Staff Exchange

Permíteme empezar esta actualización deseando un nuevo año feliz a todos! espero que 2013 estén llenos de desarrollos maravillosos por todos y cada uno de ti! comprendo que no he puesto al día la estandarte del título en un rato. Lo tomaré como una señal que mi vida es el satisfyingly ocupa. Pero intentaré proponer algo pronto.

Today, I want to bring up an initiative the City of Yokohama has been putting quite a lot of efforts into in recent years, i.e. the exchange of staff with other cities around the world.

En 2009, Incheon Metropolitan City (el sitio externo), República de Corea, y Yokohama entraron en un acuerdo de la ciudad del compañero. Dos años después, en 2011, el Alcalde de Yokohama visitó la República de Corea y promovió el atractivo de la ciudad para invitar a las personas a Yokohama. Reunió a los alcaldes de Incheon y Seoul Metropolitan City (el sitio externo) los dos de que tienen una historia de intercambio con Yokohama a través de iniciativas uno-a-uno y la red de CITYNET.

This led to the establishment of a staff exchange project with each city. The actual exchange of employees started in March 2012 with Incheon and October 2012 with Seoul. Seguir la expedición de dos oficiales del Yokohama respectivamente a Incheon y Seúl – uno fue a Seúl para estudiar las políticas medioambientales y el otro, a Incheon estudiar las políticas de la ciudad creativas – era el giro de Yokohama para dar la bienvenida a un oficial de cada ciudad. And so, in November 2012, we welcomed two Korean public servants at City Hall who were to work with us for one month. Let me introduce our two new friends.

Hung Hoon Jung

Hung Hoon was the first to arrive. Viniendo de la División de Cuidado de Niño, Seúl Metropolitano Gobierno (el sitio externo), dice una de las razones aplicó en el intercambio, además de aprender sobre las políticas de cuidado de niño, era poner su estudio de japonés para usar a través de trabajo. Había querido visitar Japón antes, pero no había tenido la oportunidad por las varias razones personales. Ha sido a Canadá, sin embargo, para que estoy satisfecho! ha estado practicando japonés principalmente mirando dramas japoneses y películas.

Before coming to Yokohama, all he knew of the city was its name and that it was a port city. In the month he worked here, he discovered much more than a port. His favorite place is Isezakicho and the atmosphere of its shopping street. He also found he liked the kindness of Japanese shop keepers, which he says are very different from those in South Korea. One of the things Hung Hoon appreciates the most whenever he travels is the night view of cities such as what can be seen in Seoul, Taiwan or Vancouver. He says was more than pleased with Yokohama, such as with the view from Osanbashi.

Since his work in Seoul has to do with child care, he naturally spent some time in Yokohama learning about child care policies. He visited many international organizations based in Yokohama, such as ITTO, CITYNET and YOKE, but also a language lounge (which I have talked about before here and here), a nursery and other academic facilities where he had some time to play with the kids.

Suk Hwan Jung

Suk Hwan vino de la Academia de Incheon Fuego, Incheon Metropolitan City (el sitio externo). His work involves emergency rescues, the training of firefighters, etc.

He started getting interested in Japanese through video games such as Dragon Quest when he was in elementary school. Unfortunately, there were few Japanese classes at his school. Realmente es de escuela secundaria que empezó a empapar en ness-japonés. He got immersed in Japanese manga, anime and TV shows. In Incheon he participated in and won various Japanese speech contests, took proficiency exams and finally entered the work force as a public servant. For quite a while, he had been looking for a way to have work experience in Japan, and this is just what the staff exchange with Yokohama offered him.

This time in Yokohama was his fourth in Japan, having previously visited Tokyo and Fukuoka at different times in the last 7 years. Like his counterpart from Seoul, Suk Hwan likes the warmth of Japanese people. He enjoyed visiting all the tourist spots such as Landmark Tower, Marine Tower, the Doll Museum and Chinatown, but as he personally prefers calm areas, he liked walking the streets of Yamashita. He adds that Incheon also has a Red Brick Warehouse and that much like Yokohama in Japan, it was a gateway to many firsts in South Korea.

Besides the international office (where works yours truly) and international organizations alongside Hung Hoon, Suk Hwan mainly trained with the Fire Bureau where he experienced various rescue scenarios: he was especially impressed by a training where firefighters are given for scenario no more information than a situation. They have to work out a chain of command and take actions by themselves. This kind of exercise is not operated in Incheon. Suk Hwan también dice que la diferencia más grande en medidas de seguridad está considerando los terremotos, desde que no ocurren en Incheon. He also played a key role during the coincidental visit of the Mayor of Incheon to Yokohama by working on the preparation and logistics with the Yokohama team.

As you can see, both moved quite a lot during the exchange. Aunque empezaron todos los días a los escritorios al lado de mío, normalmente salían algún día durante el día visitar los departamentos diferentes y aprender sobre las políticas de Yokohama e iniciativas.

Looking back, Hung Hoon now fully realizes that no matter the relation between countries, exchanges between local governments leads to improvement. As for Suk Hwan, he agrees that this kind of exchange is what can teach people to grow and love each other. He adds that he hopes to be able to come back as well as to welcome people to Incheon the same way he was in Yokohama.

Since their training period ended, almost 2 months have passed. Algunos colegas y yo nos hemos mantenido un poco en contacto con ellos intercambiando correos electrónicos y los saludos de Nuevo Año. But the importance of this kind of project, as eloquently mentioned by our two Korean friends, is in how it develops relations between cities. Comunidades que tienen mucho para aprender de nosotros pero ese no tendría la oportunidad de hacer tan por otra parte. The staff participating in such an exchange, becomes a sort of contact person, a reference and a supporter when it comes to the good relation between the cities concerned. Pienso que no va a decir demasiado lejos que se hacen los embajadores más buenos.

And even though we might not directly deal with them when we correspond with Incheon or Seoul, it sure is nice to be able to put a face on the other party!

(Cette compaginan el français del en)

Incheon Metropolitan City el Sitio Oficial (el sitio externo)

Seúl Metropolitano Gobierno el Sitio Oficial (el sitio externo)