Hiking the Nakasendo (coming soon)


Countdown to departure: We will see you

Poly Group: Meet at LAX on SUNDAY JUNE 1 AT 7:30AM outside Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

Image
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...
Read more

Day 4 Our Incredible Visit with Nirayama High School students and adults (June 4, 2026)

Image
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...
Read more

Day Twelve: A Final Day of Gardens, Shopping, and Baseball

Image
Uriel:  Awakened by the light glimmering through my hotel’s window, I, Uriel,  woke up rejuvenated and excited for the day ahead; my view through the window isn’t the best, but it’ll do for my final days in Japan. Miles, my hotel roommate, and I had great conversations and laughs about the past nuisances of our trip; ultimately, we reflected on the societal norms we’ve encountered in Japan and how life is so much more different here than compared to our cultural and societal lives Los Angeles. I didn’t have breakfast today, mainly because I felt full from yesterday’s dinner, but I did have a few snacks that helped me last throughout the time leading up to lunch. I got dressed and headed out the door to the first floor where we all decided to meet; one by one we all arrived at the lobby and quickly debriefed our plan for the day.  Heading out the doors of the hotel, we all set foot on an adventure towards Shinjuku National Park, which contained multiple beautiful views, vi...
Read more