This is our slideshow we played in our Thank-you Event during our stay in Mito City.

After touring Japan for nearly 3 months, we finally reached Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture; the last city of World Campus International’s premier tour. We were invited by the Ibaraki University Elementary School for their special week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that institution.

Each of our participants had a class of their own for the entire week. On the first day, the World Campus – Japan class had a welcome session and we were introduced to the 40 children that we were each working with. They had been preparing for our visit for more than a month, so they were extremely happy when we arrived.

The absolute highlight was the “Challenge Class”, where each of us had the chance to teach a lesson plan for 45 minutes. WCI participants had been drawing up the plans with topics as varied from playing soccer, teaching about their home country to talking about literature, depending on the participants’ specialty and interest. Mr. Yanagida, the Head teacher of the school, told us after the tour:

“You all looked like real teachers in front of the classes. You guys did a great job and kids will remember you for the rest of their lives.”

Our final “Arigato Evento” (Thank-you event) in the prefectural hall with a capacity of 1,700 people was an extraordinary experience. We taught a few songs and movements to the children during our stay at school, and it was an impressive image to see all 700 kids singing and moving together with us. Even from the stage, we could see some parents shedding tears.

On the following day at the Ibaraki University Elementary School’s official 50th anniversary event, we realized that the children and our class had gotten so close, and it was as if we were looking at our own students when each grade performed on the stage.

When the last day at Mito was over, it was hard to believe that it was time to say good-bye not only to our classes behind, but also to the fellow WCI participants, who truly became family members.

This is the slideshow we played while in Toride, Ibaraki.

Toride was a quiet rural village until it was developed in the 1960’s as a bedroom suburb of Tokyo. People who worked in the capital started to move to Toride for its rich nature and good access to the center of Tokyo.

Starting in 1995, the city began to lose inhabitants due to an aging population as well as the trend for young people to move back to the Tokyo city center.

A group of local people got together to revitalize Toride. Places for people to come together were built; such as the old-fashioned candy store “Yoiko (good kid)” and the community art gallery “Emaru”. Since a campus of Tokyo University of Arts is located in the city, there have been many events arranged to connect young students and local people. Those people who stood up for the city include Ms. Kudo from Yoiko and Mr. Sobajima, who stayed in the city after studying art to keep doing more projects.

We were fortunate to collaborate with them during our visit. Mr. Sobajima, together with other members of the local organizing committee, set up an event called “World Street”. A day prior to the event, each participant drew 3 small flags; the national flag of their native country, one with how to say ‘thank you’ in their mother tongue, and one with something famous from the place where they’re from, to be used in a game with local elementary school children.

For the international event, 60 kids came to get involved and learn about different cultures. Children in Toride don’t have the opportunity to communicate with foreign visitors so often and so they were a bit hesitant to talk to us in the beginning, but after spending some time, connected really well. Passer-bys stopped for a while to take a look at what they were doing, and the otherwise lonely street was livened up once again.

Some of the participants also leaned “Tamasudare (traditional bamboo stick performance)” at “Hohoemi San”. We teamed up with special needs “Tamasudare” performers who incidentally have became so popular in the region, that they visit elderly homes and schools on a regular basis. We enjoyed the opportunity to perform together, fully dressed in Japanese street-performer costume!

This is the Slideshow we played in Tama City, Tokyo in our Arigato Evento!

The class of 2007 is back in the Kanto area after more than 2 months of being on the road in western and central Japan! Tama city, Tokyo is a bedroom suburb of the metropolis, located some 30 minutes from Shinjuku, one of the terminal stations in Tokyo.

Progressive baby boomers reside in Tama and have a long history of hosting various cultural activities with citizens’ initiatives. Also, Tama is unique in that it is led by only one of four female mayors in all of Japan.

A metropolitan Tokyo tour was organized by the Chuo university students on September 25th. Split into 5 theme groups, we visited different districts in central Tokyo such as Asakusa, Shibuya and Akihabara.

The group which visited Akihabara had a unique experience in the former electronics quarter turned into an anime / manga town. The participants explored the small shops selling anime character goods and service outlets that they would never find in their native country, while others who went to the medium-sized shopping street of Shimokitazawa found similarities to the one they’re used to seeing.

By traveling in small groups consisting of college students, members of the local organizing committee and WCI students, we could all share viewpoints of students from around the city, native Tokyo residents, and outsiders.

On September 26th, the class had the opportunity to visit 2 of the local elementary schools. One of them, Higashi Ochiai Elementary school, was established 8 years ago as a result of a merger of 2 schools. To establish closer relationships with local residents as well as visitors, schools in Tama city are surprisingly open-armed. At the school where 380 children are currently studying, the class introduced their native culture and they performed dances and songs to make a connection with the children.