My Visit To Fuchu Dai Ichi
On February 25, 2003 all of the ASIJ elementary school students in 4th grade visited Fuchu Dai Ichi to do some entertaining activities and learn a little about Japanese schools. I was one of the ASIJ students. We were all assigned a buddy from Fuchu Dai Ichi to guide us, teach us, and play with us. My partner was Tukuma Sunakawa. When we first arrived we were paired up with our partners. We already knew who our partners were to be because they came to ASIJ in October. Our partners took us to their gym and there was an opening ceremony. They danced and sang and showed us some Japanese games and tricks. After that, we made toys that twirled on strings. It was hard to make them spin correctly. You had to twist and pull the ends of the string to make the paper spin. Our buddies gave us a gift bag of little Japanese toys. I thought this was pretty neat! After the craft we went outside for recess. At recess we tried to use big sticks to walk. It was lots of fun, but very hard to do. One person held the sticks to help balance the other person while he walked. After recess we were given a tour of the school, and then we had lunch in their cafeteria. For lunch we were served soup, bread, milk, orange juice, kiwi, something that tasted like vegetable lasagna and a whipped cream crepe. After lunch, we went back to the gym, played with the Japanese toys and then had a closing ceremony. During the closing ceremony, they thanked us for coming to visit their school and sang, "It’s a small world". Lastly, our buddies went outside and lined up and waved goodbye as we had done when they visited us at ASIJ. We then took a bus back to ASIJ. My favorite part of the day was lunch because it tasted so good and we had minestrone soup, which I really love! The milk was good and I liked the crepe too. I wasn’t crazy about the vegetable lasagna or the kiwi but I had plenty to eat. I enjoyed being a guest rather than the host because it was less work. This time my buddy had to teach me or direct me and I just had to follow along. Since we didn’t speak the same language, my buddy used his hands to motion as I did with him when he visited ASIJ. We had opening and closing ceremonies for the Fuchu Dai Ichi kids when they visited ASIJ, just as they did for us. We also had lunch with them and worked on crafts. I thought it was very nice of them to prepare lunch for us because we made them bring their lunch when they visited ASIJ. It was also nice that they gave us a tour of their building because we did not give them a tour of ASIJ. I thought it was different that they did not wear shoes inside their school building, just slippers and the games they played at recess were much different than what I am used to. I enjoyed my visit to Fuchu Dai Ichi and know it is a day I will remember. If I ever go to another Japanese school I will now know what to do, like bring slippers! If I could do this all over again, I would because it was lots of fun.
Page written and made by Brandon