This video is about the establishment of the new Kumamoto Consultation and Support Plaza for Foreign Residents on the 2nd floor of the Kumamoto City International Center. The website hasn’t been completed yet but there’s a short PDF about it at the following address:
http://www.kumamoto-if.or.jp/plaza/
The center is able to accommodate people who have matters they wish to discuss (difficulties they are facing, matters they don’t understand, problems they have noticed and want addressed, etc.) in a wide variety of languages. I spoke with Mr. TANABE Junichiro, one of two coordinators for the new plaza and, of course, he was very fluent in English. If the staff is unable to converse is a language, they are set up to get immediate help from interpreters online.
Hours: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Closed: 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, and December 29th to January 3rd TEL: 096-359-4995 FAX: 096-359-5112 E-mail: [email protected]
I attended the opening ceremony and a discussion session with the mayor with Jackie Benke. The two of us represented Kumamoto International, which the city invited as one of about eight groups of foreign residents.
At first I was going to share the link to this video but TKU took it down quite soon after putting it up so I thought I’d go ahead and post the copy of the video that I made. I hope I don’t get sued. ;) It’s for a good cause, after all.
I’d like to thank Jackie Benke for attending the event with me and kindly tolerating my various quirks. TKU had the good sense to include a couple of shots of Jackie but avoid shots of my bald head – after all, the news is shown at dinner time. – Kirk