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訪問地, 地域学習, 東京都多摩市

Keisen University visit

Keisen University visit

Day of activity: August 6th 2014

This day half of the participants went to Keisen University. It is a women’s only university, and it’s also a Christian (protestant) university. First we went to see a field next to the university where the students were growing different types of crop. We then went to the school church, where we got an explanation about the university. Among other things, the university focused on Christianity, peace and agriculture. It was explained that every student got a small part of the field we had seen as a freshman of the university, and they were responsible for the crop in that area. This was a very new to me, and I found it to be very interesting. Afterwards, we went to make dango with the students. Dango is a strange, squishy, Japanese sweet made from rice flour. As there were also Korean and Chinese exchange students at the university, we also ate a lot of Korean and Chinese sweets that were brought to us. There were all kinds of varieties that I had never seen before, but most of it was really good. We had a fun time with the students, speaking in a mix of Japanese and English. In the end it was a great day and I think most of us made some new friends!

Joakim Gåsøy (Norway)

千葉県我孫子市, 訪問地, 地域学習, 東京都多摩市

Travel Day and the National Diet

Travel Day and the National Diet

Day of activity: August 5th 2014

Hello readers!
Today we had lots of farewells and meetings.
In the morning, we said good-bye to our host families in Abiko, and it was really hard to part from them. We learned about Abiko city and had lots of awesome time with local people. Although I am Japanese, I was also able to learn about Japanese culture that I had never experienced, such as “Shakyo (copying of sutras)”, Kaiawase (a Heian period game which involved pairing the two parts of clamshells)” and so on. The nine days we spent with our host family have become an unforgettable memory of our lives.

After saying good-bye to our host families, we moved to the last city of session four, Tama. On the way to Tama, we went to the national diet building. I often see the exterior of the building and its inside on TV, but it’s the first time for me to see it with my own eyes. I was surprised and the magnificence of the sight took my breath away. The area of the site is 103,001 square meters, so it is such an imposing building!

We entered the building and we looked down into the central hall. The central entrance usually remains closed, but beyond the central entrance lies the central hall, which is located directly under the central tower. The hall has a floor area of about 267 square meters, and the cathedral-like ceiling rises four stories high, admitting daylight from above, making the hall about 32 meters high. The windows and ceiling are decorated with beautiful stained glass, and the hall contains bronze statues of Hirobumi Ito (the first prime minister). Then we saw the emperor’s room which was used by his majesty the emperor when he visited the Diet. The room is made entirely of Japanese cypress finished with fine lacquer and is said to be the quintessence of the architecture and craftsmanship of that era. I was surprised at the red carpet, which has a total length of about 4 kilometers. After that, we entered the chamber of the House of Representatives. In this chamber, the house of representatives holds its plenary sittings. We sat down and got an explanation about the chamber. It was a good opportunity to learn about the Japanese politics system.

We left there and then went on our way to Tama city! Here we met with the final host families!

Mari (Japan)

熊本県荒尾市, 訪問地, 地域学習

Chuou Elementary School

Chuou Elementary School

Chuou Elementary School

Day of activity: June 23rd

On the last day of the first session we visited Chuou Elementary School. The school took the opportunity of us coming to the school to let the children practice their English. The conversations we had with the children were simple, but I think it was great that the children could use some English and some children really made an effort to communicate with us, I hope the children learned a lot this day!

During the discussion time with the teachers later that day we talked about the Japanese school system and that of various other countries. The teachers were interested to know more about our countries and they shared their knowledge with us. It was a great opportunity for us to have time to talk with the teachers.

At the end of the day we had to say goodbye to five of the participants because their World Campus experience had sadly come to an end. I am really going to miss them and I hope I will see them again someday, maybe in Japan!

Iris Spruit (The Netherlands)