Seiritsu International Education

Having spent yesterday at the school, all the students met on Tuesday eager to get outside and see some sights.

The schedule for Day 3 included their Japanese class in the morning, Japanese cooking from 10:45am-12:30pm, and the Asakusa district & Sensoji Temple from 1pm-3:30.

The cooking class was one of two scheduled for the program and the menu the students prepared included string bean salad with sesame dressing, miso soup, and chirashi sushi, which is a bowl of Japanese sushi rice with various kinds of seafood on top.

The students also got to see Sensoji Temple, the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, as well as explore Asakusa, which used to be downtown Tokyo and is now a major tourist destination.

Everyone had a great time (despite the heat and humidity) and, as usual, I had my finger on the shutter button...

The large kitchen at Seiritsu had more than enough space for all the students to try their hand at making Japanese food.

A big thank you to Mayumi Masuda Sensei (left) and Etsuko Kadowaki Sensei (right) who led the cooking class.

France was all smiles while making the sesame dressing for the salad.

Masuda Sensei and Kadowaki Sensei showed a very neat way of gently cutting the tofu while holding it on their hand, a skill Claudia picked up quickly.

Victor prepares miso soup by using miso powder and gradually dissolving it into the water.

Slice & dice! This is Karen preparing the cucumbers for the chirashi sushi.

Also in chirashi sushi is fried egg and Bryce helped prepare some in a special egg frying pan.

With all of it prepared, everyone got to make their own bowl of chirashi sushi, filling it with whatever raw fish they like (tuna, salmon, cooked shrimp, squip, snapper and salmon eggs). Here Xenia shows her bowl of chirashi sushi.

The teachers had brought LOTS of ingredients and, determined not to waste any food, Nicholas and Jocelyn filled their bowls all the way up.

Shirlene's bowl of chirashi sushi moments before it was eaten.

"Chopsticks? Who needs chopsticks?", says hungry Nic.

The group with their soon-to-be-eaten lunch.

After lunch, we took the train to Asakusa Station and along the way, Richard Sensei explained various bits and pieces of Tokyo and Japanese culture.

The path from the front gate to the Sensoji Temple is lined with many small souvenir shops.

In Japan, they say if you weren't in the picture, you weren't there! This was taken in front of the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), the first of two large gates on the path to the Sensoji Temple.

-Lawrence