Hello everyone, my name is Uchimura Akira and I will be writing a new column series here.
The other day, I introduced myself in English in the " Self-introduction " section of the message board, but I would like to introduce myself again in Japanese.

I was born in Costa Rica in Central and South America, my father is Japanese and my mother is Chilean.
Due to my father's work, we moved frequently, living in Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Japan, Suriname, Chile, and then back to Japan, moving every three years.

Currently, I work at the Association of Japanese Abroad in Yokohama, where I am in charge of supporting the activities of the Nippon Foundation's Japanese-descendants overseas students . I am actually an alumnus of this study abroad program, and I am working hard every day to establish an association for Japanese-descendants and alumni of these students. As part of that, I have set up an official page for Japanese-descendants overseas students. Please take a look ( www.nikkeiportal.com ). Here, we introduce the various activities we are doing and provide useful information for Japanese-descendants.

Now, back to the main topic. In this series of articles, I would like to write about my experiences studying abroad, my activities as a Japanese-Brazilian international student, and my experience traveling around the world with the international exchange NGO Peace Boat, where I worked for six months after graduating.

Thank you very much.

© 2008 Akira Uchimura