Category Archives: 千葉県我孫子市

Personal Day in Abiko

Personal Day in Abiko

Day of activity: July 29th 2014

The personal day was simply fantastic!
For those who do not know what this special day is, it is a predetermined free day to do what you want. With a group of WCJ participants we decided to go to Asakusa. At Asakusa we headed towards a temple with an enormous lantern dominating the entrance. On this particular day, it was really hot and we were walking for quite a while. Upon arrival to this nice temple most of us spontaneously decided to go to a nice air-conditioned restaurant to eat and to enjoy some cold drinks. So, after walking over 2 kilometers to reach the temple we took a group photo in front of the lantern then headed to a restaurant. We had a great time cooling off from the heat, joking around, and eating delicious Japanese food. Around this time of the session I was feeling a bit homesick, but after such an awesome personal day with my friends, I was feeling fantastic.

Sauche (USA)

Ryusenji temple

Ryusenji temple

Day of activity: July 29th 2014

Hey readers!!

Today was a very special day even for World Campus Japan standards. In the morning we moved to a temple called ryusenji. It was built right next to a kindergarten as if the two were run by the same people. We learned that the temple we were visiting used to be a very important temple. Many years ago the temple was located in the heart of Ueno Park in the center of Tokyo. Since the temple was to be replaced by a museum, the temple was given away as a donation. The whole temple building which is far bigger than a house was moved to a place approximately 50 kilometers away from its original location. Since the temple was right next to a kindergarten the first thing we did in the morning was interact with the kids. The kids came over to the temple and their teachers brought with them a lot of materials that we would be using to make a fuurin (wind chime). We first split up in several groups, grouping one World Campus Japan member together with 2 or 3 kids. We then received all the materials to make the wind chime and got some explanation. The kids were extremely lively and eager to make a very nice wind chime. They drew and pasted stickers and other patterns on their wind chimes to make them as nice as possible. After we finished these wind chimes we visited the kindergarten and split up in 2 groups to eat lunch. After lunch the kids stayed in the kindergarten whereas all the WCJ members went back to the temple.

In the afternoon we got to experience shakyou. Shakyou literally means ‘the copying of Buddhist sutras’. It was a lot of work to copy all the several 100 Chinese characters with a brush and ink. Not just did it take a lot of time, the characters as I drew them were also very ugly and it was hard to fit it on the piece of paper we got. Nevertheless it was a good experience that I will never forget. We then had the opportunity to experience an old traditional Japanese game called kaiawase. Kaiawase literally means ‘shell matching’. From a large collection of shells in face-down position we had to find the two shells that had the same pattern. We then had to check if the two pieces of shell fit together and when they did, we were allowed to see the inside of the shells (face-up). In each of the shells were images. If the patterns on the outside of the shells matched correctly, the pictures on the inside were also a correct match. This way you could play a game with several people and keep track of the score. It was a great and fun experience. The day overall had a lot of variation in activities and all the activities were very characteristic to Japanese culture, making it a very special day for all of us!

Jurrien (The Netherlands)

Kagura and Abiko presentation

Kagura and Abiko presentation

Kagura and Abiko presentation

Kagura and Abiko presentation

Kagura and Abiko presentation

Kagura and Abiko presentation

Day of activity: July 29th 2014

Hello!
Today we learned about Abiko City and took sine group photos of all the World Campus members and staff. Session 4 is already progressing fastely and I am so excited!

After a delicious meal we learned about one of the traditional forms of Japanese theater, Kagura. After a Nice preformance, where two of the World Campus members were participating in, we Got the opportunity to try the masks.

After that we had a karate preformance by three locale people and one preformance from a participant who practices karate in her country. Later we were all taught some basic moves and punches which was very fun.

Amalie (Denmark)

Leaving Abiko

Day of activity: 2013 August 11th

Too hard to say goodbye.

Today is our last day in Abiko. It is so hard to describe it as last but in fact it is. Maybe the farewell always makes people very sad and be cast down no matter how unwilling you are.

Standing in front of the house of my host family, the sight casts my mind back to the days when we passed it together. From strange to familiar, from stranger to dear ones, we have experienced so many events and left deep impressions on each other.

Due to the diplomatic relation between Japan and my country not being very good at the moment, I was a bit worried when I arrived at Abiko. I considered that maybe Japanese people would not be very friendly to me because of the conflict we have with each other. I even prepared for confronting with many incisive questions asked by Japanese people.

But in fact, I was wrong. They were free from prejudice against Chinese people and they showed their enthusiasm for taking care of me, an ordinary Chinese person, as if I was their son or relative. Their behavior touched me to the depths of my soul, so deeply that I could not help clapping for the Japanese people when we had the arigato event.

I suggest that through friendly behavior from both countries, China and Japan will return to a normal relation in the end. And that is why I chose this hard time to come to Japan in order to communicate with Japanese people.

Now I would like to share you with a prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi as an end of this article and make a wish to the people like me who are willing to resume the relation between our two countries:

Where there is discord may we bring harmony,
Where there is error may we bring truth,
Where there is doubt may we bring faith,
Where there is despair may we bring hope.

It is too hard to say goodbye but a new tour begins. Abiko, I miss you so much!

William Zhou (China)

Arigatou Event Abiko 2013


Day of activity: 2013 August 10th

Today was my first “Arigato Event” with World Campus Japan, it was quite the experience. Lunch consisted of various dishes from everyone’s home country; it was truly an international smorgasbord. While very embarrassing, the dances were fun because I could tell my host family really enjoyed watching the performances. The crowd really did love our surprise opening to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. I was happy I decided to read aloud my thank you letter; I received many compliments on my Japanese from my host family as well as others.

It is a strange feeling to get to know a family so well over the course of a short week. While this week has been a lot of fun and I will miss my host family in Abiko, I am excited for what adventures await me in Nagoya!

Alexander Piper (USA)