Today we went to Midorigaoka elementary school. It was a lot of fun! Our group of nineteen was split up into three smaller groups, that each had a class of their own. Each class had some special activities planned for us.

We started the day with the younger kids. We sang a lot of songs together and played some games like ‘London Bridge is falling down’. We even wrote wishes for the Tanabata Matsuri with the children, and had a calligraphy lesson. Around and after lunch we joined the older children with their English lessons. Because English is really hard for Japanese to learn, it was completely different from our English lessons in The Netherlands. It was really interesting to see the difference. After lunch we gave a short thank-you event for the children. We introduced our countries to them by playing a maru/batsu game (yes or no game). I think they really enjoyed it, since they almost shouted every answer at us, and were really excited when they answered our questions right. Although it was a bit too hot to jump and dance around, it was a lot of fun to see the children participating with us. It’s funny to see how music can actually lower the wall that exists between people of different countries and cultures.

What I liked the most about today was how the children interacted with us, a bunch of complete strangers. Although some of them were shy in the beginning, they became really excited and energetic when they spoke privately with us. During lunchtime, we each ate in a different class. The children in my class had prepared a special chair for me and were so excited to see me. They kept asking questions about my favorite food, music, insects, etc. The language or culture barrier was totally not a problem during this time. They were generally happy to see me and wanted to play with me. It really touched my heart, they were all so sweet. I would like to return next year and play with them again!

Lisanne (The Netherlands)

Date of activity: June 28^th

So the big day has finally come, the arigato event day, the last day where we are together with our host families. We are training hard all day and revise the parts we feel insecure about, like the song in Japanese sign language. In between breaks people are revising their Japanese speeches. Step by step we get more confident. We already performed a shortened arigato event in the school, but perfecting this is our goal. I, myself am amazed at how beautiful the Chinese dance looks that Ying performed on stage. Ellery asks the Dutch people to sing a happy birthday in Dutch for his little host sister with him, because it´s her birthday today. A very touching and nice idea. My host family and their niece were there as we entered the room holding flags, opening the event with a great flag-dance.

Everything goes well, people enjoy themselves on stage and the audience has a blast. Every chair is taken and LOC people keep bringing in more chairs so that everyone has a place to sit. I don´t remember such a huge audience in my last 20 arigato events. I feel relieved when the arigato event is finally over. I am still no fan of singing and dancing on stage but the people always looks so happy and some even get very emotional. This makes me feel like it was worth learning dances and lyrics, even though I don’t like it that much.

Daniel Gallion – Luxembourg

Date of Activity: June 26^th

Today we first had arigatou event practice. It requires a lot of effort, but is definitely worth it. After an awesome bentou lunch box the mayor of Arao city came to visit us and we had a great Question and Answer session. We learned a lot about the city and it’s mayor.

After the interaction with the mayor we went to a katana smith. That was a great experience. We saw a bit of the process of making a katana, which takes about two weeks. Some of us got the chance to personally experience how difficult it is to deform hot iron. I for example can tell firsthand that it is really difficult.

We also got a demonstration of how to use a katana during our visit. And we also were lucky enough to get the opportunity to slash some bamboo mats ourselves after learning how to wield the Japanese Katanas. These bamboo mats are said to be as though as a humans stomach. It is really hard to hit the bamboo at a proper speed and angel, but when done correctly it cuts through as if cutting through air.

After the host family pickup i went to the nursery home where my host brother and sister were. After dinner this great day with a lot of new experiences slowly approached it’s end, getting closer to another day full of new exciting experiences.

Ellery Oosterberg – The Netherlands