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The Japanese Ambassador Maruyama Norio, with teachers and pupils, on a visit to Moyderwell Primary School.
THERE was a sense of excitement throughout Moyderwell Mercy Primary school on Wednesday last as pupils eagerly anticipated an official visit from His Excellency, Maruyama Norio, Ambassador of Japan to Ireland.
Moyderwell is proud to be taking part in the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ initiative and Ambassador Maruyama was keen to outline the virtues of saying yes to Japanese.
Accompanied by representatives from Japanese firm ALPSAlpine, the ambassador was formally welcomed to our Senior Building by school management and staff, including Chairperson Jim Finucane and Principal Pat Neenan. The Student’s Council (pictured) presented His Excellency with a piece of artwork entitled cairdeas, signifying the friendship between our two countries.
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Ambassador Maruyama proceeded to tour both the senior and main Moyderwell buildings, stopping to engage with classes, answer questions and admire the wonderful projects and art work that the children had prepared in his honour.
Owing to his keen interest in Manga, Anime and the folklore upon which it is based, he was presented with an anthology of Irish Mythology by 5th class student Jamie Ndlovu who is himself a keen illustrator of Anime characters.
Chairperson Jim Finucane was delighted with the success of the visit, commenting that “the pupils of Moyderwell Mercy are really looking forward to beginning a Japanese language module. With the arrival of Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas to the town, this opportunity for our pupils will further enhance the links between our two cultures.”
Principal Pat Neenan added that; “it was of great interest to discover that Ireland has the largest number of Japanese language learners (per capita) in the EU. We look forward to adding to that statistic”.
Before saying sayōnara, Ambassador Maruyama thanked staff and pupils for their very warm welcome and promised to pay a return visit to check in on how the pupils’ Japanese is progressing.
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