The Asia Junior Sports Exchange Games were held in Tokyo from August 27 through September 2, 2013. At these games, two university-student interns from the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21) Secretariat led some cultural exchange events. What follows are their reports.

Hello, my name is Momoko Sekiya.
I led a group of athletes from the Singapore and Yangon teams participating in the exchange games on a visit to Tokyo Metropolitan Igusa High School. After arrival at the school and some welcome speeches by representatives of the participants, we were kindly shown around the school's facilities by some of Igusa students. The Singaporean high school students were particularly interested in the rooms used for the tea ceremony and calligraphy; with them taking lots of photos of these rooms. Furthermore, as their initial nerves subsided, there were scenes of enjoyment as participants had the opportunity to talk with Japanese high school students. On entering the judo dojo(training hall), in that everyone conscientiously bowed, I sensed both their interest and respect for the sport.

After the tour of the facilities, the school's calligraphy club organized for the visitors to experience calligraphy hands-on. Club members were assigned to each table, and they taught the visitors while writing calligraphy examples themselves. In Singapore as well, I have heard that they teach calligraphy at Chinese schools, and this gave me a strong sense of Asia. In that all participants were smiling while trying their hand at calligraphy, their enjoyment of the experience was clearly apparent. For the Japanese students as well, judging by their body language and gestures, they seemed to apply themselves completely to the task of teaching; and the participants were equally energetic in responding to these efforts. In that I witnessed everybody very happy, I was once again aware that, despite coming from different countries, they were all high school students. As a memento of the occasion, each participant took home with them a fan on which a favorite character had been written, with the participants smiling from ear to ear with enjoyment on receiving their completed fans.

After lunch, the athletes from both Yangon and Singapore received support banners from the Igusa students, and took commemorative photos. At the time, many participants took individual photos with Igusa students and exchanged contact details, before farewells were regrettably made. Although the time spent together was very short, I felt the opportunity was a great experience for all involved.

Through such experiences, I believe that exchanges between different countries offer the opportunity to develop new ideas. Rather than viewing others simply as "foreigners," through exchanges I feel attitudes will change, with individuals realizing that, despite being from different countries, others are high school students just like themselves. Thus, mental barrier to foreigners will be lowered, and individuals will instead begin to seek relations with one another. I believe this will represent the beginning of Asia coming together. When I saw the good spirits of everybody while they participated in calligraphy, and the sadness of some of the Igusa students who went so far as to get on board the parting bus to offer their farewells, I strongly sensed that, for the high school students of all the countries involved, the visit was a valuable experience for them to develop new ideas and attitudes concerning peoples from other countries. Furthermore, I was personally very happy to witness events from close proximity, and I was very pleased to be able to participate. In terms of being another step that contributes to the future coming together of Asia, it is my hope that cultural exchanges related to the Asia Junior Sports Exchange Games continue in the future.

Hello, my name is Akio Nishida.
I accompanied the Delhi judo team on a visit to Tokyo Metropolitan Fourth Commercial High School, and watched over the cultural exchange events undertaken with students from the school. On the day, after experiencing the tea ceremony and calligraphy, the program consisted of a tour of the school's facilities, a welcome recital by the school's brass band, and cultural exchanges over lunch.

During their experience of the tea ceremony, the Delhi athletes struggled somewhat in kneeling and making tea, however, through the use of simple Japanese phrases such as oishii (that's delicious) and arigatou (thank you), they were able to convey their feelings to members of the school's tea ceremony club. During the hands-on calligraphy, the athletes from Delhi silently picked up brushes and attempted to write characters. Some even actively took up the challenge of trying to write complex characters with many different brushstrokes, while others were happy enough to ask members of the calligraphy club to write characters on their behalf, etc. Thus, the hands-on calligraphy was very successful in terms of further familiarizing the participants with Japanese culture.

Although initially there was some shyness between the Delhi athletes and the Japanese students which resulted in limited conversation, as the Delhi athletes passionately engaged in Japanese culture, the shyness between the parties disappeared. I was struck by the fact that by the end of the exchange, while everybody was smiling to each other, there was some sadness in having to part from one another.

The opportunity to accompany the Delhi athletes on this cultural exchange was very valuable, and in doing so, the following thoughts occurred to me. Firstly, the occasion offered Japanese students the rare challenge of conversing in English. In that I am not personally confident in my own English abilities, seeing others gesturing and waving in their attempts to convey ideas, I felt that cultural exchange occasions like this represented missed opportunities. Although speaking a foreign language is a major challenge, I felt the need to encourage others to "at least try, because it doesn't matter if you speak really simply, or if you make some mistakes." Secondly, I felt that, through seeing the passion of people from other countries in their desire to have contact with Japanese culture, I was able to reconfirm some of what is good about it. Until now, I haven't been that interested in Japanese culture, and I was not very conscious of it. Thus, this opportunity taught me some of the finer points of the culture of which I was previously not conscious.
I would also like to say thank you to everyone at the Tokyo Metropolitan Fourth Commercial High School who welcomed the Delhi athletes so warmly! I look forward to your continued conducting of cultural exchanges like this one, both next year and beyond!