Konichiwaa! Gen-ki Des ka?

Yes, those are a few of the words that we picked up during our
nine-day stay in Japan. From the 28th of November until the 7th of December, four students from
our school, Nur Diyana Afiqah Binti Mahashim, Sabreena Zahri, Nurul Ain Najihah Bt. Nor Aizi
and Aida Rani, joined the Homestay Programme organized by Hiroshima International Club.

During the Homestay Programme all of us had to stay with our respective foster family. The
main objective of the programme is that we get to explore the culture, the life, the beauty of
Japan as a “Japanese” because you see, we live there with a family.

The whole group consists of about 40 students from all over Malaysia. We departed from Kuala
Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Singapore Changi Airport after a two-day orientation at
Empress Hotel, Salak Tinggi. After a 7 hour flight, we arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport. We went
to this part of Japan called Oyama which is in the Tochigi City. It is about a 3 hour bus ride from
Narita Airport. We were welcomed warmly by the people of Oyama. They threw a welcoming
party for us and even the mayor was there to celebrate. There were representative of the Oyama
people who performed a cultural dance for us. We also performed a fashion show on the
traditional clothes of Malaysia and we performed a Malaysian Folk Song called Rasa Sayang.

The next day, we went to the Oyama Daini Junior High. There, we waited for everyone to arrive
to the school. Then we proceeded to the Koto lesson. Koto is a type of Japanese harp. We were
welcomed with performances by the students of the school. They were amazing. Then, we had
the chance to try to play the Koto ourselves. It was really fun.

After lunch that day, we were also given the chance to try on the Japanese Kimono and also join
the tea ceremony. Besides that, we were also thought how to make an origami.

We also joined a trip to Nikko which is one and a half hour away from Oyama. When we got to
Nikko, we were fascinated by the beauty of the mountain. We even had a tour guide who took us
around the mountains and explained to us about the history of the shrines and the temples.

One of the days, we also got a chance to visit the Oyama Technology College. We were given a
talk on how to enroll to the college and what courses are offered there. After that, we had lunch
at the College Cafeteria. Then we went to the Oyama Junior High School. We were welcomed
warmly by the students and our visit was even broadcasted into the local television. There, were
divided into different classes and we had a chance to join their lessons. Sabreena, Diyana and
Ain got into the cooking class where they learned how to make Udon while Aida got into the fine
arts class where she sat on the table and had the whole class drew her. Hakuoh University is also
one of the places we visited.

After a whole week of tight schedule, we had the Sunday off and we get to spend time with our
foster family. A lot of tears were shed when we had to say good bye and leave to Tokyo to catch
our flight back to Malaysia but then we were all smiling and laughing when we got to Tokyo
Disneyland!

By the end of the trip, we can conclude that we learnt a lot of wonderful things. One of the main
thing we learnt is the richness of the culture of Japan. We also learn to communicate despite the
huge boundary between our two languages.

That’s all from us, have a visit to Japan, join the homestay programme and experience it
yourself! Sayonaraa!~