Ship for World Youth
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In October 2002, the Ship for World Youth (SWY) counted its 15th program. In 1995 and 1996, many international alumni associations were established and started their activities. SWY is a global youth exchange program in which nearly 4,000 people from 62 countries have participated. Here are the basic activities of SWY and Ship for World Youth Alumni Association (SWYAA).
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[edit] History
This program started in 1988 by reorganizing the "Japanese Goodwill Mission Cruise Program (JYGC)" which started in 1967 as one of the commemorative programs for the Centennial of the Meiji Restoration. Initially, JYGC had 300 Japanese Participating Youths (JPYs) and 50 Overseas Participating Youths (OPYs). However, when it was changed into SWY, the number of participants changed to approximately 120 JPYs and 150 OPYs. Due to this drastic change in the ratio of the participants (PYs), the ship Nippon Maru now looks like a multicultural microcosm. Living together with PYs from different countries on board the ship for 50 days, participants engage in discussions and lectures by specialists as well as arrange various events such as national presentation and club activities. SWY visits eastbound regions (Oceania, North, Central and South American regions) and westbound regions (Southwest Asian, African, and Middle Eastern regions) countries every other year.
[edit] Alumni Association
Aiming at keeping up the spirits cherished during SWY, PYs of the SWY 7th Program and the alumni ex-PYs from SWY 1st Program to 6th Program joined together for the first SWY International Reunion and agreed to establish SWYAA. In the following year when SWY took a westbound course, PYs of the SWY 8th Program also agreed to establish an SWYAA in cooperation with other alumni ex-PYs. The basic structure of the Alumni Association consists of one representative (Key Person) and two sub-representatives (Assistant Key Persons). Its main activities are the management of the member list, the arrangement of local alumni activities, and support for its new members. In 1999, the SWYAA members agreed to add two E-mail Receivers to the board as members in each alumni association. The E-mail Receivers will be registered in the SWYAA-council mailing list and will receive and distribute information through their countries' respective e-mail lists. As of September 2000, SWYAA certified the foundation of 40 AAs in countries of both the east and west regions.
[edit] SWYAA International Reunion
SWYAA International Reunion was first held in 1995 on board the Nippon Maru in Acapulco, Mexico. The Japanese government invited ex-PYs on board to attend the meeting for two days. During the gathering, the ex-PYs exchanged the ideas about their activities in their own countries and their future visions for the SWY. Altogether, the International Reunions have been held three times in Acapulco, Mexico (1995, 1997, 1999), once in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (1996), once in Muscat, Oman (1998), once in Cape Town, South Africa (1999), and once in Auckland, New Zealand (2000).
[edit] SWYAA Tokyo Conference
This is a meeting in which the Japanese government invites representatives of SWYAA of the participating countries from eastbound and westbound courses in alternating years. At this time, the representatives discuss the current and future activities of SWYAA. As the SWY program also starts during this meeting time, the representatives have a chance to meet with the National Leaders and present to them the international network of the SWYAA, in which the participants will join after the program on the ship.
[edit] Agreement
The Agreement establishes purposes, activities, and structures of SWYAAs, based on which every AA follows when developing its activities. During the first SWYAA Tokyo Conference in 1996, the representatives created and adopted a resolution called the Agreement for the eastbound countries. At the second SWYAA Tokyo Conference in 1997, representatives agreed upon the Agreement as well for the westbound countries. Subsequently, these eastbound and westbound country meetings became a biannual event.
[edit] SWY News
This annual newsletter of SWY is distributed to all the ex-PYs once a year. The contents of the newsletter are the activities of the AAs in respective countries, news from the ex-PYs, and other articles related to the SWY. The year 2001 marked the 8th publication of SWY News.
[edit] SWY Directory
Member lists of those who participated in previous SWY programs are revised and published annually, and distributed to all the ex-PYs. The name, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and interest group of all ex-PYs are included.
