Last kizuna 2013 blog !

Here is our Last Kizuna 2013 communication #18, June 5 issue

-A successful Kizuna Day on Friday, May 24 at Memorial High School

About 300 students came and visit our presentation on our Kizuna day. Many teachers left excellent comments on our presentation!

-Kizuna sharing activities

Thanks to everyone for your efforts on sharing this project. The sharing forms are available on PDF form for viewing at <www.nagaisensei.com>.

 - Purple Wings, the Memorial High School community’s news source

The link is <www.MHSPurpleWings.org>. The Japan story and video interview with Sam are available for public/worldwide viewing. Thanks to Mr. Niemuth (Memorial English Teacher) who helped to set this up.

-Eau Claire Area School Board meeting presentation on Monday, June 3

Matteen created a wonderful 10-minute PowerPoint presentation for the Board meeting. Alex, Sydney, Aiyzah and Shehyengphia made good presentations with Matteen.

Lastly, I was very honored to organize and lead this project.  Hope this once-a-life experience meant you and your life. Keep studying Japanese and going back to Japan again!  

Hiroko Nagai  Japanese Teacher /Memorial High School / Eau Claire  /Wisconsin

Kizuna Day at Memorial HIgh School Eau Claire, Wisconsin!

We made the Kizuna Day at Memorial High School Eau Claire, WI.

Here is the 5 minutes all about  Kizuna Day documentary by Sydney Wolfe.

 Station #1, Memorial Japanese 4: Sharing personal stories. Sam and Aiyzah told the story about Ms. Omiya. She was a survior of the tsunami. She said "After the nine-meter-high tsunami has swept through, everything has been wiped out." She lost many of her friends due to tsunami. 

Station #2, Memorial Japanese 3: Documentary Film. Megan and Leah H. did a great job to share the tsunami doumentary.They explained that the first day after the disaster, the survivors didn't receive any food until the next day at the supermarket, when bananas and 1 onigiri (rice ball) per person, with no electricity. There was also no supply of clean water so they collected water from the rain, toilet tank, and over the hillside. 

Station #3, Memorial Japanese 2: Recovery efforts. Grant, Ray and Nathan explained about the reconstruction process. "In Higashi matsumashi City, more than 1,000 residents lost their lives in the tsunami, and 28 people are still missing. 5,499 houses were totally destroyed by the disaster. Everyday they check for those missing people. Along with that is the debris afer the tsunami. With so much debris it was as tall as 3 meter, taller than electric poles, before they started to create a place to collect and sort the debris. There was 1.65 million tons of debris. 3.8 million ton of soil was also collected at the debris site. Instead of burning the debris they decided to recycle it. The remaining debris that couldn't be recycled was burned instead."

Memorial Seniors! Also great leaders for this trip.  Arigatoo gozaimasu.

                                                Kizuna Banquet  at 3:00 
We shared our memories and thoughts about on Kizuna Trip. A big thank to Fukiko Lokken (Victor’s mom) for providing a very tasty Japanese treat. Here are Kizuna banquet menu "Deep Fired pot Stickers "　（あげきょうざ）"”pork cutlets deep fried on stick"(串カツ）　”デイジークッキ−”  At the end we all get our Kizuna 2013 DVD by Roman. 

あげぎょうざ

Preparation for Kizuna project at Memorial High School

Megan's Design, Kizuna day Banner. Victor, Alex, Nathan and Sydney helped paint

Put this up at Cafeteria. Hope many students come to see our presentation.

Sheyengphia, Foua, and Leah N created Kizuna photo show in front of library at Memorial High School

This is the letter written by Sam to all teachers, asking them to bring their students to the presentation.

Dear Teacher,

      We are writing you on behalf of all the students who went to Japan to participate in the kizuna trip back in March (Kizuna meaning "bonds of friendship" in Japanese). We had a good time there and we learned a lot. Now, we would like to share what we have learned with the school. We will be hosting an event we have dubbed “The Day of Kizuna” in the little theater on Friday, May 24^th periods 1, 2, and 5 (since all the other hours have other large events interfering with them). The event will be similar to Amnesty International’s yearly walk through presentation, however we will be talking about Japan’s major disaster two years ago. We are asking you to bring your classes down to see what we have to show since that will allow us to reach the largest audience possible. We understand that this is very short notice and we are very sorry, but we are all very passionate about what we have to tell. We all sincerely hope that you will help us achieve our goals and even learn some interesting things yourself when you come with your classes. Thank you very much and we hope to see you on the 24^th!

Sincerely

-Kizuna

See you all tomorrow for the Kizuna Day at  Memorial 

Kizuna 13 Day 12 Last Day in Japan

Today’s report is from Aiyzha

Today, after breakfast, we brought all our luggage down to the main lobby.

Around 8:30 we walked to the subway station. We took the subway to go see a presentation by an organization called NICE. We found out that this organization manages and send volunteers to different areas affected by the tsunami. We also heard 4 volunteers talk about their experiences while volunteering – what they did, who they met etc.

Looking for this kind of opportunities: 
VFP <http://www.vfp.org/>
SCIus <http://www.sci-ivs.org/> 

After that, we walked back to the hotel and then went to the government building across the street for lunch. We shopped there for a while, but since the restaurant we were supposed to eat at was closed, we walked to a convenience store, got lunch and ate it outside. It was sunny and very nice outside (65 degrees!).  

We returned to the hotel then around 1:15, grabbed all our luggage and got on the bus to go to the airport.

We had an excellent time in Japan! Our next mission is to share what we have seen and learned to Eau Claire Area  School and Community.  Stay tuned for our action plans!

Kizuna 12 Day 11 Sightseeing in Tokyo

Today’s report is by Kai and Mikayla

Today we went to the oldest temple in Tokyo (Sensooji in Asakusa) when we got off the bus it was in the middle of a residential district. We walked a few blocks until we got there. The gate was hidden behind some tall buildings.





Nitemon Gate was built in 1618 and was for the Tokugawa Shogun when they visited the shrine. Everything was huge and beautiful. Passing under the next gate was supposed to purify the soul from the outside world. We went to the washing well and purified again (our months and hands) before entering the temples and offering prayer. After that we walked around and took pictures. Some people threw smoke to make good luck for whichever feature they wafted the smoke at (like their face for looks, their head for intelligence, etc.). Others participated in this thing where you shook a container and got a fortune message. Most people had good luck with that. Some people bought souvenirs and then we got back on the bus around 10:00.





Then we went to the Tokyo Edo Museum. As soon as we got there we watched a video presentation about the exhibits and Edo era in Tokyo and Japan. We walked around the exhibits for about half an hour and stopped by the gift shop for five minutes before hurrying to the bus. Next we went to a restaurant and ate tempura before our next destination.









After that we went to a disaster prevention center at 2:00 and experienced an earthquake simulation, from level four all the way to the real earthquakes that have caused the most damage in Japan’s history. We also went through a burning-building simulation to practice escaping a smoke filled room.




A burning-building simulation




Exhibition of a kitchen after an earthquake





The next destination was the emperor’s palace. We took group pictures and then went to our debriefing session.



We filled out surveys and then organized a quick presentation (given by Nathan, Megan, Sam and Mikayla) that talked about the changes in perspective of Japan, our most valuable lessons learned, and how we can prevent disasters in America.



The presentations were done by 6:30. Dinner was soon after that. It was a long, exhausting day, yet fun!

Kizuna 11 Day 10, Visit American School

Today’s report is from Leah N. and Nathan G.

 

Today we got to sleep in! We didn’t get together until 9:15. Breakfast was on the 43^rd floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel. The view of Tokyo was amazing! We could clearly see the famous Tokyo Sky Tree. Tokyo Sky Tree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Japan. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 meters (2,080 ft.) in March 2011, making it the tallest tower in the world.

After breakfast, we had shared our experiences in the Kizuna program. Though our initial expectations for the trip varied, we all agree that we have learned so much. We will never forget what we have witnessed here in Japan.

After a short bus ride, we arrived at the American School in Japan. We were surprised to be greeted by students wearing street clothes instead of uniforms. The school is completely American, with classes in English, a football team, and graduation in June. The school has amazing facilities and really good food. 

Mr. Isao Tsujimoto

In the auditorium, the students introduced an exhibition they called “The voice of Japan”. The exhibit featured photographs take by students of the disaster and recovery that has taken place in the Tohoku region. As well as photos, the exhibit features poems called tanka, written by Japanese people affected by the tsunami.

"I'm home," I cry

as I enter

the empty house --

my voice responding

to the familiar smells

-- Keiko Hangui, Fukushima  May 2011

The Isao Tsujimoto Studio for Cultural Exchange states that a haiku offers a moment of inspiration. But a tanka is like a sight. People in Japan write tanka when they love, mourn and even when they are facing death, as if making a deep sight to express an emotion from with in the hear. The gallery of poems and pictures was displayed in New York City for one month. After we viewed the exhibit, we went on a tour of campus. We can tell that it’s a very nice institution based in Japan with an international focus.

Today’s supper is at Italian restaurant called “LaPausa”. We had pizza, pasta and salad. It was very good!