and culture of both countries. I was happy to hear that Japanese anime is very popular in the Philippines.
I now feel closer to Manila after getting to know the ANMC21 staff of Metro Manila in Seoul and also making a trip to the city by myself. It was a great experience to meet overseas colleagues who are also working hard to make their city a better place. I am motivated now to continue my efforts to further reinforce the ANMC21 network for the future development of Asia while keeping close ties with our colleagues of the member cities.