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Day 9 - June 9

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The sea, the mountains, and the plains We arrived a week ago and what a cultural feast and time to engage with Japanese students/adults over this intense, eye-opening and rewarding stretch. Today, after “our best sleep yet,” we enjoyed an amazing assortment of Japanese breakfast foods and then hit the pathways of Himeshima. We walked the streets, passed a shrimp farm (Himeshima provides an unusually large portion of shrimp to Tokyo on a daily basis), and then hiked to overlook space- looking down on one of Himeshima’s seven volcanic craters (not active). We even visited a small temple (about 7’ x 7’), where according to legend a princess, who regularly served and supported the people of Himeshima, hid 1000 island residents in this small structure from their exploitative tax collector. He eventually returned to the main island, and thus they were safe that year. We then took the ferry across the Setonaikai Sea back to Kunisaki. Upon our landing, we made our way to the community center...
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Day 8 (June 8, 2026)

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Konnichiwa! Hi, everybody. Welcome to Day 8 of our Japan PolyGloba travel plan. This is Lilah and Elizabeth, your tour guides for the day. We started at our inn and had a final delicious breakfast where everyone was able to make seaweed rice rolls in the morning. Then we packed up all of our belongings and left our inn (for the past two days). Part of our preparation for departure was putting away the futons, involving stripping away the sheets for the cover, futon base, and pillow. We said our final goodbyes and took one last picture with our wonderful hosts. We will forever remember their energy, gratitude and kindness. We then boarded the bus to go visit the actual buddha 40’ rock sculptures that we had seen replicas of before. After a long hike up millions of rocky steps we were able to see the two carved granite statues and learn about their stories. The sun buddha (on the right) tries to speak to everyone but not everyone will listen. Therefore, he enlists the help of the angry...
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Day 6 (June 6, 2026)

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Saturday was our last day with our host families from Niriyama High School. I, Joseph, spent the last few hours making bagels with my host student, Koshiro Kiriyama. He showed me the process of creating and kneading the dough, the two fermentations, and finally the boiling and baking. The bagels came out perfect, and just in time for me to pack my bags and get in the car for; Mishima Station. Similarly, I, Santi, had a great morning with my host student, Shun Sakuma, and his family in our final time together. We had a delicious traditional Japanese breakfast composed of miso soup and Japanese dumplings. After finishing up our breakfast we went for a peaceful walk around his neighborhood where he showed me his favorite childhood spots. Finally, Shun and his family treated me to some great local soft serve ice cream and gave me a final gift of Japanese stationary before we left for Mishima station. Upon our arrival, we said our bittersweet goodbyes and and took group photos. I promised I...
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Day 7 (June 7, 2026)

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Alexandra here! I woke up this morning to the sound of pouring rain, which had been the case since our arrival last night in Oita. As I went down and started brushing my teeth, I suddenly heard a loud exclamation from Jess, who had stepped on a centipede. Everyone in our cabin (Kelland, Elizabeth, Jess, Lilah, Mackenzie) immediately started freaking out, and even though Jess sprayed the centipede with a puddle of bug spray, it wouldn’t die (it actually did… eventually). I’ve seen centipedes before, but I jumped when I saw this one because it was the biggest, fattest centipede I’ve ever seen. After that debacle, we headed down to a bungalow where we eat our meals, which have been made mostly by a lady who works here who is so sweet and has contagious energy! We made Onigiri (rice triangles) and ate that with seaweed, fish, tofu, corn, and apples. We were supposed to go on a hike, but the rain was really heavy, so we went to a museum that looks at Buddhism (and Shintoism) in the Kunisaki...
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