Date of activity: July 13^th

Friday the 13^th, day 4 of the WCI Japan program in Suita, Osaka. This day is considered a day loaded with bad luck. It turned “lucky” from the start. Just to be here with friends, telling each other our most embarrassing moments up until now, makes a person see just how lucky we are to have this nice, open atmosphere. The guest speaker of that day called it our energy. His name is Mr. Kenji Takao, a skilled sportsman who retired and then started his own business. He told us he wanted to help Japanese high school students to get into sports. After we discussed sports to the core, we ate a nice partly self-made lunch! Meaning we could help the staff and learn how to make yaki-soba! Yakisoba da yo! Then we were ready for a new challenge: ‘innebandy’.

I’d never heard of it before either. It’s a little bit like hockey, but the rules are slightly different and it’s played indoors on a hard floor. At the same time we mingled with high school students from kita-senri high school. As we were doing this I thought again of Mr. Takao’s speech. I hope we might have influenced some of the high school students to keep on sporting. Everybody was completely worn out by the end of the day, but it was totally worth it!!

Inneke – Belgium

Date of activity: July 12^th

Today started with a Japanese breakfast, consisting of rice with eggs, bacon, and salmon. After that my host mother showed me the way to the Suita station. She wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t get lost on the way.

After meeting up with the rest of the group, we set out with guides to see Suita city. The first stop was a shrine. Before we could go close to it we had to wash our hands and mouth. When we were “clean” we could walk closer to the shrine.

Then we had to bow two times, clap our hands two times, and bow again one time, and only then, we could pray. Only a few people prayed, but it included bowing, clapping, and ringing a big bell.

The next stop was a former home of a village chief. It is now used for exhibitions of the city, cultural activities, and local events. We saw where it was meant to have tea ceremonies, exhibition rooms, and a Danjiri (a float). The Danjiri was the most fascinating thing for me. It was made of wood where there had been cut a lot of figures in the shape of both humans and animals. It was very beautifully made.

After that we went back to the Suita station to take the train to Yamada. When we came back, we were met by some people from Osaka who were all wearing kimonos. They had prepared lunch for us that consisted of sushi, salad, boiled eggs, two types of melon, and a dessert. It was very delicious!

After lunch we started learning the dances for the Japanese medley for the Arigato event. It was hard, but fun, and suddenly it was time to go back home to our host families.

When I came back I asked the eldest daughter to teach me some Japanese. I am one of those who can’t speak Japanese and it is very troublesome! So I should be able to tell people my name now – if I can remember the words.

The dinner was tamagoyaki, which is some egg-thing with octopus, and I must admit that it isn’t the best food I have tried so far. While eating I introduced the family to some Danish pop music. They seemed like they liked it, but I am not sure. After that I was introduced to some Japanese pop music and then I played some Korean songs for them. It was nice and we enjoyed ourselves so it ended up getting very late before I could take a shower and finally go to bed.

Belinda – Denmark

Date of activity: July 11^th

The first night at my host family is a fact. After having a delicious dinner and a nice shower I went to my room for a well needed night of sleep. To my surprise my host mom had already made me a futon ready to be slept on. I’m actually not supposed to say this, because I have a girlfriend, but… Me and my futon, it was love on first sight. I dropped on the futon and lay my head on the pillow. This was the point at which I understood that we would spend some great nights together the upcoming week.

But enough about my new love. Today was the day that we would start the preparations for the arigato event. The only problem was that almost nobody knew what we were supposed to do for this event. But after an explanation by the World Campus International Inc. staff everything got more clear. We had to dance and sing… hmmmm… well not my strongest points, but let’s give it a try!

We started of with the lyrics from a song by a Japanese boy band followed by some dance moves and spectacular flag waving. We all got the hang of it pretty quickly. So… time to step up a pace. A Japanese song with sign language as dance moves was now to be learned. Since I’m not very skilled in the Japanese language it was rather hard. I’m probably not the only one who thinks so. But… with just a little more practice I’m sure that we will have a stunning performance. I can’t wait till day 3!!

Alex – The Netherlands