Seiritsu International Education

Hello again for Day 4 of the Japan Experience! The schedule for Day 4 was quite busy, including a Japanese lesson, a train ride to Studio Ghibli Animation Museum, and a chance to practice karate with the Seiritsu High School Karate Team.

Studio Ghibli is a world renowned animation studio famous for films such as My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke. The museum is an amazingly detailed look at the world of Studio Ghilbli's founder, Hayao Miyazaki, and the museum itself is designed with lots of little passages linking all the areas so that one can explore it freely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghibli_Museum

After that, we headed back to Seiritsu and everyone got changed for a 1 hour workout with the Seiritsu Karate Team. The training included a warm up, a run through the basic punches and kicks, a chance to hit the target pads, a series of self-defense drills, and then demos by the Seiritsu Team.

All in all, an excellent day out!

Pictures from Studio Ghibli:

I caught Shirlene (left) and France (right) taking a break from a neat little water fountain.

Claudia (left) and Victor (right) after some souvenir shopping.

Surprise! This is Nicholas (top) and Bryce (bottom) on their way to the next exhibit.

Xenia in front of the gift shop... I wonder how much she bought...

Karen (left) and Jocelyn (right) with their home stay sister, Misaki Arai (middle).

Special thanks to "Big Totoro" for working the ticket booth.

Seiritsu Karate Dojo:

All the students paired up with a Seiritsu team member for some drills. Rui (left) and Yuka (right), two second year (grade 11) karate members 'peacing' for the camera!

France working with her partner on some punching combos.

Victor's strong legs made for a great kick.

Nicholas and Bryce working with their partners.

Haiya!! Karen lands a good punch on the target mitts.

Good thing the bag is soft, considering how strong Jocelyn's kick was...

... and Claudia's.

Xenia got the hang of it really quickly.

After the drills, the students got a chance to do some very light sparring drills with their partners. Bryce, with his black belt in Shotokan karate, strapped on some gloves and got to go at it (lightly) with Hiroki, a Seiritsu team member.

But even without gloves, the kids all had a great time. This is Shirlene practicing with the team's vice-captain, Sayaka.

What makes a karate picture? A fighting pose!

-Lawrence