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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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Day 5 (June 5, 2026) Exploring the Mishima region

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June 5, 2026 Hello from Emilio, Mackenzie, and Nicholas! Early this morning, we woke up in our host families’ homes to prepare for the day. We all ate homemade breakfasts, and most of us took the train to get to school. When we arrived at school, we saw Santi had made the cover of the local newspaper, which covered Poly’s visit to NHS. Along the way, we saw some of Mount Fuji — much of it was covered by the clouds, but the immense size of the mountain was still apparent. . Our host students dropped us off with the group and we boarded a bus headed to Shiraito Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage site and perfect backdrop for taking pictures. This water fall flows with waters from Mt Fuji (hence the UNESCO honor) and has historically been a “pilgrimage” site. We were lucky to get cool and sunny weather, the perfect temperature with no more rain. . We then traveled to a dairy farm for a buffet lunch and ate a variety of foods, including stir fried noodles, tofu, miso soup and fresh milk. T...
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Day 4 Our Incredible Visit with Nirayama High School students and adults (June 4, 2026)

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June 4, 2026 Greetings from Japan! We started our day in Tokyo and took the Shinkansen (the “bullet train”) all the way to Mishima. Some of us lucked out – we were able to sit in the coveted first-class car. Once we arrived, we took the local train and then taxis to Nirayama High School. There, we were greeted by a super enthusiastic group of students, school administrators, the local press, journalists from the school paper, and teachers. After the welcome ceremony, we connected with students over brain rot 67 and tung tung tung sahur. It made us all think about how similar students of different nationalities really are. Then, after a really yummy bento box lunch, we participated in a game where we drew items commented through letters. Joseph, Jess and Kelland all placed in the top three (for the category of non-Nirayama students:-) and won prizes! After the awards’ presentation, we attended a chemistry class followed by a math class, which brought back many memories from our previ...
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Day 3 (June 4, 2026)- Tokyo immersion

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We have one full day in Tokyo- will we even sleep? On the first full day of our stay in Japan, we explored three drastically beautiful, different places, each with their own culture and unique angles on life in Tokyo. Our first destination was the boundless TeamLabs Borderless, an “immersive, interactive thing” (according to Jess). It is essentially an art exhibit that moves from one room, down the halls, to other rooms, plus special exhibits... Here, we succumbed to each room, filled with their own authentic experience. Kelland’s favorite room was the fog room, a very dark, steamy room with mist intertwined with rays of artificial light, creating a unique atmosphere that mesmerized Kelland, Alexandra, and Mackenzie through its many cool pictures and silhouettes. Jess’s favorite room was the crystal light room, which had a lot of crytal wiring hanging from 40' above, and light sticks, that took the form in light of images and color. There were mirrors everywhere, symbolizing t...
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