Ms Karen Makishima was in Auckland as part of the NZ Prime Ministerial Fellow Programme. This is a programme that aims to establish links with up and coming politicians in various countries.

She studied overseas at Columbia University, so has a keen interest in other Japanese studying at overseas universities and took the opportunity to meet with Japanese university students at AUT University in Auckland. Mr Mark Pearson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) accompanied her on the visit. Karen Makishima (39) represents a constituency on the outskirts of Tokyo in the Lower House of the Diet. 

She is a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and is currently serving as Vice-Minister in the Cabinet Office responsible for the Financial Services Agency. Makishima has a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University and a PhD from her alma mater, International Christian University in Tokyo. 

She worked as a university lecturer before entering politics in 2012. Makishima has particular interests in regional revitalisation, ageing society, promotion of agriculture and Japanese food, tourism and improving work conditions for women. She is Secretary-General of the parliamentary league supporting hot-spring operators.  She is also interested in issues associated with Japan’s hosting of upcoming international sports events, including the 2020 Olympics. 

Makishima’s constituency includes a hot spring town which has a sister-city relationship with Taupo. Her short visit to New Zealand included visits to Wellington, Taupo and Auckland. Staff, Japanese students studying at AUT, and Taylor Marston, recent recipient of a Prime Ministers scholarship, welcomed the chance to ask questions and chat with Ms Makishima about a range of topics including the fact that many young Japanese women are studying outside of Japan and deciding not to return to Japan after their studies causing a ‘brain drain’ of well-qualified females.

The 22nd Massey University Japanese Speech Contest took place last Thursday 22 September. The venue this year was Freyberg High School. 29 students in 4 categories delivered diverse and entertaining speeches. 

Winners were: Noah Macdermid, Awatapu College (Cat.1), Nhung Le, Awatapu College (Cat.2), Callum Goacher, PN Boys’ High School (Cat.3) and Rosalie Alter-Shaw, Awatapu (Open). The competition was sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the Sasakawa Fellowship Fund for Japanese Language Education, and supported by the Embassy of Japan, ILEP (International Languages Exchanges and Pathways), the School of Humanities, Massey University and Massey University’s volunteer students. Judges were Ms Akiko Harada, National Language Advisor, Japanese, and Dr Penny Shino, Japanese Programme, School of Humanities, Massey University. 

Over 300 students and teachers from 17 schools and institutions have participated in the Youkai Taisou dance video project in Christchurch.  An article on it has appeared in the Christchurch Press.

You can see the video of the dance in the article on the Stuff website.

Dancing together to the same song is more than just fun; it is something which creates a sense of belonging to a Japanese learning community beyond the walls of classrooms, schools and institutions. 

You might want to organise a similar project at your school or in your region. An instruction sheet for making the videos is in the resources section of this site.

An article on the Christchurch Youkai Taisou has appeared in the Japan Foundation’s Newsletter.  “Ogino sensei in New Zealand has kindly shared a dance video involving more than 300 students from 15 schools and 2 universities in the Canterbury area dancing to the viral Youkai Taisou. Check it out through the link below and find out how to run a similar project. Minasan mo odotte mi-youkai?”