Homestay

*Homestay*

Shimonoseki City is located at the western edge of the Honshu Island in Japan.
It is well known as a port where Fuku, Happy Fishes, are produced.
It is also famous for its international port which has a regular ferry service to and from Busan, second largest city in Korea.
From this connection, a historical event hit this city in June 1965. As you know, it was the normalization of relation with Korea .
Hearing this news Mr. Kinoshita, the mayor of Shimonoseki, took the opportunity to develop friendship relation between two countries. He immediately decided to start the student exchange program including home stays in each other country. As I was a high school student of good behavior, fortunately I was told by the respectful teacher of our class that I should represent the school.
Thus I became the one of the members for the student exchange delegation between Shimonoseki and Busan.
None of our student members visited foreign countries including Korea.
And this was my first trip abroad.
We stayed 7 days there, 6 days at home in Busan and 1 night in Kyoung ju
, a historical city like Kyoto in Japan.
We met our host families on the first day of our visit.
I was so excited to see my first Korean friend.
They were waiting for us in a meeting room of the Busan city hall.
Hello my name is Kim Jae Young. Welcome to Korea.
Anyeong hashimunika. I am Takeshi Sugiyama. Nice to meet you.
I wished I could speak more in Korean but that is the only word l could say.
Arrived at the home I would stay, I was welcomed by a small girl.
Who is that girl, your sister?
A kind of. She is called, shikmo(食母), who helps our household living together.
I was much surprised at the fact that the custom of family helper was still in common.
At dinner it seemed his father had entire power on family.
No one began to eat before the father said go and start eating.
Oe soe moe goe la. お食べなさい。
いただきます。
I quickly responded.
I felt saved because he was able to speak fluent Japanese.
And I also remembered that Japan controlled this country for some 35 years.
Do you play guitar? Jae Young asked me.
Sorry I can’t.
Then can you sing a song?
Yes, but a little.
Remember this song.
He started to sing.
Insaeng eun Nageunegil Oedisoe Wattaga Oediro Kaneunga.
What does it mean?
It means that life is like a travelers’ way no one knows where he comes from and goes to.
Sure! I could not imagine I became a diplomat afterword and lived in Korea for 16 years.
We cerebrate 50th anniversary for normalization of Japan and Korea relation.
I strongly hope through many younger exchange among generation exchange between Japan and Korea future relation would much better.