World Campus – Japan visit many different places every year, some change and some stay the same, but one of the things we always come back to is Kyudo(弓道 kyūdō ). Today Juuso and Cameron talks about their experience with Kyudo.
Category Archives: City Life
The Kyudo Experience
Today was a day well spent. I’ve done archery before, but never like this. I’ve never been more determined to hit a tree or a balloon than today. The feeling of accomplishment when I finally did was spectacular. I’ll explain why:
Kyudo has a rich history behind it and the Japanese people have made sure that it has stayed that way. The idea that every bow has a soul was also beautiful. Watching the dojo master’s demonstration was breathtaking to say the least. Then having a chance to do it myself was a whole different feeling. It didn’t matter if I won a prize or not, I just wanted to stay there and shoot as many arrows as my weak muscles would allow me to.
When one of the archers spoke about why they chose Kyudo, everything that they said I completely agreed with. That feeling of wanting to do better each time, the urge to continue even when you fail, not allowing failure to stop you but rather push you to do better tomorrow. Getting the chance to step in their shoes and really take on Kyudo was truly a luxury.
It’s hard to decide on part that was the most fun because everything about today was amazing. Those of us in World Campus Japan are truly lucky, having the chance that no other program gets to have. It’s an experience I will never forget. Maybe I’ll even continue with it.
Aimee Morales (USA)
World Campus – Japan 2016. Staff introduction
The staff of World Campus – Japan 2016 is getting ready to receive the first participants and getting ready for the program in general.
WCJ 2015, Session 3, Abiko: Ira Crookston’s Videoblog
On the 2nd of August 2015 we had our Host-family day. On this day your host-family takes you to different kinds of places. Ira really loves Harajuku, so her family took her there. In her blog she shares her experience with you.
Lunchboxes and driving school!
Day of activity: August 10th 2015
Today was our final activity day here in Tama. We started the day off by going to a local community center and meeting up with some local Japanese students. We actually knew quite a few of them since they had organized various fun activities for us on personal day, so it was fun to meet up again and do something together.
Following our meeting up with the students, we were split into two groups for the activities in the community center: one group that would do tai-chi, and one that would cook lunch for everyone- I was in the latter group.
The special thing about the lunch we were cooking was that we would be making ‘Kyara-ben’- character bento lunchboxes. My team would be making Pikachu and Kumamon (the omnipresent mascot of Kumamoto city) bentos. At first, we simply made the other items that would go along with the characters: rolls of fried egg, broccoli wrapped in bacon, fried chicken, etc. Then came the tricky part: making the actual characters! Pikachu in particular proved challenging since I had to make the proportions of its face somewhat even- that went… Ok… As for my Kumamon, he ended up being more disturbing/terrifying than cute. But in the end everyone told us that our creations looked and tasted great 🙂
After lunch, we all visited a local driving school. I was rather impressed by the size of the school- they had several classrooms and simulators for teaching their students. We were greeted by one of the instructors who put us through a memory test that elderly Japanese drivers have to take. A lot of us came close to remembering all the pictures we were shown, but no one could get a perfect score (the ‘pineapple’ and ‘sparrow’ cards in particular proved difficult!). Once the test was over, we got to try some ‘drunk vision’ goggles- nothing like being drunk if you ask me, but still majorly disorientating! After that, some of us even got to try the driving simulators- the results left much to br desired…! Once our activities were done, the final group of participants received their well-earned certificates of completion. It was a very emotional moment 🙂
We had a great final day in Tama, even if it was tinged with the sadness of knowing that we would have to say our goodbyes the next day.
Simon Presley (Denmark)
