Monthly Archives: July 2016

City Life, Uda City

The path of the ninja is challenging and… wet

Group photo of new ninja graduates of WCJ Session 2
Group photo of new ninja graduates of WCJ Session 2

Today we had a great deal. First we helped with the beautification of the area near the Akame waterfalls by shovelling out the drain on the side of the road. Everyone did their best and because we were with more than 20 people, we were done in no time. The workers, who could be count on one hand, were extremely thankful for the help that would have costed them allot of time by themselves.
Now it was time for some fun! We walked down along the road, and not that much further we stopped at a small shop. This shop, however, didn´t sell your usual souvenirs. No, they sold a “ninja experience”! This was the community’s thank you gift to World Campus – Japan.

Soon, we were all dressed up in colourful ninja suits and ready to go. Our “sensei” ninja guided us towards the forest where our first challenge awaited us. Three high wooden walls rose up in front of us as we arrived to an open spot in the forest. Agile like a cat, the guide jumped over them and gestured us to try the same. The first two walls being the lowest, almost everyone managed to jump over it. The last one, however, only half of us managed, including me! Yay.

Then, it was time for some shuriken throwing! Again the guide showed us how to do it as we lined up to throw the ninja stars into targets made of wood. This was so much harder than it looks like in the movies!

Last but definitely not least; to complete our ninja training we had to cross a river. From hopping stone to stone to walking on thin planks, we all managed to get across. But we were not done yet! We arrived at a place with a rope spun across the river, and a little floating rubber with a board on top of it. This was our final challenge: we had to stand on top of the float and use the rope to drag ourselves to the other side of the river. However the float was extremely unstable, and the guide told us that usually only half of the people make it to the other side. One by one we tried, and one by one we all fell in the water, except for one participant, Vladimir!

After all, we were kind of glad we were such bad ninja’s, because the water was cool and refreshing. In the end, we all still got our ninja-training certificate!

Fleurtje Meijer, The Netherlands

City Life, City Theme Activities, Uda City

Learning the secrets of Zen meditation in Uda city

Zen meditation in Uda
Zen meditation in Uda

Today started with a lecture about Uda city. We learned about Uda city with Mr. Matsumoto, a former elementary and middle school teacher and current firefly breeder. Mr. Matsumoto talked to us about the history of Uda and the city’s basic information. One of the most interesting things that I have learned is that Uda was in fact officially declared as a city only 10 years ago, when four nearby towns and villages decided to come together. Yet in spite of Uda’s beautiful scenery and wonderfully kind people, it continues to face issues. One of the biggest problems that Uda is facing is its decreasing number of younger population and a rising elderly population.

In the afternoon, volunteers kindly drove my fellow World Campus – Japan members and I to Renshouji Temple. There, we were able to experience Zen meditation, a unique and calming experience for both the body and mind. We were taught posture, breathing, and thinking, the three main aspects to a successful Zen meditation session. While the usual meditation sessions were 30 minutes, we did 13 minutes seeing that we were all beginners. The head monk also walked around during meditation to hit anyone who either did well, needed help, or voluntarily wished to be hit. After the meditation session, we were given snacks and tea provided to us by the temple.

Today was an amazing day that I will never forget. My mind did truly become calmer, and my thoughts clearer. I hope I can return and try Zen meditation again next year!

Yusi Wang, China

City Life, City Theme Activities, Suita City

Shopping street work experience and juggling with new friends at Kansai University

Group photo with English conversational school turned into Karate lesson
Group photo with English conversational school turned into Karate lesson

We went to the shopping street in Suita, where we were each assigned to a specific shop. A group of five World Campus – Japan participants (including myself) were supposed to be teaching English, but ended up getting a private karate class from our student instead! At the end of the class, we decided to thank our student/sensei by performing some Rakugo for her, which we learned about for the very first time yesterday. I did not want to perform then, because I’m not good at improvising, but today I felt confident enough to try. And I actually sorta liked it, too!

Later in the day, we went to Kansai University to interact with the students. First, we got to play with the juggling club’s materials. My favorite was the diabolo: spinning it was easy and fun. I also tried really hard to catch it after throwing it up in the air, but I just couldn’t do it! Later, we talked about the differences between our countries, for example, what type of food we eat or how we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Our group’s question was: “what do you study at your university?” It turned out we all did something with languages, either English, Japanese, Korean or computer programming (we think it counts).

When the day’s program was over, we made plans with some Japanese students to hang out at the arcade the day after. We might also see them again at the Arigato Event. Somehow, World Campus makes it easy to make foreign friends, even when we have little time together!

Francine Geurts, The Netherlands