Bridge of Smile students report back on their visit to Pehchaan Radio club Blabhawan Mandi village Delhi

Bridge of Smile, is an organization for students and is conducted also by students. Bridge of Smile creates an opportunity for the young people to look at the situations in developing countries and become interested in them. Making use of that opportunity, we focus on increasing the number of young people, including ourselves, who can actively think and take action for themselves.

Currently, there are many Japanese young people who obtain information about developing counties through the media. However, it is likely that those people have a hard time knowing how the people in developing countries are living, what kind of thoughts they have, what kind of problems there are, and how Japanese people are working at the grass roots level in those countries. This lack of understanding could lead to a difficulty to raise the young people’s motivation to learn more about the current situations in developing countries. In such a status quo, we create an opportunity especially for the students who are currently interested in earning about developing countries in the form of a study tour so that those people can understand, feel, and think about the real situations using their five senses.

This year is the 9th year of the establishment of Bridge of Smile. With the corporations of many organizations, we succeeded to conduct an 11 day study tour to the Republic of India from August 18th to August 26th with 32 students. From preparation to the actual visit, we are grateful for all the people who helped us to make our visit happen. I believe that the thoughts and ideas we obtained through the study tour vary from student to student; however, we had a precious experience to be able to absorb many aspects and to broaden our outlook on the world. We will be sending this report to all the people who helped us to realize our tour, in order to inform about our tour and to express our gratitude. Thank you very much for your cooperation and taking time out of your busy schedule.

Sayaka Gonnokami

Rumi Shinoda

Vice President

Student Organization, “Bridge of Smile

Intent of the Visit

• To understand the awareness programs of Nada India using the mass media such as the radio as a medium.
• To reexamine the current situation in Japan by looking at the approaches of problem solving in India.

Student Comments

-I was amazed by the children’s friendliness and the high physical abilities.

-It was a precious experience to interact with children in India. I became strongly motivated to want to contribute to those children in the future.

-It was a great surprise to hear that many of the artworks in the complex were created by the children. Also, I perceived that some children were active in telling other children to stop talking and listen when somebody was speaking. This showed that the children are mature. It was a pity to say good-bye.

-I believe it is great that Bal Bhawan Mandi & Nada India Foundation are working on raising talented children by providing them computer sessions and art lessons.

Observation and Summary

I realized the potentials of the radio as a medium by learning about the radio club activities at Radio club Jawahar BalBhawan Mandi Delhi which is mainly conducted by children. I believe that the radio club is used as a means of communication and that it is creating strong bonds between the children. By having the children decide on the topic of the radio programs, it lets them understand the problems which their communities have. Moreover, it is not a common experience to watch yoga and Indian traditional dance performances in Japan. Because we were able to understand the activities of the radio club and to come in touch with Indian cultures, we were able to have a precious experience during the whole visit.

If there is a chance to go back to India in the future, we would like to visit your organization again. Thank you once again for everything you have done for us and for making our visit happen.

Kozue Kagayama 

This time, we finished our study tour to India without any problems. By visiting practically, we could feel the present condition in India with five senses. We were stimulated by the Indian people’s lives and culture, children with wonderful smile, and the attitude of the people working for an international company.

Through the tour, we had an opportunity to have a second thought about developing countries, Japan, our lives and future. We would like the students who participated in our tour to harness what they felt and thought throughout the tour toward their lives or future. It was our pleasure to give them a chance and let them make use of it in order to take action toward Japan and the world for them who will bear the future.

Finally, we owe our success of the study tour wholly to the people of institutions, companies and the travel agencies who supported us. I would like to express to you my deepest gratitude for everything. Thank you very much.

Student Organization「Bridge of Smile」President

Ayaka Yukihiro