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We celebrated 75th anniversary of our Kobe Korean School last year.

We have built, beyond the nationalities and ethnic differences, good relationship for a long time with our neighbors and communities.

Our schoolyard has provided the place for mutual exchanges with communities from time to time.

For us to keep the relationship beyond generations, we decided to challenge “Artificial turf project of our schoolyard” which would greatly widen the possible future exchanges with neighbors and local communities.

 

 

About Kobe Korean Elementary & Junior High School

 

Thank you for your interest to our project. My name is Kim Hwi Yeong. I am a third generation of Korean resident in Japan, and currently lead Kobe Korean School which is located in front of JR Nada station as the principal.

Kobe Korean School implements the original curriculum for ethnicity, and runs a variety of educational programs such as learning about our custom and culture, having a friendly relationship between Japanese schools and other international schools and encouraging students to participate in volunteer work.

Our students are fourth and fifth-generation of Korean resident in Japan whose origin is in Korean peninsula.

It is important for them learning who they are and where they are from, these are their ethnic identity.

Kobe-city, holding up a multicultural coexistence as a motto, provides an ideal environment to learn from a young age what “international” really means. Our curriculums utilize the environment as much as possible, and focus on educating students so that they think about “international” in daily school life and through interact with neighbors.

 

 

 

Motivation of the project

 

Kobe Korean school started on 1945. There were some people who did not like having Korean school in their neighborhood. When the Great Hanshin earthquake occurred in 1995, our schoolyard became an emergency evacuation area and many Koreans and Japanese from the community stayed together to go through the disaster. The disaster, thus, gave us an opportunity to know each other and to think about the values of mutual help between Korean school and Japanese community. Since then, we had been having a “friendly festival” for 8 years to keep our relationship.

 

Unfortunately, it became the last festival in 2016. The deterioration of relations between nations took from us many opportunities of friendly exchanges. Even worse, we had to cancel very limited exchange events due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. Some of who shared the experience during the emergency evacuation already passed way. It is urgent for us to take over their experiences on the mutual help to next generation. We came up with this “artificial turf project” as a part of our school’s 75th anniversary events, and to greatly widen the possible future exchanges with neighbors and local communities.

 

 

 

Details of the project

 

We plan to implement an artificial turf to our schoolyard, as a symbol of "Friendship” and “Symbiosis”, for promoting various exchanges neighbors and local communities.

The project involves cutting down trees, removing playground equipment, base construction and turf implementation. This would cost in total about ¥25,000,000. We would like to ask for you to help ¥3,000,000 out of the total cost.

 

If we get help more than expected, we will use it to make the facility further efficient.
Scheduled opening date : 7th of June 2021 (Mon.)
 

 

 

Perspectives

 

We are planning to open our new artificial turf ground for several sports events such as soccer. We have already started to contact with local soccer schools and club teams for their regular training and camps. The ground, of course, will open for any other sports and community recreation, including the ground golf for elderly and family events for kids, prompting friendship and symbiotic relationship for community benefit.

We had to cut down cherry trees for this project. Those trees had been planted when the earthquake occurred, and they must have watched how we overcame the disaster together with mutual help. We have launched another project to keep our cherry trees as a symbol of our symbiotic relationship, and to deliver them to those who shared the experience of disaster.

 

We really hope that our new schoolyard, together with cherries to be delivered, will prompt building friendship and symbiotic relationship between Korean and Japanese community started during the earthquake disaster, bringing happy and peace for future generation.

 

Thank you for your support and understanding.

 

 

 

A message from school officials

 

The executive committee for the project consists of 43 representatives from the Japanese-Korean chambers of commerce in Kobe and Akashi, the Japanese-Korean women’s association and the Japanese-Korean youth chamber of commerce as well as representatives from our school teachers association, board members and representatives from our parents. 
Our school is run by your support.

 

Kim Hwa Chik

A member of the board of director’s permanent advisor and a chairman of the executive committee for the project for 75th establishment for Kobe Korean School.

 

 

 

Choi Su Bok

A member of the board of director’s permanent advisor and a chairman of the executive committee for the project for 75th establishment for Kobe Korean School. In charge of CF