World Campus International Blog » Arao City

A Samurai is only as strong as his sword

Thomas Greve — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:30:06 +0000

“While making the Katana for the Samurais we put all our heart and focus into it because we know the Samurai is putting his life on the line for his country and people.” This said by one of the sword makers while teaching us the art of making a katana.

Its always great to have the opportunity to see how anything is made, just so we can understand the work and effort that goes into them. I guess in this case I can say a little more work and effort go into making a Samurai sword, (Katana). I would say this because it roughly takes 3 months from start to finish to make and 5 years of training to learn the art of making them. In Arao we had the chance to visit a Dojo where lived craftsmen that make and train with Katana’s full time. It was very interesting to see their unique way of training and making the Katana’s.

Of course hearing about the swords history, purpose, and art was very interesting and exciting but we all couldn’t way to have the chance to hold the lite power of some of the world’s sharpest swords, and even get to use them! I think the expression on our faces said it all once they would hand us the sword and we realized just how lite they were! Overall the experience was full of history and interesting facts and being able to slice a blade and cut bamboo in half like it was butter was the perfect end! Thank you very much for welcoming us to your Dojo and teaching us the art of the Samurai sword!

(Brandon Serna – External Relations Manager for Summer ‘11 Road Team)

International Fair, 9 Cultures (Norway’s Table)

Thomas Greve — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:17:01 +0000

This last weekend we had a great opportunity to host an international fair at the Arao City Mall. Right now our World Campus Japan group represents 9 different cultures and countries and the 4 of us Norwegians were excited to represent Norway. I wasn’t too sure on how I could show Japanese people our Norwegian culture but it the challenge was great and it turned out to be quite fun and new for me. Alexandra, Joakim, Torunn and I (Ola) were the 4 Norwegians in the group and we had the idea to serve traditional Norwegian porridge, which surprisingly many of the Japanese people seemed to enjoy. Hiro the president of World Campus International, Inc. luckily has a Norwegian wife Kristinn and she had been kind enough to make it for us (because none of our host families had the right ingredients), it takes about two hours to make it from scratch so we were really thankful for her help and knowledge for knowing the ingredients!

Lots and lots of people from the community showed up for the fair anywhere from older couples to somewhat over 100 kids! By the end of the fair almost all of the porridge was gone. We were also letting people taste the Norwegian liquorice, which not too many seemed to enjoy as much as the porridge. We all really enjoyed sharing our cultures, traditions and taste buds with the Japanese community here in Arao, we thank them very much for welcoming us and we learned a lot from their culture so it was great to be able to give back and it would be great to do it again sometime!

(Ola Johanness from Norway)

400 years later and still standing strong

Thomas Greve — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:01:18 +0000

This week all of us had the opportunity to visit the historical castle of Kumamoto. This was an amazing experience because it showed all of us just how simple, yet beautiful Japanese architecture is. Even though the castle was over 400 years old, it is still in good shape and just as beautiful. When we went through the entrance of the castle, the walls were really tall and made of big black rocks that would be impossible for any person to climb (I think that the purpose). Even the watchtower was over 50 m tall and when walking through the low doors, passing through the small rooms and going up the really narrow and yet tough steps, you could really feel those 50 m. But it was all worth it, when we got to the top of the tower the view was the beautiful city and mountains of Kumamoto. Afterwards, we went to the restoration of another part of the castle. Even though the restoration was new, it had been restored so carefully, that you could almost feel the spirits of the samurais and how they’ve been walking though the underground part of the castle.

When we finished the tour of the castle, we went outside where we met a Japanese guy dressed as a red samurai looking prepared to win a battle (we thought it was hot outside but after seeing this guy dressed in a full samurai uniform weighing around 70 Kilograms we now thought we were the lucky ones) also he was very polite in front of the girls, he even took the ladies hands and got on his knees as a polite gesture.

After all this experience was so indescribably beautiful, that the pictures just doesn’t reach the same level of beauty. It’s just one of those special places where you just have to see it through your own eyes. I did, and I would properly never discover this castle without WCJ. And for that I’m truly grateful.

(Nina Møller from Denmark)

Welcoming 2011 Second Session!

Thomas Greve — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 15:35:11 +0000

Second session has begun this week and our schedule is full of some fun diverse activities! Visiting a Katana Sword makers dojo, a 400 year old castle, and hosting a culture fair in the mall to let the city of Arao
know some fun things from our countries! We’ll be sharing out foods, languages and of course music with the community! Stay tuned to find out how all those events go!! Love from Japan!!

(Brandon Serna – External Relations Manager for Summer ‘11 Road Team)

Everybody is waiting for you this summer in Japan!

Thomas Greve — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:54:52 +0000

Session 1

Nishimura family from Omura city, Nagasaki:
“3 years ago, we first hosted a girl from Germany on WCI program.
Since then, we’ve been looking forward to hosting a guest of WCI every year!
They always make us happy and bring us big energy!
I love this program from bottom of my heart.”

Matsuda family from Omuta city, Fukuoka:
“To unknown my family
Thank you for your support to Japan.
Our city has not been damaged by disaster.
We are looking forward to seeing you!!”

Session 2

Kinoshita family from Arao city, Kumamoto:
“It has been a hard time for Japan this year.
We are thinking what we can do in our everyday life for Tohoku which is the stricken area. Fortunately my hometown is more than 1,000 km away from Tohoku and there is no influence of the earthquake, tidal wave and damage of the nuclear power plant at all. And thankfully we are working, studying, hanging around with friends and living our normal life.
I am looking forward to seeing everyone from WCI and listening to the diverse stories from different countries this year again. I believe that small city like Arao will give you an opportunity to feel familiar and understand the depth of our culture.”

Ensatsu family from Uda city, Nara:
“Hello friends!!
This message is from Uda city in Nara.
You know the big earthquake occurred in eastern Japan.
But Nara is in western Japan, so it’s safe here.
We had many great time with WCI every year.
Come to join us !!
We are really looking forward to being your family !!”

Session 3

Dave family from Suita city, Osaka:
“Greeting from Suita city, Osaka! We are looking forward to meeting you and share our culture!!! There are so many things you can discover and experience here in Osaka! See you very soon!”

Kinoshita family from Toyota city, Aichi:
“We are looking forward to seeing you in Toyota!”

Regarding March 11, 2011 Japanese Earthquake

Thomas Greve — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:40:08 +0000

March 12, 2011

Dear Friends of World Campus International,

The shocking earthquake hitting the north-east part of Japan has caused massive destruction to the region. Currently, the Japanese national and local governments are working to assess the degree of damage.

Though there are areas of Japan that have been severely affected, all of our partner communities seem to have avoided tragedy. Currently, we do plan to facilitate the World Campus – Japan program from June 23 thru August 30.

Because the damages are reported in the northern region of Japan, and our community partners are located in central to western Japan, we are confident that our summer program will not be affected by the earthquake.

We have already contacted several community partners who are hosting our summer program and confirmed that they are OK and not severely or at all affected by these tragic events. We will continue to reach out to the rest of our community partners and communicate to you via this website any updated information.

Thank you for your understanding.

Hiro Nishimura
Chairman and CEO
World Campus International, Inc.

Update: Message from CEO, Hiro Nishimura on March 17, 2011

Update 2: Message from CEO, Hiro Nishimura on April 06, 2011 – Regarding New 2011 World Campus – Japan Program plan

Good Bye Session 1 2010

Thomas Greve — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:54:27 +0000

Before I start, I would like to say that for World Campus – Japan, starting on June 5^th was something knew we want to implement from now on, that way our participants can go back home to summer jobs after having a few weeks in Japan. With that said, since it was the first time we were starting early this summer, only a few people got the opportunity to come. 5 People, 5 of the most different personalities and backgrounds I’ve ever seen.

Lu, from New Jersey with Chinese background; Yoli, Mexican-American; Kyle, tall, white, blue eyed American guy; Daniel from Luxemburg who was born in Switzerland and Ming, American with Chinese, African-American and Native American background. In Session One of World Campus – Japan 2010, we shared a lot of experiences and built up a lot of memories together like, ringing the biggest bell in the World in the City of Arao, Visiting Jikei Hospital and Kumamoto Castle in the City of Kumamoto and talking to a survivor from the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb in the City of Hiroshima.

Thanks to everyone who made Session #1 possible. For you, readers out there, please keep visiting the blog to read the stories of Session #2 in Nagasaki with the visit to the peace museum and the talk with a survivor from the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb and Uda (Nara Prefecture) with the visit to Big Budda in the City of Nara.

Upside Down in Greenland

Thomas Greve — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:55:19 +0000

In World Campus – Japan is not all about host families, cultures and Japan, is also about how fun you can have with six hours at an amusement park. Believe me, it doesn’t matter where you come from, we are all the same when it comes to riding a roller coaster, everyone goes through the same process.

We had six hours to explore and enjoy Greenland, the park with most rides in Japan. First we thought six hours was too long, at the end we didn’t have enough time for all the rides. Great times!!! We went from water rides, to shooting balls to win prices. From kids rides to scary rides. From slow and simple rides to upside down rides, like you see in the picture above.

At the end, we were tired, happy and sun burned but had a great bonding time with the crew and got to know each other on a much personal level, for sure.

Now, the 5 steps to go on a ride… from the participants of World Campus – Japan!

1. Watch what you are about to get yourself into.
2. Get in line. – Which for Greenland…there were no people there cause it was Friday morning. ( Perrrrrfect)
3. Get on, wrap and secure yourself
4. Hands up!
5. SCREEEEEEEAM.

Great ending, new beginning.

Thomas Greve — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:26:02 +0000

The families from the Arao area hosted all of us on World Campus Japan first session and the week was full of amazing activities… the host family day, visiting really beautiful gardens and temples and internal work for all of us World Campus Participants, but the best part of all it has to be our Arigato Event. Time for the families to get to know each other, for the participants to express their gratitude and for everyone to become a big BIG family. The World Campus Family.

We all worked really hard to pull the Arigato Event off, learning songs and dances and creating the environment for an amazing performance at the “Blanca Hotel”, right next to Greenland. (Amusement park we will talk about on the next post, you can’t miss it)

Arigato Event (Thank you event) is not only a performance or a time to get to know each other, is a time when the Japanese Culture and our very personal culture mix together like one, we all laughed together, sang together and played together.

It is the end of a city for us but the beginning of amazing relationships we will develop with time with the host families and community members we interacted with during our visit.

Thank you ARAO…
Next post: Greenland!

Ichi go ichi e

Thomas Greve — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:22:22 +0000

Ichi go ichi e – (Once in a life time)… That’s what it was for us, the opportunity that we had during our host family day in Arao. After having a great Soba Noodles Lunch and walking through a great garden with a river, we went to our final stop of the day. A recently built temple where we not only took the most amazing pictures you could imagine, which we’ll share at the end of the week, but we also had a once in a life time opportunity.

Inside the temple you can find four statues of gods, like the one on the picture above. They protect the west, east, north and south. This particular one is the God that protects the South. The best part of the visit started when a man approached us, introducing himself as the artist that makes the statues. I have to say, it was already a pretty nice experience to be able to see the statues, even nicer to be able to meet the artist, I was already happy with the visit at that point, then the unexpected happened… He invited us into his art studio where we had the chance to see the statue of the God protector of the West, being made. We counted the pieces, about 100 of them, we smelled the paint and saw the colors being mixed, to create an amazing piece of art. No one has this kind of opportunity, ever. The artist never opens his studio to anyone besides his team, young interns from the local university.

Host family day: Great food, great site seeing, once in a life time opportunities… Ichi go ichi e

First night down, many more to go!

Thomas Greve — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:26:53 +0000

Lu and Kyle were part of a very excited group of people that had the opportunity to meet the night of June 5^th at the Manda Mine Museum in Arao, Japan. Host families were nervous but excited to bring home a new daughter or son, and finally the work the LOC (Local Organizing Committee) has been doing for a long time, is paying off, as you can all see on the picture above.

Host families can be very diverse, sometimes we go from having just a single mom to having a young family with two babies and a pet. It makes us understand who they are and their very own family culture. Thanks for hosting us and making us feel part of the family.

Our first night was now done, many more are coming our way and the excitement keeps growing as the time passes by. We’ll keep sharing our experiences with all of you readers. Stay tuned!

Summer 2010 staff members are ready, are you ready?

Thomas Greve — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:18:52 +0000

After hours and hours of traveling from our home countries and cities, we finally made it to Arao, Japan. Tired? Yes. Jet lagged? Yes, Excited? Yes.
We spent a good amount of time getting ready and prepping everything for your amazing tour. All we need now is for all of you participants to get here so we can let the adventure begin.
Get excited, get packed… We are waiting for you. Are you ready?

Yui, Jake, Bertha, Hiro, Hideto and Celi,
Your staff members.

Welcome to World Campus Teachers Initiative

Thomas Greve — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:01:14 +0000

Our trip to Japan was truly a once in a life time experience. Not only did I get to observe and experience the culture, I also had the great fortune of attaining fist hand experience of their educational system through World Campus International Teacher Initiative. The entire trip was enlightening to me as an individual as well as a professional. Staying with host families really immerses you in their culture and daily routines. Having the opportunity to meet with principals and teachers, ask questions, share ideas and comments was very beneficial. Visiting castles and museums was fun and educational. I give my highest recommendation to any teacher who wants to broaden their cultural experiences and professional development. My trip with World Campus Teachers Initiative has had a profound and enriching effect on my life and career.

(Paulina Hanson – Elementary School Teacher)

World Campus Teachers Initiative is a new WCI program that brings international teachers to Japan for a week long professional development program. Our pilot program included 4 teachers from two North American Countries. Our fist city was Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture. Stay tuned for more stories and info from World Campus Teachers Initiative!!!

Spring & Summer ’09 Slide Shows published

Thomas Greve — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:05:26 +0000

The Spring & Summer Slide Shows of most of our partner cities are now available on the “Konichiwa from Japan”-section of our Website. Please take a look!!!

Japanese Medley

Thomas Greve — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:00:56 +0000

Video: Medley Arao

Our “Arigato Event” had a few interesting elements. One of the most challenging parts of our event was a section intended to entertain the audience with some of Japan’s most famous songs and dances. When our summer program began, the participants had no idea what they were in for. In a 9 hour block of time they had to learn all the songs and movements for the entire event. This video clip is from our event in Arao. Everyone involved in the summer tour worked as hard as they could to ensure that each event was at the highest possible quality. Most of the movements came from music videos of the songs as performed by the original artists. Enjoy!!!