During the Term 2 winter holidays, 16 students from Years 11-13 had the pleasure of travelling to Japan alongside Mrs Troughear and Ms Lodge for a two week long trip.
Our trip began on Sunday 7 July when we caught a flight from Auckland Airport to Narita Airport. Immediately the differences between New Zealand and Japan were apparent, as when we landed, we shifted from the 15-degree cold of New Zealand’s winter to the 30-degree heat of Japan’s summer.
Our first five days were spent in Tokyo, Japan’s capital. Throughout these days, our time was divided between strolling around popular shopping districts, like Harajuku and Akihabara, and visiting traditional Japanese shrines and temples, like Meiji Jingu. We ended our time in Tokyo with a day at Disney Sea before catching the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto.
Our time in Kyoto focused on learning more about the Japanese culture. Upon arrival, we travelled to Nara, a city known for the big Buddha and its deer population. On our second and third days, our knowledgeable tour guide took us to visit many significant locations in Japan’s history, such as Kiyomizu and Tenryu-Ji Temple. In addition, our western hotel was replaced by a traditional Japanese Inn (ryokan), where we all slept on futon (traditional Japanese bedding) and ate traditional Japanese meals.
To conclude our trip, we travelled to Nishinomiya within Hyogo Prefecture, to visit our sister school, Nishinomiya Imazu Senior High School. During this time, we were given the amazing opportunity to learn about everyday student life within Japan through a homestay and two days at the school. We also included a day full of fun at Universal Studios Japan into this week and had a free day which we spent completely with our homestay. This was certainly a highlight for many of us on this trip.
This trip allowed us all to learn so much about the culture within Japan, such as the efficiency of public transport and the affordability of the food, and I, along with all other 15 students, are extremely grateful to both Mrs Troughear and Ms Lodge who made the trip possible and supervised us on this trip. Thank you to both teachers for the amazing experience.
~ Leah Steele 11B7