Day 5: Craft day! Samurai Keychain, Rice bowl painting and grilling rice crackers

Craft day!  

9-11am Visit  the Samurai armor factory and  made samurai chest plate keychains

11:30-1pm Eat at “kura sushi” (conveyor belt sushi). 

1:30-2pm Make osenbei

3:30-4:30pm Painting our own Japanese rice bowl.

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Lilah: It was super interesting taking so many different trains and walking around Japan, there's a lot of cool differences like how many people ride bikes! The Kura sushi was also delicious, I ate so much!!

Isabella: Making the samurai keychains was a little difficult but still found it really interesting. I LOVED Kura sushi. I had so much food for less money than at home. The quality was really good and I tried a lot of new dishes raw squid nirigiri.

Ben: Making the samurai keychains was awesome! Also, the tempura was super good at the sushi restaurant. Although, I may gave eaten way too much.

Chai: The Samurai making place was very cool to see! Everything was high quality and well made, but very expensive too. The Kura Sushi place was really fun and we ate way too much. We won some nice prizes and ordered some great food. I hope to do something like this again soon!

Bodhi: Making the keychains was fun but a little hard, but the end result was really worth it! Afterwards, we walked around Japan for a while and it was long but fun aswell. Kura sushi was a lot of fun and super filling for really cheap.

Kael: We went to a samurai factory and made a cool a key chain. We had to use the train system to get there. Then we went to a sushi restaurant and ate a lot.

Jianna: The work and craftsmanship behind the samurai keychains and armor was incredible, after trying to make them myself I could really appreciate how hard it is. The sushi was also delicious and especially the tempura and salmon roe was delectable! 

Emma: I loved taking the train and walking places together! The samurai keychains were hard but so fun to make and see finished in the end. The kura sushi was so fun and yummy!!

Txuj Ci: Making the keychains was very interesting and it looked really good even though mine is a little lopsided. Afterward we went to Kura Sushi which was cool and there were so many options! I personally really liked the Shrimp Tempura and Crab Croquette.

Mason: Today has been super fun! I really enjoyed seeing all of the Samurai armor, and getting to see more Japanese culture. Making the keychains was a lot of fun and mine turned out pretty good with some help. Kuru Kuru Sushi is the greatest thing that has happened to restaurants ever; so much good food for such a good price.

Karson: It was so much fun! I was looking forward to making the samurai Keychain for so long and it lived up to my expectations! I also was able to buy a card holder which I'm looking forward to using. The sushi place was very nice. I had lots of cake and tempura because I don't like sushi, but it they had lots of other stuff which was a relief!

Eric: The samurai keychains were kind of hard but they look really pretty! Kuru Sushi was super tasty too and we won the gacha at our table too! I also got a Kirby gacha capsule which was cool too!

Day 4: Middle School Visit

  Today we went to Katsushika Junior High School. 

8:30-8:50 Homeroom: we went to our assigned homeroom class

8:50 Help the 6th grade English class

9:50 Visit other classes (English, Math, Science,Tech ed etc)

10:50 Try Japanese calligraphy

11: 50 Learn how to play koto instrument

12:40-13:40  We had our Japanese school lunch!

13:45 Perform our group presentation

14:30 Clean the classroom

14:50-15:00 Homeroom

Karson: It was so much fun, I got to help the kids learn English! The teacher threw a ball and student who caught the ball was asked questions and we had to answer them in English or Japanese, which was kind of hard. After that I got to watch the students learn linguistics. It seemed very hard but I was surprised I was able to understand a little of it. It seems like they were breaking sentences down into parts and labeling them! Then we got to do calligraphy and I wrote my name in Kanji.

Kael: We sang some songs with the principal of the school and then we try the Japanese guitar (koto), it was fun. We ate lunch with the students, it was crazy. Then we presented to a classroom about our hometown. After that we helped clean the school with the kids.

Lilah: I had a lot of fun coming to the school!  The students were all very sweet and eager to talk and interact. They were so organized it was very weird coming from the US to this, the lunch was very good and I was surprised at the amount of differences there were!

Eric: I enjoyed getting to sitting in on the classes and getting to eat with the students. I got to play catch with some of them outside and it thought eating lunch was really fun. Overall the whole day was super fun!!

Isabella: We spent the day going through the motions of a middle schooler in Japan, and it was super unique! From seeing the behavioral differences to academic, everything was really interesting. We also got to play the Koto and do Japanese calligraphy.

Emma: Today we went to a middle school where we got to go to various classes! I got to hangout with lots of students and had so much fun! The lunch was very interesting and delicious, and the classes were super fun!!

Chai: Meeting the middle schoolers were interesting for today! They were lively and asked interesting questions! Doing the classes like Calligraphy was nice to be able to take something nice home.

Bodhi: I had so much fun at the school today. The people in my homeroom loved talking to me and during lunchtime I really bonded with them. Playing the koto and singing with everyone was so fun. The food was delicious, especially after winning Rock Paper Scissors for a second serving of fish.

Ben: Coming to the middle school was so cool! Everyone was super nice, and were so excited when I drew for them. They also had a ton of questions about me and where I was from.

Txuj Ci: It was very awkward trying to initiate conversation at first, but all the people were very friendly! The most memorable parts were learning how to play the koto and calligraphy. It was super fun, and I even got to take a picture with everyone.

Saphira: I really liked my homeroom! There was another student who recently moved to Japan from Africa and she knew English well. Even though the other students didn’t know much English yet, they would still try to communicate with me!

Day 3: With Hostfamily - Sunday

Bodhi: Most of the day was spent with the others at the rice fields. We planted rice, which was super muddy, and then ate some nice food including somen, which you had to catch as it washed down in bamboo. After lunch, we went on a walk and was able to see the beauty of the Japanese country side.

Lilah: Today, my host family took me to wear  kimonos with them and walk around town, we bought things like ice cream and souvenirs! We then went to the Chikawa store and then visited my host family's relatives! It was very fun!

Eric: This morning I watched my host family's son in his soccer game and then went with my host mom to the Kasukabe High School cultural festival where we watched the brass band and enjoyed the festivities. We then made Takoyaki together and went to an arcade to play table tennis. Then we went to the host family's grandparent's house where I got to play the Koto.

Jianna: Went to ramen shop. and tried "Natto" for breakfast!

Saphira: This morning I went rice planting and afterwards we had somen, and others peoples families brought some food as well my mom made kara-age for the party, I had so much fun and the food was yummy! Then when I went back home my house was hiring a birthday party for my mom’s friend who just turned 50. She has a Korean friend that made Tteokbokki for us and they also made Takoyaki but unfortunately I missed it :( But it’s okay! Because I also got to try on a Yukata today and it was so beautiful :3c

Isabella: In the morning we went to go plant rice paddies and it was super fun yet dirty!! We saw tons of cool bugs and even crayfish. At the rice paddy area, we had a potluck and it was really fun having so many people there (Saphira, Emma, Chai, Bodhi, me, and our host families). Afterwards, we all went walking together and ran down a large hill. For dinner, we had a takoyaki and ramen party. Sora (host sister) invited some friends and we listened to Bruno Mars together. I taught them how to make origami, too.

Ben: We first went to a couple second-hand stores (I spent a lot of money). Next, we went to do Tousenkyou, which was really hard to learn but very fun! For dinner we had red snapper, which was VERY tasty.

Kael: We went to Iruma air base to walk on the runway and it was really fun. We got to see a lot of planes and we ate yakiniku for dinner, it was all you can eat so I was stuffed.

Karson: Today, we went to the high school festival and looked at a lot of amazing things, such as ochya, a VR Rollercoaster, and much more! Then we went home and had lots of fun playing badminton!

Txuj Ci: Today, I went to the Library and Art Museum Ota with my host family, and it was huge! There were tons of books, and the building was very impressive and beautiful. After that, we drove to Mos Burger, and I got the Mos Cheeseburger with fries and a melon soda. We ate the food at a nearby park and played a block throwing game together and my team won! Although something happened to the tire so we had to get it replaced, and in the meantime, I walked with Kaede to Book-Off store and I bought some things, but the price is a secret. Finally we returned home and made takoyaki together, it was very delicious!

Emma: I went to my host sisters basketball game in the morning which they won, and later went to a big shopping mall where I went to a huge gacha store!

Chai: In the morning, we went to go plant rice as well! It was really fun but also dirty. Everyone there had a fun time and we had a nice lunch after and caught up with each other. After which, I had a nice gyoza meal with fried rice and a vegetable soup. It was the best meal I've had so far!

Mason: We went to see Shibuya and went to an Indonesian concert where they played an interesting instrument called anklung and I got to play one myself. I got to eat Ramen for the first time and it was very good, I also tried raw egg rice.