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

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. The amazing array of delicious foods are all locally produced- such fresh food. We learned how to make ice cream using cream, ice cubes and salt, all combined with 15 minutes of shaking the ingredients manually (we did our weight training for the next week). We also explored the farm, viewing Mount Fuji more clearly and visiting the petting zoo (among the animals we met were the Patagonian Maras, which we collectively did not previously know existed.) . After the dairy farm, we headed to a tea farm and helped pick leaves for green tea, or Hōjicha. We learned about the harvesting process and were especially excited to buy some to take home to our families. As we write this blog, we are driving back to school, and just had the clearest sighting of Fuji yet. Yay!

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