My first visit in Russia, it was a wonderful experience for me.

Especially I was impressed by activities in Kazan Biosphere Reserve. I was overpowered with the magnificent of the Russian nature. Until then, I had a lot of opportunities to teach students about nature conservation as a social studies teacher. But this time I experienced Russian nature directly and got a deeper understanding of it.
“Natural science is not only for the biologists’ I got a strong impact by the words. Particularly, I was extremely moved when I saw some boys working in the forest and was explained that forest management activities were utilized as a remedy for juvenile delinquency. Through the activities in nature, they started to notice that they could change themselves and move forward their lives in the future. One of them said, ‘Before coming here, I never cared any trash on the street. But now I can find and pick it up. That’s my change.’

In Russia, nature is strongly connected to religion, I found that people have a deep veneration for nature. In Japan we also have a similar feeling to nature. I can see the common sense between the people of Russia and Japan.
My role is to broaden my experience through this program to my Japanese students.

I deeply appreciate to the staff members who took part in this program.
Thank you very much. I love Russia.