Yumiko Okamoto, a 26-year-old woman from Japan who previously worked in the education department at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, earlier this month joined the staff at Hsinchu Zoo after her offer to volunteer at the city-run zoo was accepted by the Hsinchu City Government, a city government spokesman said.
Okamoto sent a greeting card to Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) several months ago, in which she expressed an interest in working at the zoo and her dream has now come true, the spokesman said.
Okamoto, who speaks Japanese, Korean, Chinese and English, mediated between Hsinchu Zoo and Ueno Zoo last year, when the two inked a friendship accord, the spokesman said.
She has also worked at other zoos in East Asia as part of her desire to help animals wherever they might be.
Attracted by the city government’s zoo renewal project, Okamoto was keen to come to Taiwan and help, which is why she wrote to the mayor outlining her hopes and dreams for the zoo.
Okamoto said in the card that she was moved by the renewal plan and the friendliness of the zoo’s employees and wanted to help market the zoo to a wider East Asian audience and see it turn into a paradise for children.
Touched by Okamoto’s words, Lin invited her to Hsinchu, the spokesman said.
Hsinchu Zoo director Yang Chia-min (楊家民) said Okamoto has much experience in animal nutrition and habitats and life education, and is an inspiration to her new colleagues.
Okamoto is Hsinchu Zoo’s first foreign employee since it opened more than 80 years ago, Yang said, adding that, despite being a new arrival, she is already able to discuss the zoo in Chinese and has leveraged her work experience to help renovate the zoo and her language proficiency to develop a closer relationship with Japan and South Korea.
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