Full calendar of meetings for prof. Maurizio Morini, coordinator of the high schools of the Lyceum and of the ITI of Nocera Umbra, on a visit to Japan from 19 August to 3 September 2022. Prof. Morini met the Mayor of Maniwa, the administrators, the principals of the two high schools, some entrepreneurs and tour operators in the area. Maniwa, an industrial and tourist center of about 50,000 inhabitants, is located in the prefecture of Okayama, in the western part of Japan, not far from important centers and certainly historical and tourist attractions such as Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. The professor. Morini brought the greetings (made via video message) from the Mayor of Nocera Umbra Virginio Caparvi, from the dean of the D. Alighieri Institute, Leano Garofoletti, and from the president of Nocera Umbra Borgo Green, Alessandro Giovannini.
Morini was accompanied by prof. Takeshi Tojo, from the University for Foreigners of Perugia, an indispensable linguistic and cultural mediator for the organization of the various meetings. The objectives of the working week are different. First of all, to introduce in the Japanese school the student of the Lyceum of Human Sciences of Nocera Umbra, Bianca Morini. The student, following the brilliant results achieved in the Japanese language exams (the Liceo di Nocera offers two compulsory annuities in its curriculum), obtained a scholarship, lasting one month, made available by the Aegina company of Foligno within the framework of an Erasmus + program. The student will go to school in the morning while in the afternoon she will carry out internships in some companies in the area; these include a Sake cellar, a spa complex and an import-export company with Italy. Bianca Morini is the first Italian high school student to be introduced to a high school in the Japanese region and for this reason she presented herself with a speech addressed to all the students.
The scholarship was an opportunity to deepen and expand the cultural exchange with the Land of the Rising Sun already underway at the Human Sciences High School of Nocera Umbra. The goal is both to increase the scholarships offered annually to high school students, and to begin a wider cultural, tourist and economic exchange with the city of Maniwa. From this point of view, particular interest was shown not only by the authorities but also by the Japanese students themselves. In the meetings held, prof. Morini discussed the areas covered by the cooperation relationship with Nocera Umbra: from issues related to environmental sustainability, to the care and development of cultural heritage, to internships centered on arts and crafts and robotics.
The visit was an important novelty (so much so that the regional news broadcast a video service) not only for the territory concerned but also for the whole of Japan as the country is still relatively closed to foreigners due to restrictions on Covid. The professor. Morini will go directly to Brussels on 21 September to report on the results of the trip to the European Commission.
