Category Archives: City Theme Activities

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

100 Years Reputation

[inspic=1136,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1135,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1139,right,fullscreen,400]Today’s activities started with the introduction of Toride city by high school students. They talked about a lot of things including the firework festival, kite festival, the famous artifact, Keirin the exceptional Keirin racers, about Kirin which is a famous company working globally, and other big companies like Nisshin and so forth. By looking at their sincere attitudes of trying to communicate with poor English, I could feel that they are like me and many other Japanese students interested in learning different cultures. Since I have participated in this program, I could broaden my perspective and have been motivated by intense interactions with people from many different countries. I hope to be stimulated through more of those intercultural experiences in the future.

In the afternoon, we split into four groups to study Japanese culture in four areas, Toride honjin, Shin ropponten, Tanaka sake production, and Abuichi which are called “hyakunen danren,” and we made “commercials” to promote each of them. I went to Abuichi that specializes in the production of Japanese traditional dolls and decided to promote their Hina ningyou (Hina doll). Even for me as a Japanese person, I learned many new things for example, the origin of Hina Matsuri (festival), which takes place on the 3rd of March every year, is the combination of a doll playing called “Hiina Asobi” in Heian era (about 1200 years ago) and a ritual called “Nagashi Bina” to avoid misfortune and bad luck by transferring them into a doll made by straw or paper and floating it into the river or sea. And also I learned that the role of Hina ningyou is to drive away evil spirits and to wish girls’ good health. Each of the commercials were well done and we learned and had fun with studying each. At the end of the day, the Local Organizing Committee in Toride taught us a famous Haiku (Japanese poetry) piece,

Shizukesaya Iwanishimiiru Seminokoe by Basho Matsuo.

I had a day of direct experience touching Japanese traditional culture that is handed down generation to generation, and I could re-recognize the attraction of Japanese culture.

(Chihiro Abe, Japan)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

Interaction with U35 ExxonMobil Employees

[inspic=1126,right,fullscreen,250]Today became one of the most educational and fun days I have had during my World Campus – Japan experience. The day began with a briefing about ExxonMobil future plans pertaining to different sources of energy. This especially interested me because it took science and brought it to life for me. Afterward, we mingled and played team building games with ExxonMobil’s U35 employees (employees under the age of 35), in order exchange our different cultures represented in the room. I found that the company’s goal of trying to better develop their young employees to be inspiring. One of the lessons I learned from the team building games is that to solve common problems, we need time, teamwork and motivation. As global citizens, we should try to apply the skills we learned on a global scale to solve some of the world’s issues. Networking and bonding with the ExxonMobil employees is quite a rare opportunity and I am really happy to have been a part of it.

(Raymon Cheng, USA)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Mito City

Visit to a Senior Citizens Home

[inspic=1100,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1099,right,fullscreen,400]Sakura Sakura ya yo Ino Sora-wami watasu kagiri…
The lyrics seem to regularly echo in my mind. It evokes my memory of the day when we visited Wateri-suzuran-en, a remarkable senior citizen center in Mito city.

It was my first encounter with Japanese senior citizens. At the beginning, I was worried about the event and a perfect day wasn’t really what I was thinking about. But today, World Campus International members received a good opportunity for a special visit at the Watari-suzuran-en, where we met some fabulous senior ladies and gentleｍen．

The day was awesome: from Origami to Calligraphy, from singing Sakura to performing Ganbare Nippon for them．At the end of the day, the wonderful lady seated in a wheelchair moved to the center of the room. With her best effort, she sincerely attempted to read a thank you letter, moving us to tears. We all felt so wonderful when the day was done, and I just felt like this whole world of friendship and possibilities have been opened up to us. That was the moment when I realize that the people in Watari-suzuran-en won a place in our hearts.

One Love.

(Aruminingsih, Indonesia)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Mito City

Sports Day with Mito Host Families

[inspic=1098,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1096,right,fullscreen,400]I got out of bed after only 2 hours of sleeping so today, I was really tired. But also I was so happy with many exciting and interesting activities with my team and host family. I hiked around Shizen no ie in Mito city for a prize. Even though we were the last group to arrive at the finish line, it was really fun and a great time to get to know the other team members. After that, I had a wonderful lunch with team members on the lawn and then I played soccer with kids who were really energetic. It was a very memorable time for me and I want to thank all the people who gave me such a great time today!

(Sangjun Shin, South Korea)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Mito City

A Day of Fun and Learning in Mito City

[inspic=1092,right,fullscreen,250]Today, World Campus – Japan members along with the Mito City LOC, host families, and members of the community in the Furesia Center in Mito City enjoyed a day of fun and learning. “Furesia” is a combination of the Japanese characters for ‘interaction’ and ‘happiness’, and today’s activities matched that sentiment. The morning started with a presentation on the art of flower making using carved and peeled radishes. Three gentlemen from the Committee for the Preservation of Radish Flower Making demonstrated their skills by making three different flowers for everyone to see. Radish Flower Making is a Japanese tradition going back 150 years, and it was wonderful to see this beautiful art and also to know that this committee is working hard to keep the tradition alive in Japan.

[inspic=1094,right,fullscreen,400]Afterwards, WCI members got together with host families and community members to learn and participate in Japanese style arts and sports, including pottery, washie, fukiya and shodou. All of our sensei’s were masters of their craft and very helpful to us all. We had a lot of fun while learning so much about Japanese culture, and spending time with the community. The day ended with a fantastic demonstration of Japanese drum dancing, and we even were able to wear costumes and participate in the dance! WCI then thanked the Furesia Center and all the participants by performing a medley of songs. All the WCI members hope that through these songs, we were able to convey our appreciation for such a wonderful day. Thank you to everyone!!

(Meghan Kutz, U.S.A.)