GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
Filtered By: Lifestyle
Lifestyle
5 things people in Sakai do that Pinoys should start doing
Trees with autumn colors in Ohama Park provide a perfect view for an early morning stroll.
To a casual visitor, Sakai City in Japan may appear to be just a quiet and modest place existing in the shadows of more popular Osaka City. This city of over 840,000 people, however, boasts of admirable practices, and can serve as an example to Filipinos of how a local government unit should be. Below are five things that people in Sakai City do that Pinoys should also consider doing:
1. Maintain green parks.
A visit to Sakai City can be a walk in the park, literally. The Sakai City government maintains 10 major parks and over a thousand other mini-parks for tourists and residents alike, and it does so very well. Come to these attractions and you will be treated to wide grassy areas, serene ponds and relaxing breeze.
In the Philippines, parks are usually poorly maintained and littered with trash, sometimes even hotspots for crimes. Maybe it is high time for local government officials across the country to set aside a small portion of their budgets for maintaining parks, which reflect how well they manage their respective areas.
2. Ride bikes.
Biking is a way of life in Sakai City, considered a cycling mecca in Japan. Residents from all walks of life—from casual-looking students to professional-looking salarymen—ride bicycles to reach their destinations. Those who do not own a bicycle can even rent one, for a modest fee, from shops located around the city. Designated bike lanes and ramps can also be found even along major thoroughfares, making Sakai such a bike-friendly city.
Here in the Philippines, we still rely heavily on cars and our inefficient public transportation system to take use from point A to point B. With roads becoming more congested and with fuel prices constantly rising, biking offers a good transportation alternative, as well as a more healthful one. The government can encourage more Filipinos to shift to biking by making roads more bike-friendly, coupled by stricter implementation of the traffic rules.
1. Maintain green parks.
A visit to Sakai City can be a walk in the park, literally. The Sakai City government maintains 10 major parks and over a thousand other mini-parks for tourists and residents alike, and it does so very well. Come to these attractions and you will be treated to wide grassy areas, serene ponds and relaxing breeze.
In the Philippines, parks are usually poorly maintained and littered with trash, sometimes even hotspots for crimes. Maybe it is high time for local government officials across the country to set aside a small portion of their budgets for maintaining parks, which reflect how well they manage their respective areas.
2. Ride bikes.
Biking is a way of life in Sakai City, considered a cycling mecca in Japan. Residents from all walks of life—from casual-looking students to professional-looking salarymen—ride bicycles to reach their destinations. Those who do not own a bicycle can even rent one, for a modest fee, from shops located around the city. Designated bike lanes and ramps can also be found even along major thoroughfares, making Sakai such a bike-friendly city.
Here in the Philippines, we still rely heavily on cars and our inefficient public transportation system to take use from point A to point B. With roads becoming more congested and with fuel prices constantly rising, biking offers a good transportation alternative, as well as a more healthful one. The government can encourage more Filipinos to shift to biking by making roads more bike-friendly, coupled by stricter implementation of the traffic rules.
These elderly people meet twice a week in front of a shrine to exercise.
3. Encourage the elderly to stay healthy.
Here in the Philippines, we generally want our lolos and lolas to just sit back, relax and enjoy their retirement years. We equate high regard for the elderly to basically not letting them move a muscle during their twilight years. We tend to pamper our grandparents, to the detriment of their health.
In Sakai City, where almost a fourth of the population are aged 65 years and above, senior citizens take the saying "Health is Wealth" to heart. In fact, sixteen elderly groups assemble once or twice a week to do some light exercises to keep themselves physically fit. Perhaps elder Filipinos can draw some inspiration from these Sakai City residents on not letting old age be a hindrance to staying healthy.
4. Have an ideal city hall.
Enter a city hall in the Philippines and you will get lost in the bureaucratic maze. If you go to one office, chances are you will be sent to several other offices before you get your business done. People also have to wait in long lines and waste precious hours before actually accomplishing something.
Enter the towering Sakai City Hall and you will see how a seat of local government power should look like. The 21-storey building looks more like a hotel from the outside and a bank from the inside than the center of city operations. An information desk is conveniently located at the lobby for all visitors' queries. Residents waiting for their transactions to be finished are comfortably seated outside office rooms. The local government even transformed the city hall's topmost floor into an observatory for guests who want to get a bird's eye view of Sakai.
Here in the Philippines, we generally want our lolos and lolas to just sit back, relax and enjoy their retirement years. We equate high regard for the elderly to basically not letting them move a muscle during their twilight years. We tend to pamper our grandparents, to the detriment of their health.
In Sakai City, where almost a fourth of the population are aged 65 years and above, senior citizens take the saying "Health is Wealth" to heart. In fact, sixteen elderly groups assemble once or twice a week to do some light exercises to keep themselves physically fit. Perhaps elder Filipinos can draw some inspiration from these Sakai City residents on not letting old age be a hindrance to staying healthy.
4. Have an ideal city hall.
Enter a city hall in the Philippines and you will get lost in the bureaucratic maze. If you go to one office, chances are you will be sent to several other offices before you get your business done. People also have to wait in long lines and waste precious hours before actually accomplishing something.
Enter the towering Sakai City Hall and you will see how a seat of local government power should look like. The 21-storey building looks more like a hotel from the outside and a bank from the inside than the center of city operations. An information desk is conveniently located at the lobby for all visitors' queries. Residents waiting for their transactions to be finished are comfortably seated outside office rooms. The local government even transformed the city hall's topmost floor into an observatory for guests who want to get a bird's eye view of Sakai.
Schoolchildren visit an orange farm downtown.
5. Expose kids to local industries.
In our country, field trips for schoolchildren are usually done in museums and other historical sites. Some schools even bring their students to amusement parks for so-called "educational" tours.
Instead of these places, some kindergartens and day-care centers in Sakai City take kids outdoors to see local industries. A farm specializing in the production of mikan (Japanese oranges) in downtown Sakai, for instance, is a popular destination for field trips. School kids, some even as young as two years old, are allowed to pick succulent oranges and frolic through the fields of mikan shrubs.
Wouldn't it be nice to also see Filipino kids also learning about local industries, perhaps on rice fields or vegetable farms? — BM, GMA News
The media tour for the 2013 Sakai ASEAN Week was organized and sponsored by the city government of Sakai in cooperation with several private groups.
In our country, field trips for schoolchildren are usually done in museums and other historical sites. Some schools even bring their students to amusement parks for so-called "educational" tours.
Instead of these places, some kindergartens and day-care centers in Sakai City take kids outdoors to see local industries. A farm specializing in the production of mikan (Japanese oranges) in downtown Sakai, for instance, is a popular destination for field trips. School kids, some even as young as two years old, are allowed to pick succulent oranges and frolic through the fields of mikan shrubs.
Wouldn't it be nice to also see Filipino kids also learning about local industries, perhaps on rice fields or vegetable farms? — BM, GMA News
The media tour for the 2013 Sakai ASEAN Week was organized and sponsored by the city government of Sakai in cooperation with several private groups.
