I love listening to people and I also love helping others become better listeners and speakers. As a reporter, these skills come handy.

One day I got a call from Professor Hillel Weintraub at Future University Hakodate (FUN) in Hokkaido, Japan. He has been watching my TV reports on NHK World and liked what he saw. He thought that I could create a one-week crash course on TV show-making for his students. I was intrigued as I have not done anything like this before. The idea was to open the students’ eyes to their city as well as creating fun content that would attract more tourists to Hakodate. Sure, I said! We spent a week both developing ideas and actually filming and interviewing around Hakodate. We had a ball and made dozens of great short films. It was FUN @ FUN!

Professor Hillel Weintraub:
“I believed that students needed to be deeply interested and involved in creating their own learning experience with guidance from experienced mentors. And one of the university’s original aims was for students to be involved in the community. I saw many of Judit Kawaguchi’s TV reports on NHK World TV and was such a fan of her incredibly unique way of interviewing and reporting. I was not sure if she would accept our offer for the intensive workshop but luckily for us, she did. Judit’s tv show making workshop was a challenging and engaging experience that gave everyone a chance to work with just such an experienced and supportive guide. A workshop like this provided us with so many learning and living opportunities, thanks to her great mentoring. Also, Judit’s ability to communicate in both Japanese and English gave a great example to FUN ( Future University Hakodate) students of the importance of knowing a second language and of using it in real life situations. Judit’s workshop was a perfect example of my philosophy of teaching and learning which can be summoned up in one word: FUN!”

Professor Weintraub has since left Future University Hakodate and is running an art gallery in Australia, featuring the paintings of Maki Horanai and the beautiful books of her paintings and Hillel’s haiku. What a perfect match they make! Look at their homepage to see their fantastic collaboration: Mountain Dreams Gallery, where their exquisite books, cards and prints are available for purchase.