Hello people, do you remember me. I'm darren, the big Australian guy. I didn`t manage to write an article in time for the last two new letters as i am lazy and busy. So when the two combine, IT'S MAYHEM.
I have joined the soccer club at my school which has been good and bad. I have made some good friends there and i enjoy the work you have to do. But i did manage to find out and demonstrate the outcomes of a fall at full pace on the gravel pitch, i would like to post a photo, but I look better with skin. Again, it's all part of the fun.
This brings me to school. (I go to a private school). I could say its strict, i could say its a little bit wierd, but i would rather say its a great experience. If you knew me before i came to japan, you would know i can be very agitated easily, but going to my school (for some unkown reason) has calmed me down.
The wierd thing about them going to all this effort is they only do it for a short period of time (from 1-2 years) and after that the return to the `normal` world. I`ve had the pleasure of speaking to a few of these people and alot of them were really nice and smart people. The two that really stick out are, the gyaru i met in yokohama, because she was unbelievably smart and nice, it was a real contrast to her image. Then the up and coming model/singer i met in akihabura on one of my photo shooting trips, she was soo busy (after breaking her shoes) but she still had the time to talk to me for 15-20 minutes (the other photographers were a little angry), and she was so nice.
Now speaking of tradition, MATSURIS. Great fun, arent they. whether it be the tipping of special karts carrying gods in them (asakusa HUGE and urawa CRAZY) or people dancing through the streets (oomiya) they are all great fun. I must adimit seening some of the girls in their kimonos was a great elegant sight. At Urawa, i and Will Barker were lucky enough to witness some elderly women (60`s to late 70`s) teaching the younger girls (15-7) a traditional dance. it was good to see that young people in a country with so much western influence these days, sticking to their traditional culture.
Finally to cap things off. My host family and home life. I could say i'm a little loud at home, BUT that would be an understatement. But yet when the 20 year old son (heavy metal band member) comes home for the weekend, i do sound like a mouse. This house is immensly loud and crazy. My host father playing guitar, my little host bro (12) practising for karaoke or me reciting random comedy phrases. i do feel like a part of the family now which is great and im happy to be staying here for the whole ten months.
Oh and R.I.P to the sumo trainer who died, i had the opportunity to watch a sumo training under his watch.
Well it’s summer holidays now and a very humid summer holidays it is. But it is almost time to go back to school, in one way I am excited to go back to school as to catch up with all my friends that I hadn’t seen.
I would have to say the high light of my holidays was going to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea with my host family. It was a three day pass so a lot of fun but by the third day, my host sister and I were so tired we could barely move and it was extremely hot, I turned brown. There aren’t many big rides in Disney but just 
the way it is built is so amazing it really is like a fairy tale land. There was this one ride called ‘Indiana Jones’ and I think we must have gone on that ride at least 10 times and every time my host sister and I could not stop laughing, it was an enjoyable three days with my host family. I also visited the golden temple in Kyoto; I would have had more fun if it wasn’t so hot! A family that I know took me out for a day and we went on this like big canoe thing that takes you down a river, it is run by three men that row you down. It was so relaxing and funny. The family has the most energized grandma I have ever met. By the end of the day I was so tired, but the grandma just kept on bubbling and talking and laughing, it honestly wore me out trying to listen to everything.
Other then meeting friends it has just been running club, and in this heat it really is harder.
Gareth Morgan
G'day everyone! Well it is coming up to 6 months since I arrived over here, which means only about 4 more months to go... So I guess this should be a reflection sort of time, so that I can make sure I reach my goals before I catch that plane back to Brisbane. Because I thought I should push myself a bit, I decided to go for Grade 2 on the proficiency test... which means I suppose I will pretty much be hitting the books from now on, even more than earlier. I wish it could be like school when you can just cram on the last night, but it doesn't seem to work with the immense amount of knowledge i still need to learn.. please wish me luck!
I am soon going to be moving to my second host family, I think. As you might know already, (seeing as I point it out every time..) I am living at a Buddhist Temple with a great family who have helped me out so much in the 6 months I have been staying at their place. I have got the opportunity to take part in 'zazen' which is Buddhist meditation, the one where you get hit with sticks! But it was fun and a great experience.
I
had a great time on the holidays! They started with a trip to Himeji, Kobe, Osaka, Nara and Kyoto with my host mum. It was amazing seeing so many spectacular places, and buildings that have been standing for over 1000 years. That sort of thing really blows my mind. Once i got back to Tottori, I spent a lot of time with the Brass Band practicing for a concert. It was mostly fun, although the clarinet does get a bit tiring... But I did enjoy being involved in something to become more a part of the school. I also spent a day at a Newspaper Club excursion that was boring and meant I was late meeting a friend. No I don't really like the newspaper club too much, I'm still not quite sure why I am in it!
After that I spent a few days in Nagoya, and it was fun living in a big city! I really love cities, even though I come from Dalby! I almost got to go to a baseball game, but we couldn't get tickets, but I did go to Nagoya Castle and ate 'unagi', which is eel. Apparently there was something about that made in Nagoya style. I made sure to pretend to notice that! And of course we had the Global Village which was really fun, and not just coz I got to ride in a plane again (and almost miss the return flight! Haneda in such a huge airport I realised!) It was great to meet so many people and see that everyone is having the same problems and successes that I am having.
So, 4 more months to go. I hope I can continue to improve my Japanese, and make the most of my life as a highschool student. Good luck to everyone taking the JLPT!
Jacky Armstrong
Well, since global village I have done a few things. The day after I got back I went up to north Okayama to a place called Bangaro, which is very traditional area with temples,caves and small villages. However, It wasn't until I was going into one of the caves that I found out that this site was also in a Japanese horror movie!!! So 
my host family offered me to go in first and then my host mother and host sister were holding onto my shirt. It was funny, though at one point they randomly scream in an area where obviously a ghost came and killed someone. This lead me to scream from my host family scaring me then everyone in the cave was screaming.
Then last week had bunkasai where I had to get up stage afront of hundreds of people and sing sk8 boi by Avril Lavigne. I dressed like an idiot with a red wiig on, sang a lame song and still everyone was clapping with me going. " Jacky your my idol". .. Something you can only get away with in Japan. However, was really fun and now have joined the school rock band as my school club. Also, I have taikusai this week and my leg is much better and I'm able to take part in sport activites, which I'm looking forward to. Anyways, hope everyones enjoying there exchange. Only about 3 and a half months!!!. :S
Kacie Warren
hi, my name is Kacie Warren. I am 17 years old and live in the small town of Wangaratta. But at the moment I am currently living in Ranzan, Saitama, Japan. I am studying at Otsuma Ranzan, a private girls school. I love it, I have heaps of friends and school is extremely different to in Australia. This week has been fairly busy as we have been preparing for our school festival, which should be awesome. In two days i will move host families. I will miss my current host family very much, the month went very quickly. In this short amount of time my Japanese has already improved a little. I am able to understand and communicate more. Study is the key, the more you study the better you get and the better you get, the more you actually say to your friends.
Anyone who gets the opportunity to go on exchange, anywhere, should take it. This is an amazing opportunity and it has opened my eyes to a lot of things.
Kirstie Swinn
My first 5 weeks in Japan has gone so fast! The first week consisted of Global Village 07 in Shizuoka and a few days in Chiba for Orientation.
Then from Septemer 1, I dived right into my new life in Japan in the country town called Shounai in the mountainous, beautiful and tranquil area of Yamagata prefecture.
My school is called "Haguro High School" and offers many programs to students including a special International Course. I was placed into the first year of International course with students my age and 3 students from Br
azil. I have 12 lessons of Japanese a week, 2 of them are Kanji lessons, 3 are for grammar and the rest are just basic Japanese. I also have Media, English Conversation and World Geography taught in English by "Joe Sensei" who is from Seattle, America. I also have Mathematics and English. I catch a bus with my host sister to school daily.
I joined a club by the third week of school. It's the computer and art club that my school offers. I found it was a great way to feel a belonging at my school.
My area is just a peaceful country town, and there are many temples and beautiful sights and there are a few nice mountains and parks. Recently, my host mother. host sister and I climbed the local mountain, Haguro San. It had over 2400 stone steps! Then the day after, my host mother took me to the city to show me the Art Gallery and the Local Museum. It had many old artefacts from the area in particularly and it was a nice way for me to learn the differences of early Japan and modern Japan, while also comparing what I know of old Australia.
Two exciting months left in Japan ahead of me, I don't know what to expect, but all I know is that it will a lot of fun.
Kymberly O'Neill
From tomorrow (end of September) we only have four months to go.... You really know you don't want to go home when you stop counting the months you have left..... Just when you finally start to settle in properly it is already almost time to go home... All the many things you really want to do begin to seem impossible considering the very little time you got...
My summer vacation was pretty much full of fun and stuff... I got to go and do so many things! One of the biggest would have to have been climbing Mt Fuji (not to mention half during a typhoon).... one thing that I will never ever ever ever ever do again.. Although it was the most beautifullest thing ever from the very top... It took a whole a lot of effort. forcing youself to keep going even though your legs felt like they were just going to give way and muscles were going to burst... (and the teacher yellling me from behind even though we still had another 4 hours to climb) maybe its just due to my unfitness...
It took about 5 hours to climb to the very top... And about 4 or so to get back to the 
bottom... It can be described as climbing stairs endlessly for 9 hours however they gradually get steeper and more unstable... I think i can pretty much say i fell over maybe every 2 or 3 steps on the way down... That was with the use of my stick... (everyone buys a stick to help them). Some interesting facts... at the bottom the vending machines are all the normal nothing over 150yen, however by the time you get to the top they can be priced up to about 400 or 500 yen. Crazy stuff.. you even have to pay about 600yen to use the toilets... Also from the very top there is a post office, here you can send postcards or whatever you like all over the world..
Aside from the fuji adventure i have done and seen many exciting things, and recently had my school sports day....
Well until next time take care and goodluck to all...
WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!!
Meg Kelly
It's over half way through this marvelous exchange but it just feels like yesterday we departed Brisbane airport embarking on our overseas adventures.
It is said that 'time flies when you're having fun' and at this point in time I must say that phrase is quite correct. My summer holidays seemed to come and go yet they were defently a highlight to my exchange so far. Some of the things I did I'll remember for years to come. I went hiking with my host dad in the 1st week but he somehow failed to tell me we were also been accompanied by 90 other Japanese people who just happened to work with flowers and forestry. Therefore every 5 steps or so I was stopped by someone so they could explain a particular flower/bush/weed to me. The views were amazing though and we ate our rice balls (onigiri) and pickled veggies (tsukemono) on the peak of mount iwate, whilst being heavily surrounded in thick white clouds. I also got to see my 1st volcano that day but my host dad was a little worried I was going to fall down and he wouldn't be able to explain that very well to my family back In Australia so he wouldn't let me close enough to take a photo, however he took one for me although.. a little blurry.
Japanese summer festivals, I believe most of you here in Japan would have experienced by now??! I myself have been to about 6-7 and the huge drum (taiiko) festival are for sure a favorite of mine. My host grandma, mum, sister, aunty and cousins enjoy themselves immensely dressing me up in the yukata (summer kimono) every time. After the festival has finished there is almost always an incredible display of fireworks for viewers delight. Oh!! And as fireworks are legal to 
buy anywhere here I believe I have sampled quite a few with my athletics friends on the side of our rice fields.
I was invited by ISA to attend a camp in sendai for a few days and it was just splendid. I met up with 2 of the Americans along with some of my fellow Australians. I can't explain how good it really was but meeting up with Nicole and Naomi made those 4 days a fun filled experience to remember. We found a hill one day after eating chemically filled onigiri and written in rather large Japanese characters was the word.. 'HANAYAMA' which literally translated means 'flower mountain'. We also happened to come across an ice cream vending machine and lets just say that was quite a large highlight to the camp.
The camp was aimed at younger children therefore we had to introduce our countries through speech's. I taught them a few aussie words whilst Nicole shared around her vegemite and Naomi told the interested kids about some Australian sports, meanwhile Shaun practice waltzing mathilda on his guitar. The 2 Americans introduced something by the name of recess pieces which just happened to be peanut butter flavored smarties.
One of the most amazing experiences I had in the holidays was 'ZAZEN'. It runs for approximately 4 days and each morning my host dad and I awoke at 3am to walk in the misty conditions down the road to the temple. Zazen is a Buddhist meditation ritual that leaves you in complete tranquility
but also in a fair amount of pain. You sit in silence for around 40mins to an hour in quite an awkward sitting position, usually known as the 'locus position'. I was told on the first day to strip all thoughts that popped into my head whilst the meditation took place and try and keep my body at rest in complete stillness. You could scratch, sniff, or move in anyway however there was one catch!! The Buddhist priest who walked around the people of zazen would rasie a large plank of wood and hit you on the back/shoulder. I fortunately was only hit twice but I guess it didn't hurt as much as I expected... However my legs went numb and purple from the very delicate sitting position. At first it was quite daunting as I also had to chant a fairly odd composition with my host dad and the Buddhist priest in front of many people I had no idea who they were. Anyway whoever hasn't tried zazen I highly recommend it, as it is really quite relaxing apart from the solemn looking priest sauntering around the tatami mats hitting the guests randomly!!
It was soon time to go back to school but 2 weeks later I was a rebel and got another 4 days off to go to one of the best caps ever-global village. It was truly amazing to reunite with all the other exchange students along with meeting the new exchangees from around the globe. I met some very interesting people on this camp and learnt a lot about their cultures and customs. I was lucky to meet some very snazzy students from England with tremendously charming accents, some Americans who also loved recess pieces, a few new Zealanders who sang their anthem quite well, some Australians who could understand my accent and 
one very amazing 15 year old from inner Mongolia who can already speak 4 languages!! I became rather exited when I saw that Nicole and Naomi and brought along their beloved Colgate to this camp also, so yet again we had some very memorable tooth brushing moments. Japanese toothpaste doesn't nearly have that 'COLGATE EFFECT' and to be honest I wouldn't be too surprised if there was sugar imbedded into it, therefore Marie and I have officially named it the 'SUGAR PASTE'.
I'm still loving the Japanese cuisine way too much and recently I tasted some rather peculiar ice-cream flavors, ranging from pumpkin and poppy seed to green beans and banana. I must admit they were rather tasty though.
Ok well I really must stop this newsletter update here as it is getting excessively long but despite all this fun i'm having, the other night I went for a run and was attacked by a BAT!! I've always wanted to know what it was like to be attacked by a flying object but now I know and I can't say I am really that interested anymore. It sought of feels like your hair is being ripped out whilst being stuck in escalator stairs... I still love Japan though but i'll just remember not to go running at night again!!
Michael Parker
I've been in Japan for about a month now, and am loving all of it. On the weekend of my second week of school they held a cultural festival. My class did a Japanese randition of High School Musical (it's quite popular here apparaently). Older students did dances, food stalls, and the karate club gave a preformance. It was great fun. It helped me meet more people and get to know them better.
Shaun Mercier
How is everyone doing?? Hope everyone is going well!!! I can’t believe we’re already half way through! Scary isn’t it! In just a few months we’ll be on the plan home!! Life has been so crazy; there has literally just been no time for anything. Everyday day has been something new!
Well the summer holidays are over and I’m back at school! And right away exams started! Fun (sarcasm)!!! And I get to take some of them!! Aren’t I lucky (more sarcasm)!!! Well outside of school my host family like to take me traveling, which is awesomeness except that leaves literally no time for study or letter writing or anything else for that matter!! Over the summer holidays I went to some camp in Sendai with all the other exchange students from around the area! Unfortunately I was too lazy to apply for the global village camp so I missed out on that! But it was ok!! So instead I went to oojijuku which was this traditional Japanese village!! Was really nice and relaxing to walk around except I would love to go back there in winter because it looks awesome with the snow and everything!! I also went to Disneyland!! Disneyland was fun except the amount of people there was just outstanding!! For some of the rides we had to wait up and over 2 hours!! And I know that this is going to sound really lame but the Whinnie the Pooh ride was seriously the best!! Plus I’ve been to various other little places around Fukushima prefecture!!
Around now my school is having its school festival or bunkasai! And we got to take the whole week off of school to prepare for it! My class is doing a sort of haunted house thing so they're all busy decorating the classroom and stuff!! and they:re actually doing a really good job too!! and it's being held this Saturday so we'll see how it goes!! should be good!!
so hope everyone else is going good! And good luck with the upcoming Japanese proficiency test in December!!! ciao!
Shane Francis
My name is Shane and I am currently living the life of an exch
ange student in Okayama, Japan! Things have been really interesting, coming on an exchange to Japan, meeting some awesome people at orientation and Global Village and going to school and living the life of a Japanese person! Everything is vastly different from Australia, but I’m not really going to go into too much detail about that.
What I will go into is my first festival experience! After being with my family for a week, I had the opportunity to go to a festival with a small town within Okayama 
Prefecture! I went along with my host family and met up with some friends also! My host cousin played the Taiko drum, and he was awesome! Hearing the Taiko drum being played was really great. But my favorite experience from the festival was watching the fireworks that they had. Being a small festival, I thought that the fireworks were not going to be so spectacular, but in fact, they were really awesome! The only thing that I am disappointed about is that my photos that I took didn’t turn out so good!
Overall, I am having the time of my life, things are fun and enjoyable and this is definitely an experience that I will never ever forget!
Stacey Kendall
On the 23rd of March I got on a plane to Japan and spent three months of my life as an exchange student. The three months I spent over there were the most
exciting and challenging months of my life. I had three host families while I lived in Japan, who all lived in the Kanagawa prefecture, close to Tokyo and Yokohama. Without the support and care of my host families, I would not have had such an awesome time in Japan. Also, I would not have had a place to sleep at night so I was really thankful they were generous enough to allow someone they had never met before, from a foreign country, stay at their house.
My host school’s name was Yokohama Suiryo International Girl’s school and I studied there for my entire exchange trip. Some of the subjects I studied were Japanese Calligraphy, English as a second language, art, sport, Japanese Culture and manners. I also had up to two free periods a day where I would study Japanese with another exchange student from Boston or by myself.
Life at a Japanese school was very different to studying here in Australia. Firstly, the teaching method of Japanese teachers to western teachers is completely different. Japanese teachers teach to the class, discussion is not encouraged. The reason for this is that Japanese classes are specifically designed with exams in mind and that Japanese students are shy and reluctant to discuss their thoughts on subjects with the teacher and the rest of the class. Another thing that was completely different to Australian schools is that the class stays in the same classroom for their subjects and the teachers move from class to class. Students are not permitted to leave the classroom during class, but there are ten minute breaks between each period. School started around 8:30 each day. Every Monday morning there was a school assembly and the rest of the week had morning home group meetings. School finished around 3:15, after another home group meeting, but usually the students would clean their classroom areas until about 3:45 and then go to their clubs. My school also had school on Saturday mornings until noon, but not every Saturday so it sometimes got quite confusing as to when I was 
supposed to be there.
Schools in Japan offer many after school club activities, which the students are very serious about in attending. My host school offered Soccer, Badminton, Tennis, Volleyball, Track, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Dance, Tea Ceremony, Drama, Art, English, Brass Band and Music Clubs.
Most of the sports clubs trained most nights after school, until late, and members of the sporting clubs came to school to train even on holidays. I joined the Drama club, and performed in a play even though I wasn’t exactly sure about what I was saying.
Going to Japan was an excellent way of learning about Japan’s culture and its vast history. While I was there, I was able to visit many Japanese heritage sites such as Mt. Fuji, the emperor’s palace gardens, Asakusa and Kamakura temples, the Great Budda at Kamakura and many Shinto Shrines. I also saw what happened to the giant robots when they are not in use; they sit in game arcades for people to stand next to and take photos with. While I was in Japan I took the opportunity to study Japanese history and culture at their National Museum, and I also attended a few exhibits on the history of Japanese art at Yokohama’s art museum.
Godzilla didn’t attack once while I was in Japan, but I did experience two minor earthquakes and that was frighting enough.
Japanese language skills increased considerably from barely being able to stutter out phrases from my phrase book to being able to converse a considerable amount with my Japanese friends and host families. Without my host families I would not have been able to improve my language skills as much as I did, nor would I have had the excellent chance to learn about Japan’s 
culture and Japanese people first hand.
The thing that I loved most about Japan is that somehow the towns can be very old, have very old buildings and history and old scenery and yet still be technologically modern and not too far from a major city. I went by bullet train, or shinkansen, for a weekend trip well north of Tokyo and it only took me an hour to travel the distance from here (Sunbury) to Albury.
My exchange trip taught me much more about Japan than I ever could have learnt from a book. I learnt about the customs and traditions of the Japanese people, I attended school in Japan and I lived with a Japanese host family. I feel that living in another country is the best way of understanding and properly appreciating their culture. I learnt many things in Japan, but I still don’t properly understand everything about it, nor is my language skills as fluent as I would like them to be, so I will continue studying Japanese and hopefully this exchange trip will be just a step toward continuing to broaden my horizons and experiences overseas and in Japan.
Rebekkah Johnston
Hello all; I am now living with my 5th family, this is my longest homestay lasting 
2 and a half months. From here I have three more homestays, which in a way makes my time left over here seem so very very short. So many things have happened lately that to give you a brief summary of it all would be impossible, so instead I'm going to share with you two very memorable experiences.
Firstly, we have my schools Culture Festival. It was awesome! . Basically there are 3 grades in high school, with 12 classes in each grade made up of about 40 people. Each class has to completely change their classroom into some kind of entertainment room. Many classes create a ghost house or a games room etc. My class chose to create a games room.. The clubs are then in charge of providing the food. Each club has a designated food that they make every year. Basketball girls, which is my club, makes Karaage and Potato sticks. Seeing as I'm a foreigner the girls made me walk around to different people and persuade them to by our food. Unfortunately this worked too well, not only because 
of my attacking poor people, but also because our food was delicious. So we often ended up selling out and having to wait for the girls in the kitchen to cook some more. So we ended up taking orders for people. On the first night after the days activities had finished they created a huge bon fire and everyone danced around it in a circle.
Some of the classrooms were so intense. For example; one class had completely made their room pitch black and set-up a maze within, plus a whole lot of scary things that would jump out at the students, including other students dressed up scarily. I didn't get to to into any of the rooms and play any of the games or anything because the basketball team only has a few members so we had to work the whole time, but even working was fun! It truly was an awesome weekend!
Now onto my second topic; Vegemite. Seeing as my dads and brothers birthday
are the 24th and 25th of September, I decided that I would make them some kind of entertaining video. So I went and grabbed my handy jar of vegemite and attacked the basketball team, boys, girls and teachers. Basically I told them that it was Australian chocolate, and incredibly incredibly sweet. I even said that it may be too sweet for them. When I opened the lid they were like woohhh, it smells horrible. So I had to explain that the smell wasn't connected to the flavour, anyways they all believed me. so I made them say Chocoreto daisuki (I love chocolate) and then spoon out a 5cent coin size of vegemite and eat the whole lot in one go. The reactions on their faces when they realise it most definitely isn't chocolate was absolutely hilarious. I can watch these videos over and over again.
Anyway, that's a few exciting things from my life recently. I hope everyone else has an awesome Culture Festival at their school!
Paul Kinlough
My exchange has really picked up recently, not that it was bad at all before but because my japanese ability right now is good, I can talk to friends and family much easier!!
Well anyway it has been non stop for me, my school just finished the sports carnival and because of the event called tumbling, everyone in the school had to endure my shirtless extremely white body!!
Also a group of Australians just went home to Australia last week after spending 2 weeks at my school, it was good to meet them and have a few laughs.
Right now school is back to normal and volleyball club is back to its normal... extremely hot tireingness(???) which is good!! 2 hours a day keeps the love handles away!!
And my class will be visiting Australia soon, and I.... dont get to go but, I get some free study time so I shall use it!
Well hope everyone is enjoying their exchange and it was great catching up with everyone at Global Village, Ayako did a really good job!!
Nicole Flyn
T
wo words: flower mountain. This is the name of the place where one of the camps I went on in the summer holidays was held. Five other exchange students and I were invited to this camp to mingle with Japanese students varying from primary school to junior high school age. The camp itself was situated in the beautiful mountain greenery of Sendai, and involved lots of bushwalking, outdoor games and even a campfire. Perhaps the 6 people who had the most fun getting to be outdoors so much would have to have been all the exchange students; Meg, Naomi, Shaun, Celvie, Kristine and I. When given the chance, the Japanese students chose to sit in a stuffy classroom for the activities, rather than sit outside on the grass in the shade of some fantastic huge trees! None of us could believe this, but majority ruled and we had to endure one very long afternoon of separation from the picturesque mountainside. Meg, Naomi, Shaun and I certainly won’t forget the game of Bingo we played, which involved us renaming some American states just to win some chocolate. It’s just a shame that the state of Texas has perhaps one of the most recognised shapes, so we didn’t pull off the Texas/Montana switch all that smoothly. I’m sure none of us, especially Meg, will forget Nori-chan, th
e group leader, and his nice arms. Or just how much joy the sight of Colgate toothpaste can bring.
I have changed host families twice since the last report was due, and although I have only been with my current host family for 2 weeks, I may as well change my surname to Okamoto. I knew that I was going to fit in here upon meeting my host father for the first time. The first thing he did was open his suit jacket to point out to me that the label on the inner pocket said ‘Monsieur Nicole’. Apparently it’s his favourite brand of suits, and was even more excited when I told him that it was the same spelling and everything. With this family I was fortunate enough to be taken to Tokyo Dome to watch a baseball game between the Tigers and the Giants (the Tigers won). However my grasp of the rules of baseball is very limited, so I spent a lot of the time fascinated with the female staff who run up and down the steps the whole game wearing large containers of beer on their backs to sell to spectators, and at how painful it must get.
Without a doubt the best thing so far was being taken to a traditional Japanese steakhouse. Japanese steak- ‘wagyuu’, is served very rare, if not raw. It was the first time I had been to one, and I absolutely loved it. It was the first night that everyone in my host family had been home so far, and when my host mother and father, sister, two brothers and I piled into the car, my host mother said, "wow, 
we’ve now got a family of 6". Talk about a Kodak moment. I was immensely proud of how far my Japanese has come, just because I could keep up with all the family jokes. It was the most natural family atmosphere I’ve experienced since leaving Australia, and I can’t even comprehend how I will part with them at the end of September.
So it seems that we have the Japanese Language Proficiency test coming up at the start of December, way too close for my liking. However I don’t doubt for a second my choice to take level 2. Whether I pass or not, I know that I will have inevitably crammed as much grammar and Kanji as possible.
I think I share the same thoughts with everyone else who participated in Global Village, in that it was one of the most positive experiences possible. It was super to meet Japanese students from all over Japan, and all the new faces who have just arrived for the five month exchange. The fact that we have passed the halfway mark is making me nervous. How I am going to send home all the manga I have bought… yabai.
Naomi Bevan
Hey, Well it has been three months since the last report which means a lot has happened. So I will try and fill you in on some of the more interesting stories. I think I mentioned in the last report that I had a singing contest the next day. Well th
at finished and straight away that arvo we started danicing practice for the dansu concuuru in July. We did some weird Indian number, but somehow the teachers and the school Principal loved it and we won the competition. This meant the whole of my class, all girls, screaming and crying and running around all at the same time. They were just a bit happy I think. So this meant that all my plans to join the calligraphy club vanished, because of this intense club-like practice.
We had school all the way up to 1 August and then finally the long awaited natsuyasumi (summer holidays). From about August 3 we had the unofficial Global Village camp . This camp that myself and 5 other exchangees went to Hanayama. It was heaps of fun with hiking trips and finally getting to laugh again without a having to cover mouths or only slightly giggle. We also had an ice-cream or 5, Meg, for those of you in live in total isolation from ice-cream.
Then in the middle of the holidays I adventured out, by myself, to take the 2 hour train trip, and 3 hour shinkansen trip to visit some people I knew in Osaka. One of the people I was meeting I hadn`t seen for 5 years. She came to my house in 2002 on a 2 week home-stay program through my school. So it was great to see her all grown up, which she had. We ventured around Osaka looking at the new World Championship Athletics figures. That night I met the student I hosted last year`s family. They were the best Japanese family to date. He tooks us to this kushi katsu ya san which is just a restaurant with bits of fried stuff dipped in to various sauces. These various bits and pieces included toungue, ear, liver which were all firsts for me. This experience was followed by a trip to Universal Studios Japan. 
When we went to USJ my friends decided to don the high heels, very Japanese. I also got to visit Nara the last day and got to see the world heritage site temple. I am planning another trip back in the winter. There were plenty of other stories from this trip but are all probably not appropriate for this newsletter.
Then of course there was the official Global Village. I am sure that plenty of other people will write about this so I am not going to write much. There was some very awesome and interesting people there. Including my team mate Ikuya, a.k.a FOX. Also Kazu-kun who I am sure with Nicole as his, 'manager' will go onto make huge career for himself... ``my dog is very very cute and cute fuuukawaii kao o shite..``There was also conbini guy and some very excellent team work by the yellow team taking out 2nd place.
Then it was back at school. I don`t know if many of the people back in Aus heard
but there was a huge typhoon during the first week back at school. This meant all in very serious voice that we would have a day off school on Friday. The typhoon came to where I live on the Thursday night while I was sleeping and finished by 9am on Friday. This last weekend just passes. I had my school festival. Which was a lot of fun. My class had a little game going which my friend and I had to run away from little kids. Yes weird but it was fun. Then the afternoon, the exchange course girls and I had to do a forum, on rubbish and recycling, in English. My prefecture`s news camerawoman came and we were on the T.V. the next day. So I have a little souvenier. The next step from these speeches in English is a prefectual wide forum competition with a team we will speak in Japanese at this competition.
I am still having an awesome time here, school can get a bit boring at times, but with only four months to go I am making the best of the time I have left. I have a school trip in October to Nagasaki which I am, looking foward to so much. Ok well it`s over and out from me for now.
Myles Roberts
Firstly, I`d like to start off by saying that Global Village was really what I needed at the halfway stage of this exchange. It was great to be able to unwind for a while, listening to everyones stories, joining in all the activities and the barbeque (even if the smoke did burn the eyes considerably). It was a chance to not only speak English properly for the first time in a while, but also do the occasional translating 
between the two. I was able to become closer friends with Ryoo from my school and since then we hang out with each other all the time. By the time we were going home, it truly felt the same as it did in March; like I was starting again from the beginning, with new found enthusiasm.
Three days after Global Village, I changed host families. Those who met Kazuma at Global Village would find it perfectly understandable that this was a hard change. My current host family is number five for this exchange and I`ll stay here in Chigasaki, Kanagawa, until about November. As difficult as it was to leave Kazuma and his family, I had already stayed at this family`s house during Golden Week back in May, and so I knew that they would make me feel welcome right from the start. The other day I helped the older brother do his Summer Holidays university homework. It was translating an article from an english newspaper into japanese; it was good fun. I`m also planning on asking my host mother if she can help out my calligraphy skills, as she`s really good at it.
All of my host families up to this point have lived close to a train station. Now on the other hand, I find myself having to ride a bike to the station every school day. For someone who has never had much bike riding experience, even in Australia, this was a daunting prospect after seeing some of the crazy manoeuvers performed on Japanese roads. I`m getting used to it however, (I`d even go as far as to say 
I enjoy it), though at busy times, I often just throw in the towel and walk the bike to the nearest side street.
It`s almost October and I can't help but look forward to my first actual Autumn. I`m planning on making the most of this season to do plenty of sightseeing on the weekends, especially at places with lots of trees. October will also see the Shoryo school festival. I`m not quite sure why my school is holding it so late, but there`s another event to look forward to. Speaking of school/study, I`ve decided on doing Level 2 for the Proficiency Test in December. This might see me fall flat on my face, but at least it will give me something to really strive for until then.
By the way, that`s not real beer Kazuma and I are drinking. It`s this drink called "kodomo nomimono". Its really good (and non-alcoholic).
Everyones` japanese is going awesome. Keep up the good work!
Helen Yuan
Hey, it's Helen, reporting all the way from Nagasaki. ^_^
It's more than halfway through September and time is still passing crazily quick, I have no idea where all these months have gone, although some friends and teachers have mentioned that I seem to have been here for ages, not just this year. Haha, I'll take it as a compliment.
In the few months that have passed since the last newsletter, theres been summer holiodays, which meant, Kendo practice of course!!! I am in Japan afterall, what do you think holidays are for? relaxing?! I am one of the few san nen seis left doing club, but those who didn't have club had Hoshu (like extra lessons at school). Ok, I probably make it sound bad, but it was a good summer holiday; the kendo club did have a few scheldued days off, and I took a few more off to go travelling, with friends and host families, and of course to the awesomely fun Global Village camp towards the end.
So in my summer holidays....
I went to Huis Ton Bosch, a Dutch (is that what you call a Netherland theme based town?? English is deterioating in relation to Japanese improving) with some friends, which is in Sasebo, a city in Nagasaki Ken. It's this massive town that feels lke your in a different country.
I went to a few festivals with friends, saw lots of fireworks, one show went for like 15mins, they were so aweseome, dressed up in Jimbei and Yukata and ate festival food like kagikori (flavoured shaved ice), Ikayaki (grilled squid) and ringo ame (mini version of toffee apples).
I also was lucky enough to go to Oita Ken with my host mum and older sis to see the Japan National Soccer Team play in the final match of the Kirin Cup. (it is so rare for them to come to Kyushuu so it was like wow!). Unfortunately my favourite player Takahara didn't go, he was overseas at the time. We also went to Kijima Uenchi, and amusement park, and rode on this HUGE rollarcoaster that was made completely of wood. I was like....is it safe?! lol.
During Obon I also went to Kumamoto castle which was really cool. There were these stairs that were like the original stairs from however many hundred years ago. Sometime before this the Kendo also had a training camp which included bathtime together (interesting experience that I woudn't mind having not having experienced), training for a whole day and then the next morning (though luckily my school had its open day on the same day which I had to help out with, so only went for like 1/3 of the training sessions, phew!! that much made me feel giddy and like I had a fever it was so hot). We all stayed in the school Hokutoryou, this building which has tatami bedrooms, a kithen, bath and toilets. It was pretty fun, and we had lots of junk food when it finished, courtesy of parents, teachers and senpais.
Soshite, I headed for Shizuoka for Global Village a 1.5hr plane trip from my town. It was so good seeing everyone again, and speaking Englanese (Eng/ Jap) conversations with the other exchangees. Its always good to be with pple who just understand your situation completely, like how retarded your English becomes, and that some words are just beter expressed in Japanese. Me and Darren were speaking in Japanese during some group activity and our group leader asked me 'What country are you from again?' I was like 'uhhhh Australia' and with a look that seemed to confirm what he thought, he said to us'then why are you guys speaking in Japanese?! its weird!!!' lol.
After that it was back to my island (Kyuushu, hahaha), and school. Lately we have been crazily getting ready for the school sports festival which is on next Saturday. These are nothing like Australian ones, seriously cannot imagine Ausssie students willing to put so much effort into the preparations, and the like 100% attendance on the day. Being a 3rd year, each of the 8 classes divide into Panel, Ouen (like cheers and dances to go with them), Dance, Marching and everyone elects a leader and vice leader. We also draw out a colour, my class, 5 cumi got green, so then the panel people have to make this huge board thing with a theme of cartoon characters etc....we're doing a dragon with a 'Little Green Man' (alien cartoon character). They've been doing it a few times a week since the start of summer hols. Also they decorate fans with the 'Little Green Men' face, with the names of everyone written in Calligraphy on the back. They made everyone one for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd yrs, the 2 homeroom teachers and the 2 ALTS. Thats like 125 including me, crazy much?
Ouen have to make up 3 mins worth of cheers and dances to go with them, then teach them to everyone including the 1st and 2nd years. Basically it becomes a competition between the 8 classes. The dance people make up a dance to the song chosen for the year, Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne this year, and teach them to the rest of the class (3rd years only). These 3 are judged, and the pressures on for the dance because my class have won 6 years running, and they won the Panel and Ouen last year as well. I don't doubt we'd do it again though, it is unbelievable how much work everyones put in. So no classes next Wed~Frid because its practice for the carnival. Ouen, dance, the 30 legged race (Japanese version of the 3 legged race with 30pple) etc...
Also started practising for the Culture festival which isn't until 3rd November but my class is doing Taico drumming (not everyone, just those who want to) so we're practicing like 3hrs a time, 2 times a week. It's so much fun, but the days after practice equal blister pain, muscle pain in the arms, and sore fingers, you basically can't clench your hands in a fist it aches. It's so much fun though.
Basically that's what I've been up to. Other than that, day to day life is great, I absolutely LOVE it here, and after the summer hols a lot of friends have commented that my Japanese has gotten good, and they can have like a normal conversation with me. I usually prove them wrong by asking what they mean or the explanation of a word in a conversation like 5 seconds later, hahaha, but it definately has improved a lot. I can even eavesdrop on conversastions now, lol, not that can understand everything. However what made me really happy was one of my friends commenting a few days ago 'lately I feel like Helen is just one of us. I don't even think shes a gaijin anymore' to which a few of my other friends agreed with. This is awhile ago but another friend asked me where I was from again and when I said Australia she's like 'oh, so you can speak English then?'. Blonde moment much? I just cracked up, and so did the other pple there. She tried to explain herself saying that she doesn't think of me as an exchange student anymore, hence the stupid question, lol. ureshiina.
Well I hope everyone else is still having a good time. We have like no time left, its so sad. Looking forward to reading everyones stories, and well done on getting through this long update of mine. Mata ne minna!!!
Mitchell Jeffrey
Newsletter time again, and the question that's in my head at the moment is: So... who are my friends? I think that now it's getting down to the business end of the 10 months (ie. rushing to achieving the goals I set for myself after spending many months taking it easy), I've got to sort out who I want to spend my time with. There are a lot of friendly people here in Gotsu, I still have to smile and wave to people I don't know every day. The question is, who are my real friends, if I'm lucky enough to have made any at all. Not the people with whom you can have a friendly, yet ultimately meaningless conversation, not the people you only smile and wave at. Not the people you like but can't seem to spend enough time with! Who are my true friends? I know that come January I'll be on the plane home wishing that I'd spent more time with some people, so I'd like to figure out who they'll be so I can enjoy the next few months with them.
I think my first host family is a good candidate for 'real friendship'. Went over to do some calligraphy with them but stopped in at the Grandparents' house on the way for Putchin Pudding. I stayed for almost an hour, I had to reassure a worried Aachan and Jiichan that I hadn't forgotten them over the course of my calligraphy-free summer holidays and Global Village camp. Then we went out to pick the first of the Nashi pears that we paper bagged a couple of months ago with host mum and dad. Remember the rent-a-tree I wrote about some time ago?
I know I'll come down with retrospective "should have done ... while I was in Japan" when I go home, so I've joined a Taiko club outside of school. There's a good cross-section of the community in this team: all ages, abilities, men and women in roughly equal proportion, and even two other foreigners. Things feel better after hitting a drum, that's why I like Taiko so much. Also started some real Japanese lessons with a university professor down the road (metaphorically speaking, it's actually almost 30 minutes away on the train) after many months of floundering around in the depths of Japanese conversation.
I'm enjoying the quirks of my new family. We have a horse riding machine - anybody else seen one of those? It's half way between an electronic rocking horse and a bull simulator, but I've host family members brush their teeth or watch TV while riding it. A friend told me that his girlfriend's mum has one too, apparently it's the latest exercise craze - the motion of the horse manipulates the muscles/fat deposits in your stomach or something like that.
Little nuggets of happy life include having 
faces drawn on Omuraisu in tomato sauce, host dad ordering water at a restaurant but using the counter word for tofu ('cho' - I think there are quite a few jokes to be made here by using the incorrect counter), making elephant faces on our arms then saying 'gochi zousamadeshita'. Just to clarify, zou=elephant. Our washing machine looks like it's straight out of Star Wars, maybe R2D2's sixteenth cousin nine times removed. I especailly like living a minute away from school, I don't mean to make anyone jealous but I now wake up at 7:00 to have breakfast with everyone and then go back to bed. I don't have to leave home until 8:30!!!
Ever since I did an English lesson at the elementary school between my home and high school, I've been smiling and waving at all the little kids I pass on my way to and from school. Only when I'm a fair way away - but not quite out of earshot - they'll giggle and say in hushed tones "hello". I felt bad yesterday afternoon, I was riding home at a considerable speed, my mind far away from Gotsu city. I passed a gaggle of elementary school boys, one of them said a small "hello" just as I rode past. I didn't realise what had happened for a few seconds, but by then his mates were laughing at him... oops.
ut because of the common shyness of Japanese people, that didn't work, and that's been my strategy my whole life. Waiting for people to talk to me. 
`ve been enjoying my time in the land of the Chiba even after the 7 hour walk from one place to another (for school) and being out in the sun to long and looking like a tomato with a headache. It`s all in good fun right.
Now one of the best things i have noticed in Japan, is the peoples willigness to wear what ever the want, or what they think looks nice. There are the people of harajyuku, which a classified under the names of, lollitas (wearing clothes to look like victorian dolls), cosplayers (dressed like their favourite anime characters) and then there are people (like the rainbow coloured haired `singer`) who come into the very own category. After that, if you ride the yamanote sen a couple of stops towards tokyo, you end up in shibuya, land of ganguro and gyarus. Ganguro, is a name refering to the girls (unfortunately sometimes guys) who have very long hair (usually green, orange or some shade of silver), they tan there skin, wear thick bright make up and what ever clothes they like (usually bright and/or furry. These girls dress like this to go agaisnt traditional culture and to be themselves. The tamer version of this fashion, is the gyaru (girl or ko girl). These girls have blonde coloured hair, wear unbelievabley short skirts or shorts and usually look really respectfull and nice.
Also on that day i decided to go for a walk through the meji shrine gardens and visit the temple. As i was walking into the temple i noticed some people gathering so i decided to have a look and noticed the was a wedding happening. I was lucky enough to see the end of one wedding. and to get photos of the previous couple married that day. They were almost all dressed traditionally and it was an amazing expierience to witness this ceremony and to get some photos.
Thomas
