Japan Trip
On our journey to Japan we experienced
everything from pop-culture Pokemon
to sightseeing shrines, samurai & sushi
The group consisted of Year 12’s Richard Awatere, Luke Vallance and Jordan Hall, Year 11’s
Alex Nelson, William Matheson, Aaron Marshall
and Year 10 Regan Gilmour. The trip was lead by
the Japanese teacher Manu Corcoran, and was
assisted by the French teacher William Daveis
and Anna-Marie Dickinson the school Chaplain.
Getting There
Not such an interesting part of the trip, I know,
but, our tired eyes made it to the meeting at
school at 4.30am. We left for Wellington Airport,
where we loaded up on coffee to keep us going
for a little bit. From there we flew to Christchurch,
and then to Kansai Airport (in Osaka) via
Singapore. The flights were long and hard, but
they were full of expectant conversation of what
was to come in Japan, some movie watching,
and naturally, a whole lot of sleep.
Hiroshima
We arrived here after landing in Osaka and
taking the train. Hiroshima is quite a big city,
separated by the six channels of the Oota
River. Our first day in Japan we visited the
Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park, which is an
absolutely beautiful and solemn place. Many
memorials have been put up and there is even
a ‘Peace Bell’ which anyone can ring. It can be
heard throughout the whole park. After looking
around the park we visited the Memorial Peace
Museum, which is in the Peace Park. It contains
various artefacts salvaged from the wreckage
that the atomic bomb caused, along with various
pictures, letters and notes drawn and written
by survivors. It was both an educational and a
humbling experience for all of us.
Our accommodation, a traditional Japanese Inn,
was definitely an entirely new thing to all of us.
St Bernard’s College 2013
We slept on futons, which are thin mattress-like
beds that are laid out on the floor, despite their
looks, they are oh so comfortable. But the only
way of washing yourself, was to go into a bath
that is public to all occupants of the hotel, and
meant to allow up to four people to wash at once.
So, the boys and I, determined to have privacy,
tried to time our bath turns so that we could all
wash alone, we succeeded, much to our relief.
Just a boat trip away from Hiroshima was a
small island called Miyajima where a beautiful,
old shrine is still very much alive and running. It
made for some beautiful photos and some of us
bought good luck charms especially for exams
which were just around the corner. The beautiful
buildings are home to monks, and the island is
teeming with deer, big insects and boasts a huge
marketplace
Kyoto
We only had two days in Kyoto, but both were
packed full of sightseeing and a lot of fun. We
checked in at another Japanese Inn - this one is
run by Buddhist monks from the nearby temple.
We went to visit the Nishi Honganji temple, which
was absolutely beautiful, both the architecture
and the scenery. Going to temples like this
calmed us down, and made us feel at peace.
That night, much to our excitement, we were off
to ‘Sweets of Ninja’, a ninja-themed, buffet style
restaurant. The food was amazing, with a mix of
Japanese and Western foods that had you struggling to choose what to eat. The staff were, of
course, dressed accordingly to the ninja theme,
which we all found entertaining. After dinner we
all went running around in the dark chasing clues
in a Ninja maze. A fun night out.
The next day we were off to an amazing
theme-park, Eiga-mura which is also a film set
for jidaigeki films featuring Samurai. There were
a tonne of shops, food stalls, and awesome
activities. It was great; all the boys were busy
bu