Since April, Alessandro, an international student from Rome, Italy, has been studying with us in the science track class (Class 6, 2nd Year) at our school. Recently, he gave a presentation about his home country.
The presentation was held in the school’s martial arts dojo (Budojo) in front of all the second-year students, and it was delivered entirely in Japanese. Although he had studied Japanese for six years before coming to Japan, we were deeply impressed by his incredibly fluent presentation.
The content ranged from the Italian constitution to the national character, regional language and cultural differences, and even the strengths and challenges of Italy from his perspective. It went far beyond a simple sightseeing guide and was genuinely fascinating.
He explained that before Italy was unified as the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, it was a collection of independent small states. This historical background made it very easy to understand why regional identities and people’s sense of independence remain so strong today, and it significantly deepened our understanding of Italy.