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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
May 14, 2007
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 22, 2007 |
Volunteer Staff Profile – Fuyuhiko Shimomura |
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| Fuyuhiko Shimimura |
Fuyuhiko (Fuyu) Shimomura is a volunteer Communication Coordinator, CC, on the 56th Global Voyage. In this role he does Japanese and English interpreting for onboard lectures, events and in port programmes. Fuyu was born in Osaka, 1979, on a cold snowy day in February. Coming from a long line of school teachers and working women, he had quite a liberal upbringing. His family encouraged embracing people's differences, and in the summer of 1998, he went to a summer course at Stanford University, California designed for students from Asia to learn about diversity. Through lectures, field trips and community service Fuyu learned first hand about racial, economical and cultural diversity and saw how people coexist in a multicultural society. On his return to Japan, Fuyu completed a degree with a social linguistics emphasis. |
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| Fuyu (left) attends daily staff meetings with the CC team. |
In August 2001, Fuyu returned to the United States, where he has been living since, to study at New York University for a Masters in Intercultural Communication. This focuses on how one's individual cultural standards affect the overall perception of other cultures. “Everyday life is a negotiation, when you grow up in a mono-cultural nation, no one questions your cultural values. By living in New York I am challenged daily, in a good way.” Fuyu first heard about Peace Boat through Debbie Almontaser, from the New York City Board of Education. Debbie participated in a previous Peace Boat voyage as a guest educator on conflict resolution when Fuyu was interning there. Then on the 53rd Global Voyage, Fuyu had the opportunity to attend a Peace Festival onboard the ship with Betty Reardon, a peace education scholar from Columbia University.
When asked what he likes best about being on Peace Boat, Fuyu says, “chilling out and seeing the sunset from the deck, and all the interesting conversations with people onboard”. In autumn of 2004, Fuyu started a Doctorate degree at Columbia University in Education Development with a focus on social psychology and peace education, and wants to work in the educational field in the future. |
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A typical day in the life of a CC
6am – 9am Translating the daily schedule into English
10am Daily CC Meeting – talk about upcoming lectures and in port tour assignments
11am Meetings with guest educators about the lecture for that day and following, go through vocabulary list with other CCs
12:30pm Lunch
1:30pm Go to CC room to work on the outline of the next lecture with CC team
3pm Study lecture notes, research and make vocabulary lists
6pm Dinner
7pm Simultaneous interpreting for guest educators
10:30pm Socializing with staff and participants
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