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City Life, Mito City

Comprehensive review of July 26: Hitachi Corporation visit

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We started our second day of World Campus International early, arriving at 7:45 at Keimei High School, in Mito, Ibaraki. We left immediately for the Hitachi Corporation, located nearby, where we were met with a smile and a stern policy against photography on the premises. In the effort of preserving memories, we immediately broke the only rule we knew, and took a group photograph on a particularly special staircase, reserved only for workers who have recently retired from Hitachi. After a quick ride up the adjoining escalator, we all simultaneously retired from our short-lived careers at the technology company. If these traditions are to be believed, I can only assume Hitachi has an unusually high turnover for its employees.

To begin our official goodbye tour of the complex, we were shown an informational video about the bullet we dodged by quitting when we did. The technology presented to us was daunting and impressive, and between comprehensive facility tours, and inspired question-answer-style forums, I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that nobody really knows all of the secrets that Hitachi Corporation holds. All I know is that it’s beyond my grasp of science and human cooperation. Upon boarding the bus to bring us back to Keimei, we left with heavy eyes and tearful hearts, and returned to our home base with commemorative pens. I assume our final paychecks are in the mail.

After we situated ourselves in the meeting room/dance hall we had overthrown earlier this week, we tested Juuso’s patience, and his ability to rip paper in half, as we spent half an hour meticulously smudging the handwriting on roughly thirty Thank You-cards, all while pretending to write our own names on them. To our dismay, only one card was smudged, but luckily Juuso stepped his game up and kindly ripped a second one for us out of the kindness of his heart. We then changed into our knock-arounds, and practiced our dancing and singing for the Arigato event coming up. Whitney took some personal initiative and kindly volunteered me to sing a solo in one of our songs. My gratitude is palpable, I’m sure. As far as the dancing goes, Juuso says we’ve improving, but I think he might just be getting tired of ripping things in half.

My time spent at home consisted largely of a trip across the neighborhood to a local bookstore with my host brothers. On our way there, we stopped at the Mito Art complex, and took an elevator to the top of its 100-meter tower. The tower was quirky and fascinating, with windows on every side, granting an unobstructed view of the area for miles in every direction. It was a unique and worthy experience, and I genuinely don’t have any jokes to say about my time there. With that, Mito Art Tower is likely the least-funny place in Ibaraki.

Dinner was special tonight. My host family treated me to a night out at a Japanese restaurant, offering me the authentic Japanese experience that any red-blooded American otaku would die for. I couldn’t understand much of what they were saying to the waitress, but in no time I was bombarded with a plethora of foods. Everything from chicken livers to shrimp sashimi and kimchi came flying through the door. Dishes began piling on the table. The waitress had extra help just for carrying plates and bowls into the room. It was after the third or fourth course that I began to wonder if this wasn’t some sort of ritualistic food sacrifice to the white American demon. I had happily filled up on chicken and fish and egg, and yet the food kept coming. After a cartoonishly large stack of plates had been carried away, the American demon had been sated. Sorry about all the rain recently; it’s kinda my responsibility to return the favor.

Overall, my day was exciting and developmental. I look forward more every day to what strange experience Japan and the World Campus International team have to offer us moving forward.

Jack Malban (USA)

Arao City, City Life, City Theme Activities, Omuta City

A busy school day in Arao

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I went to the elementary school today. A little interaction, some fear probably is what I thought. I’m a whole different kind of person compared to a Japanese person so it’s hard to tell how Japanese kids will react. When we were sitting and the kids started to file in, I realized that our audience was a whole lot bigger than I had imagined. They also were all small and cute.

When we performed the Japan medley we usually perform at the Arigatou events, the kids reacted so strongly it was hard not to put my all into it. When we did the bread song, “alele”, Thomas had a fun time instructing the kids, and they matched his enthusiasm. It was fun to see their reactions and see them sing along with the songs we prepared. When we finished and we were left with just the 6th graders, it was fun to meet all of them and hear their reaction to our countries. The kids were a little shocked that American football stadiums are so big. One kid even knew the Golden Gate Bridge. It was kind of hard to talk fast about the country, sign our names and give them a sticker.

After we did that game with the 6th graders, we visited classes. It is so hard to say what class I liked most because all of the kids were so sweet and friendly. In the 1st grade class, we made paper snowflakes, which I was so relieved because I’m horrible at origami. The kids gave us their snowflakes as a present – so cute! However, as we went through 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade, I realized this was the case for all of these classes. They gave us little presents like pictures or origami animals. I had them all sign one so I could try to remember their adorable generosity in the future.

Sitting in the classes with four other people with you is much less intimidating. Plus, all the kids – plus the teachers – were super, super nice. I had lunch with Juuso (a WCI counselor) in 5th grade, and some of the girls were impressed with my multiple ear piercings and my heart tattoo. Even the 5th grade boys were willing to talk with me, which previously wasn’t really the case. It was nice to get to know them a little. Then, when we got to have free time with the kids outside or recess as we call it in the US, a lot of the kids wanted to play with us. One little 2nd grader grabbed my hand though, and led me around the large playground with a friend. They both chatted with me despite my broken Japanese, and gained other girls who joined the conversation of what Disney princess they liked and if I could understand Japanese or if they could understand English. When they said goodbye to me when the bell rang and ran towards the middle, they kept looking back so it made me want to run in with them and just stay. Maybe stay forever.

When I made it back to the library where we had breaks, we arranged ourselves to talk with the teachers. The teachers were all very nice and were super impressed with Juuso’s and Isak’s Japanese proficiency. It was a little funny because if Isak spoke Japanese, he translated what he just said into English for me. It was interesting to hear the discussion about diversity, English and bilingualism, how school systems work not only in Japan but also the U.S., Sweden and Finland, and learn a little more about the teachers who help mold those sweet kids into fully functioning members of society. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, and I was very tempted to volunteer as an ALT for free. I hope that everyone from WCI gets to experience this kind of school.

Whitney Herbert (USA)