Photo Montage!

Hey Kids! I am coming home very soon! I do miss you all and look forward to sharing stories. Until then, here are a few highlights of my trip...enjoy!

Indigo dyeing is so much fun!

I have seen many shrines and flowers on this adventure! Here we have the 5 ton rope at a Shrine and Cosmos in the flower park!

Modern art in Tokyo....mirror mobiles!

This picture was taken at the Tokyo National Museum of Art.

Can you guess how to play this very old game? We even play it today! What materials do you think were used to make this artistic game?

Below is a typical Tsuyazaki Elementary school classroom.

Staying one night with my host family was a wonderful experience. I really got to know what it is like to live in a Japanese home. The Aoki's were such a fun family an excellent hosts! I will remember them always!

Fukutsu City

For the past few days we have been in Fukutsu City in the southern part of Japan. This is a fishing town on the beautiful western coast. Our internet access is very limited and costly but I wanted to take a minute to share what is going on here. I am really having the time of my life. They are still treating us with such kindness and generosity. I am unable to load photographs in this location but here are the highlights so far in Fukutsu City:
1. We received a warm welcome at the local university and got the opportunity to discuss education in our countries as well as to tour the campus art facilities.
2. Yesterday we all met the Mayor and Superintendent of schools and talked together about education in our towns.
3. We also toured a shrine that has a 5 ton rope knot hanging from the entrance!
4. Today was one of the best because the local townspeople and PTO hosted us for a discussion on education, a traditional lunch, the art of indigo cloth dyeing, and a walking tour through the old part of town to the beach.
I feel so fortunate to be a part of this spectacular adventure and I am looking forward to sharing more with you soon!
Hopefully I will be able to post more pictures when I return to Tokyo later. In the mean time I will visit a middle school, high school, and elementary school over the next few days. Then a family will host me in their home for one night so that I can experience family life here in Japan.
This is going to be so cool!
I hope to write to you again soon!!
:)

Hello from Tokyo!

These are early morning pictures I took in the stunning Japanese Gardens by our hotel. I spent a long time here. There are so many beautiful plants and trees, waterfalls, birds, insects, and fish…I could stay there all day just sketching.

At our welcome party, 2 very talented musicians played traditional Japanese music for us.

The stringed instrument is called a Koto and the wind instrument on the right is a Shakuhachi. They both make beautifully peaceful sound.

The clothes they are wearing are traditional too.

On the other hand, a more modern fashion trend could look like this creative ensemble!

There are temples all over Japan. These are places where people of the Buddhist religion can come to pray. The architecture of the buildings is unique to this area of the world. There is art everywhere…even on the ceilings!
This is the oldest temple in Japan, called the Senso-ji. It has many dramatic gates, halls, shrines, and shops. I bought a ‘temple book’ and a monk used a brush, ink, and stamp to exquisitely note inside that I had visited that particular temple. They will do this at any temple you visit. I will show you the art-filled book when I get home!

My First 24 Hours in Japan

These first 24 hours in Japan have been so incredible! Where do I even begin? The photos here will be a great way to clue you in to my experience so far. Yet before that, I really want to tell you about the people here. From the moment we landed, every Japanese person I have encountered has been so kind and respectful. This is a society that has appreciation truly embedded in their culture. For example, whenever driving cars, people use their ‘flashers’ to say thank you. They bow to show their thanks when you buy something from their store or simply walk by in their hotel, and I am delighted by all of the smiles given as I go exploring through the streets of Tokyo.

Speaking of the city, look at that awesome nighttime view from my hotel room! I am now beginning to see up close how Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world!

The life of the Japanese is similar to that of we Americans, yet there are very interesting differences as well. It appears they love Halloween here. I am noticing many shops that are adorned with black cats, spiders in webs, and our famed jack-o-lanterns. I wonder if they also have costume parties and devour candy like most of us in America do. I would be surprised about the latter since they serve such notably healthy meals here.

You can see from the next photo that cuisine in Japan is like art. Trays of rice and fish are colorfully balanced and interestingly arranged in attractive dishes. This morning, I had my first authentic Japanese breakfast. The brown carved wooden pot has sticky rice inside; the black pot has traditional miso soup. The orange bit is salmon and there is also tofu, seaweed, pickled veggies and some other things that I am not even sure about yet! There is still time to learn and I look forward to sharing more photos of my meals on this trip in the future.

Finally, these pictures below were taken inside the restaurant we lunched at yesterday. We have to remove our shoes before entering the tatami mat-covered dining room. It was quite comfortable to sit on the pillow and explore a tray of tempura (fried) seafood and vegetables!

These are other teachers in our group and they are from all over the US. We're really having fun yet we do miss our students! Sayonara (goodbye) for now!

Cool Web Page

Kids...you have got to check this out!
It is a website, just for people your age, that is all about Japan!

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/

The Basic Info...

In October I will be travelling to Japan with the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program. This trip will offer me extraordinary opportunities to visit schools, families, museums, industries, temples and other cultural institutions in Tokyo and other areas of this beautiful country. I am very excited about this adventure and look forward to sharing my experiences with you while I am there and when I return!
For more information about this program visit:
http://www.iie.org/Website/WPreview.cfm?WID=194