I was very tried when it came to my last day in Japan! I had a significant amount of homework to complete for another course. I went out for breakfast at a waffle place we pasted every day towards the subway. I went back to the hotel and did some assignments. I went out shopping with some of the girls for a couple of hours. We did come across a shrine in the middle of the city. This shrine is special because after you wash your hand and drink you throw water on the shrine which feds the moss. After shopping, I continued to work on tasks until our last dinner. Almost everyone meets for the final group dinner. This was a great time to reflect on the trip.

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We went back to the same elementary school today. I felt significantly more comfortable today than the first day. I think it was because I was more prepared to expect from the school day and the kids. I enjoyed reading and play Heads up seven up. I read “Actually Size” that had a large picture of the actual size of different animals. The kids enjoyed the noise of movement of the animals in the book. I should have started with animal noises. We need some help from a translator to explain the rules and directions of the game to the kids. Emily and I try to explain in English were going to take all day. The kids caught on to the game very quickly and seemed to enjoy the game.

At second grade, I read “Rainbow fish” they had already been introduced to the book, so I think they were able to follow along with the book. After the books, the kids asked us questions about food, drinks, and sports. It was great to see what the kids want to know about us! During lunch, I ate with a third-grade class. I was able to show them where on the map I lived. I tried to explain how large America was compared to Japan. It was shocking to the kids that we don’t have pools in our schools and that most people have dogs.

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Today was the last day of our time in elementary school! It was very bittersweet. I had a fantastic day making origami with a first-grade class. It was great to see classmates helping each other fold the paper correctly. They worked together very well for being so young! They made sure I was following along and having fun, which was very sweet. I wish I would have been able to stay longer in this class, but the schedule for today was very tight. Afterward, we all spun our origami discs, and I videoed taped it and showed them which they loved watching the video.

After origami, I got to attempt Japanese calligraphy. I was very excited to try. I am not sure what makes calligraphy “good” or “bad.” I loved working with the lady trying to improve my letters. Most of the kids hate taking a calligraphy class. They find it very dull and challenging. Some of the students take lessons outside of school for calligraphy. There is competition for calligraphy. They have calligraphy in the school’s schedule because it is so vital to the Japanese culture. This was so interesting because, in the states, we do not have a class that is so important to our culture. It was so sad saying goodbye to the kids that I have gotten so close over the past couple of days.

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Today we started at the county elementary school. I didn’t know that teachers office and desks were all in the same room as an office. That is very different from how teachers have their rooms. I enjoyed being able to float from class to class and grade level. It was very helpful to have a translator who was very knowledgeable about that certain school. I was pretty terrified about have lunch with the students without a translator. Watching how the students set up the lunches was very overwhelming. The students knew the setup and step very well and very efficient about getting lunch set up and cleaned up. The teacher didn’t have to see the process over as much as I thought they would have. It was very difficult at first. I should have eaten all my lunch because I had to go somewhere else to throw it away. This was very different from the states were we have a whole staff and room set aside for lunch.

Afterward, a small group of girls showed me around the school. Communication became much more manageable as time went on. The girls showed me how they did their classroom jobs of cleaning up the classroom. Watching the kids clean up the classroom, I realized how it was so very different from how kids clean their classroom in the states. I think kids respect how they treat the environment around them.

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Today we went and visited pre-K/kindergarten, elementary, and middle school/high school. Overall the schools were very similar to our schools in the states. The Pre-k and kindergarten were different by the fact that they were so open. The kids got to chose wether they wanted to play inside or outside. Outside they had a massive garden that the kids planted and took care of the plants. They had many animals that the children were responsible for feeding and cleaning up after. I saw the children take care of some turtles. They were very glad to help take care of the turtles and show off the eggs the turtles had laid — elementary schools were different by how the teachers were tasked with activities like gym, music, and art. In the State, we have a separate art teacher, gym teacher, and music teacher. I did not like the fact that the teachers had to teach all these subjects. If I were in their shoes, it would be very difficult to teach music and gym. I loved the fact that the elementary school was so proud of their mini pony. This would be so great to bring to schools in America. In middle and high school is was very similar. It was very odd to see English being taught as a second language. It was also interesting to see the language translations that the kids had.

It was very cool to see all the different level schools in Japan. I was surprised to see how much space all the schools had despite being in a very populated area. I am very excited to see how the elementary school in the county compares to urban schools.

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For our free day, a small group decided to go to Tokyo. We were able to use transit without many problems. When we arrived in Tokyo, we headed over to the SkyTree Tower. It is the tallest tower in the world! The view was very different than the tower in Kyoto. It was somewhat cloudy and foggy so we could not see mountain Fuji. It was still early in the morning, and it was not very busy yet. By the time we got done with the sky tree, we head to get some lunch. There were so many people! I have never been in a city so large and don’t have much to compare it to. People were polite, but ever direction you look more and more people appeared! We ate at a food court, which was not that different than food courts in the States. We walked the crossing and went to shops close by.

This was a very crowded day, and I am very glad I went, but I don’t foresee me ever wanted to go back to Tokyo. It turns out I am not a city girl!
For our free day, a small group decided to go to Tokyo. We were able to use transit without many problems. When we arrived in Tokyo, we headed over to the SkyTree Tower. It is the tallest tower in the world! The view was very different than the tower in Kyoto. It was rather cloudy and foggy so we could not see mountain Fuji. It was still early in the morning, and it was not very busy yet. By the time we got done with the sky tree, we head to get some lunch. There were so many people! I have never been in a city so large and don’t have much to compare it to. People were polite, but ever direction you look more and more people appeared! We ate at a food court, which was not that different than food courts in the States. We walked the crossing and went to shops close by.

This was a very crowded day, and I am very glad I went, but I don’t foresee me ever wanted to go back to Tokyo. It turns out I am not a city girl!

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The garden in Kurashiki was terrific! The trees and flowers were very different than the gardens in the USA. It was wonderful to taste the green tea leaves that were grown in that garden. I didn’t expect the garden to grow and use their tea leaves. I could have spent the whole day there! A large amount of Koi was unlike anything I had previously seen.

A culture difference that I learned that Japan does not name the number one parks or gardens in the country. They have the top three but not a number 1, 2, or 3. I found this to be a very nice change from the USA because in the states it seems like everything is number 1 of something. This year alone I think I saw 20 #1 movie this year. It was nice that the country supports many gardens or parks.

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We took a ferry to Miyajima to see the shrine. This was very different from other shrines because it was far into the water that you could walk to in low tide. The buildings surrounding the shrine was different from other shrines because most of those were not accompanied by such a large building. After viewing the shrine, I took a rail card up to the top of the mountain. I was surprised to see shrines at the top of the mountain.

We returned to Hiroshima mid-afternoon to visit two school museums. These elementary schools museums affected how I understood the effects of the bomb. Children were just sitting in school in the morning when it would turn out to be their last day. Children returned to school soon after the bombing to regain some of a normal life. The stories of parents not being able ever to find their children and children never finding their parents were unbelievable. It was amazing how they were able to uncover what was written on the walls to help find family members.

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We started the day in Shiroyama. We went to Matsuyama Castle, which is a different style of the castle then Nijo Castle. Matsuyama is closer to what I was expecting when I thought of a castle. It still had some differences than other castles like the steep steps and the windows and style of some of the rooms. Next, we went to Ninomaru Historic Site Garden on the next hill over. This garden was my favorite. The gardens were very different than the gardens I have seen in the USA. This garden had a lot of stones and stone gravel instead of grass like USA gardens.

After that, we traveled by boat to get to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This museum was unlike any other museum I have been to. I was deeply affected emotionally by the museum. The artwork by the survivors took my breath away to be able to see what they had gone through. After this museum, I do not understand why we have nuclear weapons. That kind of power should not be held in humanity.

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Traveling to Uchiko was a significant change of pace from the very crowd busy city! This city had a low population and was in the country. My favorite thing about this city was able to tour traditional Japanese homes. I loved being able to see how their house differed so much from our homes in the USA. I was unable to get a real feel of how houses felt like by the castle.

My favorite part of the trip was brave enough to experience an onsen. There is nothing close to comparison like this in the USA. Separated by gender, you take off all your clothes rise yourself and enter the water. The water was so therapeutic. I was very sore and ached but after I felt like a new person! All my muscle felt great! I could not compare this experience to anything because it was so different from anything I have ever done!

The biggest difference I saw between the city vs. country was how the people reacted to us. In the city, we were just another fish in a giant school of fish. In the city, they were so happy to see us! They waved and greeted us and didn’t just run into people. The lady running the restaurant were we ate lunch was so fun and welcoming to us despite there being a language divide.

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