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July 9, 2003

A group of Chesterton students catch up on the news of their first day in Tokyo while waiting their turn to check e-mail on the NP:J computers. In the evenings, the students enjoy giving their feet a rest -- they walk a lot! -- while they wait to check e-mail and send their families and friends news from Japan. The students from Juanita High School have established a ritual of getting cleaned up and donning traditional "yukata" (traditional summer kimonos) before they arrive to check their e-mail. "Kyodai na maguro!" Humungous tuna, dude! This is a shot of very expensive tuna being wheeled away at the Tsukiji Fish Market. Kim Roberts and her students from Juanita High School pose for a picture on a subway platform in Tokyo. Inside the Tsukiji Fish Market, the Juanita group poses in front of a stack of styrofoam packing containers. Outside the market, they saw mounds of containers that could cover a city block! It's an NP:J tradition. You can't truly experience a trip to the Tsukiji Fish Market without sampling some fish! Here, everyone is about to pop some delicious dried "ebi" (shrimp) into their mouths. "Oishi!" Delicious!

Tokyo Explored Throughout the past weekend, the NP:J participants began to gradually adjust to life on Japan time. As the days passed, everyone's sleep schedules seemed to be getting back to a normal pattern. By Monday, July 7th, when students and teachers left to visit their host schools and families, jet lag had been largely dealt with. However, before traveling to host schools, everyone spent all of Saturday and Sunday -- as well as part of Monday morning -- getting better acquainted with Tokyo. The metropolitan area of Tokyo is huge. Sprawling doesn't quite capture its immensity. Over 20 million people live in the greater metropolitan area, so there is much to explore! Here's a quick overview of what each of the eight school groups experienced in Toyko. These are not complete itineraries, but they'll give you a "flavor" of their Tokyo days. The Chesterton High School group, led by John Sparks, spent some time exploring Akihabara (the electronics "gadget" capital of the world!), as well as a walking tour of the Imperial Palace grounds. Tammy Haldeman and her students from Issaquah High School have set a blistering pace for seeing quite a bit each day. Among the many experiences they squeeze into every day are: trips to Akihabara, Harajuku, the Oriental Bazaar (talk about a shopping mecca for Japanese memorabilia!), as well as a tea ceremony. Kim Roberts and the students from Juanity High School, as mentioned in our first newsletter for group four, got up before dawn to feel the vibrant pulse of Tokyo at Tsukiji Fish Market. They enjoyed the youthful exuberance of Harajuku so much, they had to return on Sunday for more of the same, as well as a boat ride to Asakusa! The students from Marina High School, led by David Leech, took part in the Scavenger Hunt (a cultural exploration of Tokyo led by a TLI colleague, John Lacey) on Saturday, as well as a trip to Akihabara. On Sunday, Marina explored the Imperial Palace, as well as other Tokyo sites. Meanwhile, Noriko Coyle and the students from North Penn High School visited the National Museum and Ueno Park, and followed up with visits to a traditional Tokyo Flea Market at Hanazono Shrine and a beautiful exhibit of animation by Hayao Miyazaki, the director of "Spirited Away," at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum. Sunday was spent strolling through Meiji Jingu, where several NP:J groups enjoyed glimpses of traditional Japanese weddings while exploring the beautiful Meiji Shrine. Junko Randall and her students from St. Margaret's had a marvelous hands-on experience with traditional Japanese toys at the Shitamachi Museum, which was balanced by visits to the Ohta Art Mseum and the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. Tampa Bay Technical High School, led by Hiroko Watanabe, visited an anime shop and the Tokyo Sword Museum, followed by shopping in both Akihabara and one of the most expensive shopping districts in the world, located in Ginza. Cathy Sparks and her students from Valparaiso High School had a very busy schedule -- as did every other NP:J school -- that included trips to Akihabara, Ryogoku, Asakusa, Ueno, the Imperial Palace, and Shibuya -- the last being a very busy and popular train stop for young people in Japan, with Tower Records only steps away! Sunday evening, July 6th, the TLI staff conducted a presentation to help the students and teachers prepare for their visits to their host schools and host families. The first few days in Toyko have served the NP:J participants well. They have, for the most part, adjusted to the time zone here in Japan, and the students are now more acclimated to listening to and speaking in Japanese. If the first week in Tokyo is the "appetizer," the next eight days (July 7-14) can be thought of as the "main course," when students truly immerse themselves in the culture and day-to-day life of Japan. Monday morning, July 7th, each of the eight school groups that comprise the fourth and final Study Tour for NP:J 2003 set off for their new homes away from home. One school group traveled by domestic airline out of Haneda Airport. Another school group took a local train line to their Tokyo suburb host school. The remaining six schools traveled by "Shinkansen," the bullet train that reaches speeds that approach 150 mph. By late Monday afternoon, all of the NP:J students had arrived safely at their host schools, where they were oficially introduced to the schools' faculty and administration. Later, representatives from each of the NP:J host families introduced themselves and brought their new sons and daughters home for a home-cooked dinner and a well-deserved rest. For the remainder of the week, each student will be attending classes with his or her host brother or sister, participating in school "club" activities (such as kendo, archery, karate, etc.), and going on field trips with their Japanese peers and/or host families. The next eight days promise to be very exciting and rewarding. At the end of the previous Study Tour, a high school student from Center Grove, in response to the question "What did you like best from the NP:J program?" said: "The school visit!..I can’t believe that I actually said school....wow..." Students and teachers have received and sent e-mails on each of the evenings they were in Tokyo. TLI will make computers available to the NP:J students and teachers again when they reconvene in Kyoto on July 15th. Until then, thanks once more for checking out the NP:J newsletter. Everyone is doing well. We'll post our next newsletter on July 15th, after everyone arrives in Kyoto. Ja, mata!