The annual Adelaide Kodomo no Hi Japan Festival will be on Sunday 7th May at the Thebarton Community Centre from 11.00am to 4.00pm.
There’ll be lots of food stalls, craft stalls, performances and demonstrations with some new attractions so come along and enjoy all the fun.
AIIU will have a stall there so please come and say hello! We’ll have information packs on hand and staff there to answer any questions you may have about exchange to Japan.
Come and visit the AIIU Team at the Kisaragi-sai Festival this Saturday from 3pm till 8:30pm at Roma Street Parkland Brisbane.
Discover how you can go on High School Exchange to Japan in 2018!
Our friendly staff will be at the festival to answer all of your questions about exchange, so come along and grab an information pack, and you never know this time next year you could be packing for the adventure of a lifetime ten months studying at a Japanese High School.
So much has happened since I came to Japan.
I’ve been to the onsen, hanami (flower viewing) in the morning and the evening, hotaruika (firefly squid) museum, shishimai (type of festival) and so much more places with my host family.I haven’t had much trouble adjusting to the Japanese lifestyle, maybe because the food has been amazing. I don’t think I’ll ever return Australia if I can. Another reason would be my host family. I can’t ask for a better host family. It’s always fun to chat with my host mum, she tells me so much about Japan. I have English lessons with my host dad when he comes home early enough, and it’s one of the activities I enjoy most. My host sister helps me out so much that I don’t even know how to thank her
I hope you guys are enjoying life as much as I am right now. While it is Sakura season, I’m not gonna talk about Sakura, cause I’m sure many you’ve heard plenty of stories about it and seen plenty of pictures. So instead, it’s going to be my experiences with the onsen (hot springs, FYI). You definitely need to go at least once (I recommend whenever you can) whilst you are in Japan. The rooms are Japanese-style rooms, which meant tatami (woven bamboo mats) and shoji (paper sliding doors). It’s a completely new experience. It’s like you’ve been transported back into the Edo period, except you have TVs and such. Olden days meant futons (quilted Japanese-style mattresses). They are heaven~~~ 😍😍😍 Once you have slept on one for the night you would never want to sleep on a bed ever again. The futon was soooooo fluffy and warm (it’s spring but it’s like 13 degrees here, OK?), and it was the toughest time getting out of bed. And what even is the onsen experience without the onsen? The bath was just so hot and so full of steam that you can’t see much anyways. Let me warn you first. It’s hot. Like super hot. More like you can hardly put your feet in. And if you think the rotenburo (open air bath) is cooler, you are wrong. It’s EVEN HOTTER. So how did I survive? By lying down, looking at the night sky at the place that my host sister found. It was soooooo good and I would’ve taken a picture if I could. The feeling is out of this world. It’s indescribable!!!!!
Now, the best for last, the FOOD. Sorry but I’m not the most generous person so I decided not to take pictures so you can try it out for yourself. But there was so much food laid out on the table, and it just keeps coming and coming until at the end you realise you ate like a 3 course meal. But it’s even better than a 3 course meal. There were sashimi, pickled vegetables and 2 mini shabu shabu (hot pots) and much, much more. They also provided snacks and green tea in the rooms. The snacks were amazing of course, mochi and something else (sorry, I forgot, but it was delicious nonetheless). And the green tea. Uuuuuugh, I mean REAL GREEN TEA. Not the ones in Australia, oh no. Not those. I mean the real deal. So in conclusion, come to Japan and eat real Japanese food!
I’ve had tons of fun during this short time that I’ve been in Japan.
After all of the exchange students were split up and sent to our host families. On the second day of being with my host family, they took me to Osaka for around 4 days, where we went to lots of fun and interesting places. We went to many temples and shrines as well as going to Kyoto for a day and visiting the international manga museum, where they had manga from all over the world. They also had manga dating back to the 1940s or sometime around then. During our stay in Osaka we also spent a full day at Universal Studios Japan, which was fun. My favourite ride was a new one called the flying dinosaur. We also took the bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka, we also returned to Tokyo the same way.
My school is great, I love it and the people at it. I have made many new friends during the two weeks that I have been at school, and I look forward to making more as time goes on. I have also been placed into the year twelve equivalent, so everyone is my age which makes it easier to make new friends. One thing that I found interesting is that from 8am to 9am, all Global high students must read the newspaper and then discuss what has been happening in the world. I have also given my self-introduction in front of my classmates so many times, that they know it and often say it with me whenever I am asked to say it.
In April, I went to a Japanese temple for the first time.
To get there was a very long journey, but it was worth it. After riding the train for 2 hours, we arrived in Kurakuma. It was very beautiful there. There were also a lot of foreigners, which surprised me. There were lots of very tempting shops, full of pretty souvenirs, and delicious treats.
Then, in the middle of all these shops, and busy roads, was this massive pathway. Raised off the ground, it divided the main road in two. It was a long but beautiful walk, and at the end, was the entrance to the temple. This big, freestanding red gate towered above us; it was amazing to think it had been built all those years ago.
I say temple, but in reality it is a massive expanse of land. Stunning gardens, well kept, as well as
maintained traditional buildings, temples, and shrines. The temple was built around a river, so in springtime all of the cherry blossoms cover the water. The gardens were so beautiful. I now have way too many pictures of way too many things. Everything was so new, different, and fascinating.
Up a hill or two, and a massive staircase, was the main temple. Inside we rang the massive bells, which summon the gods’ attention, and paid our respects. From the temple you could see the hills and mountains off in the distance.
After paying our respects, we waited for the show to start. It was a traditional
Japanese dance, with traditional Japanese instruments, clothes, music, and to top it off, on a traditional Japanese stage. Very traditional. It was absolutely stunning. It was hard to believe that the person dancing was even human. They seemed almost otherworldly.
It was an amazing experience. Everything was so beautiful and stunning. It was a great time, and a great day.