The 4-H Japan Exchange

During the summer You can host a Japanese student through 4-H and a group in Japan called LABO. The students are in the age range of 8-21.

In 1997 I had the opportunity to stay with Nami (the same girl we had hosted in '96).

While I was in Japan, I had to go to school, I had to learn Japanese. I think that was the most challenging, but also the most fun. Our teachers, Harioke Sense (Sense is Japanese for teacher, Harioke is her name), and Junko Sense made the activities fun. Japanese has no real verb conjunction, only present, past, and future/habitual tenses. We learned vocabulary we would need to make it in Japan. We didn't learn some of the phrases that I have learned in routine Spanish classes, simply because it was not necessary.

Every day to get to school, I had to ride a bus from Ryoke Sanchome to Kawaguchi train station. I rode the blue train to Akabane, about three stops away. Then I transferred to the Saikyo line for about five stops to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is the second largest train station in the world, it is a train station under a 23 story mall. From there, I would walk a mile to my school. Some people are interested in costs? It would cost about $5 to go one way. Others have heard horror stories of the train situations in Japan. I can assure you, any rumors you have heard ARE TRUE. These train stations hire men with little blue bellhop uniforms to shove people into the train. It isn't pretty, but they don't complain, to be honest, I don't believe they have any capacity laws. I will include a picture of the Saikyo train from the first day of my class.

In Japan there are machines on the street any kind of things you can possibly imagine are sold in these machines, all the way from medicine to beer to stickers. The stickers are called "Print Club". They are much like the american Passport picture booths.

You put your three dollars into a machine and choose from a wide sellection of backgrounds and words to overlay your photo. Then you get three trys to take a decent picture, choose the one you like, and the machine spits out a sheet of 16 pint sized pictures of you and your friends. These are some of the "Print Club" I had taken while I was in Japan.

As for the questions I am most often asked?

Q.) What was it like?
A.) It was interesting (in a good way). Their society functions so differently from that of America.

Q.) Would you go back?
A.) Oh yes, in a heartbeat. There is so much I still wish I'd had the opportunity to see, the cherry blossom festival, Mt. Fuji on a clear day (it is forever foggy), other students we have hosted, etc.

Q.) What was your favorite food?
A.) Tori Katsu (literally, chicken cutlet), it is basically a huge chicken nugget with a sauce that I can best describe as a combination of barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and catsup.

Toilets

Well, here it is...


You have to squat, in case you were wondering. Japan is working on it. They also have bidets. If you don't know what they are, have your parents explain it, because I won't go into depth here.

Food

Japan has a lot of good food. Anyhow, I like it. The first picture is my lunch (obento) for school and my host sister's Today we are having rice, chicken, and shrimp. The second is a more traditional obento. It is three sections of fish, and one of chicken. The center is a sauce. There is also a bowl of rice served with the meal. (I have found there is always a bowl of rice served with the meal.)

If that doesn't appeal to you, then never fear, there is always a McDonalds within half a mile of where ever you are. (Sound familiar?) Other fast food you might recognize- Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy's, Denny's, Subway, 7-11, am-pm, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, you name it, they've got it.

Housing

Most Japanese families live in apartments. They cost upwards of $270,000.00 to live in. The folowing is a blue print for an a-typical apartment

Houses are worse, unlike an American family, the Japanese homeowner probably inherited the home, and their grandparents live with them. They are still paying off the morgage that their great great grandparents started. Money that a small house can cost? about $527,143.00. Most Japanese homes are two stories with 3-4 rooms on a floor. (including bathrooms) The following is a picture of a common two story home.

Once you enter a japanese dwelling, you have to take off your shoes and place them facing towards the door (it's polite). Most traditional homes still have tatami matt floors, they are woven grass pannels. This picture is of tatami.

In the common home, the living room is the dining room is the master bedroom. At night you move the 11 inch tall table to the corner of the room and lay out your futon (thin matress) for the night. This is a picture of my futon.


That about covers all the questions I have had from people. If you have any more, please E-mail me and I will get back to you within one day. Thanks!
~Hillary~
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person to visit this page. Thank you :-)