Monthly Archives: September 2013

Abiko City, City Life

Personal Day in Abiko 2013

Day of activity: 2013 August 7th

I woke up at 6am today, because I wanted to see the fish market at Tsukiji, and you have to go there very early. It was fantastic! I ended up mostly wandering around while munching on salted and dried baby sardines, sea urchins, eels, oysters, snappers, fish eggs and various parts of tuna. They had so much, and I think I didn’t even see all the fish they had there. I even got to take a picture with one of the merchants. His name was Kojima-san and he comes from Tokyo. I also got to take a picture with his huge knife that he uses to cut up tuna. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to eat sushi for breakfast; the only sushi place I could find had a huge line in front of the store. I had to make do with overpriced fried ebi (shrimp).

After seeing this wonderful place, I went to the central post office to send some cards. There I met a very funny and lively elderly American from Illinois. Apparently he is a former P.E. teacher and lives near St. Louis. He squeezed my arm really hard! Finally, I did send all eleven postcards, many of which were kamomeeru (a type of Japanese postcard). Getting the postcards send out took more than I thought it would, so I went to get lunch immediately after.

I ate at a fugu (blowfish) restaurant near Ueno station. My host sister, Haruka, had recommended the place to me. The fugu was very good, and they had so many variations; sashimi, fugu-nake, vegetables, rice, and the nake broth. For dessert I had ice cream. It had an interesting taste, but I don’t really know what it was.

After lunch I was in a real hurry. I had wanted to go to Akihabara again, but I only had time to make a brief stop to buy the newest Japanese volume of One Piece. I jumped on the subway to Shinjuku afterwards, to go to the Robot Restaurant. It’s a glittery place with a gilded restroom. They may call it a restaurant, but I bought better food at a convenience store. People visit this place for the show, and it didn’t disappoint. At first, ladies called oneesan-tachi danced in revealing outfits and played different types of drums. There were also mock battles between the ladies and men in robot suits. In the audience people just kept waving glow sticks and giving high-fives to the dancers. There was also a disco robot and some pole dancing. I think it was worth the amount of money I had to pay, and I got to take all the pictures I wanted. I took one with a gigantic shining robot. After all this, I had one drink at the Gundam Café and then I returned home.

Karo Kankus (Finland)

Abiko City, City Life, City Theme Activities

Teganuma Park & Bird Museum




Day of activity: 2013 August 6th

It has been a colorful day. I learned a lot and enjoyed it so much.

Around half past nine in the morning, we gathered at Teganuma Park. The rain was heavy, but luckily it became sunny after a while. We took a boat trip around Teganuma Lake. I took a lot of pictures of big white swans and lotus flowers. Hiro and Hideto told us that this lake used to be the dirtiest in Japan, but now it’s has a beautiful scenery, thanks to the actions of the Japanese government. This situation reminded me of the terrible state of pollution we have in China. I think our government can learn from the Japanese government on the issue of environment protection.

After the boat ride we prepared and enjoyed our lunch; we made sushi by ourselves, and I really liked it. I was shocked when I saw that my host brother (10 years old) ate three plates of sushi! I used to think that Japanese people only ate a little bit, but it seems that I was wrong.

In the afternoon, we explored the bird museum. It was really a unique experience, not only because it is the only bird museum in the whole of Japan, but we were also joined by local high school students. We made paper models of a bird together, and we got some basic information about birds. Now I can tell you whether a bird can fly or not by just looking at its feathers!

Before I went back home with my host family, my host brother picked out a small souvenir from the museum shop for me. I think that I will be able to remember this day very clearly even after I came back to my own country. What a wonderful day!

Jerry (China)

Abiko City, City Life, City Theme Activities

Koto Experience





Day of activity: 2013 August 5th

So after yesterday, when we had really amazing host family days, the program would really start today! So that meant that after we gathered we got to hear rules about World Campus Japan, what is allowed and what isn’t.

After those first necessities a man told us something about Abiko city and it’s history. It was fun to find out all the things about Abiko, like for example two famous writers live in this town.

Next we did a few icebreaking games, the first one to learn each others name, the second was just plain fun; the Ninja Killing game. It trained our ninja skills and made us hungry. Which was perfect, because lunch was next.

When our stomachs were full, we got to enjoy some koto music. The Okamura family played koto and kokyo for us, together with a small choir of women who joined in for one song, and their cute 6-year-old son who sang the WanWan NyaoNyao song. It was lovely, the whole concert was. They even played a Disney Medley, which sounded really nice coming from the koto.

Afterwards we were allowed to play the koto for ourselves a bit. This really surprised me, I hadn’t expected to be allowed to play such an instrument, since it’s expensive and we’re koto-noobs. But it was fun, and we were taught the Sakura song.

It was a fun day, I hadn’t expected to be doing already so many unique things on our very first day. I’m excited for what the rest of the program will bring us!

Lisan (The Netherlands)

Abiko City, City Life, City Theme Activities, Host Families

Host Family Day in Abiko 2013




Day of activity: 2013 August 4th

We’ve arrived in Abiko (Chiba prefecture), just yesterday, and today it’s host family day. I’m used to past sessions were you got to spend more time with your host family and getting to know them before spending a whole day with them, but oh well.

We began our day by going to a place called J-World, or that is what I think, because I can’t read Japanese. I’m in a host family with Masahiro, which makes it somewhat easier to understand. J-World turned out to be a mini-indoor theme park in the upper floors of the mall, aimed at children’s anime. It was fun but short, because we had other things planned that today.

The next place we went is a retired luxury liner, though I can’t remember the name. We were allowed in to look at all the rooms, diners, and even look at the captain’s room. It was all fairly interesting and they even had explanations of parts of the boat in English.

After looking through the boat we walked to a shopping area close by and looked through the different shops. It was not really exciting, but there still were some nice things to look through.

When we were done shopping, we headed out for the Chinatown of Japan (or at least, that was what I understood). We ate a restaurant, and even though the food was good and there was plenty of it, my highlight was the jasmine tea. It’s rare that I really enjoy the taste rather than just simply drinking it.

When we were full, we drove back home. There, my host father suggested that we could go to an onsen (public bath) close by. It was a good way to end the day. After going through two sessions, and knowing how an onsen revives my body, it will be a good way to start off this new session.

Michael Bock (USA)