国際交流研修の食事会

Some of the students who participated in program at UC Riverside in September got together at Garam Masala last night. We talked about our two weeks in California and exchanged gifts including group photos.

Back in Japan

We had a safe trip back to Japan and arrived at Narita at 4 PM yesterday. As always, I woke up at 3 AM (the magical hour) and have been catching up on e-mails since then!

Los Angeles Tour

After the Japanese American Museum in Little Tokyo, we had a short tour of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. We basically only drove around Rodeo Drive for a few minutes because the streets were closed in preparation for a fashion show. In Hollywood we went to the Chinese Theater and Kodak Theater. Our last stop was the Griffith Observatory Park but we had to stay only ten minutes because we couldn't park the bus there. It was crowded because they were having a big concert that evening. On the way back to Riverside we decide to eat at the In-N-Out Burger and some students got to try their "animal" menu.

Japanese-American National Museum

Mr. Sameshima, Mr. Yamada and Ms Watanabe organized an impressive workshop for us on Friday. Besides having a 90-minute museum tour, we also had the opportunity to listen to Mr. Sameshima about his personal experience in the intern camp and also in Japan in 1945. After that we all had lunch in Little Tokyo (Ebisu) where some of us were really happy to eat miso soup again.

Ocean Charter Elementary School

We spent the morning at Ocean Charter Elementary School in Los Angeles where Japanese is taught to all children from the first to the eighth grade. One group stayed on the south campus with Eiji Yano-sensei (photo) and the other group went to the north campus and learned from Hiromi Yoneda-Matsue-sensei. More than learning about how Japanese is taught there, the most important thing was to realize how important it is for Japanese students majoring in International Exchanges to study a lot more about the Japanese culture, language and history. Yano-sensei: Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity and for the warm welcome. We were impressed at how good your students are at Japanese and how interested and engaged they are in the culture. We really appreciate your kindness and wish you all the best!

California School for the Deaf

On Wednesday we spent the morning visiting various different classes at the California School for the Deaf where they teach children from age 18 months to 22. Besides sharing some Japanese culture with them, the other purpose was to teach them some Japanese sign language. The children seemed to be very excited learning how, for example, "good morning" is done so differently. There is a lot more bowing involved and in the end they were doing the sign language and bowing!

Martin Luther King High School

This is the second year we visit Martin Luther King High School here in Riverside, and again the Principal, Vice-Principal, teachers and students (ASP) received us with an incredibly warm welcome. Besides showing the students around the school and giving them the opportunity to learn about the high school here in the States, we were invited to lunch and learned that the students had brought all the great food!

Mission Bell Elementary School

We were received with a very warm welcome by Superintendent Elliott Duchon, the Principal, students and teachers at Mission Bell Elementary School in Riverside today. We were able to spend time with students in eight different classes and share with them a little bit of the Japanese culture and language. It was a very short visit, but we hope that it was a good intercultural experience for them. It certainly was a wonderful experience for us!

Voices from California

カリフォルニアに無事に着きました：）ホームステイ先のお母さんが手作りチョコチップクッキーでもてなしてくれました。とってもおいしくて感動しました。

今朝さっそく、ホームステイ先のお母さんと一緒にプールに行きました。お母さんがスポーツのインストラクターなので、プールの中で他の生徒のみなさんと一緒にエクササイズをしました。私の身長が低くて、溺れそうになるという出来事もありましたが、楽しく生活しています。明日からも楽しく生活したいです☆Shiori

Welcome Lunch & Orientation

We had a welcome lunch at noon and then had a long orientation session from 1:15 to 4 PM. The photo is of Daiki greeting Director Bronwyn Jenkins-Deas during lunch.

Leaving Japan today

I will be departing Narita Airport today with a group of 20 students. We are going to the University of California, Riverside for a two-week program. We'll keep you posted.