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June 12, 2004 |
| The First NP:J Groups Arrive in Japan! After a very long plane ride, the first study tour group of the New Perspectives: Japan (NP:J) 2004 program safely arrived in Japan. On Friday, June11th, after many hours on planes and waiting for connecting flights in the United States, all eight school groups from the U.S.A. touched down at Narita 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 two hundred students and teachers of Japanese language and culture 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. It is hoped that not only will these groups learn about Japan but that they have a chance to make new friends from other parts of the U.S. These schools are:
After gathering their luggage, the participants boarded buses for the 2-hour long bus ride from Narita International to lodgings at the Olympic Village. During the ride there, the congested highways between Narita and the Olympic Village; the overcast skies; and the quiet drizzle of showers that are ushering in the start of the rainy season lulled some participants to sleep on the bus. (Apologies to the families and friends of the Skyview, St. Mark and El Cerrito groups, we will upload photos of these groups of their study days in Tokyo. We were not able to take group photos at Narita.) The first bus load of students and teachers arrived at around 6:20 pm. Keys and meal money were first distributed, then participants took their things to their rooms, many reconvening shortly thereafter to go to dinner. With the teacher's meeting beginning at 8:00 pm, there was not much time to for the teachers to settle in. While it is a lot to ask the teachers to remain alert after such a long flight, they managed admirably to handle yet another barrage of information. The second bus load arrived around 8:00 pm, leaving teachers with even less time to acclimate themselves to the Olympic Village. The teachers in this group, needless to say, had to wait for dinner until after the meeting ended. Fortunately, there are several eating options at the Olympic Village including a restaurant with a great view of Shinjuku that serves dinner until 10:00 pm. (We hope to upload a few pictures of the eateries of the Olympic Village for family and friends to view in the next issue and you can join us for a vicarious glass of ice coffee!) At the 8:00 pm meeting, the NP:J teachers and NP:J staff held a brief orientation and overview of the two-week study tour; received their study day money packets; and cell phones. The meeting took about 45 minutes and with the teachers fading fast, NP:J staff bid goodnight to them and wished them a good night's rest. Each group has selected ambitious study day itineraries for Saturday and Sunday so rest will be very important! This morning, Saturday, all groups began their exploration of Tokyo! In fact, Wiley, Thomas Edison, and Eaton Rapids headed out at 4:45 am to visit the world famous Tsukiji Fish Market. The other groups are taking it easy and not starting their day until 7:00 am! Parents would be surprised to see their child up and about so early on a weekend! (Of course, jet lag helps....) Other groups are visiting Ueno Park and National Tokyo Museum, Asakusa Temple, Drum Museum, the Edo Tokyo museum, Meiji Shrine (right next to the Olympic Village), Odaiba, shopping in Harajuku, the Imperial Palace, and Ginza. Along with arrival photos, two staff members spent a few hours in the morning walking with several of these groups. NP:J staff make every effort to take pictures of students from each group and if the group you are looking for does not have a photo posted yet, please wait until the next NP:J newsletter. Readers will most likely find one there. That's all for our first web posting for this first tour. Over the course of the next two weeks, we will post three additional articles with photographs from this group's adventures in Japan. De wa, mata ne!
PS: To the parents who have not received emails from their children: Please do not fret. All are safe and sound, the students are just taking full advantage of being in Japan and haven't yet made it to the computer room to email! On Monday, each group departs for their host school and host family visits. Hopefully, students who haven't emailed will by then. |
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El
Cerrito High School Group at San Francisco Airport - photo courtesy of
Michael Alford, father of student participant
Eaton
High School at Narita
Thomas
Edison Middle School outside of customs at Narita
Middleton
High School by the bus stop at Narita
Patrick
Henry High School students wait outside of customs. (Shiba-sensei is missing
her because she is at the takyubin counter sending a suitcase ahead to
the host school.)
Wiley
International Magnet Elementary School poses outside of customs.
St. Mark's group on the bus to the Olympic Village 
Aview out the front of the bus of the rainy tsuyu season.