Noticias de Chile
Japanese Students in NZ Fundraising for Japan Quake
Thursday, 24 March 2011
On March 11 a powerful earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan, and ever since that day Japanese students all around New Zealand have been doing all they can to help people in their home country.
New Zealand and Japan have had a long relationship in education, with thousands of Japanese students attending New Zealand schools each year. So when Japanese students around the country reached out for help following the March 11 earthquake, New Zealanders answered the call.
At Waikato University, Japanese students set up a stall selling rice balls and baking as a fundraiser. In Wanganui, sushi was on the menu to tempt riverside market customers with fundraising efforts by Japanese students at Wanganui High School. In Nelson, the Japanese Association, which includes local Japanese students, held a fundraiser at the city’s famous Saturday market. In just one day they raised over NZ$6,000 for the Red Cross relief efforts in Japan.
Since the earthquake, some schools have had concerns about whether their planned visits from Japanese students would take place. But just four days after the quake a group of 83 students arrived in Wellington from Tokyo, and a week later a group of 180 Japanese students from Shibuya Makuhari Junior High Schoool made it to Hamilton after rescheduling their flights. Both groups of students are on two week exchanges.
Each year, nearly 10,000 students from Japan study in New Zealand. In 2009, it was the country's third largest source of international students according to the Ministry of Education.
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