This Saturday started with a morning meeting. Our 4th counsellor was finally able to join us starting today, because he first had some exams to finish. After the introductions and meeting finished, we once again started our practice for the Arigatou Event under the guidance of Maki-chan, well-loved by the returning participants.
Because World Campus International / World Campus – Japan celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, we have a lot of dances, more than usual. One of the songs we’ll be singing in in Japanese as well, so we need a lot of practice, so we can show our host families a great Arigatou Event! After having gone over the Arigatou Event for this week, we left for another destination, the local Shorinji Kenpo dojo.
At this dojo, we would get to experience Shorinji Kenpo, but not before we had some lunch: curry made for us by the parents of the children who train there. During lunch, we had a chance to chat with the children a bit. Once everyone finished eating we cleaned up and got to hear a presentation about Shorinji Kenpo and its history. The founder of this martial art wanted to create a way of living in which you improve both yourself and those around you, and together with his knowledge of martial arts he created Shorinji Kenpo. After the presentation, we also got a demonstration from both the children and the teachers. Even some of the very young kids were really good. Finally, we could also practice some of the moves, with the children who train at the dojo.
All in all, it was a great day and although we ended quite early, we moved around a lot, so everyone was a bit tired.
Sabine Boom (The Netherlands)
