Seiritsu International Education

Howdy, all! Binita here!


As it heats up here in Japan, there have been countless days of good weather to explore the city in. The other day, Chase and I headed out in search of some cultural entertainment. We found it at the Meiji Shrine in Shibuya.





Founded to enshrine the deified souls of Emperor Meiji and his wife in 1920, the shrine lies in the heart of an artificially planted forest in the middle of Tokyo. Along with a 175 acre garden to get lost in, the shrine is also a hot spot for Shinto ceremonies of every kind: the ongoing wedding we and a couple dozen other tourists could watch as their procession walked the grounds, for example. As it holds many kinds of festivals throughout the year, I'll certainly be visiting again!


The shrine's webpage can be found here, as well as a list of yearly events.

writer: staff  date: 11:53 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Chase here!


During the long break Binita and l went out and did various things; we went to Roppongi to see people in giraffe suits walking on stilts, to the local temple where an older man gave us a tour around the temple. We also went to the park near our house for the afternoon on a different day, It was really windy. On Sunday to Koenji to see various street performers, and went to a picnic at Yoyogi park with a large group of multinational families the day after.






When we went to Koenji there was a huge amount of people all wandering around looking for the hourly shows that were taking place in various areas around the station. Binita and I ended up finding a magician that was doing some really interesting tricks, from being able to swallow a whole blown up balloon, to getting a 50\ coin to magically cut through a 1000\ note without actually cutting the money.






While we were leaving we saw a strange bird like guy with large black wings making its way down into an alley with lots of people which ended up being a parade for interesting monsters, we saw an octopus man, and steam punk bird man, two large eyes wearing suits, and even a Kappa. So we ended up following them around for a while until we decided we wanted to leave.


It was a fun couple of days and we will be doing more interesting things in the next coming weeks.

writer: staff  date: 11:48 AM | Life at Seiritsu

For the 5 days the international students had off between Golden Week holidays, Chase and I were barely at our home stay. Each day, we went out and saw something new, or at least, it was new to me. On the 25th, we went to the temple closest to our home stay. While admiring the sights, we were approached by an energetic man who went by the name Old Man Mameda.





Still energetic at 80, Old Man Mameda considered himself something of the temple's very own tour guide, using his English fluency to pick out foreign visitors and show them around. As he was well versed in the temple's history, as well as the names of every kind of flower in the gardens, he certainly added something to our visit that we wouldn't have been able to experience on our own.


The webpage for the temple can be found here (Japanese).

writer: staff  date: 11:39 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Binita here!


Having been in Japan for two weeks now, I think I'm more or less settled down. The rhythm of school life isn't entirely a foreign one, but some of the food sure is!






I seem to have arrived just in time for the firefly squid season, and my host family entertained Chase and I with their own stories of catching some of these. They're usually deep-sea inhabitants, but they come up in great masses for their spawning season, which is the perfect time to haul in a nice big catch. Bewildered as I was to be eating the squid just as it was, I was reassured that firefly squid is unusual even to the average Japanese.






More information on the firefly squid can be found here!


Cheers!

writer: staff  date: 3:06 PM | Life at Seiritsu

It is finally getting warmer over here in Tokyo so it is becoming easier for everyone to enjoy the day!


This also seems to be true for the insects as well because the other night there was a particularly loud sound coming from outside that I noticed after eating dinner. It sounded like something had short-circuited, or something electrical, so I ventured outside to investigate the noise. After searching around for a broken telephone wire or a flickering street light I realized the sound was coming from a bush in the yard and after I shook it a few times a dark insect shape flew out and took off somewhere.


Although I didn't get a good chance to look at it I'm fairly sure it was a grasshopper of some sort. When I looked into it, it turns out that the city grasshoppers are louder than country grasshopper and that may be why it was so loud but from what me and Binita heard it sounded just like electricity!

writer: staff  date: 2:56 PM | Life at Seiritsu

Hello, nice to meet you! I'm Binita, from Canada. Though I'm currently 19 and a 2nd year in university, I've come back to Seiritsu after having participated in the 2010 Japan Experience to enroll in the Gap Year program for the next 9 months.






Thinking that I might like to be an English teacher here in Japan, I thought it best to see and experience for myself what Japanese high school life is like in order to get a better grasp on how I might go about teaching such students in the future.

In the 5 days that I've been here so far, Chase has kindly showed me the ins and outs of the area surrounding the homestay that we share, and I look forward to learning much more in these coming months!


Binita is enjoying life in Japan through our Gap Studies programme, which is specifically designed for High School/Secondary Education graduates and students considering going to university in Japan. The course offers a great mix of education, Japanese and English language development and lots of interaction with Japanese students!


If you want to come and experience Tokyo as well, click here for more details!

writer: staff  date: 2:42 PM | Life at Seiritsu

Hello! Nice to meet you! My name is Connor O`Toole, I am 15 years old from Sydney, Australia.





I decided to come to Seiritsu because I believe it is the best opportunity available to me for both football and education. I have been in Japan for two weeks now, staying in the dormitory in Saitama with the other members of the Seiritsu Soccer Club. We have been training almost everyday for 3 hours, we have played two inter-club games and one trial game which we won 5-4!


Life in the Dormitory is very different to staying at home; each morning two first year students wake up at 5am to prepare breakfast for the others. Then we catch the train from Higashi-Washinomiya to Akabane at 7am which is approximately a 45 minute journey. Dinner is available between 6 to 8pm and at 9pm, each first year student has a cleaning task to complete, my task is to sweep and wipe the second floor hallway and the staircase. It is a very busy yet enjoyable schedule.


I'm looking forward to the next few weeks!


Connor has enrolled in seiritsu's successful soccer programme, which has not only produced Japan national team members Doko Mayo (Bronze medalist in 2012 FIFA women's U-20 World Cup) and Yuki Otsu (prolific midfielder in Japan's 2012 Olympic campaign where they reached the semi-finals, and now a senior national team member), but also helped launch the careers of several international students as well!


If you want to see how Seiritsu's soccer programme can help realise your superstar dreams, more details are here!


Peter
International Department Coordinator

writer: staff  date: 10:19 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Seiritsu's new school year started with the junior and senior high school entrance ceremony. This took place on a beautiful yet windy spring morning on Sunday April 7th.





The ceremony was held in the main hall, and was filled with newly-suited first years, their teachers and their families.





The principal, Fukuda Sensei, gave a speech and then the home room teachers were introduced. There are many new teachers this year!


After the ceremony, students and their parents went to their respective home rooms to be briefed by their new teachers, and then outside to have a class photograph taken.





After all the formalities were done, school club representatives handed out flyers to encourage their new schoolmates to join them. Some were very... creative!





Let's make this year an excellent one!


Peter
International Department Coordinator

writer: staff  date: 9:43 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On March 3rd the school held its high school graduation ceremony in the main hall. The ceremony went from 10 to 11am, and then the 3rd year students returned to their homerooms for one final time where they received their diplomas directly from their homeroom teachers.

Ikezawa Sensei about to hand-out diplomas for his class.

Congratulations to all the students! Good luck and keep in touch!

writer: staff  date: 9:41 AM | Life at Seiritsu

From April, Seiritsu's community service company `Seiritsu Zebra' will begin offering one-to-one Online English lessons using Skype. Those interested will be able to try a free trial lesson, which they can book through the new Zebra Online English webpage.

Lessons will be 25 minutes long at the same time each week, and student contracts run for 12 weeks.

For more information, please click on the link below

http://www.seiritz-zebra.jp/english/online/

writer: staff  date: 10:43 AM | Life at Seiritsu