back to SF

helloooooooooo its toyomi!
i know our trip is over, but i just wanted to upload some pictures we took for the last few days!
ive been to japan at least 5 times, but this trip has been the most memoriable and the best trip ive had!
thank you sensei for taking us everywhere and planning this whole trip.
and thanks to everyone who went on this trip!
this trip would have not been this great if you guys werent there.

RINAAAAAA i know youre reading this.
ahahahaha thank you for spending time with us!
it was soooooo fun seeing you!
disneyland was a funnnn!!!
weeeeeeeeeee


sensei! thank you for letting rina and rie stay with us for the last 3 days!!
osewa ni narimashita


i know this is a random post, but yeah enjoy hahaha

FINAL DAY

Hello all, this is Hadrian. Sadly our time in Japan is drawing close to an end. Honestly, the feeling didn't hit me until I had started packing for tomorrow's flight back to San Francisco. Everyday was surprising and entertaining. There was so much one could possibly do on this trip, and only two and a half weeks to do it.

Everyday I learned something new about this country and myself. Everyday I had fun and garnered memories. Everyday I was shocked, surprised and astounded at what this tiny island nation had to offer to a tourist [sorry miami]. Everyday I got lost, only barely managing to make it back to my nights accommodations through a bizarre mix of luck, and my embarrassingly broken japanese.

From the mean streets of Asakusa to the quiet countryside of Miyazaki, there was so much to see, do and experience. One things for sure, the experience of trying to translate the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" into japanese for a middle-aged housewife is one I'll never forget. And this is just my own experience. When you next see whoever you've been following this blog for, be sure to ask them as much about this trip as you can.

And so, with a suitcase full of gifts and souvenirs, and exactly 390 yen to my name, I bid good night to Japan one last time.

Roppongi hills and our penultimate day

Hello all you blog followers [or at least followers of this blog], this is Hadrian talking about how everyone spent what is close to our final day here in japan.

Because of the freedom many people went to see different parts of Tokyo today. One of the reasons we had today free of itinerary was that Steven was staying with his uncle overnight and couldn't join us for most of the day. And he wasn't the only meeting up with friends in japan. Today, many of the girls went out and had lots of fun Karoke-ing with new or old friends who they will have difficulty seeing again very soon. Although apparently close to each other on a map, the U.S. and Japan are separated by an ocean which is much vaster than you'd expect. Especially when it is keeping us from loved ones.

I also met with close Japanese tomodachi [friends], and we had a great time. My old friend Toshifumi and his mother, having lived their lives in Mito found Tokyo as new to them as it was to me. However that didn't stop us from seeing as much as we could. We revisited old spots that our group had seen earlier [Shibuya, Akihabara] to give them a more thorough tourist investigation.

Finally, when the stars came out, the whole group met up again to gaze at the view from beautiful Roppongi Hills. A mixed media/residential shopping area, Roppongi Hills is reminiscent of San Francisco's Sea Cliff-an escape from the bustle of the city for the wealthy and well-off.

In Roppongi Hills we went to the top of the Mori Tower on the 52nd floor to get a sky-side view of Tokyo. Tokyo at night, from that height, was breath-taking, wondrous, and captivating to say the least. Although photos were difficult in the dim lighting, the memories of that view will easily last me a lifetime. A fitting end to one of our last days on this amazing trip.

The Nakahara Experience

Hello again everyone! This is Steven Ichikawa here again to give a rundown on our Japan trip! Today I am going to talk about my stay with the Nakahara Family (Mom, Dad, Ryosuke, Sayo, Daichi, and Naoto). First of all I wanna say that I am glad to write this blog because I had a really great time and if anyone else had half the experience I did then they would be elated.

Okay so after I went home to their home, I was welcomed with open arms and full plates of food. It was my first time eating Shabu Shabu and it was delicious. After we watched Tonari no Totoro which is a pretty popular anime movie. To wrap up the night we had cake bought from Chopin Patisserie. Best blueberry cheescake in awhile.

In the morning we had a pretty traditional Japanese breakfast consisting of rice, miso shiro, bacon, fish, and salad. Nothing beats homemade haha. During the early afternoon I attended Ryosuke, Sayo, Daichi, and Naoto`s gymnastics practice. I was really amazed at how athletic they are. The flipping, rolling, jumping they were doing is like stuff you see on TV. Very impressive, really. After, we had Ramen at Jyuu Hachi Ban. It was also delicious. Notice a pattern with the delicious foods here haha? Afterwards, we went to a few malls to spend quality time and well, buy stuff. Upon returning home I had a warm bath and intend to fall asleep rather quickly.

Now that I gave a quick breakdown of the weekend, I wanna talk about how surprised I was at how nice and awesome this family is and how beautiful Miyazaki really is. When i heard we were visiting the countryside the firzt thing I thought was `Red Necks.` I was completely wrong. The area is surrounded by beautiful nature everywhere. It wasn`t just flat plains, there are mountains, waterfalls, forests, etc. Like Japanese Lord of the Rings, yeah? Anyway about the Nakahara family, everyone is THE BESSSSTTTTTT. Mommy and Daddy are definitely parents of the year material and mu little siblings are so cute OY MHY GOD! And then Ryosuke is chill too plus he can flip and stuff and he`s ripped as hell, no joke. Definitely a great and memorable time. The family paid my way for basically everything and they loaded me with gifts. Words really can`t express what a great and close knit family they are.

To conclude I just wanna talk about the impact of Japanese pop culture. Some of you may have heard of Arashi, a popular Japanese singing group. Now I like Arashi, but I didn`t realize how much of an impact they had on the youth and even the older generations here. You know if you can make a 7 year old boy cry and have a whole family know lyrics to your songs that you are really really really famous haha.

Okay that`s all for now, just wanna give a quick shoutout to the Nakahara family, I love you guys and THANNKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah. Till next time, be easy people!

-Steven.

A message from Sensei

Today (July 24) and tomorrow, you are spending time with your host family. I hope you are having a wonderful time together with your family. Ms. Lem and I went out with administrators and teachers of Miyakonojo-nishi High School tonight. They treated us so well, and we had lots of talks. Unfortunately, the next trip in November from Miyakonojo-nishi HS will be the last visit to George Washington High School. Due to numerous difficulties, they needed to review their trip, which I understood totally. However, we all hope that you will continue corresponding with your new friends from Miyakonojo-nishi HS for a long time and maintain a life-time friendship with them.

This morning, I rented a bicycle to visit local tourist attractions in Miyakonojo. On the way to the attractions, I had many opportunities to meet local residents of Miyakonojo. I've never felt so close so warm to meet people like I had today. I believe that people in Miyakonojo have such an open and warm mind. Unlike big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, people here are extremely friendly and kind to others. I do think that you felt the same way with your host family. Please enjoy your time with them and continue your friendship with your host student and his/her family for a long time.

Visiting Miyakonojo became my highlight for this trip. Meeting students and teachers of Miyakonojo-nishi as well as residents of Miyakonojo made me feel so good and proud as Japanese.

Thank you all for giving me this opportunity.

sensei

Tonishi HigH ~

Hey guys. This is Dexter Chen. I have already graduated from George Washington High School so whoever is reading this, enjoy your high school life!

Today is July 23. Sensei woke us up at 7A.M sharp T.T We all went to got ready and packed our stuff. Everyone met up at the lobby around 7:30 and we all screamed "itadakimasu" before we starting eating. They served rice, soup, eggs, some veggie and some meat. I didn't eat much because it was still early.

After breakfast, we all went to our room and got our stuff. We all a mini meeting at the room where we all met before night we stayed at the youth center. After that, we got on the bus and had a 45 ~ mintue ride to the school to meet our host students.

When we arrived, we met the principle and the vice principle and some other staffs of Tonishi. They welcomed us like VIP guests. Their welcomes were really friendly because everyone seemed like they were really eager of meeting us. Then, we all went to this room in second floor and we had our introduction and presentation there. The Wash students sang the song "Lean on Me" while the Tonishi students sang their school songs and the theme song of One Piece. I was really nervous in the beginning, but the butterfly started to disappear when my host students showed me how friendly they were.

After lunch, all the Wash students got to experience what it means to do "souji" at school. I was so amazed when I saw the japanese students cooperating together as they cleaned their homeroom. After souji, our host students showed us around. I can't really tell if Wash is bigger or not because they have many clubs here that we don't have back at Wash.

When we all met up again, all the Wash students went to the calligraphy class and experienced what calligraphy really is. It is actually way harder than it seems. Kanji has never been a problem to me, but when I tried the calligraphy, I felt like I didn't know kanji anymore. It was my first time and it was really fun ^.^

Around 5:30, we all went back to the room on second floor and waited for our host family to come. I can see that everyone had a nervous look on their face (including myself). My mind was blanked the whole time! Good thing my host family is really nice, I was able to go home with them while carrying on easy conversations.

My host family's house is 30 ~ mintues away from Tonishi. They all welcomed with and bow when they saw me entered the house. They showed me my room. Kazuki (my host) took me to his room to chat while the family perpared for dinner! So Far So Good =P

Miyazaki!

We first started our amazing and memorable day by waking up at 6:30 in the morning. Trust me, waking up early is tough for teenagers. After struggling to wake up we headed to Osaka airport to catch the flight to Miyazaki. We landed in Miyazaki airport after almost an hour.

First thing that comes to our mind when we walked out of the airport was "HAWAII!!!!!". The sunny weather, palm trees, and the amazing beach proved me right. We took a mini bus tour around Miyazaki. We first went to the temple near the beach. I cannot recall the name of the temple but i am pretty sure it was a temple where you pray for your love ones. Well, since i don't have a love one, i pray for my family. =)

" Hi CaRmEn & TrAcy!!! (my sisters) I am Cherry!! If you are reading this ~~ then you know that i am having a really fun time in Japan!! Don't worry about me!! I can take care of myself!!I LOVE you guys!!!!" Okay so back to my AWESOME day. We went to this really famous waterfall in Miyazaki. We all wanted to cross the bridge to get a closer look of the waterfall. Unfortunately, due to rainy weathers we cannot go today. *sad face...=(

During break time Toyomi, Liz, Jennifer (LaLa), and I got the famous Angelica Keiske ice cream. *umm.... taste so GoOd!!! (It's a kind or plant ... i think.... well that's what sensei told me) Carmen played safe and got the mango flavor. Michelle, the one always searching for adventures got the shrimp flavor ice cream. You guys should really try it!! It taste so funny that every time i took a bite, I laughed.(yes... i was stealing ice cream from Michelle... yes... yes...) What happened to the other people? Well, Jen, Yuki, and Hadrian went down the long stairs to explore around. I envy them because they still have the energy to walk around under this HOT HOT weather. Dexter??? As always, he wander somewhere that no one knew where he went. (haha)

We arrived at the Miyazaki Youth Camp at around 4 o'clock. We were immediately greeted by the staffs. They gave us an orientation which lasted for about half an hour. (Rules) * So many rules....><''' we have to turn off our lights by 10 and the air conditioners will turn off by itself at 11... *sad face =( but they taught us how to fold futons... so i guess that's alright.

Guys and girls are split into two building...

Ok ... i am in a hurry right now.. i'll finish this later... BYE