Student reflections of the Japanese Exchange

Emilia Manship:

 I really did the love the Japanese exchange. It was a great experience, I think we got a really good feel for the diversity of Japan( modern/traditional). It has always been my dream to go to Japan. 

Josh Wilson:

 I personally found the Japanese exchange to be a wondrous and enlightening experience, I personally found Hiroshima to be the best day in terms of culture; this is tied with Nikko!

McKenzie Collins: 

This trip will definitely be one of my fondest memories. Although Akihabara was one of, if not the favourite day of mine due to my prior desire to visit it, Nikko Edo Wonderland was surprisingly good. For someone with only knowledge of the modern part of Japan, exploring its past was far more interesting than expected. The atmosphere in Nikko (and generally everywhere, but Nikko in particular) was relaxing and the people were very kind.

Both Mr. Bulmer and Miss Horsfall did a great job of organising and adapting to our needs and desires, to the point where I'm sure it was incredibly frustrating. A huge thank you to them both, and to Mrs. Watanabe for assisting with the preparation and translation.

Debby Stockill:

I have enjoyed my visit to Japan. We have seen examples of both modern, and old-fashioned Japan. My favourite part modern Japan was going to sega world, because we were able experience rides,technology and machines that you wouldn't get in our country, because we are not as far forward in technology as Japan is.

My favourite part of old Japan was visiting the little village in Nikko, because the houses had so much detail and they looked incredibly, stunningly beautiful. Thank you to Mr Bulmer and Miss Horsfall for putting up with me for 10 days.

Thank you to Mrs. Watanabe for helping to organise the activities on the trip, and thank you to the amazing and entertaining Ishigami high school students and teachers.

Josh Breeze: 

I have enjoyed my time in Japan. I especially liked the days in Hiroshima and Nikko, I liked this the best as it showed us the culture side of Japan that has survived so long. I also enjoyed our time in Tokyo, this showed us the modern side of Japan. Thank you to Mr Bulmer, Miss Horsfall and Mrs Watanabe.

Ollie Bennett: 

I have enjoyed my time in Japan. My favourite part of Japan was the electric city and the visit to Hiroshima. We learnt lots about the Japanese culture. Thank you to Mrs. Watanabe for teaching me some basic Japanese and helping to plan the trip and I would also like to thank Mr Bulmer Miss Horsfall for putting so much time and effort into the planning.

Brighdie Oliver: 

Personally, my favourite part of the trip was the visit to Nikko to see our exchanges. We had a traditional Japanese meal and received gifts from our over seas friends. We then got to experience the hot springs, this was possibly my favourite part of the trip because I got to just sit back and relax with my friends. I also really enjoyed our visit to all the traditional Japanese temples, despite having to remove my dr martens every few minutes. Overall the trip has been an amazing success and I couldn't have asked for anyone better to join me on this short adventure. 

Monet Page:

Japan has been amazing, it's something I'll never forget. There's a great balance between cultural and modern Japan, for example we visited lots of temples but we also went to Electric Town and Segaworld. I really enjoyed this trip, a huge part is making friends with the people you go with, I didn't know anyone who was going but when you spend 10 days with the same people you get close quickly. The food here was very different but enjoyable, it does take a few days to get used to it from English food. It's very relaxing here, quite laid back. Thanks so much to Miss Horsfall, Mr Bulmer and Mrs Watanabe for planning this amazing trip, it couldn't have been any better.

Holly Higlett: 

Japan has been a great experience and the different culture has been very interesting and I have learnt lots. The food was different but it was nice to try something new. I've made friends with people who I didn't know before and probably wouldn't have if I hadn't gone on this trip. This experience has been something I will never forget, it's been amazing. Thank you to everyone who's made this possible. 

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 10

Today we went to the Studio Ghibli museum and harajuku-the shopping district. 

In Studio Ghibli, there was an exhibition showing how they made the films, as well a short film (in Japanese no subtitles) entitled "Koro's big adventure"- this is a rough translation, since the title was in Japanese as well. This was all about a small dog who escaped the house and went looking for his owner, who had just gone to school. There were replicas of the Ghibli studios as well as a big cat bus that you could play in (6 downwards were only allowed in) there was a gift shop selling all sorts, as well.

In Harajuku, we were let loose on many shops for an hour and 22 minutes. But before that we had lunch at an Italian place. There were many shops there and you could tell it was a popular place as hoards of middle schoolers and High schoolers were there. In Harajuku I bought some anime socks, two cosplay outfits and some pikachu stuff.

Travelling on the plane!!- no surprise Ollie Bennett got another sponge bob activity kit.(by the suggestion of Mr.Bulmer)

Post by Emilia Manship

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 9

Today is the day we're heading off to the Electric Town - Akihabara! This is a visit that I personally was looking forward to a ton; it's a shame we didn't get more time here!

Upon entering the town, you're immediately swamped with bright, neon lights ('Tacky-habara' - Miss Horsfall) and masses of people. A group of us headed to Animate - a 7-floor store filled to the brim with anime and manga-related merchandise. After around 40 minutes we left the store, our arms weighed down with the bags we received and our wallets and purses feeling much lighter.

After another several minutes of rushing around and filling our arms with bags, we met up with the rest of the group. We then decided to each lunch at '@home', a maid café. After they welcomed us (their 'masters') we sat down and ordered. They brought us our drinks (a 'Magic Shaker' for myself) and asked us to 'imbue our drinks with magic power' by repeating their words.

'Moe moe!'

'Moe moe...'

'Kyun kyun!'

'Kyun kyun...'

'Waka waka!'

'Waka waka...?'

'Kira kira!'

'Kira kira!'

Of course, we had to do the same thing with our food as well, except this time we had to make a heart gesture with our hands.

'Moe, moe, kyuuuun!'

Then we took a picture with a maid of our choice - animal ears and paws were provided! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos ourselves. Mr. Bulmer looked great as a bunny...

To finish everything off, all the maids went to the stage at the front of the room... and they sang and danced for us. No, I'm not kidding. After printing our photos for us, we left the maid café, some looking more pleased than others.

Our next destination was Segaworld - Joypolis. This was much more than a huge arcade like I expected; there were rides so it was essentially an indoor theme park. According to those that went on the rides (which included a driving simulator and an indoor roller-coaster amongst others) they were very fun! We won a lot of tat merchandise from the claw machines, including figures and keychains!

We returned to the youth hostel to freshen ourselves up, then headed to a nearby restaurant for our final meal in Japan. With a hotplate in the center of our tables, we cooked the food we ordered ourselves!

Mr. Bulmer and Miss Horsfall presented us all with gifts that best showed our role on the trip:

Ultimate Life of the Party - Oliver Bennett - Spongebob keychain

Ultimate Poker Face - Holly Higlett - Pikachu facemask

Ultimate Pocky Consumer - Brighdie Oliver - Multiple boxes of Pocky

Ultimate Blogger - McKenzie Collins - 'I <3 Japan' T-shirt

Ultimate Jetlag Sufferer - Josh Wilson - Ninja sleep mask

Ultimate Tat Collector - Deborah Stockill - Sheep keychain

Ultimate Japanese Food Taster  - Josh Breeze - Sushi keychain

Ultimate Keychain Collector - Emilia-Rose Manship - Fox keychain

Ultimate Culture Embracer - Monet Page - Floral hair pin

Post by McKenzie Collins

Rossett Japanese Exchange - Day 8

We started our day with a relaxed easy morning. With a few hours to get ready we had the chance to pack our suitcases and go to the baths. We left the hostel in Kyoto at around ten and headed for the train station to catch another bullet train. During the three hour train journey we passed the famous Mount Fuji, all 3776 meters of it. It's overwhelming height and beauty blew us away. Despite only seeing it for a brief amount of time, it was certainly the highlight of the train journey. 

We arrived in Tokyo around two o'clock and decided to dump our heavy cases at the hostel we had stayed at just four nights earlier. After changing our clothes and recovering from the lengthy train journey we ventured out to the Tokyo Dome. This exciting shopping centre wasn't your average mall. It had roller coasters, a Ferris wheel, a bowling alley and a roller rink.

We decided to start with the large Ferris wheel, we split into groups of four and after taking a group photo we jumped into the carriages. After the nerve wrecking ride Mr Bulmer and Miss Horsfall bought us each a photo of the group from before the ride. We had a look at all the shops for a hour and then met up to go bowling. The bowling was great! We had an amazing time as a group and even though some scores were better than others we managed to peacefully continue our night with a meal at Bubba Gumps Shrimp. The Forrest Gump themed meal was both entertaining and delicious, despite being followed by a man sized shrimp for an uncomfortable amount of time. 

And after a series of shrimp related puns and enough food to feed an army we decided to take the train back to the hostel. Personally I enjoyed having a day off from the chaos of running around japan desperately seeking the right train and had a blast with my friends playing games and having fun.

Post by Brighdie Oliver

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 7

Today was an early start; we were awoken from our slumber at around 4:30 in the AM, or so I recall.
After sleeping on and off for one extra hour we woke up officially at 5:32 AM, I do believe the sound of distant alarms playing anime music; McKenzie's idea! 

We later went on to get washed, read and watch Monet being trapped in a cupboard by Oliver Bennett. At 6:30 everyone started to pour into the cafeteria for breakfast. We than had bank and got in a taxi to go to the train station.

After a three hour train ride we visited the A-bomb dome, the last surviving building which was bombed at the end of the war. a moving site with a powerful meaning. It was currently undergoing an inspection, so scaffolding was surrounding it. We also visited the shrine with names of all the deceased inside.

We visited the shrine dedicated to one of the child victims of the nuclear bombing. Oliver Bennett donated a crane.

After this we went to the Hiroshima nuclear bomb museum, which closely documented the events of the sixth of August 1945. 

 

We then went on a boat going to Miyajima island or the deer island - the clue's in the name. Miyajima island was great! We saw the famous water shrine and many free roaming deer, one of which stole my Hiroshima information booklet; after this we headed back to the station for tea. Then we headed home.

Post by Josh Wilson

Itinerary Changes and General Update

Hello everyone!

This post has two purposes. First of all, I apologise for the delay in uploading the blog posts. With busy days and poor internet connection, putting up a blog post complete with pictures and videos proved to be a harder task than initially thought. Don't worry, since all the daily blog posts will be eventually posted.

The days on the posts are incorrectly numbered due to the itinerary's first day not being counted. Please look for the Day 1 blog post for the itinerary's second day, the Day 2 post for the third day and so on. I apologise for any confusion this may have caused.

The second purpose of this post is to inform everyone of the changes in the itinerary. The plan for the trip as written on the information booklet has been changed. I will outline the changes that have been made below for convenience:

Travel - Sunday 8th February - Meet at airport at 11am

Day 1 - Monday 9th February - Arrive at youth hostel at 7pm

Day 2 - Tuesday 10th February - Leave for Nikko at 10am, meeting with Ishigami High School students at 5pm for a traditional meal and welcome ceremony
Many of our exchange students had exams and were unable to meet us in Nikko.

Day 3 - Wednesday 11th February - Explore Nikko with Ishigami students, visiting Nikko Edo Wonderland. Travel back to Tokyo by 4pm

Day 4 - Thursday 12th February - Sightsee around Tokyo, including Asakusa, Shinjuku Tower, the East Imperial Gardens and the 'Memory Lane' market.
Akihabara (the Electric Town) has been rescheduled to a later date and the Sony Building visit cancelled.

Day 5 - Friday 13th February - Travel to Kyoto at 8:30am, arriving at around 11:30am. Travel to the Utano Youth Hostel, then to Nishiki Market for lunch. Travel to the Kiyomisu-dera Hill Temple, sightsee, then return to the youth hostel.

Day 6 - Saturday 14th February - Travel to the Golden Temple. Eat lunch at Nishiki Market then travel to Nijo Castle. Eat at restaurant and return to the hostel.
The Nara visit, including the Todai-Ji Temple, has been cancelled.

Day 7 - Sunday 15th February - Travel to Hiroshima at 7am, visiting the A-Bomb dome and the museum. Take a boat to Miyajima Islamd at 12:30pm, sightseeing until taking a train back to Kyoto at 6pm.

Day 8 - Monday 16th February - Travel to Tokyo at 10am, arriving at the youth hostel. Visit the Tokyo Dome, bowling and eating before returning to the hostel.
The planned activities for this day were moved to Day 6 - Saturday 14th February.

Day 9 - Tuesday 17th February - Travel to Akihabara (Electric Town) at 10am, shopping until lunch at a maid café at 12:30pm. Travel to Daiba, and visit the Joypolis arcade/theme park. Eat at restaurant near the youth hostel.
The activity planned by the students was changed to Akihabara.

Day 10 - Wednesday 18th February - Shop at mall near youth hostel, travelling to Studio Ghibli at 12pm. Eat nearby, shop nearby, return to hostel to collect baggage and travel to Narita Airport to return home.

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 6

Today we woke up, had breakfast at Utano youth hostel and took a packed bus from the youth hostel to the golden temple. 

We then went to Nishiki market and had lunch there - it was a traditional Japanese meal. 

We then looked round the market for a bit before we got a bus and a train to Nijo castle. 

We spent an hour there and then got a bus to a restaurant for tea, for tea we all had many different meals; varying from sausages and cheese to noodles with egg. The nice people there left a special Valentine's message for us!

We finally got a bus back to the hostel and went to bed. 

Post by Holly Higlett

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 5

This is the fifth day of the exchange and today we set off for Kyoto.

We woke up early today, around 7 o'clock to pack our bags for Kyoto. We went up for a breakfast which was a mix of Japanese and English food like usual. At about 8:40 we set off for the train station, called Idabashi, where we caught 2 local trains, one to Ochanomizu and one to Tokyo station.

After that we caught a bullet train to Kyoto, which took us 3 hours, people took this chance to go on their iPads, read a book or sleep. During our train journey we experienced our first bad weather, SNOW!

When we arrived at Kyoto we had a very long taxi ride to our the Utano youth hostel. It has an ancient Japan style and is very nice. We then caught the bus to the nishiki market for some food. We all went to search for food in groups, Ollie, Josh and Breezey had a quail sausage.

After that we had an uphill walk to a hill temple, it was very impressive. We got some cool pictures of the city below and Brighdie, Monet and Holly joined a Shinto ritual.
 

Blog post by Josh Breeze

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 4

Today we went site-seeing around Tokyo. We were shown around by our tour guide David.

For lunch, David took us to a sushi bar. In the sushi bar, the food came round on a conveyer belt and you took of the food you wanted.

Places visited:
East imperial gardens
Asakusa
Shijuki tower
Memory lane

We had a sample of green tea in Asakusa.

We ate our evening meal at a restaurant in Tokyo. Then we went back to the hostel. 

This is a picture of a famous clock designed by a famous animation designer from Studio Ghibli. It only performs 5 times a day, we were lucky enough to catch it performing.

 

This is a pine tree that we saw in the gardens. It is 300 years old.

This is the green tea we had in Asakusa. 

  

These buildings we saw in Tokyo were designed by a French architect. The building on the left resembles a beer glass, and the right building resembles the Olympic Torch.

Interesting fact:
There are more vending machines in Japan than people in Scotland.

Blogpost done by Debby Stockill:) 

Rossett and Ishigami Student Speeches

Upon meeting with the Ishigami High School students in Nikko, we did a little introduction. Unfortunately, a lot of our exchange students had exams so they couldn't be there!

Here are our introductions:

The Ishigami High School students also introduced themselves!

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 3

It's day 3 on the Japanese exchange.

Today we woke up in the the Nikko Green Hotel and had traditional breakfast with the Ishigami students. It was interesting to see what the Japanese eat and being able to attempt using chopsticks.

Once we finished breakfast we headed on to the coach and drove to a traditional part of Nikko full of temples where we had a tour of its history and culture. It was interesting to see the different styles of building and compare them to ones in Tokyo and England.
 

After this we went to Nikko Edo Wonderland which showed you what life in the Edo period of Japan.In Edo Wonderland there where lots of things to do for example go see the ninja show which Ollie,Josh,Breezey and Shiki really enjoyed, you could go to a ramen cafe and have lunch,throw shrunken (ninja stars),have a go at Japanese archery or walk round the museum.

Post by Ollie Bennett

Rossett Japan Exchange - Day 2

So today was the second day in Japan, we spent most of the day travelling. We started out by having our first breakfast in Tokyo at the hostel then we went shopping for lunch where I got many things such as strawberry kitkats, green tea pocky and rose flavoured chewing gum.

We travelled from Tokyo to Nikko over four trains. We started out on a train that took us two stops. Then, when we reached the final station we got the bullet train, we had to wait around for a while whilst we got our train passes which are a bit like a passport but for trains. Then we went on the bullet train where we played a classic game of go fish. We arrived in Nikko after two more trains and met our students then went to our hotel.

The hotel we stayed in was beautiful! It was a traditional Japanese style hotel with futons to sleep on. We found yukata (traditional robes) in the wardrobe which we all put on, then shortly after went to the hot springs. 

The hot springs are basically a pool of really hot water, there were two, one inside, one outside. Then we went to a welcome dinner with our exchange students after exchanging gifts. We were treated to an amazing dinner filled with sushi, noodles and a variety of other different but really tasty dishes. Both schools performed, we did Roar by Katy Perry in Japanese. Then we did karaoke.

Post by Monet Page

Rossett Japan Exchange - Travel and Day 1

It's finally the day we're setting off! We said goodbye to our friends, our families and our surroundings and headed to Manchester Airport to meet at 11am.

Unfortunately, there weren't any plug sockets or WiFi on the flight... They had movies and Tetris, though!
Ollie got mistaken for a small child by the hostesses, and was given a set of SpongeBob children's colouring books and merchandise. He seemed happy. Food was provided in the form of penne pasta and chicken. Taking into account the normal taste of airplane food, it was quite good!

After a somewhat entertaining 6-hour flight, we arrived in Doha, near-immediately boarding our next flight to Tokyo (leaving a few minutes for a toilet and internet break, of course!)
The view of the lights brightening the night sky above Doha was beautiful...

This plane was much more well-equipped (though it still didn't have WiFi). The USB sockets provided were loose, so I had to engineer a fix, using the elastic on the sleep masks provided to hold the USB in place.

The food this time was a Japanese meal, including a sushi roll and deep-fried mackerel. Although very tasty, it showed us how inexperienced we were at using chopsticks!

Oh, and Ollie got another SpongeBob set. This time, Josh got one as well.

After the very long 9-hour flight, we finally arrived in Tokyo. It's a weird experience, spending your entire day on a plane.

We travelled to the youth hostel that we are staying at by coach. Japan looks really pretty at night!

Once at the hostel, we set our bags down and headed out for some food. Since everything is so different, most of us went to McDonalds... Ollie, Josh and Breezey went to a traditional restaurant, but were escorted out by the manager. Perhaps children weren't allowed in?

We went back to the hostel, played a few card games and headed to bed. Having not had much sleep on the plane, most of us were very tired.

Blog post by McKenzie Collins

For general updates about the Japanese Club at Rossett, check out gorossettjapan.blogspot.com!