Seiritsu International Education

(L to R) Xenia, France, Shirlene, and Victor at the outer torii (Japanese gate) at the Meiji Jingu shrine.

Time certainly flies when you're having fun, doesn't it? It's already Friday and the students are half-way through the program.

On the menu for Friday was studying Japanese, attending a tea ceremony (known in Japanese as, sado) hosted by the Seiritsu Sado Club, visiting the Tokyo Design Academy, shopping in Harajuku, and watching the sunset from the Shinjuku Towers, which is the Tokyo city hall.

Sado, or Japanese tea ceremony, is the art of making and serving tea. It is very intricate and requires the practitioner to study each aspect in order to perform the ceremony properly. The attention to detail covers everything from how the guests are seated and how the ladle is held to the proper method of mixing the tea and even the number of times the bowl should be wiped. The students got a chance to watch a ceremony be performed and then got to make some tea on their own.

With the ceremony finished, the students headed upstairs for lunch prepared, again very kindly (and deliciously!), by Akakura-san.

Just before 1pm, we all left the school for Harajuku, a very trendy Tokyo district famous for wild youth fashion and home to the Tokyo Design Academy. The Academy, established in 1966, offers programs in nearly all types of design like jewelry, interior design, illustrated art, computer generated art, and even Japanese manga and animation. The tour was really well prepared with the teachers having laid out various samples of student art all over the school and the students really enjoyed browsing through the amazing works.

After the tour was finished, the students had some free time to shop in Harajuku. Also near the shopping area is the Meiji Jingu Shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji. Some of the students were interested in seeing this, so I took them in. The large shrine is surrounded by a 700,000 square acre forest that feels like a world entirely separated from the busy, high-rise-filled urban Tokyo.

Once we had met up at 5:30, we all headed to the Shinjuku Towers, two towers that serve as the Tokyo metropolitan city hall. On the 50th floor of both towers is a free observation deck which we used to watch the sun set over Tokyo.

So while the day was long, the students got to see and do lots of different things.

I should also note the students spend their Saturday and Sunday with their host family, so there will be no posts until Monday. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures from Friday and have a great weekend!

Tea ceremony

A Seiritsu Sado Club student demonstrates the proper way of preparing tea.

Group picture! The Sado Club instructor, Nakamura Sensei, wore a very nice kimono (front row, right side) for the demonstration.

Tokyo Design Academy

Nicholas (left) and Claudia (middle) flipping through some sample manga created by some Design Academy students.

"Look like you're designing something!", was the theme for the picture...

Harajuku shopping

Takeshita Street, the main street in Harajuku known world-wide for its wild fashion and people dressed as anime characters.

(L to R) Shirlene, Claudia, Xenia, France, Bryce, and Victor outside one of the many shops.

Meiji Jingu shrine

The torii (traditional Japanese gates commonly found in front of Shinto shrines) in front of the Meiji Jingu.

Shinjuku Towers

Joined by 3 Seiritsu students, the group was all smiles on the 50F of the Shinjuku South Tower.

The sun sets on yet another great day. See you in a few days!

-Lawrence