Translated by Inge Arnold
Day 2 of the Fukushima high school student Germany Project
The long flights of Tokyo-Bangkok (11.5hrs) and then Bangkok-Frankfurt (11.5hrs) finally end and we arrive in Frankfurt.
There was the incident of Sumire leaving her passport on the plane, and then there were suspicious items discovered inside luggage, causing many police officers to arrive, unhappy passengers in transfer, a 40 minute wait and then finally clearance of anything significant.
At the airport we are met by Itsue Yanagita and Andreas who warmly welcome the students. We will see them again in 8 days time on the 12th of August, we look forward to then too!
At the airport station, Itsue helps us by tickets and we head north.
We arrive in Cologne and are met by one very good looking guy (haha) who was a high school student in 2015 and was a host family for our students. Since then, every year he comes to meet us and is now in his third year of university.
In Cologne we visit the World Heritage Site of Cologne Catherdral, which the students managed to do while I took great care of their suitcases in a café (haha).
Then, back on the road we head to our first base of Düsseldorf. We stay in the Ibis hotel in the train station we use every year.
Here we meet Middle-Eastern refugee supporter Nahoko Takato who has just completed an education program for refugees last week and is heading back to Japan. She was transferring through Düsseldorf and made time for the students.
We eat lunch at a restaurant in the city and meet everyone from the NRW State Fukushima Prefecture Society
The Society members were able to answer questions from the students and the exchange went smoothly.
After we returned to the Hotel, we discuss Nahoko Takato’s work with supporting refugees in Iraq and how the Middle-East conflict has its roots in oil. And how renewable energy can add strength to preventing wars in the future.
It was a stimulating discussion. Naoya Kodama