Zen Garden project for Brown Owl Kindergarten, Hutt Valley

Brown Owl Kindergarten were recipients of a $500 grant from Hutt Minoh House Friendship Trust in March 2015 to help create a $1500 Zen garden.

They write: “Our newly completed Zen garden developed in consultation with one of our families is located in a previous "dead" area of our centre. We had a number of guiding principles that were key in the drafting of our outdoor development plan.  Celebrating cultural diversity and providing a place of solace and peace in our children's often highly stressed lives was crucial to this plan.

It is now an area enriched with subtly trickling water, smoothly rounded pebbles, larger stones of colour that change when touched by the water and young plants.
The children have been enjoying their exploration of this area, making observations and enjoying the sensory pleasures of the space.  When one of the teachers was calling the children in for Mat time at the end of the day, a child piped up whilst sitting in the Zen garden and said  “I’m just busy sitting here thinking” which shows they are already using the area as we intended.
In the future, we plan to sit alongside each other learning about Japan – the country and the culture from which this has been inspired.”

Leaving on a JET plane for Lower Hutt's sister city in Minoh, Japan

L to R: Hannah Van Vliet, Malcolm Pimentel, Mayor Ray Wallace, Martin Wabnitz, April Sului, Thomas Palmer

Five young people from Lower Hutt will soon be heading to Minoh,  Japan to teach English on the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) programme. Minoh in Osaka has been Lower Hutt’s Sister City for 21 years.

The new JETs: Hannah Van Vliet, Malcolm Pimentel, Martin Wabnitz, April Sului, Thomas Palmer, all met with Mayor Wallace to talk about their exciting opportunity to travel to Minoh, immerse themselves in Japanese culture, represent Lower Hutt and teach English as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Primary and Junior High Schools for a minimum of one year.  

Tour of Hutt Minoh House in Normandale

To apply for the JET programme, applicants must have completed a university degree in any subject before going through a rigorous international application process.

It has taken about nine months since applying to be finally selected.  The JET programme is supported by the Embassy of Japan in Wellington who coordinate all the NZ applications.  The final decision was made by the Japanese Council of Local And International Relations (CLAIR) in Tokyo, who recently advised the successful applicants of their new city for the next year.  

Thomas has already had some experience mentoring and tutoring students at university so assisting in classes will not be totally new to him. Malcolm is multilingual and has completed a degree in Teaching English as a Second Language. Hannah has completed an honours degree in Japanese language and Martin has also studied Japanese so they have a head start on their colleagues who are learning the basics of Japanese language and culture prior to leaving at the end of the month. Only April has been to Japan before as she has a sister already on the JET programme.

Talking about the importance of the sister city relationship with Mayor Ray Wallace.

Mayor Wallace was pleased to meet these young Ambassadors who will not only teach English in Minoh schools but will interact with locals promoting their home town and strengthening the Lower Hutt-Minoh Sister City relationship.  

Four of the new JETs taking part in the monthly Skype session with citizens of Minoh and Lower Hutt.

Minoh City Mayor Kurata is thrilled to receive so many young people from Lower Hutt to live and teach in Minoh for the first time in over ten years, since a similar programme finished in 2006.  The new JETs will also be very involved with the Hutt Friendship Club, based in Minoh,  who Skype with their counterparts in Lower Hutt each month to discuss topics of mutual  interest.  It will be great to see local faces in Minoh and hear about their experiences. It is just another example of the growing intercultural engagement and continued internationalisation between our sister cities.

If you would like to find out more about the JET programme, see www.nz.emb-japan.go.jp/culture_education/JET.html 

And if you would like to find out more about Lower Hutt's sister city Minoh, you're in the right place! 

Hutt-Minoh Teacher Exchange Programme (MINTEX) 2016

Lower Hutt and Minoh City celebrated the 20th Anniversary of their Sister City relationship in October 2015.  During these celebrations Mayor Wallace and Mayor Kurata signed an agreement to formalise the establishment of the Hutt-Minoh Teacher Exchange Programme (MINTEX). The purpose of this exchange was to provide an opportunity for local teachers to experience educational similarities and differences between the school systems; to embrace the culture and lifestyles in each country and to foster a deeper intercultural understanding and active global citizenship and engagement between the Sister Cities. 

Hutt City Council and Minoh City Office have worked together to establish this exchange.

Two Lower Hutt teachers will travel to Minoh in October 2016 for two weeks to co-teach English and New Zealand Culture in selected schools.  To ensure they learn about the Japanese lifestyle and culture, they will be home hosted during their stay.  They will also reciprocate the hospitality when two teachers come to Lower Hutt in 2017 on the return exchange. 

Managed by Linda Goss-Wallace, Projects Manager at Hutt City Council, the MINTEX working group is pleased to announce the two delegates selected to participate in the inaugural Hutt to Minoh Teacher Exchange Programme are: Ardis O’Connor and Michelle Gibson.

 Ardis O’Connor & Michelle Gibson

Ardis teaches at Raphael House Rudolph Steiner School in Lower Hutt.

He has been teaching since 1999 and is married with three grown children. Ardis enjoys astronomy, history, music, arts and the great outdoors in Lower Hutt especially mountain biking and kayaking. 

In 1994-1996 Ardis was a JET Assistant English Teacher at the three Junior High Schools in Nihon Matsu, Fukushima and speaks some Japanese.

Michelle is an Early Childhood Teacher who has been teaching for 11 years and based in Lower Hutt. She is married to Michael and mother of 17 year old identical twin boys and very passionate about teaching children. She has always had an interest in travelling but has never been to Japan. She enjoys outdoor activities, music, dance and rugby.

Ardis and Michelle will be fundraising for their exchange this year and hosting the Minoh teachers in 2017, so please support them and have some fun as well.  Details of fundraising activities will be posted on this website.

Hutt art on it's way to Minoh

Minoh and Lower Hutt are to exchange artworks for reciprocal exhibitions in each city this year and next.

This followed an introduction when Minoh Art Association President and fellow members were in Lower Hutt in February 2015 to celebrate the 20 year sister city relationship between the two cities.

It was agreed to exchange 25 artworks between the two creative organisations to grow further exchange between Lower Hutt and Minoh.

Final steps were made in March to complete the collection of 25 artworks donated by Hutt Art Centre members to be sent to Minoh City, Japan.  David Balm and Iris Kauffeld, Gallery Manager; photographed above, catalogued and packed the artworks for transportation in time for the 60th anniversary celebrations of Minoh City in June 2016.

The Hutt Minoh Friendship Trust supported the project with a grant to help transport the artworks to Japan.

The catalogue of works will be available shortly to be viewed at Hutt Art Centre.

The Minoh Art Association are planning to send a reciprocal exhibition to Lower Hutt to be shown at the Hutt Art Centre in April 2017.

BY DAVID BALM, PRESIDENT, HUTT ART SOCIETY

A taste of Japanese martial arts

We had a fantastic day for our Japanese Martial Arts Expo on Sunday, March 20 with almost 80 visitors on top of all our demonstrators and helpers.

First time demonstrators were Cam Findlay from the Wellington Iaido Club and members of the Wellington Naginata Club. Most representatives of the two clubs are also members of Yoshinkan Kendo Club – Hutt.

We were delighted to welcome Miho Maeda from Minoh who has just arrived in New Zealand from Japan. She has been a regular visitor to Minoh House over many years.

Other exhibitors were the Wellington Kyudo Club (based at Minoh House), Hutt City Aikido and Yoshinkan Kendo – Hutt.

POST BY ROSEMARY McLENNAN