Dominic College Japan Study Tour – 2019

Japan trip 2019. Departure date was the 6th of April. 12 people left and 12 people came back. At 4:30am we said our goodbyes and left. Heading towards a future of uncertainty. A trip full of surprises.

Arriving in Japan at 7:30pm. The air was full of curiosity and excitement. The first priority was food. While us girls tried to get in the spirit of Japan all the boys went to McDonald’s. We caught a bus to Kyoto tower hotel where we would spend the next 3 nights.

The 2nd day was a full day. We went to ginkakuji. We saw the first cherry blossoms of the trip. We tried to then go to the nijo-castle but ended up going to the imperial palace. We ate lunch and talked. We then got a little lost on the way to the tea ceremony, but got there in the end and way before time. We learnt all about the traditional way of making tea. We then took the long way home and bonded on the train.

The 3rd day we were in Osaka. First we went to Osaka castle. We climbed up what felt like 6000 steps. Then had an amazing view. We had oknomiarky for lunch which was cooked in front of us. We went to a shopping arcade for the last part of the day.

The 4th day. We went to Nara the first capital of Japan. And Oh dear. There was an abnormal amount of deer! We went and saw the big indoor Buddha. We then took the slow way home on the train. In this time we folded paper cranes for the next day and had a Salesian good night. A salesian good night is basicly bonding time and reflecting time just as Don Bosco dud with his boys in Italy. This was our last night in Kyoto.

5th day of the 2019 Japan trip was sad. We took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Hiroshima. We went to peace park when we got there. The peace park is a place dedicated to keeping peace and educating people about the after effects of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The stories told in the museum really tell the warning of not keeping peace. The sadness and respectfulness that flooded the group was very prominent. We hung up our cranes and looked for tea. We experienced something different for tea. Ramen, which we ordered from a vending machine. We then floated lanterns down a river to represent the keeping of peace. This also was the setting for our Salesian goodnight.
That night, and next, we stayed at the Grand intelligence hotel.

The 6th day was our day in nature. We went to Miyajima island. Itsukushi shrine was the first stop of the day. There was a Torii in the middle of the water. We then went up a chair lift and went on 3hr bush walk. This day was full of walking and shopping.

Day 7 was was the first day visit to our sister Japanese school Shizuoka Salseio Collehe. The staff and students welcomed us with open arms. We had an assembly and a tour around school. 7 of us went to host families. Most of the houses were western style houses with a Japanese touch.

“It was fun but also took us out of our comfort zones.” – Alyssa G

Day 8 was our day at the school. Most people spent 5 – 20min getting to school. “I spent 1 hour on a tran but went straight passed Mt Fuji.” – Isabelle S.

After a class of lecturing or games we then took part in a Japanese calligraphy class. Then we went on a tour. We saw spectacular views of Mt Fuji and a temple of the first shogun.

Day 9 was fun. We spent the first part of Sunday with our respective host families. We did activities including: Going to cherry blossom celebrations, going to the beach, arts and crafts and going to temples and shrines. We then farewelled our friends and caught the bullet train to Tokyo. Once in Tokyo we sang some karaoke. We stayed at the Shiba park hotel.

Day 10 – the day at Disney! We spent from 11:00am – 10:00pm at Disney. The favourite rides from the group were space mountain, star tour and haunted house. The fireworks at the end of the day were cancelled due to weather conditions, but it was still an amazing Day!

Day 11 last day in Tokyo. We went to Meji Shrine. Then we went shopping. We split up at the end of the day as some of us wanted to go shopping and some wanted to go up Tokyo tower which was amazing. You could really see how big Tokyo really is. We then went to the airport via monorail to catch an overnight flight back to Sydney.

Day 12. Frustrating. Our flight from Sydney got delayed due to technical issues with the plane so we missed the flight to Hobart. We waited 5 hours in Melbourne airport but finally got on our plane to Tassie.

The trip was full of fun and surprises. Thank you Casni sensai and Allan sensai.

We will always remember the tour, the great learning that took place and the life long friendships that have been formed. 😊

We started off another day with breakfast at the Shiba Park Hotel and then checked out. We then caught a train into the city and visited Meiji Shrine. The shrine was very traditional and gave us a good idea about Japan’s past.

Next, we went exploring in Harajuku, a more modernised area of Japan. After that, the group went to get lunch at a nearby restaurant called Red Rock. Once lunch was finished, we made our way to the Tepia Advanced Technology Gallery, a gallery that showcased lots of different technology such as robots. It was very interactive and intriguing.

Afterwards, we headed back to the city and had some free time. The group then went back to the hotel to get ready to go to the airport. We are now enjoying our final meal in Japan and waiting for our flight back to Sydney. 😊

We had breakfast at 8:40 and got ready for our long day at “the most magical place on earth”. After we got separated on the train for a brief moment, we made it Disneyland.

We set a meeting point and broke off into groups. The lines were huge and we got stuck in one line for 1 hour.

My favourite rides were the big thunder railroad and the star tours. We had a very fun day and on the way back to the hotel Isabelle and I discussed our separate bean jelly experiences with our host families.

Overall, everyone had a fun day at Disneyland and bought lots of souvenirs and ate hot dogs, popcorn and enjoyed all the rides. Sadly the fireworks were cancelled but the whole day way something we will always remember.

When we arrived at the hotel, we reflected on our experiences from the past few days and returned to our rooms to pack in preparation for our last day in Tokyo and our journey home.

On the 13th of April after spending the day with Japanese students, the teachers, Connor, Aidan and I went back to the hotel. The three of us were asked to navigate our to the hotel.

After this we found a place to eat and talk the night away. After dinner we went to the hotel and called it a day.

On the 14th of April Aidan, Conner, Aran sensei, Casni sensei and I walked from the hotel we were staying at to Shizuoka Catholic Church and took part in a Palm Sunday service. After the service we split up and got to organise our day of events. The teachers went with the principal to Salesio school. Myself and the others went through exploring the nice parks and other attractions in Shizuoka. We then went to an arcade call SEGA and finally had to make our way to the train station. We said our farewells to our friends at Salesio College and made our way to Tokyo.

Once we arrived in Tokyo we went to a karaoke venue and had some fun singing songs together. After belting out a few tunes we were all hungry again and went to Mos Burgers to try some Japanese style fast food.

We all then retired to our rooms in anticipation of an exciting day at Disneyland!

An absolutely amazing inaugural home stay program with our sister school Shizuoka Salesio College.

This morning we attended Palm Sunday mass at Shizuoka Catholic Church and were welcomed by parishioners with open arms.

Home stay students and their host families spent the day with each other forming lifelong bonds and friendships.

Salesio College – will miss you all very much. Thank you for welcoming us so warmly to your school and into your home’s. Arigato dear friends.

Headed to Tokyo for a quick session of karaoke and an early dinner. Good night’s sleep needed by all before we descend on Disneyland tomorrow!!

Today started off quite well as we all got changed into our school uniforms, dropped our bags off and had a lovely breakfast. After breakfast we headed off to the train station to catch the train to Shin-Kobe.

After we got off the train at Shin-Kobe , we caught another train to Shizuoko and were greeted by the Middle School Vice Principal and a few other teachers. After meeting them we walked to the school.

First we had a lovely tour around the school then after that we were greeted with a lovely assembly and amazing performances by Grades 5 and 6. We also had to introduce ourselves to the assembly of students and teachers, and Casni sensei spoke briefly on behalf of our Dominic community.

After assembly we met our host students and they took us to their homeroom for last period.

After homeroom we all walked down to the cafeteria where we met our host families and they took us home.

At first it was a bit nerve racking but I got settled in really quickly and had a lovely time with my host family, they were wonderful.

Overall, the home stay experience was wonderful and we had a great two days together with out families who I am sure we will keep in touch with for life. 😊

On our train journey to Shizuoka Salesio College. All very excited to meet host families!