Student Journals

Student Journals

Thursday, June 26th by Laura

It is about 9 am on our flight to Osaka which is about half way to Detroit. We made it through both Newark and Detroit airport. We boarded the Osaka flight at 3:40 pm. I had been sitting next to a lovely older Japanese woman who has already begun to immerse me in the culture. She has attempted to help me learn Japanese, shared some candy with me, showed me a Japanese newspaper and made a paper crane. This may sound a little sappy, but despite the language barrier and how the gesture of smiling seems to be universal. Anyway in regards to the whole group, everyone has been pretty relaxed and quiet except for the cheers when we took off and landed. We will have a group meal around 6:30 and stay overnight in a hotel. Tomorrow will be tours of Kyoto and Osaka.

Saturday, June 27th Ana

Today we work up at 7 am, Laura and I had a great breakfast. A lot of stuff looked gross but when I tried it, everything was delicious. Our first stop was the Osaka Castle Museum. For lunch we had a bento box we also had Anko a sweet bean paste dessert. After dinner half of the group went to sleep, the other half went to the arcade to do games and Karaoke. Overall, it was a great day.

Saturday, June 28th by Trevor

I awake on Saturday morning very early to a cloudy yet beautiful sunrise.. Even with the clouds I see why this country is called the land of the rising sun. We have three options for breakfast. A few others and I choose the buffet on the 51st floor (the top). We have a delicious spread of traditional Japanese and western cuisine. After breakfast we all meet in the lobby and board our bus en route to our first stop, The Golden Pavilion Temple. Our Tour guide's name is Yumi and she is very sweet and speaks very good English. On the ride she tells us many facts, statistics, and little odds n' ends that make 1 1/2 bus ride go very quickly. I few quick ones were that sake is made from different rice than the rice mainly eaten, some women may spend up to $100,000 on a single kimono and belt, and what the traditional Japanese condo is like and how much it costs. The Golden Temple is magnificent; the air is calm and clean, the woods forest surrounding the area is beautiful, and the pond is rightfully named mirror pond, reflecting all of its surrounding beauty. We are approached by Japanese students holding translation pads who speak in excited broken English. The obviously enjoy talking with us, and we all enjoy it too, as well as get a few kicks from it. After walking around and taking advantage of all the group photo ops, we come to a shrine where I light a candle wishing my family and friends safety. A quick trip to the gift shop and we are back on our bus. As we journey to our second destination, we pass a Shinto shrine. Yumi tells us the religion is the ancient religion of Japan whose followers worship natural things like the sun, earth, water, rocks, and millions of other deities. Very interesting to say the least. We arrive at our second destination which is lunch. We have a traditional Japanese box lunch which consists of many interesting things, some delicious, some just interesting. No one complains. Now it's shopping time. With a huge store next to our lunch spot it is easy to find lots of cool things. My favorite things were the beautiful carved wood ink prints. Then it's back to the bus and onto Kyomizu Dera, The temple of pure water, named so because of the clean water springs that a monk discovered and built around 1200 years ago. We are told people came to pray and to get the benefits of the clean water. The entire place is amazing although it is very crowded with tourists from around the world. The view from the veranda is breathtaking and we are told that years ago people would jump off the 200 foot ledge to test their fortunes or end up in the land of Buddha. The huge trees mirror the massive temples and pagodas in their size and stature, I can't tell which I think are more amazing. Fountains for good fortune and cleansing are tucked into nooks all over the place and towards the bottom of our walk there is a large fountain with three spouts, each of which brings a certain type of luck. Only greedy people take water from all three. After that its bathroom and ice cream breaks before we get back on the road on the way to Osaka Palace. Osaka Palace is immense. I picture ninjas and enemy warriors scaling its massive stone walls and think how hard it must have been. The view from the top of the main tower which was rebuilt in 1997 is great for seeing Osaka's modern architecture. It's eight floors are a walkthroughof the great battle that ended with government power being shifted to the hands of the Tokugawa Shoganate and from Osaka to Tokyo. Everyone has had a long day and we go back to our bus for the ride to our beautiful hotel where we will shortly have a delicious Japanese buffet.

Sunday, June 29th by Julia

Our group left the Osaka Bay hotel at 9:15 and we got on the tour bus to meet the Rotarians in Toukashima. On the ride over, Oshima san read off each set of roommates and host family information. He also gave us our table assignments for the welcome banquet. My table was #9 and my roommate is Cari and our host was Tetsko Michida. He explained that she owned a big Japanese restaurant.

After going over the family arrangements, we discussed the schedule which included our activities for each day and the appropriate attire for each day. It was very useful. On the drive over we crossed the Grent Bridge. It’s 4 km long and as tall as the Tokyo tower. It connects the island of Honshu and Awaji. We took an unscheduled break at a rest stop due to bodily needs. The rest stop had a great view of the bridge.

We arrive at the banquet and Cari and I met Toshihiko Okamoto and the Hisane Shigen at our table. Ms Machid arrived a few minutes after we had been served. After the banquet Tetsuko drove Cari and I back to her restaurant where we met Chika (17) and Naron(14). They knew a little English from school and Chika had a list of questions prepared for us to help her study for her test on Tuesday. After a bit of broken Japanese and English and lots of assistance from a drawing pad which now contains some amazing doodles we were able to understand each other. We decided to help her study for her test and she showed us her text books. A little while later, Naron and Chika brought us outside to meet their dog Sara. Naron pointed out their house was very near to the restaurant. Hen Tetsko drove the four of us to the small in that Cari and I would be staying at. In the room we listened to music with Chika and Naron and found out that they like Avril Laugese and the Bentles. We walked back to the restaurant together and when we got there we entered a tatami room after taking off our shoes. We helped set the table. Lots of people came to welcome us. One woman was a professional opera singer. Tetsuko made a great diner. There were various types of sushi and fried chicken. All of the food was delicious. Then Toshi announce that it was question time. Cari and I split into two groups, one side of the table question her while the other side questioned me. Some of the questions were what music do you like, what club do you belong to and what’s your favorite movie... We exchanged email addresses with everybody. It was a tiring day but it was completely worth it.

Monday, June 30th by Hannah

Breakfast this morning was huge. It is amazing the Japanese are so skinny with the amount of food they eat. Then we went walking with Tetsun-san. He took us to a temple which was a hundreds of steps high into the side of a mountain. When we got back we were taken to the kindergarten where Okasan works and we played oni or something which is actually a version of tag. We also blew bubbles with the kids and when we were inside I played Japanese children’s songs on the piano and the children sung along. We then went to have dinner with other Rotary members and after we went to an ancient “castle town” which still preserves traditional Japanese culture. Jayla and Becki from another home stay and Katya and I went with our host parents to a series of greenhouses filled with extremely rare or genetically engineered orchids. After that we went to the Dochu Sand pillars which are beautiful rock formations in Tokugawa Mountains. We at lunch at the udon shop. It was delicious, but everyone laughed at me because I can’t make the loud slurping noise the Japanese were used to. Then we went to Wakimach High School. We stopped and joined an English class which was having a party. We played Japanese chero, made origami and cooked and ate tako yaki which are balls of cabbage dough with octopus or squid in the center., The students made us each presents, card and origami. That night, we went to dinner to a sushi restaurant. The food was on a conveyor belt and you just picked a plate of food as it ca around., When dinner was over we drove to Becki and Jaylas host family house, where they had arranged for their friend a kimono maker to give us each a set of traditional clothing. It was an incredible full day and it was the most fun I have had in a long time.

Tuesday, July 1st by Katya

Okay, first day of July, and once again my roommate and i wake to a ginormous breakfast; I won't go into that because the list would probably take half a page. After breakfast, our host dad took us for a walk around the neighborhood and a visit to a temple. Afterwards, we met up with Becki and Jayla, and drove to a hotel where we gathered our group of Rotarians. After our host families dropped us off, we waited a while for everyone to show up, and then set off on a bus ride to the Naruto Whirlpools. Unfortunately, we didn't arrive at the right time, so the whirl pools were just a bunch of bubbling water. Then, we went to watch the Awa Odor dancers and even participated in it.

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 by Abby

Today was very fun! I woke up at 8 to find a hot breakfast of eggs and salad. After breakfast, my host father drove me and Emily to the Tokushima Prince Hotel where we met up with the big group. After a lot of catching up boarded the bus and drove to Naruto City. In Naruto, we visited the Naruto Diiachi High School. We first divided ourselves into two groups and one group went to English and the other group went to Calligraphy class.

A lot of people, myself included, had already done calligraphy so we went to English.

In English class we were divided into groups with 2 Americans and 2 Japanese., We talked about and explained Independence Day. They explained to us in English the words for Japanese lunch i.e. bento box, and nattou – fermented soy beans. It is about as good as it sounds. Afterwards we all wrote wishes and comments on the white board in the classroom. After this we had lunch in the school cafeteria, We had an omelet which is egg on top of rice with ketchup

After lunch we split into two groups and had a tour of the school. Both I and my partner Rachel speak Japanese so we were able to help in interpreting the tour. Our tour guides want to be home health care professionals so they are taking classes in health, , nursing, etc. They tried to explain all of this to us.

We departed for the Naruto whirlpool where we walked out on a tourunder the bridge to see the whirlpools. Unfortunately, there were none because it was in between tides – still water. We then went to see Awa Dancing. After the performance we all go to try dancing on stage. It was very hard since you have to coordinate you hand and foot movements. It was great seeing the entire group today.

Wednesday, July 2nd by Daniel

Today my host family took me to the Osaka Art museum. It was amazing and they had many historical painting such as the Mona Lisa. Then we went to high school and we met another American who is here for a teaching program. She has been her for a year but is leaving soon. They had a welcome party for us and we went to one of their fashion classes. The students asked us a lot of questions. Then we went and saw their archery club. That was really cool. We also saw their Karate club and they did a little fight for us. Then we did indigo dying and that war really interesting. That’s about it for now.

Thursday, July 3rd by Geoffrey

I woke up early so I could say goodbye to my host family before I got on the bus for my next adventure. I will especially miss my host families so Hiro. I had a lot of fun with him for the past 4 days. We took an hour bus ride to Kochi City. We had lunch at a very nice hotel and I was served by the most beautiful waitress I have ever seen. After lunch we took a tour of the Japan National Bank. It was amazing seeing where and how all of the Yen was produced. After the bank we went to the National TV Broadcasting Station. After that I hooked up with my new host family. I can hardly wait to see what new adventures await in the next 4 days.

Thursday, July 3rd by Grace

Konichiwa! At 7:45 this morning we packed up our entire luggage and left our family in Tokushima. In Tokushima I stayed with Julia S. and we had a great time. The family was so nice we stayed with a 12 year old girl and a 7 year old boy and a little toy poodle named Cookie. The first home stay could not have gone any better. Today we moved onto Kochi for our second home stand and we also did some touring along the way. When we arrived in Kochi, we went to the Bank of Japan and learned about the economy and counterfeit money. Then, we went to NHK television broadcasting station and got to see filming cameras and sets. Next, we went shopping to an arcade in downtown Kochi. It was very fun. After that we met our host family. There is a moon, dad and really cute 5 year old girl. We went to their house and ate dinner. Then Emily and I went to sleep in preparation for a full day of sightseeing tomorrow. I think we will have a great home stay and I am having an amazing time so far.

Friday, July 4th by Devo

Celebrating July 4th in Japan just isn’t as exciting as it is in America. It could be because we’re the only one in the country celebrating. We started off the mooring with the group and went to the botanical garden. The heat, high humidity made it hard to enjoy be we adored the exhibit with AC or the cool green house. Next we went to the Rotary lunch where we sang, exchanged banners. Later we ventured to a local high school where we answered questions and were introduced to Japanese games. It was so exciting to see kids our age and compare our lives. All in all, as a group we had an outstanding day.

July 5th by Rachel

My roommate Allie and I were woken up by our host family to a great breakfast. Using broken English and an electronic dictionary we learned all of the fruit apples, peaches, and melons were grown by him on his property. The fields he owns are nearby. It is no wonder why everything is so delicious. After breakfast the details of the day were explained. First we were meeting with another host family and heading to the beach. We were surprised to hook up with Lesley and Nicole. We were with our hosts and their families. We had a surprise visitor who was a wakeboard instructor. We all boarded my host boat and all got instructions in wake boarding. None of us came close to being a good as our teacher as he was even able to do back flips. After the boat we returned to the beach were we had a fantastic bbq all in the span of one day.

Not sure what day this was written by Cari

Hey Mr. Kroll-Devon and I had a little extra time on our hands here in Kochi at our homestay, so we wanted to give you an extra journal entry to enjoy/send out to the eager parents. So here goes: Last night Devon learned how to do laundry... without a dryer. We decided to hang the sopping clothing outside our room (which is actually the 11 year old daughter`s room). Unfortunately, we were impeded by a large and obnoxious thunderstorm that actually undid all the fantastic drying that had been accomplished. Event one. This morning we woke up after realizing that there was yet another thunderstorm so our clothes were once again very wet. Alas, we waited longer. But moving on. We had a fantastic breakfast while watching their ever present TV... a cartoon where kids were stuck in the sky on clouds (I`m not quite sure how they got there in the first place, couldn`t tell you.). We had rice, miso soup with clams, eggs, bacon and grapes that tasted slightly different than the grapes we have in America. More tangy, much better. Lunch took three and half hours. We wanted to give our family another present because they are so accommodating, so we offered to make them an American meal. Little did we know that shopping in a Japanese supermarket would be rather difficult as nothing is in English and Devon is allergic to dairy. Somehow we managed to procure ground beef, brownie mix, peanut butter (not included in the meal), what we hoped were graham crackers (in cookie format!), marshmallows, pasta, mozzarella and some other type of cheese that is still unknown (not for Dev), and potatoes. We ended up making up recipes for pretty much everything, after Devon looked up some funky smore brownie recipe. Unfortunately we couldn`t read the directions on the back of the brownie packet, so we completely improvised that, as well as the entire meal. What resulted is shown in the pictures that are attached and above. Some noodley, meaty, tomatoy mess of pasta (which was quite good I may add), twice baked potatoes (yes, I used my phone to convert F to C), and a truly fantastic cake that was honestly a stroke of good luck. That was our day so far. They loved the meal, and the 17 year old daughter asked me for the potato and cake recipes. As we made them up, it was fun to write down what we thought we used. Just wanted to chime in. Devon says hi to her family, and I say hi to Mom, Dad and Scott (although Scott will probably not read this anyway), Well wishes, Cari