Category Archives: City Life

City Life, City Theme Activities, Omura City

Kyudo

Kyudo

Day of activity: June 15th, 2015

In the afternoon of the 15th of June we got to experience an another traditional Japanese sport – or rather budo. Kyudo literally means the way of the bow, and it is the art of traditional Japanese archery revolving around the buddhist zen-principles. Personally, as I myself do kendo (the way of the sword, or Japanese fencing) back home in Finland, I was really excited to learn about another budo that had its roots in the samurai culture.

After we learned about the principles of kyudo and how it especially follows the principles of zen, we got to see a demonstration of the entire ritual that is shooting with a bow in kyudo fashion. After the demonstration our wishes were fulfilled and we got a chance to try our own archery skills against an army of balloons and bunnies on a cardboard target. Dressed up in traditional hakamas we realized that we were nothing but a mere bunch of fumbling beginners (except for Jurrien) trying to understand what on earth we did wrong when we kept failing again and again. Simply put, shooting a traditional Japanese bow is hard. Eventually, we managed to get the hang of it and everyone hit at least one target and got a medal of (sweet) honor as a trophy.

Along with the excitement of shooting a bow the kyudo experience was a lesson on the principles behind the action. We didn’t only learn to shoot, but also how and why to shoot it like it is taught in kyudo and the teachings and philosophy connected to it. All in all, we learned a lot from our brief visit to the kyudo-jo in Omura City.

Juuso Myller (Finland)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Omura City

Aileen Shorinji Kempo

Aileen Shorinji Kempo

On the 13th of June we went to visit a Shorinji Kenpo Dojo. Since I have some experience with martial arts this was something I had been looking forward to doing and it didn’t disappoint. At first we learned about the history and philosophy behind Shorinji Kenpo. We learned how it had been created in Japan after the Second World War and how it really was a way of life. The teachers clearly had a passion for what they were doing.

When we had lunch we got to interact with some of the young students at the dojo. As always they had tons of energy and lots of smiles for us. After lunch we got our second chance to interact with the kids when the teachers taught us several different techniques and the kids helped us along.

I quickly found out that my experience with other martial arts didn’t help me much, but it was still really fun and quite the experience. It was really amazing to look at the children work and teach. Unlike us, even though they were only second and fourth graders, they clearly knew what they were doing.

After the dojo we had a short visit to a shrine where most of us got our fortunes and luckily mine wasn’t too bad. I ended my day with a BBQ party that my host family held with another host family and some friends. It was really nice and even though I was really tired from all the activities all day I really enjoyed the company and, of course, the food.

Aileen Hay (Norway)

City Life

Meeting a Survivor of the Atomic Bomb

A-bomb-survivor-grp-photo

Day of activity: June, 11th, 2015

Today we got to meet an atomic bomb survivor.

Almost everyone (I hope) will, at some point, learn about the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki through school/books/articles. At school you learn when it happened, what made the bomb so deadly, and what the death toll was, but today we got a small glimpse into what the bomb meant for the actual victims.

In the morning, into a classroom of sorts, in came a nice looking old man wearing a smile on his face. He introduced himself and then he turned on the projector and showed us pictures that he had painted based on what he remembers about the bomb.

He just stated facts, he didn’t need to resort to theatrics to pull at our heartstrings. His story of loss and hardship made me and several others cry during the presentation.

Eventhough his story was sad, it was a really valuable piece of history that not many get to hear. How his life changed instantly and how it still affects the survivors. I will be forever grateful to him for sharing his story with us.

Later on the same day, we visited the Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial museum. There were many actual artefacts that had been affected by the bomb such as glass bottles that had melted into clumps due to the sheer heat of the blast. The museum itself had also many interactive components which made exploring even more interesting.

I think that this all left an ever-lasting impression on me.

Helmiina Suuronen (Finland)

City Life, Omura City

Visit of Omura City’s superintendent of the board of education

2015 Session1

Omura City, 10th of June, 2015

Today we visited Omura City’s superintendent of the board of education. The courtesy visit was the first “real” activity in our program, given that the previous day’s schedule was all orientation and preparing for the Arigato Event. Furthermore, the occasion was advertised as being quite formal, which made us quite nervous during the morning of our visit.

Despite our nerves, the courtesy visit was a success. After brief introductions we talked a lot about education in Omura, Japan and Japanese culture in general. The superintendent was very helpful and supportive when we talked about how we wanted to learn more, and more intimately, about Japanese culture. With his encouraging words we felt ready for the 12th of June and our first visit to a local elementary school.

After our conversation I gave the superintendent a present – a photo book – from Finland, where I’m from, as a token of our gratitude for how they had given us such a change to get to know more about the everyday life and culture in Japan. It was great to know how much people appreciated our desire to learn more about their culture and maybe share something from our own countries as well. As an added bonus, we also got cute Omuran-Chan stickers for each of us 🙂

Juuso Eemeli Myller

City Life, Community Partners, Tama City

Welcome to Tama City in World Campus – Japan 2015!!!

Tama

ワールドキャンパス多摩です。私たちは、2007年からずっとWCIの若者たちとの交流
を続けています。今年は、またまた最終セッションの最終都市での受入となります。

交流活動内容としては、昨年のプログラムをより進めた形で充実を図りたいと思います。
初日、我孫子からの移動の途中で、国会議事堂訪問。昨年初めて実施し、今年も申し込みをしました。

すっかり定着した多摩市国際交流センターの「世界の若者と東京のおじさま・おばさま」、多摩大学学生を中心とした、休日を利用したメトロポリタンツアー、恵泉女学園大学との交流。

4年目となる唐木田地区のコミュニティセンター菖蒲館、児童館、図書館との共催事業「世界のひろば＆ありがとうイベント」は、より市民にオープンな形で行いたいなと思っています。

一週間という短い期間ですが 、WCIを迎える準備作業をとおして多摩の様々な人たちとの輪が広がっていくのが楽しいです。

We are World Campus – Tama, the community partner of World Campus International. We have been hosting the group of people from World Campus International since 2007, and some of you will be visiting Tama city as the final stop of the upcoming World Campus – Japan program.

Now we’re planning some exciting activities for you! First of all, you’ll be visiting the national diet building of Japan on your way to Tama city. Last summer, we visited there as one of the activities for the first time and it was an amazing experience for all of us!

During your stay in Tama, you’ll have a great opportunity to interact with some local people such as the middle age citizens from Tokyo, students from Tama University, and students from Keisen Jogakuin University! Some of the students will be taking you to downtown Tokyo on your personal day!

And it’s going to be the 4th time to hold the event, called “Sekai no hiroba”. We’ll be welcoming the local people of Tama city and sharing our cultures each other, and also having an “Arigato event” as a part of that big event.

We’re having fun preparing for the summer! It’s going to be short one week, but we’re so excited to have all of you here in Tama!