All posts by Thomas Greve

City Life, City Theme Activities, Isehara City

Our first activity day in Isehara

AMADA exhibition

Day of activity: July 15th 2015

Today we did a bunch of different stuff! First, we visited Oyama elementary school, where we were met by its few- but extremely motivated- students and teachers. First, we taught them various things about our own countries. Then, we did a game where you introduce yourself to as many people as possible and collect a signature from every person. Next, we tried a traditional wooden toy that you send spinning by wrapping a rope around it and pulling back fast on it. The two girls who taught me made it look easy, but trust me: it wasn’t! I still had a lot of fun though!

Our next activity was a visit to the AMADA company, whom specialize in making machinery for cutting into metal plates. I’m not usually that interested in industrial machinery and such things, but the visit actually turned out to be really interesting. The precision and speed of the machines was really impressive, and we actually got a much closer look at them in action than I ever thought we would. The best part for me though (and I suspect for many of the others too) was going to the large exhibition room where special art pieces made with AMADA’s machines are on display. They were often made by students, and many of them were incredibly detailed, thanks to the use of laser-cutting and the like.

After our tour of the AMADA facility, we went to the Kikawa sake brewery. Located in a nondescript residential area, it’s the kind of place that you would easily miss if you just happened to walk by. But once inside, you could immediately tell that this place is special. They still make much of their product the old fashioned way, relying on a mix of ancient techniques and old trusted machines. We started our visit by watching a short video about sake brewing. Then we got a guided tour by the brewmaster himself, a man who is clearly very passionate about his work. Once the tour was over, we all got a small bottle to take back as a sample if we so pleased. I drank it with my host family, and I was very pleased!

So to summarize: school visit, industrial machinery, and sake- all in one day! It was an awesome day.

Simon Presley (Denmark)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

Tea ceremony and Arigato event day

Arigato duet

Day of activity: July 13th 2015

Just like every day, I woke up at 7 o’clock, but unlike everyday, our breakfast was bread and jam. It was a nice change after all that rice. Our host (Kumamoto) Ken-san drove us (meaning me and my roommate Anders) to Uda’s community center. There we would experience one of Japan’s greatest traditions: the tea ceremony.

First we all needed to change into Yukatas. This traditional clothing is just like a kimono, but lighter. After a short photoshoot everybody got their spot on the tatami mat- and that’s when things got serious. We sat down in the most uncomfortable pose ever! Some of the World Campus Japan members did a great job of hanging in there. I however gave up pretty quickly due to my bad knees. We learned all about the history of the ceremony, about what to do, and what to avoid. Some of us even got to make our own tea!

After the ceremony, we gathered in the great hall again. Being in Japan for 13 amazing days already, this seemed like a great opportunity to reflect on our stay so far. We likened our experiences to those of one another, some good, some bad. All of them were very educational. The last part of the day was spent preparing for the arigato event. Before the families arrived, we did an entire rundown for our new friends Ryoko and Keiko, who came all the way to Uda from Kyuushu just to spend two days with us.

After this we gave our host families a great show. We danced, sang, played games, and read thank you-letters. I even got to play a traditional song with my host-dad: we had practiced this ‘Sakura-song’ every evening and had had so much fun doing so!

To end this lovely day, our host family took us out for dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant, which was once again a nice change from all that (delicious) Japanese food.

Tanguy Declercq (Belgium)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

A visit to the elderly home

Murou temple

Day of activity: July 12th 2015

Today we went to visit the elderly home ‘Murou en’!

The purpose was to interact with the elderly residents, overcome language barriers, and bring some variety into their day. I really enjoyed spending time with them, especially since I had never interacted with elderly Japanese people before. It was a little hard to converse to begin with, but it got a bit easier once we started collaborating on the paper collage we were making. It was a beautiful image of Mount Fuji.

They were very sweet, and I was very happy that they seemed to be happy about doing this activity with us. I wish we could have spent more time with them, especially when I saw how sad they were to see us leave…

I’m really glad that we did this activity!

Later, after visiting the retirement home we carried on to visit the Murou temple, where we were guided through the lower part. The guide was very knowledgeable, and I learned many interesting facts about the temple and aspects of japanese religion. The temple grounds were really beautiful! The trees were tall and green, and the stairs to the top took you through some of the forest. The walk to the top was very hot and tiring, but the view at the top was worth it! I will never forget this beautiful place.

Iselin Erikssen (Norway)