Fuji Maru marking the global youth

Bhagya Senaratne

It is once again the time for the youth of Sri Lanka to be excited about the Ship for Youth Programme! This annual event is organised by the Government of Japan and takes place onboard a ship- M/S Fuji Maru. Year 2012 will mark the 24th edition of this prestigious global youth programme.

Purpose of the programme

The purpose of the Ship for World Youth (SWY) program is to broaden the global view of the Japanese youths, to promote mutual understanding and friendship between Japanese and foreign youths as well as to cultivate the spirit of international cooperation and the competence to practice it. Furthermore this international programme is aimed at fostering the youth with the capability of showing leadership in various areas in the international society.

One of the important characteristics of this programme is that it aims at establishing networks and promotes joint activities among youth from around the world through providing, as the concrete and practical opportunity, the cohabitation and the joint activity on the board of the ‘Ship for World Youth’. The life onboard the ship is the epitome of international society with the youth being exposed to a wide variety of cultures and ideas. It is a window to a multicultural way of life.

Approximately 300 youth from Japan and from various areas of the world live together onboard the ship and engage in various multilateral exchange activities such as studying and discussing common issues from a global viewpoint whilst visiting the countries at which the ship berths.

History of the Programme

Going in to a little bit of history, this international youth exchange program of the cabinet office of Japan originally started in 1959 when it was implemented under the ‘Japanese Youth Goodwill Mission Programme’ which the then Prime Minister Kishi had proposed personally in order to commemorate the marriage of the Emperor, who was at that time the Crown Prince. In 1967, the ‘Japanese Youth Goodwill Cruise Programme’ started as one of the projects to commemorate the Centennial of the Meiji Restoration. Both the ‘Japanese Youth Goodwill Mission Programme’ and the ‘Japanese Youth Goodwill Cruise Programme’ gave a great dreams and hope to the youth of Japan since the Government would take the initiative to send the youth overseas at a time when it was still very difficult for them to go aboard on their own.

Due to the recent expansion of the international role of Japan and the remarkable advancement in internationalisation in various fields all over the world, the improvement of the contents of international youth exchange programmes of the Cabinet Office has been found necessary in order to cope with such a changing social environment. Firstly, therefore, in 1988 the ‘Japanese Youth Goodwill Cruise Programme’ was reorganised and upgraded to the ‘Ship for World Youth Programme’. The main objective of the former programme was changed, so that the exchange between Japanese and foreign youth became one of the current main activities. The contents also became more academic through the introduction of activities such as discussions and seminars.

Even though SWY has academic contents in its schedule, it does not limit itself to pure academics. The programme as a whole is knowledge gaining and the participating youth (PYs) are able to gain information about their peers and their countries in a variety of different activities such as group discussions, games, volunteer activities and of course, during their free time! The more subject oriented course discussions provide the participating youth with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge with regard to subject oriented matters, for example the United Nations, the environment, corporate social responsibility (CSR), multiculturalism etc.

The Ship for World Youth programme is definitely a life changing experience that leaves you wanting to return to the programme again and again!