IATSS Forum

Hello! I am Huilin from Singapore. It is really a great honour and pleasant surprise to be chosen to be one of the two representatives from Singapore for the IATSS Forum. I am really excited for the opportunity to meet friends from around the region and to come together to share ideas and learn from each other. I am also very happy to be able to go to Japan again, a beautiful and lovely place where I enjoyed my stay tremendously the last time I was there despite it being a short stay. I am really looking forward to the 57 days that I am going to spend in Japan especially the different places that I will get to explore, the people I will meet and the fond memories that I will create together with my fellow forum mates. Japan here I come!!

The 55 days I spent in Japan was extremely memorable for me. There were many valuable lessons and enjoyable moments I experienced. One of which is team building or Gasshuku in Japanese. We tried out “digital detox” when we had to go without our mobile devices for three days. In this digital age, many people would have thought this an impossible task but all 18 of us gamely took up the challenge. The three days were packed with games and activities that really helped us build our team spirit and appreciate each other and none of us really missed our digital devices. The activities and games are relevant and can be used for team building amongst my colleagues and youth volunteers that I work with in the course of my work. Through the daily interactions with the Japanese, I really learnt the true meaning of resilience from the people’s attitude and actions. We had the opportunity to interact with many of the locals and understand some of the difficulties that they encountered and how they took the initiative to overcome the challenges and move forward together as a community. This forum also gave me the opportunity to widen my network across the ASEAN countries and form close and treasured friendships with my fellow participants. There were also so many fun and memorable moments, one of which was our inaugural onsen (hot spring) experience! It was a first for most of us and definitely the awkwardness was there. But after the first time, it became a daily ritual and ice-cream parties after that is a must. The Japanese cultural exchange day was also the gem of the forum. The Japanese volunteers from around the area put in so much effort to share with us the many Japanese traditions and art such as the wearing of kimono, tea ceremony, rakugo in English, dance and drum performances and traditional games. All of us were really touched by the Japanese volunteers’ warm hospitality. It has been almost a month since I return from Suzuka and I still miss the place and the people terribly. I cannot express my thanks enough but just want to say: To my dearest 51st IATSS Forum participants - Sok Heng, Leak, Tyas, Kresna, Air, Mama Mina, Ejah, Zee, Akari, Hsu Htet, Jules, Roselle, Ben, Miew, Aie, Trang, Hoa & Shima! : Believe we can go Beyond! Thank you for your love and friendship! I miss all of you! To our dearest IATSS staff - Kura San, Ishii San, Nori San, Midori, Masumi, Mariko, Mie, Mikami and Yumi San and all the other Japanese volunteers, THANK YOU for having us and making us feel like it's our second home in Suzuka!!! To all the participants of the subsequent batches – Enjoy the moment! Time flies so fast you will not even realise…