Ambassador Lopez Welcomes Participants of the AEON 1% Club Japan-Philippines Teenage Ambassadors Program
Welcome party for the Japanese and Filipino participants for the AEON 1% Club Teenage Ambassadors Program hosted by Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel M. Lopez.
Ambassador of the Philippines to Japan Manuel M. Lopez, with Madame Maria Teresa L. Lopez and officials of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, welcomed the 20 Filipino and 20 Japanese participants of the AEON 1% Club Foundation Japan-Philippines Teenage Ambassadors Program at a party in their honor at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo on 30 September 2014.
The Teenage Ambassadors Program is an annual cultural exchange program between high school students of Japan and another country sponsored by the AEON Group. This was the first year the Philippines was chosen as the partner country for the program. The AEON 1% Club Foundation and concerned Philippine agencies including the Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Youth Commission agreed that Sendai Nika Senior High School, located in the Tohoku region which was badly affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and the University of the Philippines Integrated School (UP-IS), will participate in the program.
In the first leg of the Program, the 20 Japanese high school students visited Manila from 28 July to 4 August 2014. Highlights of the visit include a courtesy call on Secretary of Education Armin A. Luistro, sightseeing at various historic and cultural landmarks, a visit to the Hospicio the San Jose, campus interactions with students from UP-IS and De La Salle University, and homestays with the families of their counterparts, the 20 program participants from UP-IS.
The second leg of the Program involved the visit of the 20 Filipino high school students to Tokyo and Sendai from 29 September to 6 October 2014. They went on a tour of Tokyo, rode the bullet train from Tokyo to Sendai, visited historic sites, environment-friendly waste disposal and recycling facilities, and an AEON store, interacted with students of Sendai Nika Senior High School and stayed in the homes of their Japanese counterparts.
Presentation of gifts from Japanese students of Sendai Nika Senior High School to Ambassador and Madame Lopez
At the welcome party, Ambassador Lopez thanked AEON for organizing a project that promotes friendship and understanding between Filipino and Japanese youth. He also expressed appreciation for AEON’s donation of more than 100 million Japanese Yen to victims of last year’s Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in the Philippines.
A number of top AEON Executives led by AEON Honorary Chairman and Adviser Takuya Okada, AEON 1% Club Chairman Naoki Hayashi, AEON Chairman of the Board of Directors Hiroshi Yokoo and AEON President Motoya Okada attended the welcome party. Among the special guests were members of the National Diet of Japan Koichiro Genba, Masaharu Nakagawa, Toshimitsu Motegi and Ichiro Aizawa.
