Category Archives: City Life

City Life, Suita City

Spring ’09 Participants Arrive!

Spring ’09 Participants Arrive


Spring ’09 Participants Arrive

March 9th, 2009: It’s about to start!

It began with a room full of unfamiliar peoples from strange lands. In less than one hour, the strangers became close enough to hold hands and even touch another person’s nose with their tongue. Ah, the power of group building games!

Before the official Suita city welcoming ceremony, World Campus – Japan participants, staff, and LOC members had the chance to get to know each other with games like “mingle mingle mingle”. The game encouraged everyone to be active and forced them to go beyond their comfort zone. What a great remedy for the jetlag!

It begins!

Woohoo! After many hours of eager anticipation, the participants are finally here and the Spring 09 tour is under way! We received a hearty welcome from Mr. Sakaguchi, the mayor of Suita, and the host families! Although very tired from travel, everyone was extremely excited to meet their host families and the mayor.

“Welcome to Suita city. I hope your visit will help internationalize our city.” – Mr. Sakaguchi (Suita mayor)

City Life, Our participants, Suita City

A Personal Day for the Spring ’09 Staff

penguins at the Osaka Aquarium


whale sharks at the Osaka Aquarium

March 7th, 2009: The road staff had a personal day to relax and take a break from work. Usually there is one personal day scheduled in each city. This allows everyone to recharge and do something fun outside of World Campus – Japan.

Today, the road staff went as a group and saw whale sharks and penguins at the Osaka Aquarium.

“Did you know whale sharks are the biggest fish in the world?” – Henning

City Life, Our participants, Our Partners, Suita City

Spring ’09 Staff – Working with Kansai University

Spring ’09 Staff – Working with Kansai University

The WCJ staff works closely with the local community to coordinate program activities and events in each city. Today the staff and students from Kansai University are discussing our role in an upcoming festival and finalizing plans for a discussion with college students.

People in the picture from left to right: Nicolina, Tomo (Kansai University), Rie, Henning, Guang, Hiro. Rioko is hidden by Guang.

City Life, Our participants, Suita City

Spring ’09 Staff – High Tech Training

Spring ’09 Staff - High Tech Training

With nutritious snacks, the team is back at work! Rie, a WCJ alumna from Suita, graciously allowed us to use her house for this staff training / preparation day. We are definitely not playing any games or surfing the internet 😉 Jay (America) and Henning (Norway) are busy planning the awesome “Thank-you Event”, while Nicolina (Cyprus) is preparing a rewarding educational curriculum. Rie and Lily (Denmark) are also kindly supporting the road staff! Of course, Hiro and Hideto are providing the training and support we need to be successful. Guang (America) is off thinking happy thoughts and blogs!