Visit with the Mayor and Board of Education

This morning when we arrived at Akishima city hall, we were greeted by about 40 people who were lined up and clapping for us as we entered the building. It was amazing and very humbling!! We had a meeting with the mayor and city counsel of Akishima and then another meeting with the members from the Akishima school board. We learned a lot about the city and their educational programs. As a token of friendship, the city counsel gave us all a traditional Japanese fan. The large kanji written on the fan means “mutual encounter and affection”. The three smaller kanji on the right mean “humans, city, and greenery”. This means, people should show affection toward others, the local community, and nature.

We had seafood tempura for lunch. Yum!
Next, we went on a city tour. On our first stop we visited two temples. The first one is only open three days a year. During the three days it is open there are over 300,000 visitors. We had the rare opportunity to go inside on a day the temple is normally closed. Our guide told us that in the Edo period not even the emperor was allowed to visit the area of the temple we visited! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photographs inside.
Next, we went to the Haijima-daishi temple. Our guide for the second temple was the wife of the priest. She gave us a demonstration of the temple acoustics and how to ring the large bell outside.

Our second stop was the Showa Kinen Park - the largest park in the Tokyo metropolitan area. It was beautiful with the autumn leaves!
We were treated to a traditional tea ceremony at the park. Before drinking the tea, you are served a “candy” made from red bean paste.

Our last stop was the Moritown Shopping Center!

Gakugei University

Today we visited Gakugei University – a university that has a large teacher education program. We met with faculty members to learn more about Japanese teacher certification and training programs. Then, our group presented similarities and differences between the U.S. system and the Japanese system. Lastly, we visited with faculty members and students for a question and answer session.

After our trip to the University, we drove to Akishima and checked into our hotel. Several members of the Akishima Board of Education were waiting for us and welcomed us to the city. It was amazing!

Our hotel, Forest Inn Showakan, is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in! The only problem with the hotel is that I don’t have internet access in my room.

For dinner I had noodles and seafood tempura. For dessert we had green tea ice cream. It was very tasty!
When I arrived back at the hotel, I was amazed to see that my host family in Akishima (the people I will stay with next weekend) had flowers and a card delivered for me. Wow, how thoughtful! I can’t wait to meet them!

A Rare Opportunity

Today was an amazing day!
Akiko’s mother cooked us a special brunch. We had soup, egg, salad, rice, cod eggs, spinach, roots, and fish. It was great! I really enjoyed the fish and cod eggs. The eggs were small and spicy.
Next, I had a very rare opportunity to wear a kimono. It was a special honor. Akiko’s mother is experienced with kimonos and she helped me. Words cannot express how special this moment was. I am very grateful to her! The kimono and obi were absolutely beautiful!

Akiko and I went to the Edo Tokyo Museum. I learned a lot about Japanese history.
After visiting the museum, we went out to have sushi (raw fish). It was my first time eating sushi. I was a bit nervous. I tried two pieces of tuna with rice and wrapped with seaweed, one piece of salmon and rice, one cooked piece of shrimp and rice, a bite of raw shrimp, a bite of eel, two eggs, two pieces of cucumber sushi wrapped in seaweed, and ginger. While we were eating, a magician visited our table and showed us some tricks. We had a lot of fun eating and visiting.

After dinner, we went shopping. One of the stores we visited was the 100 yen store. It is similar to the dollar store in the U.S.

I was very sad to say goodbye to Akiko. She is a great friend! I can’t believe that the next time I see her it will be in the U.S. We had a fantastic weekend together.

Weekend with Akiko

Today Akiko met me at the hotel around 9:30. We took the train to Kamakura (a coastal town about one hour south of Tokyo).

The first sight we visited was the Engakuji. It was founded in 1282. We went up a very tall hill in order to see the temple’s large bell. It is a national treasure. Up on the hillside, we had tea and enjoyed the scenery.

After that, we had lunch at a delicious place where there was a long line. The wait was worth it! We sat near the kitchen so while we ate, we could see the chefs cook.

Then, we visited Kenchoji temple. It is one of the oldest Zen temples of Japan. We were able to go inside one section and view the garden behind the temple. It was amazing!

Next, we saw Tsurugaoka Hachimangu – Kamakura’s most important shrine. At the shine, we were lucky enough to see a wedding!
Finally, we saw the Great Buddha statue. It is bronze and is the second largest Buddha statue in Japan. It was constructed in 1252.

Once we arrived near Akiko’s home, we met her mother at a restaurant were you can BBQ your food in a pit on the table. It was really fun! We ordered a wide variety of meat, but my favorite was tongue – seriously!

Before going to sleep on the futon, I wore a special robe and took a Japanese style bath.

Akiko and her family are wonderful people and I feel fortunate to have been invited to their house.

Special Seminars and Disney Sea

I went to two seminars today – the first was on special education and the second was on Japan-U.S. collaborative environmental education.



This evening I went to Tokyo Disney at Sea with three of the members from my Akishima group. We had a blast! Disney was decorated for the holidays.

Navigating our way there was an adventure. The subway system in Japan is more difficult and more expensive to use than the ones in Europe. However, we were in for a fun surprise when we boarded the special Disney monorail. Do you notice anything unusual about the windows?

Thanksgiving Day in Japan

Today started very early! I left to visit the fish market at 5:15am. There were things to see everywhere I turned.
The most exciting part of the fish market is the tuna auction. The lower the number placed on the tuna, the more valuable the meat. These were the biggest fish I have ever seen!
Can you guess what this is?
What do you think these are?
After the fish market, I went to visit a very beautiful temple.
The statues in this picture represent babies that died. It was very sad.

The majority of my day was spent inside listening to speakers. Our first speaker represented a book publisher and gave us all three children's books. Next, we had our prefecture orientation. After that, a professor from the International University of Japan spoke about Japan's economy. For lunch I tried octopus and noodles. I wonder if the octopus came from the fish market... After lunch, we had several members from the Diet discuss Japanese government. Then, we heard the president of the National Institution for Academic Degrees present on Japanese Education.
We had our official welcome reception this evening. The Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology was one of the speakers that welcomed us. All four of us from Washington had our picture taken with her.
In honor of Thanksgiving we were served turkey (and many other things) for dinner.

Toilets

Japan has very modern toilets with many controls.
Japan also has old-fashioned toilets.

Fast Food

Do you recognize this restaurant?

City Tour and Traditional Theater

This morning, we had a Tokyo orientation and then we got on a bus for sightseeing. We saw the Supreme Court and the Imperial Palace from the bus. Then, we stopped to visit the Diet. The Diet is similar to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Next, we drove to Akasaka. We had lunch at a tempura restaurant. They served us a lot of food! We sat on pillows on the tatami mat floor. You must be sure to remove your shoes before stepping onto the tatami mats. Tempura is deep fried food - shrimp, fish, peppers, and vegetables. We also had miso soup, rice, pickled ginger, and green tea. Dessert was an orange! The Japanese do not eat as many sweets as Americans.
After lunch, we visited the Asakusa Shrine. I bought a fortune at the temple. If you have a bad fortune, you leave it at the temple. If your fortune is good, you take it home. My fortune said, “Excellent Good Fortune”.

When we arrived at the hotel, we saw a kyogen (comedy) performance.
Then we saw a woman put on make-up for kabuki and perform a traditional dance.

For dinner I had noodle soup and tea.

I Made It!

Today was a VERY long day. I was awake for over 24 hours!! We left the San Francisco airport at 11:20 and it took us over ten hours to fly to Narita, Japan. Our plane was a double decker plane. Midway through our flight, we crossed the international dateline and it became Tuesday instead of Monday.
Once we arrived in Japan, we had a two hour bus ride to our hotel in Tokyo. Our tour guide’s name is Kiko. She met us at the airport. She will be going to Akishima with my group later in the trip.

The Tokyo Prince Hotel is very nice. Once we arrived at the hotel, we had about fifteen minutes to freshen up and then we went down to the Sunflower room for a welcome speech, music, and to meet Fulbright Scholars from Japan who accompanied us to dinner.

I went with two other people and a man named Satoshi. He is a professor at a law school in Yokohama. For dinner we had shrimp, cucumbers, fish, radishes, and crab. The food was delicious! In fact, the crab was the best crab I have ever tasted!

Traveling to California

I woke up today at 3:30 to arrive at the Pasco airport by 5:00. My flight left at 6:00 for Denver. From Denver I flew to the San Francisco airport. I arrived in California at 12:30. In California we hopped on a chartered bus and drove to the Sheraton Gateway Hotel.
The day was very full with a lunch buffet, orientation welcome, opening remarks, program overview, city group meetings, a panel presentation, and dinner. I am so excited to be here with 200 educators from all over the country. My Akishima group of 20 seems very nice and is a diverse bunch of people. Tomorrow we head to Japan! Yeah!

My Travel Itinerary

Sunday 11/20 San Francisco Orientation, lodging at Sheraton Hotel
Monday 11/21 Travel to Tokyo, sleep on plane
Tuesday 11/22 Tokyo Orientation, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Wednesday 11/23 Tokyo Orientation, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Thursday 11/24 Tokyo Orientation, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Friday 11/25 Tokyo Orientation, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Saturday 11/26 Visit Akiko, lodging with Akiko
Sunday 11/27 Visit Akiko, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Monday 11/28 Akishima, lodging at Forest Inn
Tuesday 11/29 Akishima, lodging at Forest Inn
Wednesday 11/30 Akishima, lodging at Forest Inn
Thursday 12/1 Akishima, lodging at Forest Inn
Friday 12/2 Akishima, lodging at Forest Inn
Saturday 12/3 Home Stay, lodging with host family
Sunday 12/4 Home Stay, lodging at Forest Inn
Monday 12/5 Akishima, lodging at Yuzunosato (traditional Inn)
Tuesday 12/6 Tokyo Debriefing, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Wednesday 12/7 Tokyo Debriefing, lodging at Tokyo Prince Hotel
Thursday 12/8 Travel to U.S., sleep on plane