Today (Dec. 4th) Japanese fourth-grade elementary students were led by their school principal to visit Taichung City Government, and were greeted by Administrative Counselor Lin. These adorable students were full of questions and asked Counselor Lin, “How high city hall is?”, ”What are the most happy and tough things for employees of City Government?”, “Does the City Government serve 24 hours a day?”, “What services the City Government provides for citizens?”, and “Why not have the Guggenheim in Taichung?” Counselor Lin used simple explanations to satisfy their curiosity when faced with these ‘deep’ questions.
The Japanese elementary visitors, included students, school principal, 3 teachers, 10 parents, and 14 fourth-grade students came to visit the City Government and the old City Hall from the time of Japanese Occupancy. With Mayor Hu overseas and Deputy Mayor Hsiao at City Council for councilmen’s consultation, Counselor Lin greeted the visitors and provided a brochure of City Government, in Japanese, then he answered the students’ questions.
One student was curious about why the pre-game of the Olympic Baseball Games was held in Taichung, and Counselor Lin answered that we worked hard to promote baseball, and other sports, and built an international-quality baseball field, however, we lost to the Japanese team in the very competitive games of Asian Baseball Championship. This answer got the little kids smiling. When questioned about what the happiest, and toughest, jobs were in the City Government, Counselor Lin replied, “I am excited by being recognized by citizens, but sometimes I’m tired from the prolonged working hours.” Teachers and parents all agreed.。
Lasting the end, the kids posed their expectations of City Government, such as hoping not to see red betel nut waste, expect improvements regarding street trash and dogs’ excretion, wishing that Government will promise to provide safe and secure living environments, and finally, their desire that people, who do not obey traffic rules, were punished. Counselor Lin gave his word to work on those.