Seiritsu International Education

The group with Yogo Sensei (middle with black apron) and their origami.

Welcome to week 2 of the Japan Experience! We kicked off the second week with two very "hands-on" activities: folding origami and making soba.

Origami (literally, "folding paper") is an ancient Japanese art form dating back to the Edo era (1603-1867). It involves intricate and precise folding and can sometimes be difficult. Luckily, however, Seiritsu art teacher and professional artist Eikin Yogo Sensei was there to help the students through the class and by the end there were cranes, penguins, kimonos, balloons, shrimp and even Godzilla!

Then, after yet another delicious lunch courtesy of Seiritsu chef Akakura-san, it was off to the Edo Handmade Soba School, taught by Mr. Masao Ito. Ito Sensei was a chef and when he retired, he converted his living room into a classroom and has been teaching the art of making soba (buckwheat) noodles for the past 10 years. With our large group, however, we used a room in the community centre aross the street. All the students watched Ito Sensei expertly prepare a batch of noodles and then got to make their own. As a special treat, Ito Sensei invited us into his home and cooked everyone's soba so they could taste their creation.

The fun day made for some great pictures, too!

Origami

A big thank you to Yogo Sensei for helping the students.

The students all started with the crane. This is Xenia with hers.

By the end of the day, the students were making very creative items, like Claudia's tulip.

One of the more difficult origami was the kimono, but Shirlene seems to have figured it out.

Bryce and his tie are ready for his next formal dinner.

A penguin in Japan? Of course, says Victor.

All the hard work paid off with Nicholas' crane.

Jocelyn and Karen with their cranes.

France and her fish.

Soba School

Ito Sensei demonstrating the 14-step process required to make soba.

Ito Sensei's soba.

Victor flattening the dough to make it thin.

Nicholas uses a rolling pin to make it even thinner.

All the students got to use a special knife to cut the dough into the soba noodles. This is Claudia trying to see how thinly she can cut her dough.

Soba made and bellies full, this is our farewell group photo with Ito Sensei in front of his house.

-Lawrence