LEARN with Porsche 2023″ has begun. “LEARN with Porsche” is a program for young people jointly implemented by Porsche Japan and the Donated Research Division of the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Tokyo. The program brings together young people from junior high through high school across Japan and provides them with opportunities to learn the importance of having a dream and to develop their abilities in an environment that is best suited to their individual needs, while also increasing their self-confidence and motivation. The program is held mainly in the second half of August each year and is already in its third year, traveling around Tokachi in Hokkaido in 2021 and across Shikoku in 2022. In addition, a separate program for young people interested in manufacturing is being held separately this year, with an additional program for young people interested in manufacturing, and the program is being promoted even more aggressively as a response to the past successes. The program is not like a test, where you are presented with the correct answer to a difficult question and given a score, nor can you see the goal by following the course you are taught. Even if you continue reading this report, you may find it difficult to understand what the intention is in the process. Since the young people have a strong sense of autonomy, the course often does not proceed as we imagine it should. On the other hand, the adults may discover new ways of thinking among today’s youth. Of course, the program is prepared to a certain extent, but I hope you can see how we draw out students’ thoughts and actions from their suddenness. The theme of this year’s program was set up to encourage students to learn and think while “on the move” in an age when a single smartphone can provide search results for anything, and students can learn without having to go to the site of the event. Will the experience of moving around in the field trigger a desire to learn more? Will the experience of moving to a new location generate a desire to learn more? This is the true appeal of LEARN with Porsche. Again this year, the Institute for Advanced Study of the University of Tokyo and Porsche Japan selected 10 participants out of more than 170 applicants.
Students are given assignments at each destination during the program, but they are not informed of the content or destination at all. For example, this time we are going to Hokkaido, but the students have gathered here without even knowing this. The parents are not informed either. The students are notified at the site on the day of the assignment or the night before, and they are asked to make use of their local abilities or cooperate with their peers to complete the tasks. There are also multiple tasks prepared, and there are scenes where you are forced to choose (or give in) at the site. The following are some of the decisions that are made. Participation in all tasks is voluntary. All assignments are optional, and if you don’t want to do them, you can abstain at any time, and you are allowed to interpret the assignments at each location as you wish within the conditions. If you fail to arrive on time, there is a possibility that you will be left behind. The program includes such selfishness and troubles. It is a valuable experience to think about how to deal with such problems within the group. There is no special reward for successfully completing all the tasks. Completion of the assignment or reaching the final destination itself is not the primary goal. No use of smart phones, tablets, PCs, and other information communication devices are prohibited during the assignment. You are required to leave them with the staff when you gather in the morning. They will be returned at night for contact with family members and can only be used at night. In other words, no Internet searches or map applications can be used during the daytime activities. Thinking for oneself and acting as a group The important thing is that from the day of departure from home to the day of the assembly, the students alone should think for themselves and act while controlling the direction of the group. They are not made to do things, but to take action on their own. It is forbidden to have parents or friends accompany the students, including transportation to and from the meeting place. Even though the participants are expected to think and act freely, they are not allowed to leave the group on their own. You are obliged to report your actions and thoughts. There is also an opportunity to report on your own thinking during the program, and you are required to submit a report at the end. Staff members and collaborators accompany and watch over the participants during the program, but they do not interfere in any way. Although there is a leader, there is no “please come this way” as in a tour, and the participants are basically left alone, and only their tasks are presented on site.
LEARN with Porsche” is a series of programs that pursue what is the best new learning place for each child through practice. The program is a series of programs led by the laboratory of the Endowed Research Division of “Research on Optimal Individualized Learning” led by Senior Research Fellow Kenryu Nakamura at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, to pursue new learning opportunities that are optimal for each child through practice. It is an initiative to seek educational solutions that help everyone, regardless of origin, social status, minority or majority, to have dreams and innovate for the future. The “LEARN with Porsche 2023” program is being led by Dr. Hiromi Akamatsu, a specially-appointed assistant professor in the same research department. One might ask why Porsche Japan is involved in this project, but Porsche is one of the few automakers that has consistently supported young people. Under the slogan “Porsche. Dream Together,” the company continues to support young people with the idea that “there is no preference in having a dream.
From the McDonald’s at the Yaesu Exit of Tokyo Station to Minami-Senju The 10 students participating in the program were not informed of each other’s face, gender, or profile, but only of the meeting time and place, “the McDonald’s at the Yaesu Exit of Tokyo Station. The reporter decided to meet at the McDonald’s, and was impressed by the fact that the students were already actively talking to each other, recognizing each other as participants and forming a group. After the assembly time, the staff called out to the students and the program began. After greeting each other, we were divided into three groups to make it easier for us to move around. The only people who would recognize the name “Minami-Senju” would be those who live along the Joban Line. The students headed for the platform without really knowing what it was about.
What do you think when you see the ruins of the Kozukahara Penitentiary and the Yamaya area? Upon arriving at Minami-Senju Station, we headed for the nearby Ekoin Temple, which was built as a memorial service for those who died at the Kozukahara Penitentiary. The temple was built to offer memorial services to those who died at the Kozukahara Penitentiary, and is known as the burial place for many of the late Edo period’s leading figures, including Hashimoto Sanai and Yoshida Shoin, who were executed in the Ansei no Daigaku (Great Prison of Ansei Era). There is also a monument to Sugita Gempaku and others who witnessed the autopsies of the executed and later translated the Dutch book “Taher Anatomia” into “Kaitai Shinsho” (New Text on Anatomy), and a relief of the cover of the book can also be seen. Nearby is a large head-cutting jizo (a jizo with a head cut off) for those who died in the execution. This area was divided as “Enmei-ji Temple” when the Joban Line was laid, but it was originally the same cemetery. In other words, this area was the first place of execution that visitors entering Edo from the Nikko Kaido Road would see during the Edo period (1603-1867), and it is the site where crucifixions, beheadings, and prison sentences were carried out. The first thing they see when they arrive in the Edo area, burning with hope, are the dead from the Kozukabara Penitentiary. This was actually the case until only 144 years ago. In those days, losers were literally cut down. I don’t know how imaginative the students were, or how they felt about what they were seeing, but this is more than just a cultural asset. It is said that as many as 200,000 people were buried at the penal colony, but this is not certain, and human remains are often found in nearby construction projects. The road in front of the temple is called “Minami Senju Kotsudori” (a play on the words kotsukahara and bones). This road then leads to the “Sanya” area of the do-ya district, although it is no longer used as a place name. We proceeded toward the “Namidabashi” intersection in the vicinity of this area. Place names such as “Incapacitating Bridge” and “Tear Bridge” are common throughout Japan near former execution sites. It is not difficult to imagine that the names are derived from the places where people weep when parting with criminals to be executed. Although called an incapacitating bridge, it is no longer a river but a culvert, and in appearance it is simply an intersection. At this point, the students were given a map of the neighborhood and told to walk around and research the history and current situation of the area from residents and other visitors. The students do not understand key words such as “do-ya-gai*,” “day laborers,” “simple lodging,” and “migrant workers. They may have heard of them, but they have probably never actually seen them. Perhaps that is why they do not seem to get the idea when they stroll around. The hints are quite strong: the presence of a boxing manga hero, a high concentration of too many cheap inns, an odd number of cigarette vending machines, many coin-operated lockers and dry cleaners, a forest of charitable and civic facilities, and only elderly men passing by, but unlike so-called slums, this is not a slum area, However, unlike so-called slums, new condominiums and other buildings are being built in the area, making it difficult to distinguish it from other areas of the city. When we spoke with the owner of an old drug store on the shopping street, he seemed to be convinced by the specifics of the district’s origins and its high economic growth period. Doya-gai is an inverted word for “yado (inn),” a simple lodging house for day laborers (a simple lodging house under the Ryokan Business Law. Doya-gai is the reverse of yado (inn), and indicates an area where simple lodging houses for day laborers (simple lodging houses under the Ryokan Business Law, which are lodging facilities shared by many people) gather. Many of them are day laborers, but the daily allowance during the period of high economic growth and the bubble economy was sometimes surprisingly high. In addition to the Tokyo Yamaya area in this article, Nishinari (Airin) in Osaka and Kotobukicho in Yokohama are also famous. We finally gathered and shared what we had researched, but left the rest to the imagination of each person and the work of investigating in depth later, and did not pursue it in depth in the field. We will leave it up to the participants to see and hear glimpses of these areas, and leave it up to them to decide whether or not they want to open the door to their interest. In fact, the existence of doyagai was not that long ago. Until the early 1990s, at the end of the bubble economy, they were a common sight in many parts of Japan, along with vans lined up near yoseba, a place where day laborers were offered jobs. Unlike prison camps, areas where workers hang out exist in many parts of the world. If you are interested, you can visit them in person. You will find it stimulating and different from the Yamatani area. Even after many years, the purpose of this project is to have an impact on the feelings of individuals, not existing education.
A student’s encounter with an unusual blind traveler When the train stopped at Teshiogawa Onsen Station, a blind traveler carrying a large sack got on the train. He was walking with a white cane, touching and checking his surroundings, which made him stand out even if he did not want to be seen. The long seat where the student was sitting was a priority seat, and although I did not take the initiative to guide him, I noticed and gave up my seat. He told us that he likes to ride trains and travels around by himself when he has time. He introduced himself to the student next to him, but the students around him seemed to be at a loss as to how to interact with him, and the conversation did not seem to continue much longer. The students had been getting to know each other as a group, and now someone different was thrown in, and the atmosphere became a bit stale. Occasionally, we would have conversations about the inconveniences of living with blindness. For example, he uses a folding white cane, an analog wristwatch with a glass part that opens like a lid and can be checked by touching the hands, and a smartphone that can be deftly operated with voice guidance* on a screen reader. What amazed me was the ability to identify the names of students I had once conversed with with frightening accuracy, just by their voices. *Smart phones come standard with features for the visually impaired. The system allows the user to operate the device while listening to vocalized sounds and voices; the function “VoiceOver” on iOS and “TalkBack” on Android can be used by turning on the function. The blind traveler is actually a character created in advance by the staff. Mr. Naoyuki Okochi, Project Researcher, Barrier-Free Field, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo. He conducts research on assistive technology and barrier-free accessibility for the visually impaired as well as the deaf-blind (both visually and hearing impaired), and has appeared in the media on many occasions. Mr. Okochi is a very conversationalist and cheerful in his responses, but I felt a little distance between the students and him. He seems to have little experience interacting with people with disabilities and does not seem to know how to interact with them. I will spoil the story later, but from this point on, we see how the students interact with the blind traveler for a while. At Otoishifu Station, the students were served a special ekiben that had been reserved for them. Yoshiharu Doi, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (IAIST) and a cooking expert, will join the students at Onopunai Station. A few of the students were familiar with Mr. Doi, but their reactions were vague, as if he were a celebrity. He is the guy who is often on cooking shows! I realized, “Oh, sure. The conversation with Mr. Doi, who has a wealth of topics to talk about, never stops, and we all proceed to eat ekiben together, chatting and laughing. With the more cerebral students, the topics of cooking and chemistry bounced back and forth, and we even had a heated and enthusiastic discussion. After the students arrived at Wakkanai Station, they were informed of their plans to take a bus to Cape Soya. Mr. Okochi said, “I think I will go from Cape Soya to Rebun Island after this,” but he did not ask them to go with him to the cape. Although I have lent him my shoulder as we walk, I wonder if he is hesitant to take one more step, or if he is concerned about the program itinerary. From Wakkanai Station to Cape Soya, we took a chartered bus because buses are not frequent. The bus was considerate enough to take us along a narrow road in the Soya Hills, but the students did not seem to be interested in the scenery. When we arrived at Cape Soya, we found Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Okochi there. They are all so cold. Since we are going to the same destination, you should give them a ride on the bus to the ship,” he said, entrusting Mr. Okochi to the students. If you meet someone on your trip and you are going to the same destination, why don’t you ask them to go on a tour with you? It takes a lot of courage to make such a casual intrusion into another person’s private life. However, such a small gesture can be a turning point in one’s life.
Encountering a Vivid Porsche on a Remote Northern Island Upon arriving at Wakkanai Port, Mr. Nakamura says, “Shall we go to Rishiri Island or Rebun Island? The students were amused, “Which one would be better? I had a lot of fun,” he said. Thank you for giving us lunch! Mr. Okochi was about to part ways at this point. After some twists and turns, we boarded a boat with Mr. Okochi for Rebun Island in the north. When we arrived at Rebun Island, we were all surprised to find a bright shark blue Porsche 911GT3 and a carmine red Porsche Taikan GTS waiting for us at the exit. From the harbor to the Taodai Nekodai Observatory on the hill where the sunset is beautiful, the students who win a game of rock-paper-scissors can experience a ride in the Porsche. The Porsche is often on the island, so the students have the opportunity to touch it. Although the car does not go very fast on the island, students can still experience the power of the start when accelerating. Although the ride was only a short distance to the hill, the words “the acceleration is amazing” and “it feels like a spaceship” came out of their mouths. The quality of a precision-built sports car is immediately apparent, even at low speeds. Afterwards, we drove from the Taodai Nekodai Observation Deck to the nearby beach, where we watched the sunset over the coastline. The students enjoyed the ride and lost track of time.
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