Day 9 Farm Stay - Kuta Village

Today we arrived at Mr. Kazy Okude's Farm, two hours north of Kyoto... Unexpectedly, we came across snow!

When we first got here we were welcomed into Okude's 250 year old house, sat down with our shoes off, at a row of low tables and were served some nice, hot rice tea. We had some time to explore the area, before going off to make mochi (Japanese rice cakes), in the traditional way.

To make the mochi we stood outside, amongst the snow and mud, around a giant granite bowl.
Kazy's wife brought out a large bowl of freshly steamed rice, put it all in the warmed granite bowl, Ready to be stamped down to a mush with a wooden hammer the length of an arm. Once it was like a sticky dough, this tiny old lady lifted the two kilo dough into a separate bamboo bowl with rice flour.

After rolling it all into individual balls, we ate it with a Japanese sweet bean paste azuki and matcha (ground green tea powder) sugar mixture... I liked it but found it left a bit of a gluggy feeling in my stomach.

On the way here, everyone was tired and cold. But I am looking forward to our stay here and Kyoto.

Lily 28-3-2017

Day 8 Miyajima Island & Atomic Bomb Dome

We catch a tram and a ferry to get to Miyajima Island, which is famous for the Itsukushima Shrine and its floating gate.

                                                 Oh deer!

In the afternoon we visited the Atomic Bomb Dome and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Museum.

Reflections by Jess:

During our trip to Japan, we visited the Hiroshima peace memorial museum. Honestly, at first I wasn't as keen on this as I should have been, but after experiencing and witnessing the impact that event had on humanity world - wide amazed me. The Peace Memorial Park displayed various things in relation to the atomic bomb, including the remains of a building after the impact. Inside the museum I experienced the remains of victims from the atomic bomb, which unfortunately were just items of clothing, or watches and belt buckles. The museum also displayed 'black rain' which was an after-effect of the atomic bomb. The fumes from all the chemicals rose up into the air, mixed with the vapour and it rained black all over the city. The museum opened my eyes to how cruel and unkind the world can be, and in those situations so much light and hope can form. This part of the trip made me realise that literally nothing can prepare you for the shock and horror you will suffer from when you see what was done here on what was supposed to be a normal day for humanity. This should be spoken about more, especially in regards to the current happenings around the world right now. Everyone should witness the deep amount of loss and devastation caused on that sunny morning, forever reminding us that we need each other to survive. A beautiful reminder was created through the unfortunate events spiraled from hatred and death, but without we would be oblivious to the impact war has on all of us, equally. We are all human beings at the end of the day with thoughts and feelings and I am sure this same event would have the same level of devastation anywhere else in the world. I am so glad I got to experience and educate myself in this matter. 

Third stop: Okonomi Village: 3 levels of speciality restaurant for
OKONOMI YAKI - a pancake, cabbage, pork, noodle dish cooked in front of you on a hot plate

Stop four of the day: A PRETTY intense session in the photo booth.

                                               "OMG, really!"

Day 7 Shinkansen to Hiroshima

Home Stay - Sayonara

At 11am on this Sunday morning the host families dropped off our students at the big clock at Kawasaki Station and we had tears of sadness and tears of relief.

 Shinkansen (bullet train) - Hakari 471 service from Kawasaki to Shin -Kobe

 Shopping Arcade near the Santiago guest house in Hiroshima where we will stay the next two nights.

Day 6 Home Stay

Day 6 Home Stay – Ben Sunday 26^th March (Hiraki 471- Bullet train service to Hiroshima)

The home-stay was a bit nerve-wracking at first. Staying for the weekend with a family you've never met in a country you don't speak the language can be an uncomfortable thing to anticipate, to say the least. Never-the-less, after meeting Mr. Masahiro Suzuki and his family, I immediately begun to relax.

A family of five, they live in a small, two-storey house on the outskirts of Kawasaki City. Mr Suzuki is a Social Studies teacher, with an easy-going personality and willingness to learn about our Australian culture. Mrs Kazuko Suzuki is a Junior High School English teacher, who acted as the back and forth translator for the family and myself; and a wonderful cook. Yumeno Suzuki is a 17 year old high school student with a stack of fifteen textbooks she lugs around every day for her studies. Ariga Suzuki is a 14 year old junior High School Student with a passion for soccer. Finally, there's Ui Suzuki, a young feisty 11 year old who loves to poke fun at my terrible Japanese.

Everyone I met when I stayed with the Suzuki family was extremely kind (almost overwhelmingly so), fun and eager to learn and teach. In the two and a half days I have spent with a host family, I have learnt more then I ever thought I would about their culture and their everyday lives:

School is extremely important in Japan. Not only for educational purposes, but for a wide variety of other reasons. Teachers are on a level field with parents, and are very interactive with students lives; for example, Mr Suzuki was late in picking me up because two of his students were in a fight and he travelled to one of their homes to help them work things out. Every Student in Japan gets the same lunch in Elementary School, so no matter financial status, children still get a healthy, balanced meal. In the event of an Earthquake or Tsunami, once everything is settled down, everyone would migrate to their school, where there are ready supplies and they make sure everyone is accounted for.

Most Students (90% according to Mr Suzuki) participate in after school programs and are part of clubs on the weekend. I got the pleasure, and privilege, of joining one of these clubs that all three students participated in: Gymnastics. When I arrived, everyone was extremely friendly and accommodating, even though they had no idea who I was or that I was coming. The owner of the School, is an ex-professional wrestler, who also trained under one of Bruce Lee's students for MMA; so as someone who practices Kung Fu among other martial arts, I was in awe. His wife however, was equal in my adoration; for even though at first sight she was a short woman with sharp instructions (albeit she had patience for those struggling...me in other words), I soon learned that she was an international gymnast for Japan. So imagine my surprise when at the very end of the lesson and everyone was going home, they stop me and say they had a present for me. It was a book that she wrote in Japanese (obviously), but it had many stretches and pictures to accompany it.

This, many other experiences (ROLLERCOASTERS AND SUSHI TRAIN!!!) and talking with my Host Family until late, late at night have built an amazing image of Japan for me, and I am honoured to have stayed with them. My first impression was one of mild terror to stay in this unknown land with strangers, but now I feel like I have a firmer grasp on their lives, and it has helped me understand their lives a bit more. They are very genuine, kind people with very close ties to their community and empowering themselves. I highly recommend this experience of immersing yourself in a foreign environment with a host family to future Class 12 students, wherever they may go.

Home Stay Experience by Jess

Over the first weekend of our journey in Japan, the class separated to experience modern-day life with Japanese host families. Initially I was apprehensive about this, so my attitude wasn't as good as it could've been. This particular activity pushed me to my limits, as I had never imagined doing anything like this before. Friday night I was introduced to my host family and shown around the house. The family made me feel very welcome and as at home as I could've been in such a situation. Saturday morning we went out early and down to the local shopping centre in Yokohama. Sayako, who was the only child in the family, and her mother took me to get a head massage and a foot bath. This was very relaxing! I didn't expect to be taken here, so it was a delightful surprise. The foot bath smelled of jasmine and they gave me peppermint tea afterwards. After that, we went down to their favourite pasta place to get lunch. They knew I liked pasta, which is why I presume they chose it. IT was very yummy! I had an awesome time with them. We strolled back to their home and on the way visited a flower shop and a pet store. The puppies were so cute, (kawaii), and the store had lots of adorable clothes you can dress your pooch in. I loved it! Later in the afternoon the whole family took me to my favourite shop, lush. I got to show them around and recommend my favourite products, they loved it so we all had an awesome time. We got an awesome bath bomb and some other goodies to play around with later. Sayako wanted to go to the Disney shop afterwards, so we did and it was so cute! We got matching key-rings of a little cat, I really liked it. We took some pictures then went back home, where we tested out one of the bath bombs we bought earlier. It was awesome! It looked like the night sky. The whole family watched the bath bomb melt away in awe. They are an awesome family and I had such a good time, and I have made friends which will last forever.

Jess 26-03-2017 Kawasaki

Day 5 Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel Public Bath - Kawasaki Tachibana High School

Japanese Public Bath Culture

I first went into the public baths in The Prince Hotel on the 22^nd of March with Kiara and Jessica, and again on the 23^rd with Jessica, Summa, Tiffany, Indra and Lily. It was an interesting experience and one I would definitely recommend to any who decide to visit Japan themselves. So, when you first enter the baths you must take off your shoes and leave them on a shelf by the entryway. After this, you enter a room and find an empty shelf to leave your belongings, strip off and then leave your clothing on your chosen shelf. Fortunately, if you don't feel comfortable changing in this room there is a toilet you can change in. After this, you must take a shower and rinse yourself off before entering the baths themselves. The walls for the stalls are extremely short, only coming to just above my waist. Fortunately, they have stools you can sit on while you rinse yourself off (the stools were so short I felt like I may as well have sat on the floor!). After this, you are finally allowed to enter the baths themselves, there are no towels allowed in the baths, although you are allowed to have it on your head if you don't want your hair to get wet as well as this, you are not allowed to wear anything into the bath itself, this includes swimwear. You must go into the bath completely nude but no tattoos are allowed. The bath was the size of a swimming pool although not as deep and a lot warmer (the water was 40° Celsius to be precise). Stream drifted throughout the whole room and above the water itself, affording a sense of privacy I was not expecting as the steam made it so others were barely visible. On the opposite wall to the entryway four bamboo blinds covered the wall from the top to the bottom, when it was rolled up, we were surprised to discover that these bamboo blinds were actually separating the baths from the snow outside! Most of us congregated to this area as the steam made it quite difficult to breath after a while.

I personally did not feel awkward during this experience and I have the people I did it with to thank. As I stated before, I recommend that if you do go to Japan you do try this out as it is definitely something you will not experience in the Western part of the world.

So, on the recommendation of Indra, I have been told to share an interesting little story from the baths. As I have already said, there were these bamboo blinds that separated the baths from the outside world. After rolling them up, we discovered a beautiful iced over river was sitting just outside. Great white walls of snow surrounded the river with icicles hanging down. One of these walls curved back into the wall of the building and brought with it several icicles. So, while we were sitting there, I got the idea to sit on the shelf and lean out into the snow and grab myself an icicle. This occurred before the arrival of Indra, Summa and Lily, so, I lifted myself onto the wall, ducked under the bamboo blind and leaned out over the river to snap off an icicle to share between Tiffany, Jessica and I. Shortly after doing this, the others arrived and Indra dared someone to jump into the river, I was instantly suggested by Tiffany and Jess to do it. So, once again I ventured out into the cold and found a section of the river that had melted. To test the temperature of the water, I dipped my feet into it and instantly regretted it. The water was absolutely freezing. Due to this, I did not hesitate to chicken out and jump back into the bath. Another mistake as my feet experienced the most stabbing pain they have most likely gone through in my life. I honestly can't say I regretted any of it as it did prove to be quite entertaining for everyone.

Hoping to have even more strange experiences,

Amber

Friday 24th March, 6:30 am: - 9 degrees and the snow keeps falling on the morning of our departure. The bus is fitted with snow chains but for the first hour the heating system stays a block of ice and the drive down the mountain feels like being in a refrigerator.

 At 1pm we arrive at Tachibana High School in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo

Pat Shirvingtons BANKSIA painting is presented to the principle and he really really liked it.

The grade 2 students (class 11) who had their last day of their school year this afternoon presented a traditional tea ceremony in their special tea room class room to us.

                          The daffodil was the welcoming flower for us today.

Will and Amber all geared up for the Samuari-hit-the-balloon-on-my-head-activity

 Charly and Tomoko partnering up to have some sword fighting fun

                       Ben and Yugo practising calligraphy with ink and brushes

                 Francis doing the thank you speech on behalf of our class.