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June 9, 2001

After landing at Kansai International Airport, NP:J students and teachers catch a bus and journey to Kyoto. TLI staff member Chieko Shida assists Sumico Yamana and her Chaminade students with the check-in process at the Rihga Royal Hotel in Kyoto.

We're in Japan! The first tour group for New Perspectives: Japan (NP:J) 2001 safely arrived in Japan. On Friday, June 8th, after several hours on planes and waiting for connecting flights in the United States, all nine school groups from the U.S.A. touched down at Kansai International Airport. After clearing customs, tired but happy students and teachers were welcomed by the staff of The Laurasian Institution. In the next seven weeks, over three hundred students of Japanese language and culture and their teachers will be participating in NP:J. The first group of this summer's three tours is comprised of the schools and communities representing a broad range of ages and regions across America, and include: The Barstow School, from Kansas City, Missouri Centennial, Eagle, and Meridian High Schools, Boise, Idaho Chaminade College Preparatory School, St. Louis, Missouri Thomas Edison Middle School, Brighton, Massachusetts Dr. Hornedo Middle School, El Paso, Texas Indian Creek High School, Trafalgar, Indiana Lathrop High School, Fairbanks, Alaska Valparaiso High School, Valparaiso, Indiana Wiley International School, Raleigh, North Carolina After gathering luggage, the participants boarded buses for the 100-minute long bus ride from Kansai Internationalñbuilt on a man-made islandñto our hotel in Kyoto, the Rihga Royal. Everyone was in good spirits, but feeling a bit tired after the long flight. Questions and comments about Japanese life and culture began to fly across the bus aisle as students began observing rice paddies, tiled roofs, the skyline and sprawl of Osaka, and the mysterious temples of the ancient imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto. Students and teachers were thrilled to be able to check into their rooms at the Rihga Royal and have a moment to refresh themselves before making their initial foray in to the city of Kyoto. Some began to inspect the hotel's restaurants to determine if their first dinner in Japan would be Teppanyaki, Chinese cuisine, haute cuisine cooked in the French style, and so on. Many opted to dine in the hotel's revolving restaurant on the top floor, appropriately called the Top of Kyoto. The 360 degree night time views of downtown Kyoto are quite beautiful! In the evening, the NP:J teachers and TLI staff held a brief orientation and overview of the two-week study tour. Everybody is looking forward to a good night's rest and, Saturday morning, all will begin their exploration of Kyoto! Some will visit ancient temples, such as Kiyomizudera. Others will explore the Gion district with the hope of catching a glimpse of maiko. Some are keenly interested in exploring the crafts district and inspecting 16th-century calligraphy, or exploring the exotic silk or tea shops. All in all, the weekend in Kyoto promises to be an incredibly rich educational experience. That's all for our first web posting for NP:J 2001. Over the course of the next two weeks, we will post three additional articles with photographs of our first group's adventures in Japan.