Hello, I am Masanobu Ishimatsu a.k.a. Guts.
I am working as a facilitator of Pangaea in Kyoto University.
I am belonged to Prof. Ishida and Prof. Matsubara's lab and going to start working for an IT company from this April.
Toshi-san who is a vice president and my senior in the lab introduced Pangaea to me in April 2009. At the time I was participating in an activity to think about new Pangaea's game as a TA of a small seminar with Toshi-san and other students. As a part of it I joined a webcam activity with Malaysian children. I was so impressed that children enjoyed playing games and communicating each other in spite of their different cultural backgrounds. I participated in these activities as a facilitator rather than a technical staff because I like to play with children.
The most impressive moment in Pangaea activities was a webcam activity with Korea in Kyoto University in Nov 2009. I joined the activity as a facilitator in charge of a team yellow. In my team there was a boy who was a little bit naughty and he scribble on a panel which was supposed to be used for a self-introduction. I saw him scribbling and advised him to write it properly. When we were playing "Nazoren" the boy could get an answer with only 2 hints from Korean children so he was very glad and excited about it.
After the activity I read his questionnaire form and found out that he drew a Japanese flag and a Korean flag were holding their handsfriendly.
I am very impressed that the activity influenced and changed him a lot.
Through Pangaea's activities I learned that ICT technology can touch children's hearts so much. Because of these experiences I chose the company I am going to work for. I am going to continue working with Pangaea even after I start working. I would like to keep in touch with Pangaea and these children.

Thank you!

Masanobu Ishimatsu
Master's Student, Ishida & Matsubara Lab.
Department of Social Informatics,
Kyoto University