Japan Trip
F
got about two-thirds the way to the top, the sheer
height of where that was, only two-thirds up, made
you wonder how it looks from the top, it made me
feel a little queasy just thinking about it.
During the days when we weren’t visiting schools,
we got to spend some great time with our host
families, so when the time came to say goodbye, it
was a difficult farewell for all of us. We all miss our
host families, we had great fun. Thank you all so
very much for your awesome hospitality. Also a big
thanks to Mrs Mikami and the organizers of the
AFS welcome party, that was a great chance to
talk with our host families, the other host families,
and for Alex, all of the High School girls.
Faculty
Cable TV station and looked around the internal
workings of a Japanese TV station. Later in our
visit some of the boys even got filmed by JCV to
star on a segment about our visit to Joetsu.
In Tokyo we also visited Shibuya which has the
busiest intersection in the world, the Imperial
Palace where we wandered the gardens and the
newly refurbished Tokyo Station near a beautiful
fountain park where we all wanted to swim
because it was so hot while we were in Japan.
We also checked out Ueno Park and the National
Museum of Tokyo and lots of the area around out
hotel.
Finally we have to extend yet another big thank
you to Mikami-san who organised kimono for
us to try on, we had a great time trying them
on and doing the tea ceremony and we all have
some great photos. All of these things (and so
much more) made our Joetsu stay an amazing
experience.
Tokyo
Off to Tokyo! The big city and capital of Japan. Tall
buildings rise above you on all sides, no matter
where you go. In saying that, the amount of shops
and restaurants is so huge that you don’t really
need to go far to find what you’re looking for.
So all the boys had a great time exploring and
shopping in our free time. First up was Sunshine
City and inside that was the Anime Theme park
that we were all looking forward to going to, they
had a whole load of merchandise, souvenirs and
wonderful foods to buy.
The next day was another full day of sightseeing,
this time to Asakusa Shrine, the Pokemon Centre
and Tokyo Tower. The shrine was at the end of a
street that’s about 300m long, packed the whole
way, on both sides, with little stores containing
everything from ice-cream to t-shirts. It took us
absolutely forever to reach the shrine, mostly
because of the sheer amount of people there, and
the infinite amount of distractions that the shops
provided. We were all given the mission to try a
weird flavour of ice-cream, so we all chose different flavours, from grape, to purple potato. All the
flavours were great, in their own unique way. The
shrine itself was also absolutely amazing, with the
artwork of a dragon painted into the ceiling. Every
shrine and temple we visited has been amazing.
Yet another great experience. We weren’t able
to go right to the top of Tokyo Tower, but we still
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We were luckily enough to be joined during out
stay in Tokyo by Minobu-sensei and Yasuyo-sensei (previous Japanese assistant teachers at SBC)
and by Hideki (an International student at SBC
in 2012). We all had the chance to be the tour
guide with help from Mrs Corcoran and became
confident about getting around this huge city.
On our last day, we visited Meiji Shrine, where a
wedding was going on! Before we left the shrine,
Minobu and Yasuyo wrote us a note to go on the
wall outside the shrine, along with the tens of
thousands of others before it, they wished a good
future for Saint Bernard’s and its students. After
this we headed to Harajuku for lunch. Harajuku is
a hub for young people in Tokyo and it was packed
as it usually is on a Sunday when young people
come out to hang out with their friends and
participate in CosPlay.
Then it was back to the hotel to pack and have
a good sleep before our long journey home. The
next morning we performed the school haka in
front of the hotel to farewell and thank Minobusensei and Yasuyo-sensei for helping us out.
Thanks
We have many people to thank. Firstly our parents
for all the time and effort and support they gave
us to be able to have this amazing trip. The assisting teachers and friends who joined us during the
trip. We really need to thank the community and
the Hutt Minoh Friendship House Trust for their
generous grant. Our host families and schools
were brilliant and we were blessed to have been
welcomed so warmly by them all. Finally, this
trip has been a great experience
for us all, so a big thanks to Mrs
Corcoran for that!
Luke Vallance
or the first time, I was in the
privileged position of being
invited on SBC’s 2013 trip to
Japan. Although there were
so many amazing experiences I wish
I could share, time (and space on
these pages) don’t allow for it. But
what will stay with me forever is the
culture and the people of this spectacular country.
As a trained French teacher who has lived
and worked in France, Japan had never
been on my radar given my background.
Yet, being Kiwi-born with Māori and
Pacifica heritage, Japan’s culture definitely
resonated strongly with me. The locals
wave goodbye to you until they see you
no more. Workers cleaning the trains will
stand on platforms and wave goodbye to
you as your train departs. They will bow
in almost any situation; whether it’s the
train guards before checking tickets, the
till worker at McDonalds, in shops, in their
cars to other drivers, and even on the
phone to each other!
In Japan everything has its place. People
queue nicely. Trains are serenely quiet
even when packed. The streets are clean.
This respect and structure also permeates
Japanese classrooms, where I found
students to be so quiet that most lessons
reminded me more of university lecture
theatres than secondary school classrooms! At the end of their day, Japanese
students even clean their own schools, by
sweeping classroom floors and emptying
bins, such a foreign concept to any Kiwi
school kid!
In short, I ended my trip in the firm belief
that every Westerner should visit Japan at
least once. In my case, I hope I can visit
there again one day. Before leaving New
Zealand, I thought Japan was outside my
comfort zone. In terms of the language, it
definitely was. But in every other aspect,
it was simply a country to be savoured.
My gratitude goes to every single student
who supported me in various ways during
the trip. Thanks also to all of the parents
for your hard work preparing these boys
from behind the scenes, and finally to
Manu and Anna-Marie – without your
support I would have simply
been stumped. Peace be with
all of you.
Mr William Daveis
St Bernard’s College 2013