http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/ en Copyright 2012 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:31:20 +0900 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Junior high school students arriving to challenge the high school entrance test. From last week the school has been holding entrance tests for regular Japanese elementary students who want to enter the junior high program, and junior high students who want to enter the high school program. Depending on the course, tests are held for Math, Japanese, English, Science and Social Studies. For the high school students, there is also a 5 minute interview with two teachers, during which the students are asked questions like how do they go about achieving their goals and why do they want to come to Seiritsu. The next school year begins in April.]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/02/entrance_tests.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/02/entrance_tests.html b_life Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:31:20 +0900

New Years in Japan is different from New Years at home. In Japan it is a holiday when families get together to celebrate, while in France most families do that in Christmas, and prefer to spend the New Year¡Çs eve with their friends.

Since I don¡Çt have my own family or a host family in Japan, I met some friends from France and we had a small party at their house. At midnight, we went to Meiji Jingu Shrine for hatsumode, the first visit of the year. France is not a Buddhist or Shinto country, so no-one does that at home.



We were at the shrine early but we still had to wait one hour in the cold weather to finally accede to the main part of the shrine where people can make their prayers. The waiting line was neatly organized, in a very Japanese fashion, with policemen holding signs that said ¡ÈWalk¡É and ¡ÈStop¡É to control the crowd and avoid having everyone rushing to the front gates. Afterwards, we went to buy some omikuji; fortunes for the year. I got a ¡Èvery lucky¡É one, so I hope I will have a very good year!¡¡

On the next day, the 1st of January, I received some New Years cards. These are also something we don¡Çt have back at home, but we send Christmas cards, which are basically the same except we send them a week earlier.]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/tatianas_new_year_report.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/tatianas_new_year_report.html b_life Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:53:53 +0900
My New Year¡Çs holiday in Japan was wonderful! I went to various places in Kansai and Kanto. In the beginning of the holiday I went to Ninomiya station with Tatiana, just to find some country side but then I found that it is also on the coast. Then I went to Kamakura to see the Daibutsu (Big Buddha), which was so beautiful and big. I also found that Kamakura is on the coast too.

In the middle of my holiday, around December 28th, I went snowboarding in Niigata. That was my first time ever because there¡Çs no snow in Thailand so I couldn¡Çt try it before. I found that it is harder than I expected. I fell down many times! It hurt but was still fun.The next day I was in so much pain that I slept all day!

    

On the New Year¡Çs Eve, my host mother had to work so there was no party at my home. That was quite sad. I always have New Year party at my home in Thailand. But everything got better after I watched The NHK Uta Gassen because I had wanted to watch it for a long time!

From January 4th – 7th, I went to Kyoto to meet my friend and sleep over. We went to many places in Kansai. At first day we stayed in Kyoto, the second in Osaka, the third in Nara, the fourth day in Kyoto again and then I went back to Tokyo. The Kansai trip was fun, there are a lot of places to visit in Kansai area, and it¡Çs great! I love Kansai! The next day I went to Tochigi to see the strawberry orchard, it was cool! I love everywhere in Japan. I am happy that I spent my holiday in so many places of Japan. This was the best holiday ever! ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/pops_first_japanese_winter_hol.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/pops_first_japanese_winter_hol.html b_life Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:37:21 +0900
My Japanese New Years was very different compared to a Danish New Year¡Çs Eve, since in Japan New Year¡Çs Eve is considered as the main event of the holiday.

This holiday I was together with my host family and two of their friends, when the friends arrived at our house we started the preparation of our dinner, Sukiyaki and homemade Onigiri. After dinner we talked and played Wii. Just before midnight we went to some friends living nearby so we could ¡Èjump¡É into the New Year together. Afterwe all said ¡ÈHappy New Year¡É and drank all of our champagne we went to the local shrine¡¢to pray for a good year. However my uncle must be careful because the shrine¡Çs fortune telling told him that he is going to have a bad year again!



The Japanese New Year is very different to the Danish because in Denmark usually young people celebrate New Year¡Çs together with their friends at a party instead of sitting together with their family, but the reason of this is that in Denmark Christmas is the day where you are together with your family and New Years you are together with friends, and this is other way around in Japan where Christmas eve is considered as a Date night and New Years is the day you spent together with your family. ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/nicks_new_year_experience.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/nicks_new_year_experience.html b_life Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:26:23 +0900

The holidays here in Japan are definitely different from in Australia.

One of the main differences is that Australia has a Christian culture, and they believe that Christmas is more important that New Years, compared to Japan which believes that New Years is more important than Christmas.

Another difference was the seasons, from December to February it is summer in Australia and we usually enjoy the Christmas season by singing Christmas carols, going to church, exchanging presents with loved ones and gathering together to have lunch with our families, which includes having barbeques. Occasionally there is the danger of bush fires, since most people live so close to nature reserves, but I¡Çve been lucky enough to avoid them.



Even the Christmas cake is different from Japan. Our Christmas cake is a very dark coloured cake, which is full of alcohol and dried fruit. I was very surprised when I saw Christmas in Japan, after seeing all the decorations hung up I first thought that everyone here celebrated it, but I was wrong. In Japan Christmas is treated as a romantic date night, instead of a time to spend with their families. My friends told me that they went to Tokyo tower to see the illuminations, which they expected to be in red and green, the traditional colours of Christmas. Instead they saw pink hearts on the tower, which made them think of Valentine¡Çs Day.

When I think about it, the holidays are reversed from what they are back at home. Compared to in Australia, where Christmas is a family holiday and New Years being a time to hang out with friends, Japan is the opposite, where they go out with friends on Christmas and spend time with their families on New Years.



At midnight this year, my home stay family took me to some nearby shrines, where we clapped our hands and rang the bell at the front. The first shrine only had a few people, but at the second shrine we had to wait in line for almost an hour! Some other Japanese New Year customs are that people eat very fancy Japanese styled breakfasts, such as mochi (a squishy type of food made out of rice) and fish. They also send out special postcards that arrive exactly on New Year¡Çs Day.

.

It was very interesting being able to see the differences and similarities in our cultures.]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/jessicas_japanese_christmas.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/jessicas_japanese_christmas.html b_life Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:57:05 +0900
I celebrated New Years in Tochigi prefecture with my host family. I made mochi (rice cakes) and had a great time. The New Year in Japan is a lot different from Sweden because it¡Çs more important; in Sweden we just go outside at midnight and look at fireworks and then go back inside again. But in Japan there is more traditional things to do as for mochi making and a lot of food to eat. It is also more religious than in Sweden when you go to the temple and pray and so on.



I prefer the Japanese New Years over the Swedish one because you actually do something instead for sitting and playing on the computer with your friends all night ,which I do still enjoy but not as much as this! ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/how_was_new_year_for_you_gabu.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2012/01/how_was_new_year_for_you_gabu.html b_life Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:57:02 +0900
The five of us in the international class got to know each other better, so classes together are always fun!
We sometimes go to karaoke or take purikura together after school too.



Karaoke is really fun; I discovered that I like the same songs as Jessica and Pop¡Ä Even though their music genres are very different! It made the karaoke experience even more enjoyable!

One day, I also went to Asakusa with Pop, I could discover a more traditional part of Japan by going to the Sensoji temple. I also took a typical tourist picture in front of the Kaminarimon.



On another day, I went with Jessica at Harajuku to do some shopping. We went into the shop of her favorite designer¡Çs brand, h.naoto, and by coincidence it was on that same tat the new winter collection came out. While I was browsing through the dresses, thinking that they were really expensive, a man in his forties came and started talking to us in English. I was going to ignore him after a while, but fortunately Jessica is better than me at knowing faces, and she suddenly asked ¡ÈAre you h.naoto?¡É it turned out he was. I almost ignored an internationally recognized fashion designer, it was embarrassing. Then he invited us to go to his fashion show the following week, and since I would have felt bad leaving the shop with empty hands, I bought a hat.



As for school, I am starting to get used to most things. My Japanese skills have improved enough to talk with my classmates, and I understand most of what is going on during classes. Last week, all five of us went to imohori, picking sweet potatoes out in the countryside in Saitama. It was quite tiring, but we got to eat good curry rice with sweet potatoes in it!



Recently the weather is becoming very cold, so I have bought a scarf and gloves to wear on the way to school. But this is only the beginning, and it is supposed to stay cold until April. I hope I will manage the whole winter without becoming sick! ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/monthly_blog_tatiana_what_have.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/monthly_blog_tatiana_what_have.html b_life Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:21:13 +0900

Nick has settled into his studies at Seiritsu really well- here he is shown enjoying Japanese class with his Japanese home room. Although the level is predicatably very high, Japanese language classes do help introduce important vocabulary to the international students, and because of this immersion they feel that their Japanese ability really starts to take off!]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_nick.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_nick.html b_life Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:05:39 +0900

As well as studying together in the Japanese, Japanese history, High Level English and Japanese Geography classes that are run by the International Department, all international students participate in regular classes with their Japanese home rooms. Here, Tatiana is focusing on her English. ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_tatian.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_tatian.html b_life Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:01:36 +0900

As part of their curriculum at Seiritsu, the international students get to try their hand at Shodo. This is unsurprisingly a firm favourite among all students! Here Gabu is pictured in the Shodo classroom, practicing his latest Kanji.]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_gabu.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_gabu.html b_life Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:47:30 +0900

The 4th term of study in underway at Seiritsu!

Here is Pop with her Japanese home room, studying hard in English class. Now that she has been here over two months, she looks right at home in the usual school routine! For Pop, the English classes that are taught in Japanese are very good at helping her learn both languages.]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_pop.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_pop.html b_life Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:35:01 +0900

It is November, and the international students have settled into their full school routine. Today, Jessica has a personal study hour so she is shown here in the personal study room revising and practicing for the JLPT level 4 test that she will take in December.

Ganbatte Jessica!]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_jessic.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/11/id_students_in_november_jessic.html b_life Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:34:27 +0900
Hi, it's Pop here!
The last weekend we had school festival so everyone was very busy. We have to woke up very early in weekend and went to school in weekend. At our International room we had Fortune telling in English. So when people came in, we let them spin the fortune machine- then we will got the number and we had to tell them their fortune.
It was very fun to do that even though sometimes I couldn't translate for them.
All the English conversation club students had to do an interview in English about the International Department student's names, age, where we come from, something we like about Japan, what languages we can speak, and what our special skill was. After this we had an English contest! The interview made me feel very nervous! I was the only person in the International Department that had no idea what to show the audience. But in the end I showed that I could say tongue twisters such as ¡ÈHow much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood¡É. Kaname also told me a Japanese one, but I couldn't say it on stage.
Thank you for a great bunkasai! it was very fun!]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/10/pops_bunkasai_experience.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/10/pops_bunkasai_experience.html b_life Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:06:20 +0900

My experience of the bunkasai was that it was fun to see the whole school getting involved and that everyone was really trying to make it as fun as possible for both visitors and schoolmates.

I thought that it was really fun and interesting and I think it is a pity that Swedish schools don¡Çt do anything like this because it is a really good idea!

I thought that the best things were all the stage performances and the train club! Thanks for letting me experience such a good bunkasai!

Gabriel Levander ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/10/gabus_bunkasai_experience.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/10/gabus_bunkasai_experience.html b_life Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:50:50 +0900

I got off to a rocky start on the first day of the Bunkasai. First of all the Bunkasai started at 10am so I thought I would get there early at about 9am, but it turned out that I needed to be there at 8:20am so I was late. I also showed up wearing the wrong clothes too, so it was a double whammy. During the sports carnival everyone went to the event wearing their sports clothes with their class t-shirt over it, so I did the same thing for the Bunkasai too. However when I got there I saw everyone else wearing their normal school uniform with their class t-shirt over it so I had to go home to change back. Other than that the rest of the weekend went well.

I was involved with three different rooms: the English Conversation Club, the Art Club and my Homeroom. We had the International Department and the English Conversation Club together where we each took turns to tell fortunes, or "uranai", to the Japanese people in English and then we had to translate them into Japanese. Some fortunes were direct and easy to translate such as ¡ÈWearing red tomorrow will bring you good luck¡É, while some were very vague like ¡ÈYou should spend less time thinking and more time doing.¡É

We also got to go on stage, where the Japanese girls from the English Conversation Club interviewed us and introduced us to the community. After the interview we had 10 seconds to present our ¡ÆSpecial Talent¡Ç, my talent was playing the guitar. They later sent me into the hall way with the guitar to attract customers, which actually worked since one lady said she followed the music.



In the Art Club¡Çs room we made a little art gallery.



Last week everyone prepared their best works and made little frames for them and hung them up. We each had to name our works (in Japanese) so I close really simple titles to avoid messing up, my works are the two middle ones.



We also had the new Art Club magazine on display, where everyone contributed something towards it. I made a comic (manga).

For my homeroom, we made two rooms for the festival the Haunted House and a Kid¡Çs Room. I have no idea why they we made two rooms since everyone else only had one room but it was handy since the teachers made us close the Haunted House since something bad happened a previous time. Everyone really put their hearts into making the Haunted House so in comparison they really didn¡Çt count the Kid¡Çs Room, which didn¡Çt need any management like some of the other rooms which were shops or attractions. I was lucky since I was involved with other clubs, so I didn¡Çt get as depressed as some people. The funniest thing is that they kept the bleeding dummy from the Haunted House and put it in the Kid¡Çs Room and filled his belly with candy!



When I was off duty I went looking around at all the other rooms. Some of them were really cool. There was a planetarium, casino, miniature train room, and many more. One of the classes had a gold fish catching game, which I¡Çve only seen in anime. You have to use a paper paddle to catch as much fish as you can before it breaks. A lot of people said that it was hard but I ended up catching about 13 fish with one turn. It looks as though I¡Çve got a new special talent.



On the Sunday the International students (ryugakusei) including me had the privilege of carrying the Mikoshi.



The Mikoshi is a portable shrine that people carry around in the streets during festivals, however it is extremely heavy. With the help from the professional Mikoshi carrying guys we marched into the school were the other students joined in and helped us carry it in. The Mikoshi had little bells on it so we had to keep shaking it up and down to ring them. It was exhausting, but also a fun experience.

Over all the Bunkasai was awesome! It was great seeing everyone working together to make something as amazing as this. There were two major differences from the Sports festival, the first being that I can understand more Japanese compared to before. The last time I didn¡Çt participate in many sports because I didn¡Çt understand what people were saying but this time I was able to understand and contribute my own ideas too. The second thing is that I¡Çm not alone anymore, yay! The new international students have really made life more exciting and fun, thanks guys. Also the Japanese students in my class are starting to accept me more so that also made a huge difference. I feel as though I¡Çve gotten to know my class more from working together to set up the rooms for the Bunkasai. I hope I can continue to get to know them more and make more friends while I¡Çm here in Japan. Jessica ]]> http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/10/jessicas_bunkasai_experience.html http://www.seiritsu-int.com/contents/2011/10/jessicas_bunkasai_experience.html b_life Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:51:56 +0900