Yamagata Trip Day Four

 

We experienced our first home stay and all groups reported on having a wonderful experience with their host families. All groups in fact bragged to each other about their host families and the home in which they were staying. Which proves that all Koshares had a most enjoyable night. The Koshares were dropped off at 9:30am and met again to start another fun-filled day.

9:30 am:  Nano Fisherman's Wharf
After bragging about how great our home stays were, we were able to go shopping through Fisherman's Wharf. The fresh-caught fish were being hauled in the market place as we enter the area. After an hour of touring and shopping, we then loaded a bus for our next destination.

10:00 am:  Tobu Junior High School
We were welcomed to the school by the principal and he explained the Japanese schooling system to the Koshares. There are many differences than what we know in the United States. To begin with, the school begins their school year January 1st. Second, the students of the school are very active in more than just learning. In Japanese schools, students share responsibilities for cleaning the classrooms and school grounds during a cleaning hour called Souji jikan. Despite all the differences here, the kids are just like kids in America.

After the Tobu principal spoke to us, school was in session once again for the Koshares who thought they were on vacation. First period we met with Tetuya Dezaki, the art teacher of Tobu Junior High. We were told he is the best fine art teacher working for Tobu Junior High and Mr. Dezaki says it really helps that he is the only Fine Art teacher at the school. In class, Mr. Dezaki taught the Koshares about Japanese Sumie art painting an ancient form of painting. Most members of the group did very well, but program director and artist Jeremy Manyik was certainly the teachers pet.

11:50 am:  Period Two
After art class, we were able to pick which class we took next. The group was divided into three small groups and sent off to either English class, penmanship class or to play volleyball. In these classes the Koshares took the session mixed with a group of Tobu students. In English class, the students had to teach us how to fold oragami figures. However, they had to use English words and for the Koshares there could be no cheating since all the folding instructions were in Japanese.

12:40 pm:  Lunch
At lunch all the Koshare students ate lunch with different classes from Tobu Junior High. There were two Koshares per grade for the five different grades at the junior high school.

2:10 pm:  Koshares Dance
School now was almost out for the Koshares, but before leaving Tobu Junior High School we wanted to share our dancing with the students. We performed a ten minute performance for the students consisting of the belt, eagle and hoop dances which we have been told all the students really enjoyed. In fact, after the dance we caught some students doing their version of the eagle dance in the hall way of Tobu Junior High.

Interesting Point:  During our stay at Tobu Junior High, all the students were really happy to see us as their visitors. The students waved everywhere we went, many ran up just to say "hello" and several asked about some American pop icon.

3:30 pm:  School is dismissed
What a wonderful experience at Tobu Junior High School. For most of the Koshares this perhaps seemed like the fastest time school had gone by. After leaving the school we went to the Nappi Mall just right down the street from the Junior High. The most popular place to shop at the Mall by the Koshares, was the 100 yen store. Which is comparible in price to American Dollar stores. For an hour and a half the Koshares shopped for gifts and souviners at the mall and then loaded up on the bus once more to head back to Fisherman's Wharf.

Back to where we started, we met up again with our home stay families and were off by 5:30 to stay another night with our hosts. At the homes we were treated to a wonderful welcome dinner. The welcoming dinner was perhaps the new definition for feast.