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June 19, 2004 |
| The Second NP:J Groups Arrive in Japan! The flights from the States all arrived early yesterday and landed in bright, sunny, and most importantly, non-humid weather. (This won't last for long, this is the rainy season after all. But we'll take any amount of rainless days as possible!) All groups came out of immigration and customs with ease and we were able to leave Narita Airport ahead of schedule. There were two waves of buses. The first group came out of customs around 3:15 pm and were on the road by 4:00 pm, arriving at the Olmpic Village by 5:20 pm. The second wave came out of customs around 5:15 pm and were on the bus before 6:00 pm, arriving at the Olympic Village by 7:30 pm. We were lucky in that we didn't run into major traffic congestion. Typically, the roads are quite filled to capacity, making things slow going during rush hour. The participants in this second study tour group are made up of 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:
Upon arrival at the Olympic Village, keys and meal money are first distributed. Participants then take their things to their rooms and settle in. The teachers, meanwhile, attend a brief orientation meeting. At this meeting, the NP:J teachers receive an overview of the two-week study tour; receive their first study day money packets; and quickly learn how to use a Japanese cell phone. Each group has selected ambitious study day itineraries for Saturday and Sunday! This morning, Saturday, all groups began their exploration of Tokyo. This tours' groups are visiting Ueno Park and National Tokyo Museum, Asakusa Temple, the Drum Museum, the Edo Tokyo Museum, Meiji Shrine (right next to the Olympic Village), Kawagoe, Yasukuni Shrine Flea Market, Odaiba, Fuji TV, NHK Studios, shopping in Harajuku, the Sword Museum, the Imperial Palace, Ohta Art Museum, and Ginza. Along with arrival photos, two staff members will spend time with each group to take pictures for the Web site. (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. It takes quite a few days before all groups can be captured in photos so we ask for readers to be patient.) For those visiting this newsletter for the first time, there is another group of eight NP:J schools concurrently in Japan. These eight schools arrived last week and are experiencing Japanese school and family life. Readers are welcomed to take a look at the newsletter from the first tour to get a glimpse into what this group will experience next week. That's all for our first newsletter web posting for this second 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! Also, be aware that when students are writing emails, they are not directly connected to the internet (such facilities are not currently available at the Olympic Center) so emails are not sent in real time. Emails are uploaded or downloaded later by staff.
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Harrison
High School Group at Indianapolis Airport - photo courtesy of student's
parent.
Sudbrook
students at O'Hare having lunch and their last taste of American McDonalds
cuisine (?) for two weeks.
Getting
ready to load up luggage onto the limosine bus.
Will
this suitcase fit on the bus?
Inside
the firstbus on the way to the Olympic Village: Jefferson, Harrison, Gig
Harbor, and Sudbrook groups