Category Archives: Host Families

City Life, City Theme Activities, Host Families, Toride City

Host family day in Toride

Day of activity: July 26th 2015

Today I went with my host family, the Ishikawas, for the Tokyo tower where there was a One Piece event. I went with my host mother Hitomi, and then we met up with the daughter Chiemi. Together we entered a dark hallway with interactive pages from the manga, lots of amazing statues of the characters, and cool obstacle courses- such as: Usopp’s slingshot challenge, Naomi’s casino, and lots of even cooler stuff. There was even a live show and animation only available there. We had a lot of fun together! We took lots of pictures and really bonded. At one point I lost my ticket in there and couldn’t do the obstacle courses, but the staff quickly fixed it and gave me a substitute. Since I’m a vegetarian, the host family even asked the restaurant we ate at if they had something for me, and fixed the food for me. We also visited a temple, saw part of a ceremony there, and the ringing of the bell!
My absolutely amazing host family brought me with them and showed me an amazing time. Truly, I was happy.

Brage Wik Reien (Norway)

Arao City, City Life, City Theme Activities, Host Families

Host family day in Arao

host family day in Arao

host family day in Arao

Day of activity: June 22nd 2014

For our host family day in Arao, my room mate and I went to Yanegawa with our host family. Yanegawa is famous for it’s beautiful river, and we had the pleasure of being able to ride a guided tour through the river. Although the guide was speaking in Japanese, which is not one of my strong sides, the ride was still very much entertaining. The guide was throwing jokes, singing us songs, and was welcoming enough to let us try to steer the boat, something that turned out to be incredibly difficult. The view of the river was fantastic – there was beautiful trees and flowers along the rivers edge, the river itself was filled with turtles, and the air was full of butterflies. Every now and then, our boat had to go beneath a bridge, however the water level of the river was very high due to the rainy season, so we all had to take cover to avoid our heads from hitting the bridges. In the evening we went to a restaurant where we enjoyed unagi (grilled eel). It was, like most Japanese food, very delicious. The day was all great fun, and I’m very glad I got to experience this with my host family!

Joakim (Norway)

Abiko City, City Life, City Theme Activities, Host Families

Host Family Day in Abiko 2013




Day of activity: 2013 August 4th

We’ve arrived in Abiko (Chiba prefecture), just yesterday, and today it’s host family day. I’m used to past sessions were you got to spend more time with your host family and getting to know them before spending a whole day with them, but oh well.

We began our day by going to a place called J-World, or that is what I think, because I can’t read Japanese. I’m in a host family with Masahiro, which makes it somewhat easier to understand. J-World turned out to be a mini-indoor theme park in the upper floors of the mall, aimed at children’s anime. It was fun but short, because we had other things planned that today.

The next place we went is a retired luxury liner, though I can’t remember the name. We were allowed in to look at all the rooms, diners, and even look at the captain’s room. It was all fairly interesting and they even had explanations of parts of the boat in English.

After looking through the boat we walked to a shopping area close by and looked through the different shops. It was not really exciting, but there still were some nice things to look through.

When we were done shopping, we headed out for the Chinatown of Japan (or at least, that was what I understood). We ate a restaurant, and even though the food was good and there was plenty of it, my highlight was the jasmine tea. It’s rare that I really enjoy the taste rather than just simply drinking it.

When we were full, we drove back home. There, my host father suggested that we could go to an onsen (public bath) close by. It was a good way to end the day. After going through two sessions, and knowing how an onsen revives my body, it will be a good way to start off this new session.

Michael Bock (USA)

City Life, Host Families, Kumamoto City

Host family day in Kumamoto City


On the second host family day of the second session, Oda (from Norway), the Hamada family and I went to visit the Kumamoto castle. It was so beautiful! Apparently they had just renovated certain areas, which attracted many tourists. The view from the top floor was incredible; it was really interesting to see how one side of Kumamoto was a concrete jungle, and the opposite side was entirely covered in trees. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and exploring the castle.

After a 30-minute drive we arrived at the Aeon shopping mall, and it was huge! We didn’t have the time to see everything, but after a nice bowl of ramen and a few cute shops we went home to take a rest. It was really hot outside, so by the afternoon everyone was a bit exhausted.


Later in the evening, after dinner, a friend of the family came by with a surprise; she used to be a Yukata-teacher, an thus she wanted to teach Oda and me how to wear Yukata. We chose our Yukata and helped each other in putting them on correctly. Once we were all dressed up our host family told us we could keep the Yukata as a gift; so generous!

We then went to eat some midnight icecream, which was a bit hard dressed in a Yukata, since it’s quite tight and heavy. But it was really nice, and altogether this day was a lot of fun.


I really love host family days because you get to know each other better. You finally get to know the people you’re staying with, and they get to know their guest. Especially when you go shopping you learn what everyone likes or dislikes. We had a great time with the Hamada family, and hopefully we’ll see each other next year!

Deyanira Velasquez-de Beer (The Netherlands)

Arao City, City Life, Host Families

Host family day in Arao


The last day in Arao was host family day, whish, as the name implies, is a day you spend with your host family. I think it’s a great day, because you really get to bond with your host family. In Arao I stayed with the Hatao family, who also host me last year. We went to Miyazaki, which is three to four hours to the south-east of Arao by car. My oldest host sister, Yuri, had motor cross training there (she is super cool!). It was up on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, which I thought was pretty awesome. We actually drove there in the family’s bus, which sometimes seemed too big for the narrow road we were driving on.


After that, we drove a little more, to a shrine called Udojingu. The place was huge, with several temples close to the sea. It was amazingly beautiful. We made wished by throwing a special kind of stone onto a turtle-shaped rock. I wished for the health of my host father, who, even though he was pretty sick that day, drove us all the way there and back again.


We ended our trip by eating some delicious food at a restaurant where we were given homemade gifts by the lady who owned the place. I was sad that I had to leave them the next day, but I had a wonderful last day with them in Miyazaki, and we parted with promises to meet each other again next year.

Maria (Norway)