All posts by Thomas Greve

訪問地, 地域学習, ゲスト・スピーカー, 長崎県大村市

Commitment to Peace

Nagasaki survivor

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb dropped only 3 days after the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb and all the after effects of the bombs were not only negative. Even when it sounds really weird to say that a bomb can bring anything positive; in Japan, the A Bombs brought a really interesting peace culture for the country of Japan where people not only know about Nuclear weapons but they also know about the importance of Peace, promoting peace and understanding peace.

The country itself has 3 principles of peace: to not own, fabricate or permit the introduction of nuclear weapons. This principles not only contribute to the peace of the country of Japan, but it contributes to the promotion of World Peace.

The picture above is of a survivor we had the opportunity to speak with before we visited the museum, he is also someone very committed to the promotion of peace not only in Japan but around the world.

Session 2 of World Campus – Japan and World Campus International is also committed to peace. We offered 1000 cranes we made with our host families to be part of the effort they are making in Nagasaki to promote peace.

訪問地, 地域学習, 長崎県大村市

Sharing the pain

Shoringi Kempo

Today, we started our 4th day of the program with Nagasaki’s beautiful rain. Actually, at this moment it’s rainy season in japan especially in Kyushu island areas, it rains a lot. Although, it was heavy rain, it couldn’t prevent us enjoying today’s special event, one of the Japanese martial arts: Shorinji Kempo.

We started our day with the introduction about shorinji kempo and its history by Omura city’s proffesional master who has been practicing it for more than 20 years. Shorinji kempo is a discipline that develops individuals with 3 benefits: self defense, spiritual cultivation & health improvement. One of the wonderful life-long lesson that I learned is the quote by Doushin, the founder of Shorinji Kempo.

“Half for one’s own happiness, and half for the happiness of others” (半ばは自分の幸せを、半ばは他人の幸せを) doshin.

Personally, it was my first time to experience the Japanese unique martial art, shorinji kempo, where you don’t fight for winning or breaking down the opponent but only for self-defense, thinking and acting with equal consideration for others, with Shorinji Kempo you learn to share your learning experience including the pain.

After lunch, One of the greatest moments of the day was experiencing the shorinji kempo. We learn the basic technics and tried to use them with the masters and students. It was great to see that its technic has little to do with how strong you are but how well you perfom them”

(Sean-ショーン – Uzbekistan)

訪問地, 地域学習, 地域実行委員、プログラムサポーター, 長崎県大村市

You can call us VIP

mayor visit

World Campus – Japan gives a unique chance to get to know Japan from the inside, not only by staying in local host families, getting involved with the community and visiting really interesting places, but also by offering opportunities like we had in Omura. Five of us went to visit the Mayor of Omura, he spoke to us about the issues he deals with in his city and also about the things he feels very proud of, like the Boat Race that happens every year right there in Omura.

He also talked to us about an unique opportunity we were about to experience during our stay in Omura, the “Fureai-no Event”, an event where more than 400 handicap people come together to play, celebrate diversity and have fun for a few hours. We were specially invited (which makes us VIP in Omura) to participate.

Check the blog in the near future to read about that amazing event!

お知らせ

Let’s-facebook

facebook

To all of our readers, WCI would like to inform you that our facebook page is now open to comments, suggestions, and communication. Just make a friend request to us and we will be happy to accept you. You can also find all the blog postings on our facebook page World Campus International, Inc, so can share them with your facebook friends or even suggest our page to them.

WCJ gives you unique access to Japan and really… Who wouldn’t want to travel to a beautiful place with people from many countries and build memories for life? 🙂

Feel free to share our info with all those people you know might be interested in traveling with one of the summer sessions of WCJ. If you would like more information about the program or how to get involved, please visit our website www.worldcampus.org or e mail us at Yhufford@worldcampus.org