A contribution by by TAMP (17), exchange student from Thailand at Hirado High School.

English I 日本語 I ภาษาไทย

Get to know about “Hirado”

We think many people still do not know about Hirado. First, we will talk about Hirado. There is a small city in Nagasaki, Japan. This place has a long history, 400 years ago Hirado was very progress because there trading with Netherland (Holland) and that relationship made some acculturations and that made Hirado has an identity.  

Something about myself (Tanihara San)

“Hello! My name is Tanihara. I am 70 years old. I am married and have 2 sons. My eldest son worked at Tokyo and my youngest son worked at Hirado. Now, I have a souvenir shop in Hirado.”

Tanihara’s souvenir shop

This souvenir shop is opposite the Hirado bus station in the Hirado central city.

“This shop was founded by my mom. Let’s talk about a little bit of the story of this shop. At first, my mom worked here to sell many souvenir from Nagasaki and Fukuoka. “I was born here and when I was 20 years old, I moved to Tokyo to work for airlines but last 10 years, my mom was sick and I have to came back to take care my mom. That included me taking care of my mom’s shop.”

About the homestay

“I have accepted the exchange students for 6 years. All of them come from Thailand. Let me talk about the beginning of accepting the exchange students. It started from my husband, he was in the tennis club. One day, someone told him that PACE International Exchange Program students was looking for a host family in Hirado but no one have accepted. I and my husband think that it was great if  we accept the student to live with us because we think now are getting old and our brains too. We think accepting the students can be help us keep our brain active.”