Urbanisation: Kansai’s big cities

Teacher note

Worksheet

When Kiwis visit places in the Kansai it may have little impact on the Japanese – but may have more on the New Zealanders.

The relatively small number of Kiwi visitors who go for several weeks to Kansai places such as Sakai, Minoh, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe are lost in the crowds – the even smaller number of those who work teaching English have more impact on the people in those places.

When less than one percent of the Japanese people visit New Zealand – trending around 150,000 pa – they create jobs that if lost, would be noticed.

The reason most Kiwis have not visited such Kansai cities – and some of the other cities there that have sister city relationships with places here – could be that our people perceive Japan to be expensive and with people who don’t speak much English.

But as Kiwis perceptions change more may visit Kansai and other Japanese places. They may be helped by the experience of other Kiwis who have visited Japan and found budget travel options, and more than enough people, publications and signs using English. The Japanese government – and information sources such as the Japan National Tourism Organisation website – represents Japan as a place English speaking peoples can readily visit.

As Angela Cole from Lower Hutt, who has had ten years teaching English in Minoh says, Kiwis can learn a lot about Japanese just by watching from a local train. We can also learn a lot about ourselves and our places by looking, asking and comparing.

Possible key understandings that you may wish students in your class to explore are outlined below:

* Perception of place is often the result of experience or received information
* Perception influences how we may feel about a place
* Some people choose to explore new places in order to confirm or challenge their perceptions

This chapter of the Kansai through Kiwi eyes DVD offers a number of illustrative examples of urbanization in the New Zealand and Kansai settings, including:

• A manageable, affordable, efficient, complex train system around which much is interesting

• A lot of people living and working in a small space

• Creation of great wealth without great natural resources of their own


Further lines of inquiry for students:

- What parts of your home/nearest city do you most enjoy? Why?

- Which parts of a city do you feel most/least safe in? Why?

- 86% of New Zealand's population is urbanised. Why?

- How have parts of your town/city been improved? Does everyone agree with the changes? Are there other changes that would improve the urban area of your city?

- Are there 'winners' and 'losers' in urbanisation?