Day 6 (June 6, 2026)

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 would visit Koshiro if I were ever to return to Japan. Santi and I were lucky to get first class seats on the train ride back to Tokyo, during which we both read our book Shogun. We then took the subway to the airport, but when we arrived at the airport we had electronic difficulties accessing our flight information and ended up missing our flight. Fortunately, we were able to catch a flight a few hours later. After a couple of failed attempts to ride the autonomous shuttle, we boarded the plane for Oita at last. A short flight later we landed and met our gracious guide Yo and boarded a bus for our lodging. After a bus ride full of singing and games, we ate a delicious assortment of food by Hata-san, our very gracious old cook. We then went to our cabins and had a restful sleep on the futons.
Our goodbyes at Mishina RR Station to our gracious, fun and caring host families from Nirayama HS

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 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

Day 3 (June 4, 2026)- Tokyo immersion

Image
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...
Read more