Nan Jung, long devoted to international education and to raising students as “good global citizens,” recently welcomed more than eighty students and teachers from its sister school, Sakura Kokusai High School of Japan. Through music and a series of cultural workshops — spring rolls, spring couplets, Chinese knotting and paper-cutting — the two schools came to know one another's cultures, deepening understanding and friendship in a warm, lively atmosphere.
Nan Jung welcomed its guests with its signature ensembles — art drums, Chinese orchestra, wind band and harmonica — a thunderous, soaring overture to the day. Pingtung County's deputy magistrate attended on behalf of the magistrate, expressing the hope that the visitors would feel Taiwan's local culture and Pingtung's warmth, and “carry on twenty-five years of deep Taiwan–Japan friendship.”
Local dignitaries came to lend their support, and among them was Kuo Yi-heng — himself a Nan Jung alumnus, now an aide in a county councillor's office — who returned to his old school after fifteen years. The bond with Sakura, he reflected, reaches back to founder Chen Yao-huo and lives on today; “the value of education,” he said, “lies not only in textbooks, but in every meeting and exchange.”
Representing Sakura, head of year Hiromi Miura conveyed the thanks of Chairman Yuji Arai for Nan Jung's years of hospitality, recalling the two schools' twenty-five-year bond. Grade-9 student Lin Yi-fan gave a welcome address entirely in Japanese — opening with baseball, likening the exchange to a “two-way player” of experience and heart, and closing with the wish to “hit the highest, farthest home run of memories together.” As the sun set, the choir's songs — a Taiwanese folk piece and a suite from Demon Slayer — brought a tender close, and Japanese students leapt on stage to sing side by side with their Nan Jung friends, sealing both a precious memory and a promise to meet again.
国際教育に長く力を注ぎ、生徒を「優れた世界市民」に育てることをめざす南榮は先ごろ、姉妹校・日本のさくら国際高等学校から80名を超える師弟を迎えました。音楽と、春巻き・春聯書き・中国結び・切り絵といった一連の文化体験を通して、互いの文化を知り、温かく賑やかな雰囲気のなかで理解と友情を深めました。
南榮は、藝術鼓隊・国楽・管楽・ハーモニカといった看板社団の演奏で来賓を歓迎し、迫力ある響きで一日の幕を開けました。屏東県の副県長が県長に代わって出席し、訪問団が台湾の在地文化と屏東の温かさを感じ、「台日25年の深い友情を受け継いで」ほしいと述べました。
地元各界の来賓も駆けつけて交流を後押ししました。なかでも、みずから南榮国中の卒業生で、現在は県議会議員事務所の主任を務める郭奕亨さんは、15年ぶりに母校を訪れました。さくら高校との縁は創辦人・陳耀火先生の時代から今へと受け継がれているとし、「教育の価値は教科書の中だけでなく、一つひとつの出会いと交流の中にある」と語りました。
さくらを代表して学年主任の三浦広美先生が、荒井裕司理事長に代わり、長年のもてなしへの感謝を伝え、両校25年の絆を振り返りました。9年生の林奕樊さんは全編日本語で歓迎の挨拶を行い、野球の話題で始め、今回の交流を「体験」と「心」の二刀流にたとえ、「一緒に、最高で一番遠い思い出のホームランを打とう」と締めくくりました。夕暮れには、合唱団が台湾語の民謡と『鬼滅の刃』の組曲を歌い、温かな幕引きとなりました。日本の生徒たちも舞台に駆け上がって南榮の友と肩を並べて歌い、かけがえのない思い出と、再会の約束をかわしました。
