Languages

Japan Study Trip

On 22nd September the beginning of a big adventure began for Tom, Nathan, Paul and Riley accompanied with Ms Winstone on the school's Japan Study Trip.

The first day in Japan and we hit the ground running. We were kitted out in kimono rentals and walked the streets of Asakusa before going to an okonomiyaki restaurant and cooking our own food. One day and we are already like locals!

After, in Paul's words doing more in one day in Tokyo than he would in two weeks, we moved to our new accommodation NYC (not New York City but National Youth Centre). By now the students are eating with chopsticks like pros, and enjoyed playing at NHK Hall and shopping in Harajuku. We also walked through Meiji Jingu, a shrine which is centuries old.

The Japan Study Trippers went to Kamakura to see the Big Buddha

The Japan Study Group had an opportunity to sightsee Tokyo with students from Meiji High School. Firstly, they introduced themselves in Japanese and English, which was great practise for all students. They then went to the National Diet Building, which is not the Losing Weight Building, but the National Parliament. They then met a high ranking politician who is the chairman of KSKK, the organisation we run our exchange through. It was a great honour. They then went to the Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park and went through a virtual reality simulation of how they might survive an earthquake. Their accompanying teacher is proud to announce she gained a score of 100%, so the students are in safe hands!

The Japan Study Trip students spent 2 days at Meiji High School attending classes, and experiencing their first home stay. There was a definite buzz on the way back to our accommodation in Tokyo about differences in school and home life.

The next adventure for the Japan Study Trippers was a day's experience at Seiritsu High School. We went to English class and introduced ourselves, and learned about kanji for colours, and kanji constructed in the Meiji era to write English words. Two of us won a kanji Bingo game. Go Nathan and sensei! 'We attended maths class, and worked out maths according to shapes. We went to a science class and made Halloween candles and slime, and then had the honour of attending a tea ceremony, and even learned how to make tea. We had an awesome day, and made lots of new friends.

A fantastic experience to visit Tokyo Disneyland

We said sayonara to Tokyo and moved to Mobara for 6 days of home stay. We met our host families and the students introduced themselves in Japanese, sang the national anthem, and gave a lesson about Australian animals.

After our first night enjoying homestay, we spent a day at Ootaki High School. The students experienced classes with school buddies, and at the end of the day we went to calligraphy club and learned how to write our favourite words and names in kanji.

The Japan Study Trippers went to Hagiwara Elementary School where they joined Grade 2 for an English lesson. We played games together to help the children learn English. We also had the honour of watching the marching band practise. We then went to a local nursing home where the students introduced themselves in Japanese, and then explained about Australian animals to the old people.  Here are the students at something called 'tabehoodai' which is an 'all you can eat' restaurant. Let's just say they got their 90 minutes' worth!

The Japan Study Trippers attended Chosei High School. They participated in a Maths lesson where they learned how to do maths the traditional Japanese way. They also learned how to play the koto, a traditional musical instrument. They helped out in an English class, and learned how to make tea at a tea ceremony. They then went to Ootaki Castle where they had the chance to dress up in samurai and kimono wear.

For the experience at Mobara High School we attended home room, and then an English communication class in which we played games to help the Japanese students learn English. We then had Maths class, and calligraphy class. It was sports day at the school in the afternoon, and we were proud to be a announced as special guests. We participated in the relay and then basketball. After that we had the honour of joining the tea ceremony club

Our last full day in Japan we travelled to zou no kuni which is an animal park. We saw elephants, and Nathan even bought a plush toy from an elephant who took his money and then gave him his goods. Sensei fed an elephant. We then had ramen for lunch, and went up a mountain in a cable car to Mount Nokogiri Nihonji Temple. The day ended with dinner with our host families and a farewell ceremony. This was tinged with sadness, but brightened with good memories.

And so our trip comes to an end - arriving back in Melbourne on Saturday 7th October.

Jessica Winstone

Languages Coordinator