One could easily mistake the group of young men and women in white shirts and suits, speaking fluent Japanese and working with the Taiwanese delegation and media representatives, as Japanese APEC staff, but they are Taiwanese students studying at top Japanese universities, who worked part-time for the Taiwanese delegation during the APEC meetings.
It was hard to miss this group of young men and women, as they were either standing outside the Taiwanese delegation’s press conferences in the reception area to welcome journalists, acting as guides for important figures such as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) special envoy Lien Chan (連戰) or delivering press statements and other documents to various APEC venues.
Not only did they speak fluent Japanese, they dressed just like Japanese plainclothes security officers.
“I am a graduate student studying language and information science at University of Tokyo,” said Lin Kuan-yin (林冠吟) said on the last day of her part-time job yesterday.
During the APEC meetings, Lin accompanied Chinatrust chairman Jeffrey Koo (辜濂淞), a member of the APEC Business -Advisory Council.
Although the workload was more than Lin had expected — she thought she would only be standing at reception or helping to move things around — she still enjoyed working at APEC meetings.
“It’s a rare opportunity to work in such an important international meeting of this scale,” Lin said. “I learned a lot and everyday was unforgettable.”
Hsu Yu-hsien (許郁嫻), a graduate student studying architecture also at the University of Tokyo, said she received news that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Japan was hiring part-time workers for the APEC summit through Taiwanese student organizations.
“I thought it was a rare opportunity to be part of such an event, especially when my own country is a member of it,” Hsu said.
After she signed up, like everyone else, she had to first submit their personal information by mail and then go through an interview.
“The purpose of the interview was pretty much to find out if you could conduct some basic communication in English, since we might have to talk with people from around the world,” she said.
Of the 32 people who signed up, 13 were selected and then underwent a basic training program, Hsu said.
Asked about the most unforgettable moment of working at APEC, Hsu said it was the moment when Lien arrived at the hotel.
“It’s just a touching moment to see someone representing my country in a foreign country,” she said.
Hsieh Yuan-hsiu (謝沅修), a graduate student studying business administration at Meiji University, who was in charge of overseeing the press room for the Taiwanese media inside the official APEC international media center, said he was fascinated to see how the reporting process worked.
“Generally, I only get to see news reported on TV or in a newspaper that’s already been produced. This is the first time I got to see how reporters work and edit video clips,” Hsieh said. “It’s very interesting.”
He said he also learned how to find the key points from a seemingly complicated, multi-page press release.
“In fact, when I asked for a week off from my professor to do this job, a lot of my classmates were pretty jealous,” Hsieh said, smiling. “Some classmates from China even called up their embassy to see if they could get the same opportunity — unfortunately, they weren’t able to.”
“If there’s another such chance in the future, I would certainly go for it again,” Hsieh added.
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