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City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

Arigato Event in Toride

Group picture with host families in Toride
Group picture with host families in Toride

This was the day of our first Arigato Event for this session and for most of the participants. Although we trained really hard at the beginning of the week, it was still quite hard during the rehearsals.

But before that we started with Hiro explaining us the theories of traveling to other countries and the culture shock and adaptations. I found this to be very interesting.

After that we first walked through the program of the Arigato Event. What would happen, where do I stand, how much noise I’m supposed to make, etc. Also, after lunch we spent a lot of time rehearsing this together with our performances. Near the end of the rehearsals everyone spent some time on practicing their weak points or helping others with theirs.

Our performances as a group consisted of 2 songs, one of which we sang multi-lingually, a trivia and a word quiz – in which every country had two questions on both subjects and the audience has to guess, or know, the right answer – and a dance medley consisting of four shortened versions of famous Japanese songs, one of them being girls only and the other one a boys only dance. Other than that, some people also did something extra, like a cultural performance.

Before the official Arigato Event started we demonstrated what we learned on Tuesday with the Japanese cultural experience activity. The audience really seemed to enjoy it and the Arigato Event as well, even though it continued ‘till past 8 o’clock. Their enjoyment made me really happy and made all the hard work of last week really feel like it was worth the effort.

Bonus Story: After lunch we had free time. Previously we were told to not leave the building or the area, at least during small breaks, by one of the counselors. During the break when I was with a few other people on the parking lot catching ‘em all we saw that counselor and some others go to the konbini. We decided to follow and buy some ice cream, but when we came back, right on time, it turned out we were not actually supposed to do that. But considering it was a misunderstanding and everyone was back on time, it turned out okay and no permanent harm was done. You shouldn’t follow our example though.

Sabine Boom, The Netherlands

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

Exploration of old established stores

Pickle shop in Toride
Pickle shop in Toride

Today was an interesting day here in Toride, as the WCI group were to explore some old established stores, hear about their interesting trade and then make some PR material for them.

In the morning we started out as usual with our morning meeting, where we were quickly briefed about the stores. Then we took off into the burning morning sun. Although it was a short walk to the first store, there was still need for sunscreen and hats. The first shop we went to was Shinroku’s Narazuke shop. Narazuke are traditional Japanese pickles made from fruits and vegetables and only with natural ingredients. The process includes the fresh vegetables and fruits being pickled with sake lees, which is a by-product from sake production, salt and sugar. This procedure was shown to us at the factory, which was extremely interesting. We also got to pray to the god who protects the production and shop at a small shrine in the backyard. To top everything off, we went back in to have some taste tests of pickled ginger, white melon and eggplant. The reaction was varied amongst the participants, but personally I found it quite nice, even though I would prefer it as part of a meal.

After the visit at the pickle shop, we went to a shop specialized in making traditional items for festivals. The whole store was filled with traditional paper lanterns, fans and handmade dolls. The owner and maker of the dolls and lanterns showed us different videos of the process of making said things. It was very interesting to see, as we don’t have anything quite like that back in Denmark. We also took a group photo that was later put on fans and given to us as a present from the owner.

After the visit to the shops, we went back to have lunch, which today was Japanese curry with fried pork cutlet. When everyone was done eating, we proceeded to the next event of the day, which was to visit an old, well-preserved house in Toride. The house was about 200 years old and looks almost exactly as it did back then. We had a guided tour around the building and were surprised to hear that not a single nail had been used in the making of the house. All the beams and pillars that support the house had instead been carved to fit into each other like a giant jigsaw puzzle. This was but one of the many unusual and interesting facts we were told about the building.

The last scheduled event of the day was making of PR material for the shops we visited earlier and the old house. We were divided into three groups, where my own group was in charge of the pickle shop. All groups where then given paper to make a pamphlet. We decided on a design that included both history of the shop, the process of making pickles and our own testimonials. As mascots, Stella from Greece drew some happy vegetables and fruits dancing around in sake lees, salt and sugar. It all came out nicely, if I should say so myself.

All in all it was another great and eventful day here in Toride.

Anne Kathrine Lilholt, Denmark

City Life, City Theme Activities, Isehara City

Summer festival in Isehara

Three samurais preparing for the festival in Isehara
Three samurais preparing for the festival in Isehara

Today we in the World Campus – Japan program went to a summer festival. I had been looking forward to it ever since I had heard about it, and it ended being a bit different from what I had anticipated. Some of it was honestly a bit disappointing while it still ended up being a very fun and memorable day.

We started the day meeting up in a building at the street where the festival was going to be held. We had a meeting, going through what was going to happen during the day and what we were supposed to do. After this we got an assignment where we would get a piece of paper each that we would then pass around to the people around us and write down our honest thoughts of each other. After this we had lunch, a short break and then it was time to change into the kimono that each and everyone of us had gotten as a gift. I am a bit taller than most so the kimono did almost not fit me but I still liked it and the sandals we got were not terribly uncomfortable either, it was time for the festival to start.

We had tent at the festival were we worked in shifts. Before my shift started I took a look at festival with a few other friends. We did not have time to look at the whole festival (mostly because we got almost lost looking for an atm) but we did manage to buy something to drink and one of my friends played a game in which she won a balloon. (I did not understand the rules of that game)

Surprisingly, I enjoyed working at our tent more than I did the actual festival. The world campus tent was a café where you mostly got something to drink and then chatted with us participants. Me and my Swedish comrade talked with quite a few different people through our shifts, and I did enjoy all of it.

Other highlights from the festival would be the nagashi somen that almost run through the entire street. Nagashi somen is when you have several pieces of cut bamboo with water running through it. Somen noodles run with the water and you try to fish it up with chopsticks and eat it. I find really fun but I had already tried it and the line to get chopsticks was long so I ended up not participating in this event. There was also a troupe of samba dancers who regularly danced through the entire street and a bit more. I had not expected the samba dancers.

Once I had seen the whole festival, all the tents and such, I was a bit disappointed because there were mostly food stands and I could not find any interesting food. Nevertheless, the festival was ending and the last event was a sort of discoish dance that we learned on the spot and participated in. Part of why that was fun was because we danced in our kimono and sandals which made it all feel a bit more accomplishing. The dance was a surprisingly fun ending to what had been a surprisingly fun day although for me the kimono was the highlight of the day. I think the kimono is one of the best souvenirs I could have ever gotten on my own and I will surely remember this day if only for that.

Adam Olsson, Sweden

City Life, City Theme Activities, Isehara City

School visit to Oyama elementary school and Oyama Afuri Shrine

Andrea in front of the Afuri shrine
Andrea in front of the Afuri shrine

First activity day in Isehara! Today we first went to Oyama elementary school. At our arrival, we got some information about the school. The staff told us that their elementary school was quite small with few students, and that the kids were very excited to meet us. We were excited as well!

Meeting the kids was so much fun. The interaction started with the WCI participants doing country representations, telling the children some interesting facts about their home country. It seemed like the children enjoyed learning more about other cultures’ food, nature and traditions. After the presentations, the kids performed their school’s anthem for us. In my elementary school in Norway we never had a school anthem, so for me it was really special to see them sing. We then had the chance to interact directly with the students. Mingling with the kids, we introduced ourselves and interacted with them by signing papers with name and country.

Afterwards, we were introduced to spinning tops, often used by the children at the school. A spinning top is a toy designed to spin rapidly on the ground. Made mainly from wood, it is set in motion by a rope coiled around it. The children taught us how to play. I got the impression that most of the participants struggled to get the spinning top to remain balanced on the ground. The children, however, were so good at it! It was really entertaining to observe their spinning techniques, and maybe pick up some tips from them.

Our next activity with the children was to exchange introduction cards. In addition to name and country, we were supposed to write down our favorite word in our native languages. I picked the Norwegian word “pølse”, meaning “sausage” in English. My number one food! It was nice learning about the kids’ favorite word, as well as sharing my own. Towards the end of our visit the children taught us how to write our name in Japanese kanji, as well as our name’s meaning. Writing my name in kanji was a bit difficult, but still very fun to try.

After saying goodbye to the children, we went to a 200-year-old hotel for lunch. The meal consisted of tofu-based food. Apparently, the Oyama area is famous for its tofu. The food was very oishii! At the hotel, we also received traditional costumes for our visit to the Oyama Afuri Shrine. We took a cable car up to the shrine. The ride gave us an incredibly nice view of the landscape, and a closer look at the mysterious fog covering Oyama’s treetops.

The priest at temple let us take part in a cleansing ceremony, in which he played on a large drum and cleansed our souls. He then began telling us more about the history of Oyama and the shrine. Some of the participants were also lucky enough to try on some traditional priest clothing. Lastly, the priest gave us a tour through the beautiful shrine. Afterwards we had some free time to head into small shops near Mount Oyama, before the day ended with a wrap up meeting at the Support Center in Isehara.

All in all, today was a very fun day with lots of new experiences. I would like to thank the teachers and children at the school for letting us visit the Oyama elementary school, as well as the priest at the Oyama Afuri Shrine for sharing his knowledge. Arigatou gozaimashita!

Andrea Voldnes, Norway

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

Helping out at a Home for the Elderly

Playing games with the elderly in Uda
Playing games with the elderly in Uda

Today the WCI troop visited a Home for the Elderly in the morning and performed the Arigatou Event in the evening. First off was coordination as per the usual. Today we didn’t need to do very much organization since it was the second Arigatou Event and the Elderly weren’t demanding. After that we traveled to our first destination by bus. After we arrived we introduced ourselves to the old people and received a short explanation on what that facilities purpose was and such like. After the Introductions we were each seated next to a random old person. Followed by a game, in this game we received multiple choice questions on random topics such as “Where in Japan is the castle on this picture” or “How many Lakes are there in Finland”. In this game it basically ended up with my partner answering the questions on Japan and me the other questions. Together we scored 9/10, we did well. We talked as much as we could but sadly since we were limited to Japanese only the conversations were short, but very fun since it was funny trying to communicate and then having some success. I was surprised when one of the other participants told us about how his partner asked him the same questions a few times. I knew these things happen with old people, but having it really happen was quite a shock none the less. Just as we were leaving 2 of the elderly gave each of us a souvenir. One was an origami chain thing, and the other was a ball with a strange pattern woven into it. According to the explanation it takes 2 days to make one of these gifts. A short round of math would reveal that they each spent 2 and a half months making these gifts. Truly heartwarming. And when we were leaving they followed us partway out of the building, some in tears. This event was very short, not even half a day, but even an idiot could see that our visit was a moment that those cute elderly treasured dearly. And so even tho the game we played was a simple one, the time we spent was but a few hours and we went to the building for “yet another” round of meeting new people, the sincerity of the elderly touched all of our hearts and many of us left in Tears (of joy). A truly unforgettable experience.

After this we headed back to the Community Center to eat lunch which was prepared by the LOC, followed by preparations for the Arigatou Event. Both of these proceeded normally. Lunch was yet another Japanese something or other and the preparations were basically just practicing the dances and singing. The actual Arigatou Event itself however was a lot of fun. Personally I like to refer to it as a goodbye event, rather than a thank you event. Reason behind that is because it’s a lot of fun and it does the job of marking the end of the homestay very well. Today everything went very well. There were a few mistakes, however when my host-family and I were looking at the videos after the event the mistakes were actually a good thing since it gave us a good thing to laugh about.

Today was a very special day. Special because it was a very emotional day, this for multiple reasons, mainly the looks on the host-families faces and those of the old people. What was just another day in Japan for us was the highlight of the year to many of the people involved today. Being able to make people that happy truly moved many hearts in our group today. A signature on a “Thank you card” will never again be rushed by me. I feel very embarrassed when I think back to signing those 120 cards and thinking “what a pain” and rushing them. Today when looking around that facility I found a ball with the signatures of people from WCI on an obviously very important shelf.

Lastly I’d like to once again thank the host-families for their generosity for housing us. This Wonderful program can only exist thanks to you.

Griffiths Michael, English but living in Switzerland