About 600 persons a year mostly from developing countries from Asia and Africa attend the KICA training courses.

Many local people interested in international cooperation and exchange are looking forward to this weekend festival at Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) training center in Urasoe.

The agency’s facility called Okinawa International Center was established in 1985, and the center currently conducts about 50 training courses, to which about 600 persons mostly from developing countries in Asia and Africa participate every year.

JICA trainees introduce their own cultures. including food and handicrafts during the festival.

The 2-day JICA festival is the largest international exchange event on the island, and about 7,000 people visited the event last year. The event features various workshops of JICA trainees and personnel. Multinational all-you-can-eat buffet and food stalls, for which the trainees from various countries prepare the foods, are very popular every year.

The event runs from 10:00 to 18:00 on Saturday and 10:00 to 17:00 on Sunday. Admission to the event is free. JICA Okinawa International Center is located at 1143-1, Maeda, Urasoe City.

To get to the JICA International Center, take Highway 58 south to Camp Kinser Gate 3, then turn left at the traffic light outside the gate. Continue straight uphill past the Urasoe City Office, and through the next intersection. At the traffic light just after the Urasoe Police Station, turn right. The International Center, a group of red brick buildings, is on the left by a hill before the road enters a tunnel.

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