2011 August, 6th – 12th: In Toyota, I was hosted by an awesome family, and that was the Michiyamas family. On the first day, my host mother and sister took me to a ‘’KAMISHIBAI” exhibition place. There were a lot of kamishibai’s tools and instructions to let you know how to play “KAMISHIBAI”. “KAMISHIBAI” is a device to tell stories. You use a square box which has doors you can open to insert paper illustrations and pull it out when you are telling the story. I was very lucky to have this experience. I played kamishibai before kids, and they really enjoyed my performance. I felt very happy about that. Because my host mother is a professional teacher of kamishibai, so she taught me a lot of techniques. It makes me know more about kamishibai.
After we experienced kamishibai, we went to the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art. There they had an exhibition of a famous painter from Holland, named Johannes Vermeer. His paintings are very elegant and realistic. We had a wonderful afternoon enjoying and appreciating every painting there.
On 8th August, my host sister took me to Nagashima Spa Land, an amusement park that has the longest roller coaster in Japan. And my host sister and I are both crazy-loving ride on roller coaster! So, we rode every roller coaster as much as possible. There are totally seven roller coasters, we rode not only once but also twice for a tallest roller coaster. It was very exciting for me to have such a great experience in Japan. In Taiwan, we don’t have these kinds of roller coasters. It was really impressive and a lot of fun. We really had a wonderful time there.
(“Umi” Yi-Ting Cheng from Taiwan)
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!”
Greetings from Omura! Imagine blue skies, palm trees, native flowers … the definition of utsukushii (beautiful). Omura was not only beautiful from the outside, but also on the inside. Its inner beauty was revealed by the smiles, kindness, and my wonderful host family!
During this WCI – Japan tour I have been blessed with great host families. I find that as we share our respective cultures, we discover how similar we really are. My (Yamamoto) family in Omura was awesome! They were so welcoming and natural, I was surprised that it was their first experience as a host family. From the first day I was encouraged to call my Okaasan and Otoosan ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ and was welcomed as one of their own. The first night I remember leaving my toothbrush in a case to the side, and finding it in our family toothbrush holder in the morning – what a nice surprise! I remember enjoying each day as we shared stories, jokes, conversations, drawings … we had so much fun as a family!
The day before last was Arigato Evento and ours was extra special because it was my Mama’s birthday! During our show, my family went on stage for a family interview. Then, it was my turn to give my thank-you speech. Despite my efforts to maintain composure, I was overcome by emotion and tears smoothed my cheeks. After our show, Mama was invited on stage and we sang ‘happy birthday.’ We got emotional again and it was so perfect. Our hearts were melting with joy and our eyes showed it. I gave my Okaasan orange Gabelas (her favourite!), lilies, and carnations (my favourite!) … I am so thankful that I got to become part of such a wonderful family. I will always remember our fun memories. Thank you Yamamoto family! See you again soon.
Grace Cornejo (Canada)
Host family days are always interesting. Most of the time, the families are really excited and have extravagant plans to show you the most famous sites of the area, like a castle or amusement park. On occasion, you will just want to spend some quality time at home with the family, playing video games, watching a movie, or just hanging out. All family are different and such, all host family days are unique.
Even though I have experienced quite a few host family days in my time with World Campus – Japan, I am still surprised by the variety. In Toyota city, my host mother, Masako (Princess!), offered a rather unique experience for me on host family day. She is actually studying Mandarin, so in the morning I sat in on her class. Although I am also studying Chinese, I never expected to be in a Chinese class taught completely in Japanese in Japan. It was just so odd and unexpected but that is also what makes it so enjoyable and unforgettable. The randomness of it all continues to amaze me.
Guang Yeung (USA/China)
This was my third time as a host family for World Campus – Japan. Their visit here in Abiko was 10 days and the time spent with them passed by very quickly.
I learned lots of things throughout this program even though it was my third time. What the members of WCI left for us was “Kizuna”, or a meaningful bond. It is also an original song written for WCI, which is sang by all the members.
After seeing off the bus which members were on, the host families in Abiko were still there, not wanting to leave. Later on, many host families started to say to each other “let’s meet again!”, “let’s set a time to discuss our feedback of this program”, “please come and visit my house!” and so on. We had a great time with the WCI members but we also had a chance to get to know other host families. And this was a valuable as well as meaningful opportunity for me.
Because of this program, I would like to reconsider my perception of my city again. I believe I can find something new in this city, and I am so excited now.
Takeshi Tsubata (Abiko host family)
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World Campus International, Inc.
Tokyo Station
Dai 2 Ebisu Heights #101
4-17-8 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0013
Japan
Osaka Station
#202 MY-Edobori,
1-25-31 Edobori, Nishi-Ku, Osaka 550-0002
Japan
To Contact Us in Japanese:
Phone: Japan
+81 3 3473 1120
Fax: +81 3 5546 1746
Email: hyasui@worldcampus.org
To Contact Us in English:
Phone: USA
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Phone: Japan
+81 80 6978 4321
Fax: +81 3 5475 5842
Email: bhufford@worldcampus.org
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