Japan Education Fair 2012 was held in Bangalore, India

10:00	Welcome remarks	Mr. Hiroshi Yoshino Director, The University of Tokyo India Office
10:05	Special address	Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, F.R.S. Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences
10:15	Special address	Mr. Koichi Ibara Consul General, Consulate of Japan, Bangalore
10:20	Keynote speech	Prof. Hiroshi Esaki Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo
10:40	Panel discussion on studying in Japan	Moderated by: Mr. Shrikrishna Kulkarni, President, The University of Tokyo Alumni Association in India
11:45	Presentations by Universities
14:15	Applying for the Government Scholarship and Japanese visa	Mr. Thomas Joseph and Mrs. Shalini Walia Consulate of Japan, Bangalore
14:25	Employment opportunities in Japanese companies	Mrs. Asha Bhandary Head of Human Resources, Sony India
14:35	Introduction to RIKEN (Japan's flagship research institution in science and technology)	Mr. Motohide Yokota Director, Global Relations Office RIKEN
14:45	Announcement of lucky draw winners
14:55	Closing remarks	Mr. Hiroshi Yoshino

While the morning session had a higher turnout, there was a constant flow of students, parents and interested visitors throughout the day, at the end of which a total of 304 visitors had attended the fair. Delhi Public School Bangalore South and North had arranged buses for their students to attend the fair which allowed 69 students from these two schools to participate.

Two representatives from each of the universities represented were at the booths to talk with students who waited in turn to ask questions on the degrees taught in English, application processes for the course, scholarships, learning Japanese and about student life in Japan in general and in particular food and cost of living. Majority of the enquiries were for engineering and science courses.


The University of Tokyo booth

Prof. VijayRaghavan, Director of the National Center for Biological Sciences, strongly encouraged Indian students to study in Japan for two important reasons: the preeminence of Japanese scientific research and the need to develop multicultural Indians who can engage with people from all over the world. Prof. VijayRaghavan described the close research collaborations that NCBS has fostered with Japanese universities and research institutions. Emphasizing that understanding the partner country's culture, people and language were invaluable in cultivating professional relationships, Prof. VijayRaghavan stressed that Indian students need to broaden their perspective by going to more unique places for higher education.


Prof. VijayRaghavan F.R.S.


Prof. Esaki

Next, Consul General Ibara gave a warm welcome address stating that the Japanese Government had made increasing the number of Indian students coming to study in Japan a priority. In his keynote speech, Prof. Esaki talked about his research projects relating to India. This being the information age, anyone can now access information for free, quickly and easily. However, knowledge or ‘wisdom’ is developed through people-people interactions. This can be cultivated on a global campus such as Todai's and is essential for both Japanese and international students to communicate effectively in today's globalized world. Prof. Esaki emphasized that Japan recognizes the importance of becoming one of the study abroad destinations for Indian students.

Six Indian students currently studying at Tohoku University, Osaka University, Kyushu University, Nagoya University, Doshisha University and The University of Tokyo, and one recent graduate from Waseda University made up the panel for this session. Moderated by the University of Tokyo Alumni Association of India President, Mr. Kulkarni, the interactive panel discussion was a lively and engaging dialogue between the panelists and the audience. Each panelist described why they chose to study in Japan; what their experience has been like so far; the merits of studying in Japan; and their future plans. Questions from the audience were largely to do with life in Japan, such as coping as a vegetarian, and employment prospects after graduation, such as how do Japanese university degrees compare with Western ones?


The panelists

This was followed by a series of 15 minute presentations from each of the participating universities. Additionally, Mr. Joseph and Ms. Walia from the Japanese Consulate in Bangalore explained the application process for scholarships and visas respectively. Dr. Bhandary described the recruitment process at Sony, and lastly, Mr. Yokota outlined the collaborative research undertaken by RIKEN along with the criteria followed for accepting post docs.The programme ended with the announcement of lucky draw prizes and closing remarks by Mr. Yoshino.In the foyer outside the hall, the Japanese Women’s Association (Sakura-kai) demonstrated the tea ceremony and served traditional Japanese green tea (matcha) and sweets to all guests throughout the day. Yakult Danone India and Indo Nissin Foods distributed free samples to visitors. This was a big hit with the students.


Students being served Japanese tea

11 newspapers and 3 online news services attended the press conference and reported on the event. The Hindu, Times of India, DNA, New Indian Express featured the education fair in their online and print editions.

The Hindu:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/students-throng-japan-education-fair-2012/article3848677.ece

DNA:
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_japanese-varsities-camp-in-blore_1735703

143 visitors returned completed questionnaires that were handed to them at the time of registration. Overall the visitors really valued the information they received at the booths, from the panelists and guest speakers. Survey respondents stated that the friendly university staff at each booth provided useful information specific to courses of interest.
In addition many people felt that the fair was a good opportunity to learn about Japanese culture and universities. People expressed their interest in studying in Japan, or sending their children to Japan for higher education.
Anwsers to the survey questions are shown below.