NEWS

ICU Student Joined the JENESYS2025 and Visted the Philippines

Update: January 14, 2026

Ayane Matsubara, a first-year student in the College of Liberal Arts, joined the "JENESYS 2025 Philippines-Japan Development Exchange（Dispatch Program of Japanese University Students) and visited Manila, Philippines, with the theme of "development." This dispatch program run by JICE is under the JENESYS (Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths) Program, an exchange project initiated by the Government of Japan to strengthen people-to-people connections among the youths in Japan and Southeast Asia. From November 25 to December 2, a group of 10 Japanese university and graduate students visited the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, JICA Philippines Office, ACTION Inc., universities, an informal settlement, and more.

Visit to JICA Office (Left); With a host family (Right)

Student Comment

I joined JENESYS because I was interested in development, the theme of the program, and I was attracted by the opportunity to interact with Japanese and Filipino students who shared a similar interest. Although I had been interested in international cooperation, seeing people in the informal settlement—whose living standards are often considered lower than ours—finding their own happiness led me to wonder whether international cooperation truly serves the people it aims to support. Through this experience, I became drawn to anthropology, which seeks to understand diverse cultures and values as they are. I plan to hold an individual report session (in Japanese) on February 8th. Details are below.

Date & Time: February 8, 2026 (Sunday), 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM (Tokyo time). Q&A and free networking to follow.
Target Audience: General public
Reservation Form: https://forms.gle/Ef72RCsB2snPXk6FA
Language: Japanese