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Welcome back to our Japan travellers

Welcome back to our students and staff from their Japan Study Tour 2019. Students recount some of their time below:

Departure date was 6 April. 12 people left and 12 people came back! At 4:30am we said our goodbyes and left. Heading towards a future of uncertainty. A trip full of surprises.

Arriving in Japan at 7:30pm. The air was full of curiosity and excitement. The first priority was food. While us girls tried to get in the spirit of Japan all the boys went to McDonald’s. We caught a bus to Kyoto tower hotel where we would spend the next 3 nights.

The 2nd day was a full day. We went to ginkakuji. We saw the first cherry blossoms of the trip. We tried to then go to the nijo-castle but ended up going to the imperial palace. We ate lunch and talked. We then got a little lost on the way to the tea ceremony, but got there in the end and way before time. We learnt all about the traditional way of making tea. We then took the long way home and bonded on the train.

The 3rd day we were in Osaka. First we went to Osaka castle. We climbed up what felt like 6000 steps. Then had an amazing view. We had oknomiarky for lunch which was cooked in front of us. We went to a shopping arcade for the last part of the day.

The 4th day. We went to Nara the first capital of Japan. And Oh dear. There was an abnormal amount of deer! We went and saw the big indoor Buddha. We then took the slow way home on the train. In this time we folded paper cranes for the next day and had a Salesian good night. A salesian good night is basicly bonding time and reflecting time just as Don Bosco dud with his boys in Italy. This was our last night in Kyoto.

5th day of the 2019 Japan trip was sad. We took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima. We went to peace park when we got there. The peace park is a place dedicated to keeping peace and educating people about the after effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The stories told in the museum really tell the warning of not keeping peace. The sadness and respectfulness that flooded the group was very prominent. We hung up our cranes and looked for tea. We experienced something different for tea. Ramen, which we ordered from a vending machine. We then floated lanterns down a river to represent the keeping of peace. This also was the setting for our Salesian goodnight.
That night, and next, we stayed at the Grand intelligence hotel.

The 6th day was our day in nature. We went to Miyajima island. Itsukushi shrine was the first stop of the day. There was a Torii in the middle of the water. We then went up a chair lift and went on 3hr bush walk. This day was full of walking and shopping.

Day 7 was was the first day visit to our sister Japanese school Shizuoka Salseio Collehe. The staff and students welcomed us with open arms. We had an assembly and a tour around school. 7 of us went to host families. Most of the houses were western style houses with a Japanese touch.

“It was fun but also took us out of our comfort zones.” – Alyssa G

Day 8 was our day at the school. Most people spent 5 – 20min getting to school. “I spent 1 hour on a tran but went straight passed Mt Fuji.” – Isabelle S.

After a class of lecturing or games we then took part in a Japanese calligraphy class. Then we went on a tour. We saw spectacular views of Mt Fuji and a temple of the first shogun.

Day 9 was fun. We spent the first part of Sunday with our respective host families. We did activities including: Going to cherry blossom celebrations, going to the beach, arts and crafts and going to temples and shrines. We then farewelled our friends and caught the bullet train to Tokyo. Once in Tokyo we sang some karaoke. We stayed at the Shiba park hotel.

Day 10 – the day at Disney! We spent from 11:00am – 10:00pm at Disney. The favourite rides from the group were space mountain, star tour and haunted house. The fireworks at the end of the day were cancelled due to weather conditions, but it was still an amazing Day!

Day 11 last day in Tokyo. We went to Meji Shrine. Then we went shopping. We split up at the end of the day as some of us wanted to go shopping and some wanted to go up Tokyo tower which was amazing. You could really see how big Tokyo really is. We then went to the airport via monorail to catch an overnight flight back to Sydney.

Day 12. Frustrating. Our flight from Sydney got delayed due to technical issues with the plane so we missed the flight to Hobart. We waited 5 hours in Melbourne airport but finally got on our plane to Tassie.

The trip was full of fun and surprises. Thank you Casni sensai and Allan sensai.

We will always remember the tour, the great learning that took place and the life long friendships that have been formed.