Living in Hakuba Village

Me with the Shimokawa family

By Erica Sagisi-Buxton
Dec 2, 2015
The students were all split up into small groups and were sent to do a homestay with a family in the area. I was lucky enough to stay with the Shimokawa family. They were a friendly elderly couple with one son in his late 30s. When we arrived at their place they made us feel so at home. I think I loved the homestay portion of this trip to Japan the most because of the Shimokawa's hospitality. They even let us call them mama and papa. Even though they spoke little English and I spoke little Japanese, we did not let this language barrier get in the way of this experience. I was able to learn so much from my homestay family. During my stay I learned more Japanese vocabulary and I was also able to learn how soba is made and eat it too. One morning my homestay dad took our group out to go sledding at Escal Plaza. It was such a fun bonding experience for all my homestay sisters and our homestay dad. We stayed there for nearly an hour and a half playing Around in the snow. 

I got to eat so much great food in Hakuba, Nagano: hot pot, japanese tamago, soba, sushi, and a whole bunch of foods I still don't know the names of. My homestay parents were very good cooks and everything they made was very beautiful in appearance.

(Above) Ono food my homestay family prepared.

(Below) We helped make soba noodles for lunch. 

 

On the last night of our homestay, our homestay mom let us try on her kimono. From the first day we walked into their home we noticed the kimono there on display and thought it was such a beautiful thing. We were so happy and grateful to get to try on the kimono. My homestay mother even said that she and her mother sewed the kimono themselves when she was twenty. Trying on the kimono was quite a process. We had to put on these socks, followed by the kimono and all the special belts that go around it. Everything had to be positioned perfectly and even though the process was around 10-15 minutes for each person, my house mother was was delighted to go through the steps for each of us. Getting to homestay in Japan was such a fun experience and given the chance, I would do it again.

Nagano is Breathtaking

By Erica Sagisi-Buxton
Dec. 2, 2015
On Saturday November 28th 2015 we took a bullet train from Tokyo to Japan. The view of the land from the windows of the train was so beautiful. There were mountains in the distance and many beautiful Japanese homes accompanied by green fields along the way. As we got closer to Nagano, we noticed some snow on rooftops. All the students started getting excited about the snow. I'm from Hawaii and have never seen or experienced snow in my entire life, so for me this was a big deal and I was hopeful that our place of destination was going to be one with a winter wonderland. When we finally reached Hakuba, Nagano via bus after the train ride, we hurriedly walked out of the bus to rush to the snow waiting outside. This was the first snow (according to my host family). Snow was falling from the sky and it was so amazing. It looked like shave ice from Hawaii before they put all the delicious flavors in! I think Hakuba is a perfect place to enjoy nature in Japan. The alps there are breathtaking and the area is well known for their apples, persimmons, and oranges. My homestay family let me try apples and persimmons from Hakuba while I was visiting and they were both delicious. I was so disappointed that I could not take any of the fruit home to the islands. Speaking of persimmons, there are many persimmon trees in the yards of homes in Nagano. It's actually a very amusing thing to see in December. You can see trees filled with these almost spherical fruits all over Nagano, with hardly any leaves surrounding the fruit. I just really loved everything about Nagano because it showed me the country side of Japan and the people there are so friendly. On top of that it is a perfect place for snapping photos.

Hakuba Goryu Escal Plaza

View of the mountains in Nagano, Japan.

Persimmon trees.