The road towards peace and harmony lies in fostering our future. Towards this end, Soka University Japan (SUJ) and Tadika Seri Soka (TSS) held their 17th exchange on February 22 and 23 at the grounds of TSS.

Both institutions have Daisaku Ikeda as their founder. In order to foster heart-to-heart ties with and encourage their juniors in TSS, SUJ students and staff have been making their way to Malaysia for 17 years now.

TSS Principal Lye Loy Hou and the TSS community gave a rousing welcome to the SUJ delegation, an exchange that they look forward to each year. The twenty SUJ students presented a lively dance and quickly became friends with the TSS children.

The SUJ delegation visited the various facilities in TSS, and went into the classrooms to share Mr Ikeda’s story Rainbow Mountain with the children. Using TSS’ motto, they created a song to encourage the children to develop a strong self and never-give-up spirit and always help each other, just as the characters in Rainbow Mountain does. During their interactions, they constantly encouraged and praised each other, showing gratitude to each other.

The SUJ team also made handicrafts as gifts for the young princes and princesses to cement their friendship, and the children responded by embracing their older brothers and sisters from Japan.

Yuho Onuki, who is here for the first time, was profoundly moved by the warm interactions she had with the children, stating she was grateful for the opportunity to be here. Kana Higashi said this trip made her ponder about the happiness of children. Mayu Yokoo, who is here for the third time, developed greater conviction in the purpose of education, and said she would like to be a teacher after graduating. The SUJ delegation pledged to strive for the happiness of children.