Home stay

Nagano Home stay : 

The majority of us students went in to the home stay portion of the Japan trip nervously as we had no idea what to expect, except for the given fact that there would be a significant language barrier between the students and the families. Little did we know how truly insignificant this aspect of the home stay would be, as the communication barrier would go on to just make the experience even more perfect.

As for my personal home stay, the family we stayed with was one of the most beautiful families that I've ever come across - The two oldest of the three girls (9,8,5) were prodigies and national champions in both mountain biking and skiing, and are scheduled to participate in the 2020 Olympics set in their beautiful home city of Nagano! As for the third, after a couple of nights of board games and seeing her competitive spirit at play, I could only imagine a similar route in her future as well. They were a humble family despite all of their collective accomplishments who loved each other very much, and in my time spent with them I never once saw any of them mad at each other or tired of each other, despite spending nearly every waking second with one another.

They showed true patience when it came to including the six of us male american students who spoke very little Japanese collectively into their home. To keep this short, they shared their culture with us in every way possible - helping us with our Japanese, helping us write Kanji, playing Japanese board games, etc. It wasn't even necessarily these activities that made it so special, but the time we all got to spend together as a whole.  Not to mention I got to ski for my first time! And what greater place to ski than one of the most beautiful places in the world, in Nagano?  

I would go through this experience again in a heartbeat, and every ounce of doubt in this experience I had going in was quickly eradicated.

To close,  If you ever have doubt or second thoughts about going through an experience, just dive in, man. Whether you love it or hate it, at least you can't say "what if". 

Sophia University

I went to Sophia University recently as apart of the Kakehashi project. I had an amazing time at the University. One of my old school friends goes to the university and i can see why. The University was really amazing so pretty and so clean. We were first given a general overview of the campus and then we meet several students from Sophia. It was really interesting meeting students from another country and seeking there perspective on school. All of the students that we had in our group were English major and spoke English very well. As a group we introduced ourselves and then we folded origami cranes, mine did not turn out so well but i really enjoyed the activity. We were then given a tour of the school. It was really pretty and cool. As we came back to the library we all saw a Mount Fuji which was really amazing and cool. Also i have the students guides some gifts from Hawaii. The president of the school then gave a talk which was really nice. After that we all took a group picture and then our student guides left us. We then went to a class which talked about cultural identity. One of the things that i did in that class was hand out gifts that i had to random people around me. I wanted to do the to show some Hawaii generosity. I think that they all like the gifts. I had a really enjoyable time at Sophia and i would like if HPU could develop a partnership with them.

Kakehashi project Workshop

Not surprisingly, our group did a great job presenting our appreciation to Japan's hospitality, close-knit family philosophy, authentic delicacy, well-reserved history, cutting-edge technology, advanced infrastructure system, sustainable energy concept with promoting HPU's diversity culture during the presentation!!Gratitude to HPU Study Abroad, to Ministry of Foreign Affair, to JICE, to Nippon Travel Agency, to our lovely coordinators! #kakehashiproject, #HPUxJPN15#

HPU Workshop presentation

Tomorrow we will go back to Tokyo to do the Workshop Report Presentation, together with 3 other US universities. The presentation will be a collection of our daily findings during the trip. As I said during my interview with JICE's coordinators that the workshop section is a great design of the project. It gives us the chance not only to express our findings  but also to build our teamwork spirit! It was exciting to see our HPU undergrad students hold such incredible analysis, collaboration and presentation skills, and strong team spirit! We have an awesome bonded team and I am so proud of every single one! It is a bless that I'm part of this group! Thank you HPU Study Abroad! #kakehashiproject#, #HPUxJPN15#

Japanese Delicacy

There is so much to share about our homestay experience! Japanese homemade delicacy is the most authentic way to explain Japanese people's pursuit of perfection and detail. I was so glad our homestay mom made to tonight's farewell party, so I could hold her tight little bit longer. I just hope they can visit me in Hawaii, so I can pamper them as they did to us! It was an emotional night to all of us, but it sure was a beautiful night! I can't appreciate more #JICE# #kakehashi# #HPUxJPN15#

Homestay

This home stay experience was one of the best experiences I have had and it is something I will never forget. My group of 6 stayed with the Shimokawa family in there lodge in Hakuba Village. It was a very old and traditional place and our room had two beds and a separate area with tatami mats and a kotatsu.

Two people slept in another room with 2 beds only and the last two of us slept on futons on the tatami mat. I was one of them and it was so comfortable. The dinner they made for us was hot pot and this was the first time I had every had this. It was pretty amazing, and I happily ate as much as I could. That night we were told to take a bath downstairs, it was one of those communal baths, or traditional Japanese baths. Five of us got in, it was slightly awkward at first but we got over it quickly and really enjoyed the bath. I have never felt so relaxed after a bath than after that. We helped them with the dishes to show our gratitude. In the morning we gave them our gifts and they seemed to be very happy to receive them. Breakfast was also Japanese style and very delicious and ate everything on my plate. Waking up it was very cold so we drank a lot of tea.

We later went to a ski resort and went sledding. My group was the first to arrive so we were able to destroy the smooth snow before anyone else. It was exciting and exhausting constantly moving and jumping through the snow and up the mountain. We sled down the hill, made snowmen, and had a snowball fight which included Shimokawa-san. He seemed to enjoy the trip as well.

When we got back we made soba from scratch, it included mixing powder then adding water to make dough, flattening out the dough, and then cutting it into thin strips to make the noodles. The noodles were cooked immediately and we ate lunch. We were complemented for our chopstick use, they were impressed by how well we use them.

After lunch we went to the store which we all may have gone a little crazy with buying gifts for people. When we got back we sat around the kotatsu for a bit them went downstairs for tea and snacks. They gave us paper to leave a message for them so we worked on that during that time. For dinner we made our own sushi at the dinner table and it was absolutely amazing. I have never had sushi that good and I really enjoyed the constant home cooked meal they provided us. After dinner Mrs. Shimokawa-san dressed us all in her kimono. She spent about 15 minutes putting it on us along with the obi. It was so beautiful and I was so grateful that she let us wear her kimono. She told us that she got it as a present from her mother when she was 20, but she also sewed it herself so her mother probably helped her with it. I was so amazed by the kimono and I really enjoyed it.

The next day was the last morning of our home stay with them. It was sad to know that we would be leaving since we really got to know them and it was really great to get a feel for traditional Japanese living. I was a little torn to leave them but we took some pictures and left for the day. We had our farewell party that night and it really hit me that we would be leaving. This couple was so kind and hospitable to us and I am really grateful for everything they did for us. The whole HPU group performed a song for the home stay families and I was actually extremely surprised to find out that the homestay families had a performance ready for us too. It was really amazing and I will miss my home stay family a lot. I hope I will come back to Japan and see them again or just have some others go to Hakuba Village.

Home stay

I have been in Japan for a couple of days now, been having really enjoying myself. The home stay that we had was really awesome. Shawn and I stayed with Mr.Matsumoto, we also has several students from the University of Cincinnati staying with us. I was honestly not knowing what to expect. After we got settled in, we had dinner and then all went to a onsen. It was honestly one of the most amazing thing i have done in Japan. The next day we went to the ski resort, and i got to go really play with snow for the first time, it was really amazing. I got to sledding and i had a snowball fight with matt. It was really awesome. We then went back home and then went to a battlefield and the Nagano museum. That was really awesome i took a lot of pictures. Super amazing, sadly we had to leave and i really missed my host family now.