2011 Japan Cultural Experience
 

In January, 27 intrepid students and their teachers participated in the school’s inaugural Japan ski trip and cultural experience.  Highlights of the trip were many, but stand-out experiences included the food, the snow and the monkeys.

Food in Japan was great. Our first night in Tokyo was a traditional izakaya dining experience – no shoes, sunken table, chopsticks and no English – we just had to guess what we were eating from the pictures on the menu.  It must be noted that not everything that looks like chicken is chicken!  We ate some particularly different things “¦ and parts of things.  There just doesn’t come a better cultural experience than that on your first day in a foreign country.  On other nights, we were treated to shabu-shabu (cooking your own meat in a pot on your table), Nabe stew (making your own dumplings), tempura and sashimi.  In terms of adventurous tastes, it was the street vending machines that provided the most diverse of flavours, right up to pancakes in a can.
 
Our time in Tokyo included using the subway system for travel to Yoyogi Park and the Meiji-Jingu shrine.  Here we were surprised to see an ice sculpture competition and several Shinto weddings.  We capped our day with a visit to trendy Takeshita Lane shopping district.

Arriving in two metres of fresh snow, skiing and boarding at Hakuba was awesome.  Weather was great throughout, and a few managed to try tobogganing on their last day.  The onsen hot springs in Hakuba provided a well-earned relief from the cold, although the standard of dress required to enter them was a little daunting for some.  In Hakuba, we treated ourselves to a samurai sword show with hibachi BBQ-style dinner.  Throwing the ninja knives was a popular experience.  Our final day took us to the snow monkeys where we trekked a mountain path to gaze at the monkeys languishing in their hot pools. 

Our cultural experiences while in Japan included getting used to the currency differences.  Getting used to the number of zeroes attached to a note can be a little confusing.  But perhaps most fascinating was the choice of toilets – traditional and bidet-style.  While finding a Western toilet wasn’t a problem, it was the button-pressing, seat warming, water-squirting version that provided the most entertainment, and took the most getting used to. 

The success of a trip such as this one relies on the students going out of their comfort zones a little, trying new and diverse types of food, engaging with the language (although “˜thank-you’ and “˜sorry’ tended to be the most popular), participating in the activities and bonding with others on the trip.  Responses seem to be positive, with many indicating they would go back to Japan in the future.  Already, there seems to be a lot of interest in a second trip next year.

Congratulations to Mr O’Neill on a well-organised trip, and to the supporting teachers – Mrs Stevens, Mr Jones, Miss Levi and our travel agent, Robert Shaw – a big arigato!