Day 6 Last day in Joho High... Huixian

Today was the last day spent at Kagoshima Joho high. It was also the last time we could see our buddy.It was indeed a sad day for everyone ( cos it was the last day in Joho High) but the activities coming up was GOOD! I enjoyed them a lot and had learnt a lot of things from it!

In the morning, once we settled down at Kagoshima Joho High, we were divided into different groups for different activities.


These activities includes judo, kendo, kyudo and Japanese drum. As for me I was assigned to be in the group that will get to experience Japanese drums. (Taiko) It was FUN! I enjoyed myself.

During the try out for Japanese drum, we were taught 3 rhythms.

For Japanese drum, the standing position were different from what I had seen in Singapore.For me, it was an enriching and fun activity as I really enjoyed myself when I was learning how to play the rhythms. Not only were we able to learn the rhythms, we were also able to see a solo performance by one of their students!

The performance was simply marvellous and full of excitement.

Her solo performance showcases a lot of their culture and when you are looking at her performance, you would simply not know what she would do next. so, that is why I say it was exciting while I anticipated for her next move. If you readers were there, I was sure the only thing you would say would be "wow". I meant its like a must watch for all as would be great if everyone could see it.

After that activity, the principal addressed us formally, talking about their school and this exchange program. Harada principal then ended his speech with best wishes for us. As said earlier, he gave us gifts; paintings done by the students. Not only that, Mr Lee too gave the Principal of Kagoshima Joho high our school's EVG BEAR!









































After all the activities, it was tired for us to yet not too tired to took picture with them. I guess it might be the last time we can take pictures with the students for Kagoshima Joho high.


Posted by Huixian

JAPAN - SINGAPORE

JAPAN,

a constitutional monarchy on a chain of islands off the E coast of Asia: main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Frankly, I miss Japan a lot. If I had a chance, I would live there! Well, we visited one of the main islands in Japan, Kyushu.  I am happy that I came, never regretted.

First night in Japan was one of the best night. We had a chance to experience the hot spring before we go to sleep. The water there was great, it was naturally hot, around 40 degrees celsius and above. It was a good experience that Singapore can't offer.

We visited two schools in Japan, Kinkowan High School & Kagoshima Joho High School. Actually three indeed, Kagoshima University was the third school. We saw how their culture was like and how they actually conduct their lessons.

During the home stay, my buddy was a 30+ year old, male teacher. He is very friendly and has two kids, and his parents. Although the stay is very normal, I love to talk to the uncle and aunty although I don't know Japanese much. But what ever I say they would laugh. A little Japanese words I say they would praise me. Time flies, now we're in Singapore doing work again. The weather there was fine, much cooler then Singapore of course. I would want to encourage students to come for these trips. But four words to say.....

No money no talk.

I'm sorry, the pictures are not with me, so sorry that I can't post it up.

Posted by : Ming Chong

Please go to http://www.picturelah.blogspot.com/ for more of our pictures!!

For those who have nice pictures, please upload it into the blog, thank you!

User IDs and pw are available in the draft, thks.

-tingting :)-


Edited by Chuan Siang

-Back to Singapore-

Japan is indeed cool!

During the first day, I almost cried as the night was so long and I have nothing to do! I really missed my parents a lot! But on the other days, I am having fun so I didn't thought about it for a while.

But during the homestay, I really missed my family again. It was because they are friendly, friendlier than my family. I remembered this incident clearly, I was watching the television programme (in Japanese), they knew I do not understand so they switched it to a cartoon channel. It was really considerate of them. On another occasion, the host asked me to call my parents, I almost cried again because the calling fees are expensive. I said "No need" but they said "You must". I had problem getting the call through and the host family searched for instructions on how to call back to Singapore for me. I told my mum that Japan was great. I sobbed secretly, facing the wall. I then hung up after a while and smiled at them. After eating an "Oi Shee" dinner, the host's brothers (Ken and Shin) played basketball and PlayStation with me. When choosing the games, I ask if there were racing game but they do not have it. Instead, they picked an air fighting game and I agreed with that.

Next day when I returned to their home and after eating dinner, I proceeded to their room again, this time, they bought a new game, F1 Racing just for me to play! I was so shocked and I really appreciated their gesture. I guess you can finally understand how I felt, they are so heart-warming and nice! The host family even made an effort to send me off at the farewell, another gesture that I will not forget for life. They printed out the photos that we have taken for the past 2 days and gave the nice photo album to me as a gift. I wished I could stay longer. This is my host's family.

Like Salonee posted, I will encourage all students to participate in this trip.

If available next year, I will surely try to participate again :D

I really miss Japan a lot(not only their food)..

posted by Chuan Siang

Day after returning from Japan.....

AWWW! I miss Japan alot! BUT, at the same time, i'm glad to be back home, here in Singapore. It was a great trip, and I wish it could last longer. Even after shopping on Sunday, we still shopped more at the airport in Fukuoka...

Who would have thought that we have that much energy in our hands, to hold the numerous packets of souveniors and food... Many of us held at least 2-3 packets of goods in EACH hand!

The Merlions group















The durian group















The flyer group















Lizhen & Sufian.. the best evgians for the trip. Take you for taking great care of us














Group photo
















Overall it was an awesome experience and I would encourage all evergreen students to apply for this trip next year, if the teachers decide to put it up again... I would also like to thank all teachers, Mrs Eng, Ms Chong, Ms Lim and Mr Lee(VP) for all the effort they put in to make this trip the best possible trip ever!!!

-Salonee

Day 6 - Robot Square... Nadia

We went to the Robosquare today. We watched a synchronized Robot performance. It was very fascinating and the robots were very disciplined as they moved together and sometimes in different timing. Many of us took videos and photographs of the robots.

The robot performance

After the show we were given some time to explore the place. We went to see the other exhibits of robots, for example the robot dog. It can understand Japanese and English and respond to us. It operates by sensor and it was extremely adorable.

An i-Dog which dances and acts as a speaker as well when attached to an ipod

I find that this is a very valuable experience, as the robots are entertaining and we are unable to find such robots in Singapore.

posted by Nadia

Day 5....My homestay experience...Nadia

After touring at Kagoshima University, we went back to Joho High School, to be picked up by our buddies. We went for shopping at one of the Kagoshima shopping malls accompanied by some of her Japanese friends.

After an hour of shopping, I was told that my host family will be bringing me to a Japanese restaurant to have our dinner there. I had shrimp tempura, white noodles and tempura ice-cream. It was very delicious especially the tempura ice-cream. We went home around nine p.m. and I got to try on an “Yukata”. It is similar to kimono, but the only difference is that, Yukata’s is much cheaper and the material used isn’t as good as compared to a Kimono. Also, from what they told me, every girl has to use a yukata for the whole day when they turn twenty years old to celebrate the occasion of being a woman. We exchanged souvenirs with each other before going to bed. I received a pair of chopsticks, and the Japanese traditional wallet from them. At about eleven-thirty p.m., it was time for bed. I enjoyed these three days of home stay with the Kaguchi family. They’re really kind, polite and very helpful. I hope that we can meet each other again.


My buddy (Yumi) and I at the farewell














posted by Nadia

Day 7.. Kurume fruit plucking activity... Regina

We woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning, looking forward to the activities planned for us today. We had a simple breakfast, consisting of miso soup, a bowl of rice, vegetable salad and toast. It was very simple yet delicious. We then loaded our luggage into the bus and went on our way to the persimmon plucking venue, Kurume.

It was a very long journey and most of us fell asleep on the bus. Mr Thomas told us many facts about the persimmons and we were very interested to know about it. Singapore does not have a Kurume and we find is very exciting to be plucking fresh persimmons from the trees.

Finally, we were woken up and alighted the bus. The Kurume was very beautiful with tress everywhere and persimmons hanging from the branches. We were allowed to pluck one persimmon for free. If we want more, we have to buy it from the Kurume. The persimmons were very incredibly sweet and it was very enjoyable to be surrounded with persimmon trees and all our friends.

Aref plucking from a ladder...



















Finally we left the Kurume bringing definitely not more than one free persimmon, but invaluable experience of plucking fresh persimmons. Tomorrow we will be spending our last day in Japan and I find it very unbearable to leave Kyushu behind, as we experienced many things we do not in Singapore.

Finally ending this post with, O ya su mi na sai! (goodnight)

posted by Regina

Day 6...Last day of school visit... Yimin

We went to Kagoshima Joho High School on 15/11/08 to experience the club activities. They have Judo, kendo, kyudo and Japanese Drum. I was selected to do Kyudo. Kyudo is Japanese archery. We learnt how to aim with the bow and arrow. Japanese archery is very different from those that we see in the Olympics.

We were taught the specific steps before shooting. Mr Haji demonstrated for us. He did not hit the bull’s eye, however he as shooting from quite a distance(around 20m), and it was very impressive. Finally, after some practice, it was time for shooting. Everyone was given a chance to shoot. We took turns while the Japanese girls cheered for us. It was a a very enjoyable experience.

Left- Mr Kaji................Right - Our guide for Kyudo















This is how far the Japanese have to shoot















Mr Kaji, demonstrating how to aim and shoot



















We are all ready for shooting















This is our mama bear. Auntie Chew who took on the 1st shoot. Instead of trying the 20m shoot, we were asked to move forward. Now close we are to the target.

This is Li Hua. She had problems with her bow and it caused her arrow to drop several times.



















Chuan Siang aiming like an expert



















This is Krystal



















Regina trying her best















While we were having Kyudo, our friends were having Judo, kendo and daiko (Japanese drum) at other sides of the school.

Aref was throwing a student while the best in Kagoshima (guy in the background with red sweater) looked on.































Evergreen students with the Judo experts (They won the gold medal in Kagoshima)

After Kyudo, we had the farewell ceremony. We were to assemble at the auditorium while the Principal of Kagoshima Joho High School addressed us. He presented all of us with souvenirs and after that, we took our luggage and prepared to leave Kagoshima. It was very touching to see people crying as they were upset to leave their Japanese friend and buddies behind. I cried too. Our Japanese buddies chased after the bus to wave us goodbye. We were very touched to tears and could not help but stay put in the bus.

Chuan Siang's fans........

















Nadia's buddy was in tears as she sent Nadia off















Most of the Japanese girls ended up crying.....

Ms Lim, Mrs Eng, Mr Kaji, Ms Chong, student leader & the Principal of Joho High















A group photo together















They chased the bus all the way........















Aref and Jaron was asked to do some sharing of their home stay experience on the bus. Aref started the sharing with much laughter as he shared. Though he wasn't enjoying himself during the 1st night, he had more fun during the second night. The morning when he was going off, the buddy's dad even brought Aref to an orange farm and asked Aref to pluck some as souvenirs.

As for Jaron, he ended off with us yawning away. Heehee... but I must say he also did a fantastic job when he was sharing. He told us that he was forced to play PSP2 with his buddy. It was a combat game and they need to kill 600 enemies each. But Jaron ended up losing to his buddy as the buddy kept on shooting Jaron down instead of aiming at the enemies.

Jaron looking happy with his sharing















We had our buffet barbecue lunch. Finally, after this few days in Japan, I got to eat western food such as french fries, chocolate cake, cheese cake and ice-cream. We also get to do some BBQ and we had fun in the restaurant. According to Mr Thomas, this type of buffet style restaurant is very popular in Japan, especially during dinner. The main reason is they get to eat Kobe beef ( the most expensive beef in Japan). The food there was very fresh.

Mrs Eng and Christine showing some cakes

After having our lunch, we went to the Kumamoto City Recycle Plaza. We had learned the importance of recycling and how different Japan makes an effort to recycle all their materials compared to Singapore. They put their rubbish separately in different bins. For example the bottle caps are separated from the bottle. One bottle can make a hat, ten bottles can make a windbreaker.

We had a lecture on recycling of materials

This picture is made from glass bottles















Ming Chong having fun with an activity using bottles and bottle cap



















After that, we went to the Kumamoto Castle. It is known to be inaccessible by Ninjas and assassins. It was raining heavily therefore, we did not have a lot of time to explore the place, which was extremely depressing. We did not expect it to rain, therefore we did not bring our umbrellas. It was a lesson learnt, and we brought our umbrellas with us for the subsequent days.

The layout of the whole Kumamoto castle area

A model display of the castle














Graphical picture of the castle















The top of the castle















Dinner time! We had tempura set dinner. The food was fantastic. We were very full after that. We checked in into the inn. It was very much smaller than a hotel. The place was very packed.

The cold dish

















Our tempura set meal.

















































We has a lot of fun during the debrief as we discussed our personal experiences during our home stay. We reached a conclusion that Japanese people are very highly discipline. They arrange their shoes neatly and is very well-mannered towards their elders. They are our role models and there is many things we would want to change to our lives to be as discipline as them. Knowing that fact, we did our reflections and retired for the night.

posted by Yi Min (with the help of Regina... :) )

Day 6 - Kumamoto.... Ming Chong

We visited the Kumamoto city recycling plaza in the morning. Even when walking on the streets, dustbin for different type of materials is pretty visible. The dustbins are separated into plastics, cans, papers and metals. Japanese will sort out their rubbish and throw it away accordingly. Residents of Kyushu show their part in recycling by bringing their unwanted materials to the recycle plaza instead of throwing them away.

Come to think of it, as a Singaporean, how do we show our part in recycling? Have we been putting enough effort in recycling?

Portait made by bottle caps

Same old saying, ''Reduce, Recycle, Reuse''
Personally, I don't think Singaporeans are really taking this matter seriously. In Singapore, when I see recycling boxes, I see rubbish of different kind of materials inside where it is only for 'CANS'. We need to work on that.

We went onto Kumamoto Castle(熊本城). It is considered one of the three premiere castles in Japan, along with Nagoya and Osaka. It was drizzling when we reached the castle, thus it was quite difficult to capture a lot of pictures.

Kumamoto Castle was originally built by Kato Kiyomasa in 1607. After seven years of construction, the Kumamoto Castle displayed a brilliant architectural statement, exhibiting highly advanced engineering, superb masonry and mastery of flood control and defense. The castle was besieged during the Satsuma rebellion, and was sacked and burned after a 53-day siege

The unscalable J-shaped stonewalls and wooden overhangs, designed to repel the ninja, making the castle more interesting.

Kumamoto castle in the rain.

Posted by : Ming Chong

Day 7- Fukuoka Citizen's Disaster Preventions Centre, Kurome, Robosquare...Jaron and faris

Today, We went to the Fukuoka Disaster Prevention Center. We experienced 5 different things. First we undergo fire extinguisher simulation exercise. There we get hands on experience using images projected on the screen. This simulation center is indeed an eye-opener for us as we get to learn how to use a fire extinguisher. The most interesting part of this exercise is we get to spray water at a screen which displays a fire screen and if we did it correctly, the fire in the simulation will be extinguished. If not, the fire will get bigger.

This is our first station at the Fukuoka Citizen's Disaster Preventions Centre.

The guide explaining to us the importance of fire safety

It is a very interesting explanation given by this guide. He explained to us how to use the fire extinguisher as well as how to spray onto the screen.

Look at all the fire extinguisher.

Spraying water at the screen???

Some of us spraying at the screen
















Next we got a chance to experience an earthquake of 5 - 7. There we learn how to take preventive measures and how to evacuate effectively during an earthquake.

Most of the buildings in Japan can withstand a magnitude of 6, anything that is of higher scale will be disastrous. Our tour guide, Mr Thomas told us that it was predicted that Japan will suffer another earthquake of magnitude 7.8 at the end of the year. It sounded scary!!

This lady was explaining to us what are some of the effects of earthquake of different magnitude.















A look at the interior of the simulation area. This is the kitchen area.















Ke Xin, Chuan Siang, Christine and Lizhen before the simulation.















This picture showed Grace and Shazana hiding under a table during an earthquake of magnitude 7.7. Notice how hard they grab onto the legs of the table.






























Afterward, we went to the typhoon simulation room. In this room we experienced strong wind similar to the actual typhoon. One can image how messy our hair is when we stepped out of the room.



Then we went through a fire experience while going through 16 smoked-filled rooms. We had to find our way out in the quickest time possible. At the same time, we shouldn't panic. Out of the five stimulation, my favourite was the last experience as it was the most interactive.

Posted by Jaron

Kurume

November is the right season for persimmon and Kurume is where we get to pluck our own persimmon. We do not get to see such persimmon trees in Singapore, thus it is quite educational for all of us. We were taught the correct way of plucking the fruits from the tree so as not to damage the whole tree as well as how to identify persimmons that are ripe and sweet by looking at the leaves surrounding the fruits.

A picture of a persimmon tree
















We had to pluck one persimmon for ourselves. We went around the plantation, hunting for the biggest and best persimmon. They are fresh and delicious! When we were there our hands were so cold that we had to use chemical warmer. Those who did not have the warmer would get numb hands. The scenery was a beautiful. We had lots of fun there.

Some persimmon fruits






























Mr Thomas showing us how to cut a persimmon
















Salonee showing her persimmon. (It's the one on the right)















Most of us left the farm with bags and bags of persimmon. They are not FOC, we got to pay for it. 16 large persimmon costed around 2500 yen, which works out to be S$2.30 each. Not too bad a deal.

RoboSquare

We visited Robosqaure at about 10.30am today. We saw a variety of robots. The robot that I liked the most is the dog robot as I felt that it was the most convenient robot pet. We get to have fun communicating with it. There are sensors on the back of the robot dog so as we stroke the back, the robot dog will wag its tail and will bark. It was also an added bonus that the robot pet would not create a mess.

During our visit, a synchronized robot performance was held there. Small cute robots were placed together and they did a series of interesting and funny movement together, accompanied by music. I was amazed by the high level of technology in controlling these robots. If I only had a robot to do my homework, wouldn't it be nice?

Display of some of the robots














My favourite robot dog

Sychronised robot performance!!!

Posted by Faris