Seiritsu International Education

The final Japanese class with the wonderful Yano-Sensei! Everyone hold up your presents!

Everyone arrived today on-time and raring to go. I kindly asked Yano-Sensei to teach a Japanese folk tale, first in English and then in Japanese. So Yano-Sensei chose Sannen Netaro, or The Boy Who Slept for 3 Years. It seemed a bit difficult for the students, but soon Yano-Sensei was holding a little samurai boy doll, making it dance around the table in front of her as she did her utmost to animate a few other tales too.

Then we had our final group picture with Yano-Sensei, giving her a few presents, but she surprised us by having presents of her own to give to the students! She had bought beautiful Japanese hand-dyed & painted handkerchiefs and towels that were really exquisite (and I suspect from a Ginza store).

I must say Yano-Sensei truly thought about the well-being of the students during the whole trip, checking on them constantly, and it seems she spoiled them a bit too which was super sweet!

The I-Know-Japan! contest board!

Afterwards I kicked the JE students out of the room and sent them to check their email in the computer room as Cathy Sensei and I prepared for the 1st Annual Seiritsu Gakuen Japan Experience ‘I Know Japan’ Trivia Contest World Championship. The reason for the long and a little strange name is that it is a straight translation from the long Japanese title I made, in keeping with the Japanese custom of making a long, formal name for any event, no matter what it is.

All the questions are based on who the students met, where they went, key Japanese language phrases, major points of things they learned and of course some of the sillier things someone has said or done.

Canada is in the house! Representing Prince George, contestant An-jya-li-nu!

Our four ‘country representatives’ did a great job answering all the trivia questions thrown at them, even under the pressure of an audience which included the Principal, Vice-Principal and School Director, plus a few teachers.

All the way from the good-ole U S of A, Tennassee contestant Je-shi-ka!

Questions ranged from some easy ones like ‘Who was the name of the cooking teacher?’ (Nakamura Sensei) to harder questions including ‘Why is a Japanese tea ceremony door so small?’ (to symbolically leave all one’s emotional baggage outside).

Another Canuck! This time representing Victoria, contestant Ju-su-teen!

Some questions ended up being really funny. One was ‘Does the cooking teacher have son or a daughter?’, which everyone easily got since Nakamura Sensei was in the audience with her sweet young daughter beside her waving to JE students.

All the way from Germany, representing Berlin, contestant Ma-bu-i-in!

And our gold winner was... Justine! She scored 400 points (10 pts per answer), but she was trailed very closely by everyone else. Jessica picked up the silver, with Angeline and Marvin both getting bronze.

The winners! ....and a wonderful red bow-tie!

Say chee-zu everyone!

After medals were slung around necks in an improtu award ceremony, the students received several extra gifts, plus each student received beautiful copies of each kanji they had learned from Mrs. Fukuda!

Seiritsu's wonderful completion certificate with our official logo on top! Each one was hand done by Mrs. Fukuda with each student's name written on it! Sublime, and very frameable!

Finally the Principal Mr. Fukuda awarded each student with a large ‘Japan Experience Completion Certificate’ in Japanese, along with a Seiritsu embroidered leather cylindrical case to keep the certificate safe in for the journey home.

Farewell lunch!

Next up was the Farewell Party lunch, catered by the school’s fabulous cook Akakura-san, who prepared lots and lots of food, including pizza, for all the JE staff and students to enjoy in the warm student hall. After much eating, speeches and warm good-byes, the students were soon off for their last adventure into Tokyo as a group with me for the afternoon.

In Asakusa, under the Kaminarimon again, which is the entrance to hundreds of shops that line the stone path to Sensoji temple.

Two very cute girls in colorful summer yukata, which is simply a light one piece kimono. Going to a temple, fireworks festival or summer party wearing yukata is still popular for old and young alike!

As per their request, we returned to Asakusa which has many small souvenir stores, and then after purchases in hand, we escaped the heat by renting a karaoke box in Ueno just for ourselves for 2hrs! There was no holding back with lots of enthusiastic singing and dancing, with even Marvin singing the original Nena song ’99 Red Balloons’ in German, twice! Jessica and Angeline were in fine duet form for more up to date songs like Avril Lavigne & Offspring, Justine went for classic rock like the Rolling Stones, and lastly this writer was all over the board from Michael Jackson to Radiohead.

Actually seeing Marvin sing the theme song to My Neighbor Totoro in Japanese was quite entertaining!

The final JE group shot! A most appropriate place to disband, right in the middle of a busy Tokyo shopping bazaar, everyone to melt into the city and go on their way, easily navigating this huge metropolis, like a true Tokyoite! That in and of itself is a great success!

And from there, we officially disbanded the JE student group of 2007. Marvin went off to a German restaurant with Mr. Fukuda, while the girls returned to the comfort of Mrs. Hanai’s very hospitable house!

For Saturday, I heard Mrs. Hanai is taking the girls to a special shop to try on real multi-layered kimonos, plus have their picture taken! With the Fukuda family, Marvin is off to a swimming pool and then a large manga bookstore in Shibuya.

On Sunday I will be at Narita Airport from 9am to 6pm to meet all the students as they arrive with the home stay families at separate times so that I can help them check-in and make sure they easily go through security as they head to their departure gate, just to make sure everything goes, as the Japanese like to say, smoothuu...!

Richard