To start our Kumamoto visit, of course we met our wonderful host families and [...]]]>

Left Arao City after a fun experience at Greenland and took a train to the City of Kumamoto, Capital of Kumamoto Prefecture and home of the beautiful Kumamoto Castle which we will talk about on the next post.

To start our Kumamoto visit, of course we met our wonderful host families and for the first Activity Day we went to a restaurant where we had the chance to learn how to make “Udon” (Wheat Noodle) – So, hands on…

Not only we made the noodles but after we finished, we had lunch. Our own, home-hand made Udon noodles! It was definitely not better than buying them but at least we could say we made them.

The owner of this very spanish restaurant was happy to have us there, a bunch of foreigns trying to make a very japanese dish. I am sure it was more fun for them.

Mission Accomplished.

Sanmon wo dareba nihon zo chatsumi-uta Coming out of the temple gate, the song the tea pickers, It is Japan!

March 9th, the new day I arrived in Suita city, first time I breathed in Nihon’s air, fresh and brand new. The spring fragrance smelled so smooth and [...]]]>

Mission Accomplished.

Sanmon wo dareba nihon zo chatsumi-uta
Coming out of the temple gate, the song the tea pickers, It is Japan!

March 9^th, the new day I arrived in Suita city, first time I breathed in Nihon’s air, fresh and brand new. The spring fragrance smelled so smooth and even though it was a bit chilly, I could feel something great would happen soon. Yeah, that day was our arrival day for WCJ Spring Tour 2009. I was looking forward to meeting with the other participants, the staff, Hiro and Hideto! Yeah, can’t believe I am back again after the last summer.

Suita city was the first city of this tour. Suita is a modern city with most of its citizen commuting to other big cities for work. Teenagers, the young generation have become the city’s symbol. The Local organizing committee (LOC) and Kansai University DUCKS were big components of this city’s success. They helped us a lot, gave us support, as well as shared nice moments, and great friendships. Everything always starts with Thank-you event (Arigato Evento) prep, because the show is a crucial part of the WCI program. Even at the beginning, we faced some obstacles and difficulties with singing and dancing Japanese songs and dances, but we overcame all of that. We had such a great time in Suita city. We had a great show at the ABC festival, visited the famous Banpakuen Park, experienced traditional Japanese culture including Naginata, Sumo, and Shamisen. We also interacted with university students and got know more about Suita city. And Universal Studios Japan was unforgettable to explore!

Uda city, our second city was quite different from the former city. Uda city, as a part of Nara prefecture has a lot of natural resources, great environment, and nice food! Yeah, Uda is imprinted on our minds as a city with bunches of ‘oishii‘ (delicious) food. Arrival day was awesome; they greeted us with a wonderful party, starting with traditional Japanese dances, a game for matching us with host families, and fantastic food! We explored about how the people live in balance with the beautiful nature, beginning with a walk rally. Then we toured the famous Muro and Todaiji temples which gave us a lot of insight about Japanese religion. We also dwelled deeper into Japanese culture by taking part in a tea ceremony & experiencing the majesty of Japanese swords. Our stay was made the more perfect with an emotional visit with senior citizens and a phenomenal Buddhist temple party!

March 22^nd, Sunday morning, it was a bit rainy, as if the realm knew we would be separated soon. Yeah, that day was our good bye time with the local people and also with the participants who were going back to their home countries ( Eric, Lily, Shoko, Shihoko, and Herbling ). Every piece of our hearts cried and we couldn’t stop hugging each others. Even though we stayed together only for two weeks, we felt we are engaged as one big family, one circle, and one great group! For rest of us who were still continuing to the second tour, we got three days off, where we had our freedom to explore more of Japan.

March 26^th, Abiko city was our next city. Located near Tokyo, it is known for all the people who commute to Tokyo for study, work, or other reasons. Even though this city is next to a huge metropolitan city, there is a big difference between the two. Abiko keeps its natural resources properly. They, recycle, take care of the water, and are aware of many environmental issues. New people, new city, new session, new environment, that’s WCI. We can learn how to make adjustment in every single place we are. It’s the most basic and important thing we need to have to become a global citizen. Yep, we started again. The head of the LOC was so hilarious, the “Boss” as we called her ! The kappa dance, potluck party, o-hanami, and even the Hawaiian dance were so unforgettable!

Haru tatsu ya shizuka ni tsuru no ippo yori
Spring begins, Quietly, From the stork’s one pace

What comes to mind when you hear Toyota? Yep, Toyota is the biggest automotive company, not only in Japan but throughout the world. Toyota city is the city where Toyota company has its headquarters and we were lucky to be part of this vibrant city. Toyota city: a great community, huge plants, nice people, and high tech facilities. Even though it’s a modern city, that didn’t mean we couldn’t get our culture experience. Our arrival coincided with the cherry blossoms that were blooming perfectly. O Hanami with kimonos, what a wonderful moment! It was the first and last time for us to enjoy sakura dressed up in kimonos. Yuhuuuu

Hito koishi hitomoshi goro wo sakura chiru
My heart is full of yearning, The candles being lit, Cherry blossoms falling

Second session wrapped up. A time for saying GOOD BYE again. Every meeting has a consequence… GOOD BYE in the end. How can we express our feelings? It is hard to say goodbye to everyone who got along with you for those weeks. But it’s the reality, we can’t make any bargains or fight it. Good Bye Toyota , Good Bye Daniel, Kaho, Birgit, Jaime, Selly, Elitha, Mustafa, Nao & Amar. We then faced the next and the last session in Spring Tour 2009 in Kyushu. Kyushu Island is famous for the beautiful nature, nice weather, authentic food, and great people.

Omura was our first city in the last spring program. Yohanes and I arrived before the others and were picked up by the extravagant Up With Omura CEO, Mr. Okuma. He is a unique and great local person who supported our tour. Our theme in this city was peace and conflict as we focused on what happened in Nagasaki city 63 years ago. It gave us an overwhelming feeling when the survivor told us his real experience struggling against death. Tremendous emotions mixed in my heart; sadness, yearning, loathing, and bewilderment, everything came in at the same time. From that precious experience we could reflect about what happened and keep sharing love amongst our families, friends, lovers, and everyone. Stop violence and respect others, keep living in peace with each other. That is one of worthy lessons we learned. Besides that, we trained ourselves in Kyudo, the traditional archery sport from ancient times, and Shorinji Kempo, a martial art. We ate champon, a traditional noodle dish of the area. We were also part of the Fureai event, which was a big event where many handicapped people came together and had fun with each other. The best moment was when we interacted with them. We didn’t feel like we had any differences. All of us are same, we are human being with some minus and plus things.

Finally, we encountered the last city of this tour. Kumamoto city with its many budding resources; farming, stockbreeding, plantations, and so on. As we learned before, a disease attacked Minamata city more than 50 years ago, but they rebuilt and there is almost no more scars left. One more special thing is the Cradle of Stork of Jikei hospital. It is a unique operation of hospital which is helping unwanted babies. Yep, that was my first time to hear of this kind of hospital. Many emotions erupted in my mind, how glorious their aim is. Moving from the heartfelt topic, we had a lot of fun in that great city. Yuhuuuuu we had the PURPLE PEOPLE! They were volunteer workers from the local community. We had Mrs. Maeda, the nicest LOC CEO. We explored Kumamoto castle in unique way , relished the beautiful Mt. Aso, tried “basashi“, the unusual savory horse meat, and even had a party in a Izakaya restaurant!

Everything always can’t be perfect. Every meeting has a consequence; separation. It can’t be avoided. While my heart wants to keep all of them alongside with me, that is impossible. Good Bye is final challenge before we go. Time for the real Good Bye is coming; everyone has goes back to reality, their original lives and activities. Yep, GOOD BYE DON’T PANIC, but I am PANICking now. I miss everyone already; every single thing always reminds me of our efforts, our togetherness, our laughs, our smiles, our sadness, our team building, and even our hard times. Thank you for everything, all of you will be in my heart forever. I will keep you as my treasure of my life. I’m sure we will meet again someday, somehow

Ganbarre Nippon, Ganbarre Gaijin!!

Amanda Soeprobo (Indonesia)

Time flies by like the shinkansen. It is difficult to put into words the journey we just completed. We laughed, we cried, we shared, we learned, we argued, we loved, and we became a family during these incredible six weeks.

It was very much like living in a dream. Dressing [...]]]>

Time flies by like the shinkansen. It is difficult to put into words the journey we just completed. We laughed, we cried, we shared, we learned, we argued, we loved, and we became a family during these incredible six weeks.

It was very much like living in a dream. Dressing up as sumo wrestlers. Examining genuine katanas. Trying traditional Japanese archery. Being moved by the story of an atomic bomb survivor. Taking part in tea ceremonies. Having a picnic under a soft pink sea of cherry blossoms whilst dressed in kimonos. Asking difficult questions at Toyota Company. Visiting mayors and dignitaries. Performing Japanese songs in front of over 600 people. Relaxing in a cat café. Savoring Kobe beef and raw horse. Building relationships with Japanese families in different cities. Making new international friends. Becoming a family. All those experiences seem so surreal right now, but we did all that and so much more.

Now the tour is over but the incredible experiences and deep relationships remain. We all went our separate ways but don’t panic. Goodbyes are difficult and the physical distance between everyone is far but we all have facebook and email! It is very easy to slip back into your old lives and routines, so please make an effort and stay in touch with your World Campus – Japan family. Thank you everyone for a great tour!

一期一会 (ichigo, ichie), One moment, one meeting. All of us meeting and traveling in Japan during those two months was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was serendipitous and as is it was perfect. Goodbye, thanks for all the fish! Don’t panic!

Hello again, this is Burcu and today I am going to tell you about Minamata disease.

It is a kind of poisoning, caused by methyl-mercury contamination in the sea. In Minamata, there was a factory operated by the Chisso Corporation which was sending their used water to the sea. In 1926, [...]]]>

Hello again, this is Burcu and today I am going to tell you about Minamata disease.

It is a kind of poisoning, caused by methyl-mercury contamination in the sea. In Minamata, there was a factory operated by the Chisso Corporation which was sending their used water to the sea. In 1926, fishermen noticed the first anomalies in the ecosystem but they didn’t take this seriously. In 1950, the contamination started to affect the jellyfish and fish around Minamata. They were coming directly to the surface and it was easy to collect them, so people didn’t worry much about the cause. In 1953, the first person got sick because they ate the contaminated fish. But it was not until 1956, they officially discovered the cause was Minamata disease.

The disease affects the neural system and brain directly. The damage to the neural system cannot be repaired, so there was no way to help the people who suffered from the disease.

Actually until the volume of methyl-mercury is over 25ppm, it is not dangerous to humans. So the government started a cleaning project and today in Minamata city, the volume is under that limit. They actually filled in a part of the sea that was polluted and an Eco Park was created in its place. But it is still dangerous because in case of an earthquake or tsunami, the mercury may contaminate the sea again. So there is an institute to check the water and water products in Minamata city.

Right now Minamata city is like an eco-land. People learned from their mistakes and they are now protecting nature. They even separate the trash into 22 different categories! But there was also the effect of the mercury on the fishing industry, which is so important in Japan. In Minamata, all fisheries were prohibited from April 1^st 1975 to March 31^st 1990. One thing I learned is that our mistakes affect lives, directly or indirectly, even if we are not aware of it.

Many thanks to the head of the Minamata Museum for his patience, our tour guide, and our translators!

Burcu Tepik (Turkey)

The emotions you experience through the activities in WCI are very broad. Some days are all about having fun, but other days you have to open your mind to more serious issues, like the day we visited the Jikei hospital.

The hospital is special because it is the only place in [...]]]>

The emotions you experience through the activities in WCI are very broad. Some days are all about having fun, but other days you have to open your mind to more serious issues, like the day we visited the Jikei hospital.

The hospital is special because it is the only place in Japan where you can anonymously leave unwanted babies. This is called “Stork’s Cradle”.

In the morning of that day we had a discussion about ethical questions relating to teenage pregnancies, parental responsibility and science vs. religion. It was very interesting because we were in groups with people from all around the world. We learned about the rules and how things work in each country, but also about the similarities, which I think is much greater.

In the afternoon we went to the hospital and had a guided tour and a Q&A session with the founder of Stork’s Cradle. It was very interesting to hear his story and intentions with Stork’s Cradle, since there are a lot of opinions around whether this is a good thing or not.

He felt so heartbroken every time he saw news of a baby being abandoned alone somewhere, and so he established the Stock’s Cradle in 2007 after a similar system in Germany. It is meant to be a last resort when parents just have no other options. He strongly encourages them to raise the child on their own, and offers many consultations both before and after the baby has been delivered to the hospital. In the end I think that Stork’s Cradle is there to save lives and do good for both parents and children.

Amanda Roland (Norway)

In every city we visit, World Campus — Japan participants present a small performance called The Arigato Evento. As an alumnus, and a member of the production team, this event is very exciting for me, and also for the families, many of which are hosting World Campus — Japan participants for the first [...]]]>

In every city we visit, World Campus — Japan participants present a small performance called The Arigato Evento. As an alumnus, and a member of the production team, this event is very exciting for me, and also for the families, many of which are hosting World Campus — Japan participants for the first time. The show begins with a small multimedia introduction, after which, the participants enter to an energized crowd.

The participants spend a few minutes dancing and interacting with the audience before moving to the stage. Once there, the fun really begins, as each of the 14 countries represented offers a small cultural presentation, ranging from a slideshow, to live music, to a story written in Japanese. At the end of the presentations, a host family is called to the stage and asked a few questions about their stay with the World Campus — Japan participant.

In Kumamoto city, the Fukushima family was called to the stage, they happened to be my host family, and had wonderful things to say during their interview. Once they exited the stage, I read to them a small speech I prepared, in Japanese, thanking them for being such a welcoming and kind family.

An American Sign Language song continues the show, which is very popular with the crowd because it is a song most of the communities have heard. Next we have a Japanese Medley, which includes 5 very well known Japanese songs. We have soloists, dancing and a lot of interaction with the audience. After this portion, we teach the Japanese Sign Language that we perform to a famous Japanese pop song. This is also very appreciated by the audience, since they can learn authentic Japanese Sign Language from international people.

At the end of the Arigato Evento, the participants present all the national flags represented by the World Campus — Japan class of February – April 2008, and then thank the host families and local organizing community members for having us. It truly is a wonderful event that will stay in the minds of the people for a long time.

(Cody Permenter, Production Assistant, United States of America)

As a participant in the World Campus — Japan program, we stay in many host families. I had a great opportunity to live with the head of the Local Organizing Committee in Kumamoto city, Mrs. Maeda, along with Jamshid Ganiev from [...]]]>
Hi, my name is Jonathon Cygnaeus, and I am from Stockholm, Sweden.

As a participant in the World Campus — Japan program, we stay in many host families. I had a great opportunity to live with the head of the Local Organizing Committee in Kumamoto city, Mrs. Maeda, along with Jamshid Ganiev from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

I had a great time from the moment I entered the house until I left. We had great discussions about several subjects, including life in Japan to bigger questions in society. They also taught me some simple Japanese. I really enjoyed staying with the family because of their immense generosity and kindness.

One special highlight of my time staying with the Maeda family was visiting Mount Aso, the biggest active volcano in the country and one of the largest in the world. It was one of the most impressive sites I have seen.

It is host families like the Maeda family with their huge generosity to open their home to a total stranger that really makes World Campus — Japan program such a great experience.

Thank you to all the host families we have had on the road for opening your homes to us and for including us in your daily life, really making us feel like part of your family. We will treasure the memories made with you for years to come.

(Jonathan Cygnaeus, Sweden)

This is the Slideshow of our time in Kumamoto City during our Feb. 2008 Tour!

The city theme for Kumamoto City was Valuing Human Life. I found it to be a very broad theme and a hard one to discuss. Maybe it is better if I come to my own conclusion after giving a brief summary of the things we did based on this theme in the lively [...]]]>

The city theme for Kumamoto City was Valuing Human Life. I found it to be a very broad theme and a hard one to discuss. Maybe it is better if I come to my own conclusion after giving a brief summary of the things we did based on this theme in the lively city of Kumamoto.

Early in the week we visited the famous Jikkei hospital, where last year a baby hatch program was established. The hatch, which is still the only one in Japan, is a place where a person can anonymously drop off his or her baby. The debate about whether or not it should exist in Japan is still a hot topic. On one hand, it is a place of last resort, a sort of solution for really desperate people. On the other hand, it may induce an opposite effect and form an easy way out for parents who may have regrets later on. In the end I think that the controversy will remain, but I think the visit to Jikkei hospital showed another important aspect to the issue. It offered more than a hatch as a last resort, including counseling programs for parents as an alternative. The hospital is a pioneer in the field of counselling for pregnant mothers and future parents. This is definitely an endeavor which should be supported.

We also had the opportunity to visit Minamata city. In the industrial rise after the second world war, the Chisso company polluted the bay with methylmercury for years resulting in the poisoning of a portion of the population in that area. Maybe even more impactful than the pollution was the aftermath of the disaster. This event coresponded 100% to our theme. How do you repay someone who has been deliberately poisoned by a company? What should happen when someone does not value human life? The answers to these questions will remain unknown, but I think the most important thing is that we keep thinking about things like this and their impact on people and the environment.

The third visit we made was to a facility for Hansen disease victims. There we heard a lecture on the topic and learned how people in the past and present responded to other people who were infected with this disease. I think everyone learned a valuable lesson. Maybe the participants views upon other diseases like aids and cancer may have slightly changed after seeing how Hansen disease patients were mistreated. After all, learning from one’s mistakes is nice, but also learning from someone else’s mistakes is even better.

I think each one of us has a richer viewpoint regarding valuing human life than before, but we may also say that we have realised the depth of the question. Human life has such great value that the only option is to try and honor someone elses life as you would your own. You want to place yourself into different positions, including the position of the “victim” before making a decision. I think that by visiting these places everyone within World Campus International has placed him or herself into other positions when considering the above topics.

What would you do when you found out you grew up in an orphanage, but are not an orphan? What would you do if you were having a child and you could not handle things yourself, who would you turn to? How would you feel if you were a victim of a man-made disaster? How would you feel when society takes your freedom, a response stemming from an irrational fear? These questions are very hard ones, but they are equally important and deserve to be asked.

(Jotter Verhaeghe, Belgium)