World Campus International Blog » Kumamoto City

A Home for Everyone

Thomas Greve — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:29:28 +0000

On Friday the 15^th, the WCJ 2011 session II crew went to Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture after a brief (and very, very warm) adventure at Kumamoto castle. For those in the know, going to a hospital an hour away might seem odd, as there are several hospitals in Arao all worthy of a visit. Jikei hospital, however, has something unique to the whole of Japan: a so-called Baby Deposit Box. A Baby Deposit Box, despite the oddly sounding name, is an initiative for the rights of babies in danger of being abandoned by their parents.

The set up is like this: there’s a hatch in the one of the hospital walls. The hatch reveals a cozy cot in which one can put the baby. The cot is lined with soft materials and the room is insulated to keep the baby warm. When the baby is put into the cot, an alarm sounds to alert a nurse with special training to pick up the baby and have it checked out by doctors. There’s also a camera for surveillance of the baby.

The initiative for the Baby Deposit Box, or Stork’s Cradle as it is called, was taken by Dr. Hasuda Taiji, former Chief Director of Jikei Hospital. After three baby deaths in the local community surrounding the hospital, the doctor was very distressed that his hospital couldn’t offer the babies and their families help. He was inspired by a trip he had taken to Germany, where there are many Baby Deposit Boxes, to make one in Japan, and despite some hardships the Stork’s Cradle was opened in 2007. Dr. Hasuda was not so concerned by the many controversies that arose but rather with the fact that children who otherwise would be abandoned should have a chance at life. For Dr. Hasuda, the children are, and will be, the first priority. And to date, 75 children have been given a second chance at life. Thank you very much Jikei Hospital for welcoming us all and sharing your time with us. Afterwards we had the chance to discuss in our group representing 9 countries how our culture and countries views programs like this and to hear so many different views and perspectives from around the world was really a unique experience.

(Alexandra Kristinnsdottir 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.

Facing our Fears

Thomas Greve — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:00:37 +0000

New day, new opportunities… in World Campus – Japan. This time we went to the Suizenji Gym, to learn about Kyudo (Japanese Archery) Our Sensei has been teaching Kyudo for many years, so, we were about to learn from the best. There is something he said that was very surprising to all of us; 90% of the points you can earn in a competition is based on your PRE shooting performance. Only 10% has to do with hitting the target. So literally, you could hit 100% of your targets and loose the competition if you don’t follow the PRE performance rules and procedures.

Once we were done with the theory we went on to try out our Kyudo abilities. One by one we were facing our own fear to let go of the string that holds the arrow while we pulled as hard as we could. I have to say, all this tension is happening very close to your right eye, you could feel the wind after letting it go.

In World Campus – Japan, as we’ve said in previous posts, we have amazing opportunities to learn “first hand” from the protagonists of the stories.

Passion conquers all

Thomas Greve — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 03:11:15 +0000

This morning we had a discussion about adoption, abortion and other related topics with the members of World Campus – Japan, of the community and LOC. I personally have a very clear idea of what I want and think, but it was very constructive to listen, debate and respect the opinions of the rest of the group.

The conversation followed a visit to Jikei Hospital, the only place in Japan that is using the system of a “stokes cradle” (A place where families can drop off their baby if they can’t or don’t want to take care of them). Once we got there we were introduced to the system, and it was nothing like I imagined. When in the morning we talked about “A BOX”, I didn’t think it was actually a box, but it is.

Once the family member opens the door of this very comfortable looking box, leaves the baby and closes the door, there is no way to open it again. Inside the box there is a note from the Hospital to the family member dropping off the baby. An alarm goes off for the nurses to know that a new baby has arrived. Families can always come back to the hospital to request their baby back, as long as they leave some information with the baby in the box.

How everything started. A Doctor from Jikei Hospital felt guilty about being in his position and not being able to prevent certain actions that were happening in Kumamoto (babies being left in garbage cans or being killed by their parents) His passion for a change was so strong that he started working on a system that would give those babies a second chance. He went to Germany, where the system was already in use and adapted the system to the Japanese society with an amazing success.

He is a living prove that Passion conquers all, and that one person can certainly make a difference in the world. In Hiroshima (next few posts) we for sure learned about the power of one person.

(Yoly Amaya from USA)

Arigato “pop my balloon” event!

Thomas Greve — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:05:07 +0000

In Kumamoto, we had our World Campus – Japan – Arigato Event at the beginning of the week’s stay, which is not very usual. The energy was a little low because it was the first time we had to perform our Arigato Event at 2pm. We usually do it around 6pm or 7pm. Even so, we made it happen pulling together as a team like always. The energy started to grow and we got really excited to see our host families and some friends we met the day before, like our Noodle Making Sensei. She was so excited to have the opportunity to hang out with us in a different environment and so were we.

The Kumamoto Arigato Event ended up being one of the best arigato events EVER!!! and i am about to explain why. We decided to play a few games with the host families that attended the arigato event and not only we layed, we laughed so hard that it was almost painful For the game, we had the host families find a partner to pop balloons with, we had about 60 to 75 balloons ready to get popped. We had one rule: “No Hands”. They took the instructions perfectly and balloons were popping up and down, soooo funny!. The positions, the screaming, the laughs of everyone… We just had a great time that afternoon.

The second part of the Arigato Event was even more powerful, the participants share all their energy and great vibe with their audience. That’s what the Arigato Event is all about: people coming together to prove the peace can be found among people from different cultures, backgrounds, countries and languages.

Feeling the history around us

Thomas Greve — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:30:21 +0000

Kumamoto Castle was one of our first “authentic” Japanese experiences. It was our first chance to see a history much older than the opportunities available in America. We were standing, exploring and talking in a building older than anything in my home country. Although it sounds Cliché, I couldn’t help but feel that if walls could talk, this castle would teach me things I couldn’t even imagine or comprehend. The experience went past the artifacts we looked at, or the history we read. From the moment you entered the castle, you could FEEL the history around you. It was so much more than the feeling you got from a field trip, or a sightseeing trip. It was an opportunity to feel history.

After the castle a group of us decided to continue our tradition seeking adventure with…KARAOKE!!!!! Although they have Karaoke in the United States, it is nothing like the Japanese experience. Although we only had an hour (30 min. which of was spent on Lady Gaga?…) we sang, we laughed, and we had a few drinks. A true Karaoke experience in my opinion!

Karaoke experience was a perfect warm-up for dinner. LOC Members, World Campus – Japan Members, and even our Udon Sensei joined us for the evening. We found a nice dinner location in the center of town. I began the dinner with confidence, but was quickly impressed by Miki, who ‘Kanpai-ed’ me under the table! There was lots of laughter, and too much fun, but the best part was the ease in which people who from different countries, and backgrounds communicated.

The personal day in Kumamoto, was anything but. It quickly became about the group, and learning about one another. Instead of worrying about your own good time, it focused on enjoying the company of others. This night in Kumamoto, I will never forget.

(Kyle McElroy from USA)

Hands on, udon making

Thomas Greve — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:04:09 +0000

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.

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!!!

Looking back at the Spring 2009 Tour

Thomas Greve — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:42:00 +0000

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)

Goodbye, Don’t Panic

Thomas Greve — Sat, 02 May 2009 05:00:06 +0000

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!

Minamata Disease – A City Changed Forever

Thomas Greve — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:00:59 +0000

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)