HIDAJournal 2013 AUTUMN No.3

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No.3 AUTUMN 2013 17As part of our human relations activities and services for ex-participants from Japan, HIDA’s official Facebook page was created in 2009 to present HIDA’s training programs, reports from training centers and articles about government officials’ visits to HIDA. The number of followers is currently about 7,000*2.Meanwhile, we have received a variety of responses from ex-participants from Japan, including a photo of a ex-participant who recently completed a training course as well as comments (with a sepia-colored photo attached) of a ex-participant who received training in Japan 20 or 30 years ago. Such responses on our Facebook page remind us of the connection of HIDA/AOTS with an enormous range of supporters.As an attempt to make effective use of the two-way communication of the Facebook, we have recently started a mini survey using Facebook’s question feature. For example, we presented the following question on our Facebook page: “What surprised you most during your first visit to Japan?” What answers do you think we received to this question? The following answers were chosen by respondents: “Streets were clean” (75); “Trains arrived and left at scheduled time” (25); “It was diffi cult to communicate with Japanese people in English” (17); “The quality of services was high in Japan” (10)*2. Although the number of available options was limited, we were amazed at the fact that almost no respondent chose the answer “Commodity prices were high.” These results lead us to believe that what Japan can be most proud of is the cleanliness.Many comments were written in the space for open-ended comments, such as lost baggage being discovered in fi ve minutes at an airport, improvement in the attitudes of airport staff when spoken to in Japanese, the high level of public safety that eliminates the need for security checks at department and hotel entrances, and the politeness and honesty of the Japanese people.HIDA’s offi cial Facebook page can be accessed via the link from the top page of HIDA’s website. We will continue to provide a variety of information. Please visit our Facebook page and click on the “Like” button to join the followers.*1: Although our organization’s official name was changed to HIDA, we will continue to use the old name AOTS on our official Facebook page until the page is recognized by a suffi ciently wide range of readers.*2: The fi gure in this paragraph is as of July 12, 2013.HIDA’s Offi cial Facebook Page*1Question “What surprised you most during your fi rst visit to Japan?” and comments about the question

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