August 10, 2007

Japan Experience Day 12 (Aug 9) Uno cards in Japanese, big men wrestling in loincloths, delicious hot-pot stew & the re-created world of old Tokyo!

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Playing Uno in Japanese!


Today I wanted the beginner and intermediate Japanese groups try learning Japanese together, so I asked Yano-Sensei to play the card game Uno in Japanese with everyone! She and Justine were new to Uno, but they both caught on quickly, plus Kato-Sensei (a social studies teacher who speaks English) asked if was ok for him to play too because he is a big Uno fan.


After describing everything in Japanese, one extra special rule was added; everytime someone said an English word, they had to pick up a card. So guess who got penalized the most? Yano-Sensei! Seems she shares my problem of being stuck between two languages as well!


There was lots of laughter, howls and roars, which I could even hear in the staff room across the hall. This game definitely went over well as everyone played over our alloted lesson time. For sure next time we will play with some regular Japanese students, since Uno is very popular with Japanese school kids.


After an email check, we were off from Higashi-Jujo station to ride the Keihin-Tohoku line to Akihabara station where we switched to the Sobu line. From there we went 2 stops east to Ryogoku station.


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Sumo anyone?!


The Ryogoku area is the home of the massive Ryogoku Kokuginkan Sumo Hall. Also in the area are many sumo-beya (sumo stables) where the pro wrestlers practice, whoever, all the senior pros are on a promotional tour of Japan, and the juniors trying to be pros are on summer camps in little towns around Japan. (Our original plan was to visit a sumo-beya for a bit in the morning, but since there would be no one around, we had the extra Japanese class playing Uno.)


Summer camps are held in little towns, and are very popular for all sports and clubs, normally with a sport team going to a training center designed for their sport plus having a dormitory. In terms of my high school karate club, we have gone to the same mountain town 6hrs from Tokyo by taking a bus then train, to stay at a summer lodge, annually for over 12 years!


The great thing was the sumo museum was interesting with many old photos of wrestlers and videos of matches. Everyone was impressed with the average height and weight of the wrestlers, most being over 190cm (6’2’’+) and over 130kg (286lbs)!


From the museum, we braved the warm weather to skip across the street to one of the many chanko-nabe (hot pot) restaurants in the area.


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Sumo wrestler food anyone?


Surrounded by regular ‘salarymen’ (male office workers) and pictures of sumo, we treated ourselves to some big steaming bowls of chanko-nabe (stew)! I thought it was delicious, and it seemed the student’s stomachs were in agreement, with even the pickiest eater in the group eating most of his!


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Chanko in the pot, scooped from the steaming bowl with the ladel. plus rice and gooey seaweed salad, all washed down with cold tea!


Behind the Sumo Hall is the humungous Edo-Tokyo Museum raised high in the air, like a huge white elephant-without-the-trunk. Edo is the old name of Tokyo and inside are wonderful displays of how feudal Japan (Tokyo having several million citizens for centuries) turned into modern Tokyo.


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Marvin trying to lift 26kg of water!


The interactive displays seemed to be enjoyed by all, like lifting the water buckets and samurai banners. Just the progression from old to new Japan was fascinating. Also there were more foreigners congregated together into that museum then we had seen anywhere so far.


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Makudonarudo as McDonalds is called in Japanese, where we cooled off with 'soft twists'. Just being curious, I enquired as to how many calories in the Mega-Mac 4 beef patty.... 754!


Oh yes, with the return to Akabane, I relinquished my leadership duties to the democratic institution of the students to allow them to decide how we should get back to Akabane by train. Although they started out a little perplexed when we got to Akihabara station where they knew we needed to change trains, they all figured out the route pretty quick.


Arriving in Akabane, we strolled around some small side streets to see old, tiny stores selling all kinds of goods for the average person’s needs, before walking back to school in one piece, although a little lighter due to the heat.


After we called it a wrap, three students were off to their home stay families and Jessica joined me at the school karate club’s dojo for another practice. Today was sort of ‘Richard-Sensei’s Billy Blank’s Boot Camp Workout!’ except my iPod battery died just as I hooked it up to the sound system.


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Jessica's reverse roundhouse kick!


Anyway, I think everyone had a good practice, especially learning lots of takedowns and sweeps.


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Quick everyone, get in the picture, 'cause if you weren't in the picture, you weren't there... now be macho!


And by 6pm, another day was done! Everyone seems to still be in good spirits, and tomorrow is the last day for the JE students at the school before the Saturday with the home stay families, and Sundays return.


On the schedule for tomorrow is the final Japanese class, which is something again new and interesting for them, then the ‘’Seiritsu Gakuen High School 1st Annual I-Know-Japan World Championship Trivia Game Contest’ (all questions are about what the students have learned during their stay), followed by the Farewell Party with the staff.


Afterwards we’re going souvenir shopping back in Asakusa as per the student’s request, and then if there is time, maybe have some extra fun in Tokyo before they head back to their home stay houses.


Wow, Day 12 done, it’s amazing how much we’ve accomplished and yet how fast time has flown by!


Richard

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about Seiritsu

Seiritsu Gakuen is a private co-educational high school created in 1925 and it is located in Tokyo, Japan.

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