quezon city delegation visit

Today marks the end of my first delegation visit to Chiba City! To celebrate the 40th sister-city anniversary, three city officials from Quezon City came to Chiba for a few days, and it was my job to accompany them and interpret during their stay. It's been a little crazy, but I think all in all it was a great experience!

So on Monday we headed to Narita to pick up the delegation from the airport. On the way back, we made a very, very brief stop at Narita-san Shinshoji, which is one of the most popular temples in Japan. Because it was starting to get dark and also raining really hard, we really just took a few pictures at the entrance, but I would really love to go back and actually take a look around sometime - one of my friends was there the same day and she said it was one of the most beautiful places she'd seen.

After that we headed to the hotel so they could check-in, then had a brief break before dinner. Dinner was at a place where they actually made the tempura right in front of us, which was pretty awesome, not to mention delicious! It was just the delegation and a few of us from the International Relations Section plus the Director of the Office of the Mayor, but I think everybody had a good time - I think for two of the Quezon delegates it was their first time having sake, and they seemed to enjoy it a lot, haha. Interpreting while eating was a little bit of a challenge at times, but luckily everybody there spoke at least a little English so it wasn't too bad!

Tuesday, on the other hand, was a different story - since it was the day full of official stuff, we knew it was going to be the hardest, and while I don't think it was a total disaster, I also wouldn't really call it a success. -.-' It definitely made me realize that my Japanese still has a long way to go before I can really call myself fluent and that interpreting is really hard (though I knew that already, haha)!

Anyway, it started off with a courtesy visit to the mayor. We arrived at city hall, where the delegation was greeted with lots of applause. Even Chiba-kun, the prefecture mascot, was there, which really surprised me! And then it was time for the courtesy visit - courtesy visits to the mayor always make me nervous because the mayor not only skips around and improvises in his speeches, but he also talks really fast! Still, it went relatively well, despite a few times where the mayor had to correct me or repeat what he said.

Next was a luncheon with the members of the Chiba City Assembly who had gone to Quezon City last month, which was kind of a disaster (for me at least). I am incredibly grateful to the professional interpreter that we hired for the day (he was there for the courtesy visit too), who was really nice and also super super competent. Whenever I couldn't understand what somebody said, which was probably most of the time (in my defense, they were talking about really complicated things like taxes, advancement of women, and the technical aspects of garbage disposal), he was kind enough to help me out. I guess having 2 interpreters for a table of 12 people all eating lunch and talking to both each other and the guests all at once is just a tough situation in general, too!

After that we went on a study tour of some waste treatment facilities (which I left entirely up to the pro interpreter, haha), which was actually pretty cool! We got to see things like trucks dumping garbage, cranes moving it around, garbage being pressed into blocks, etc. Part of the facilities was a system that created biogas (mostly methane, I think?) from burning garbage, which is then used by a nearby steel factory for energy. Pretty cool, I think, especially considering this is the kind of thing I would probably never see otherwise!

Next we made an unplanned stop at the Fukuda Denshi Arena, aka the soccer stadium that is home to our soccer team, JEF United Chiba. Thanks to the assembly member who was with us, we got to go on a quick tour around and saw things like the control room, locker rooms, the drug testing room (complete with bathrooms with glass doors!), and the VIP room. We also got to go on the field, which was pretty cool. I think it'd be super cool to play frisbee sometime there, though that will probably never happen (though we do practice next door once a month)!

That was the end of my job for the day, since dinner for the delegates was hosted by the assembly members (I heard it was pretty lively, though!). This morning our first stop was the Chiba City Museum of Art, to see the exhibit I went to a few weeks ago. After that we walked over and got on the monorail, so our guests could experience it. Thanks to Satou-san's careful planning, we managed to transfer onto the Urban Flier (the new monorail car), which made it the third time in two days I got to ride it (which is a lot considering it's only come when I was riding the monorail once in the four months since I've been here)!

After that we went to the World Business Garden in Makuhari for lunch. We went all the way to the top of the building (to the 35th floor!), where there was a really great view of Tokyo Bay and Makuhari. Next was a tour of Makuhari Messe, which I've been to before but was still pretty interesting. I learned that the main 8 exhibition halls were built to look like the mountains of Chiba Prefecture, while the newer 3 were designed to look like waves from Chiba's coast, which I'd never realized before. When we walked around, there was a huge line of people stretching across the 8 exhibition halls (which I learned span 530m), who were there for Best Artist 2012, a concert that was broadcast live at 7pm tonight! I was just watching it on TV, and knowing that everybody I saw was actually in Makuhari Messe at that moment was pretty cool.

Next we went to Don Quijote (sic), which is a discount store that sells all sort of things, including some things from abroad (like snacks), and which I think was what the delegates were most excited for, haha. After spending some time there finding lots of souvenirs, we got on the bus and drove to Tokyo, where they'll be spending a day by themselves before heading back to the Philippines.

It's been a long and busy three days, but it's definitely also been super interesting and pretty fun! I am definitely ready to just sit at my desk all day for once (though I doubt it will be any less busy, if Sato-san's ominous comments about translation requests he's hidden from me are any indication). Hopefully by the next time a delegations comes to Chiba, I'll have improved both my Japanese and my interpreting skills!