How do you like your tuna?

 In  most countries when you see a crowd and cheers of  admiration you would assume a famous celebrity was passing by ... but not in Japan.

Here it is the carving of the tuna. And it was an impressive sight with the head being disposed of in seconds.

Prime pieces of tuna were selling for up to $39 for a sliver that might have been about 100 -150 g.

Wakayama Castle

 


Just imagine the most romantic garden with flowers, massive rocks and a curved bridge arching over water dominated by the brooding castle fortress  and you might be close to describing Wakayama castle.  An amazing palace with massive defensive walls high on a hill overlooking Wakayama Bay.

To all those fans of Ninja and martial arts films this is the setting  you dream of. 

Inside is a small museum containing many original pieces of calligraphy and armour.

We even met some modern day ninjas along the 
way although they were so friendly they were definitely not the bad guys.

Visiting the High school

After our calligraphy lesson we walked over to the Senior High school and met with the Principal who took us around to see their impressive hospital facilities. They have the capacity to convert to a hospital in an emergency.

Later we watched some karate demonstrations and played touch rugby with the team.

Calligraphy Lessons Friday Afternoon

We had wonderful calligraphy lesson this afternoon and our sensei (teacher)was complimentary  about our ability and enthusiasm.

Now we can write hirigana...easy as ABC.

Thanks to Ben Cochrane, who works as an English teacher in the Kamitonda area and is our 24/7 interpreter, we have a beginning knowledge of the symbols and how to write some words in Japanese using Hiragana script.

We are so confident we now want to sing a song in Japanese at the farewell Assembly.  Can we do it?

Yaaa me...Kendo

Taminmin  students were taught the art of Kendo
at a great club visit this afternoon.

Thank you to Higashi Sensei  the Kendo Teacher and the students of the club who made us feel welcome.

music and origami Thursday 29th

Thursday 29th

We were privileged to listen to a beautiful demonstration of a traditional music instrument, the Koto played by 3 skilled ladies. Later the students were allowed to use the instruments to  play a short tune, called Tulip.
 












Later on we were taught to make a number of origami shapes by a master of the art who also performed some very slick card tricks. His technique was excellent and although we looked hard we couldn't see the switches.

Its elementary

Students from Ikuma Elementary School have amazing skills. At recess we saw young students riding around on the uni cycles and walking on stilts.

Later on we were treated to amazing displays of dexterity with spinning tops, balls and origami to name a few. 

Students were friendly and fun! So were the teachers too.

The year 6 class at Ikuma Elementary sang, Let it Go to welcome our visit. An excellent time for all.

Coast Line Views.- Brodie

This is a photo of the coastline of Japan. This is pretty much what you see everywhere but when you go to the beach the sand is the whitest you have ever seen. Guess what it is imported from WA!

  Every-one grows food and there are rice paddies everywhere. 

Hongu Grand Shrine 28-05-2014

Today after we visited the waling trail we stopped by and visited the original site of the Hongu Grand Shrine temple. On the way there whilst walking past the rice patties we found a snake (right). Although we have snakes in Darwin everyone was very excited and a lot of pictures were taken. Once we arrived at the site some laid under the shades of the trees whilst others tried to cross the river rapids. It was a lot of fun! 
- Shakiah & Karlee

Kumanokoda Trail - pilgrim walk

 
Today we followed the 1000 year old pilgrim trail through beautiful and slippery forest trails.  Ms Kane took the first tumble with a spectacular head over heels dive followed by Jacob skidding down on his backside and Nikki tripping on some stone stairs. We all survived.

Travelling to School... Kamitonda style

Most students ride to Kamitonda JS which is quite a challenge considering the mountains.

Looks like great fun!

plum factory

Today we went to the monk temple to do some meditation and to try and clear our mind of everything. It was a very difficult and painful process of thinking about nothing and some people were unlucky enough to get an itchy nose. After we stopped meditating we were aching with pain and could hardly move our arms and legs we were numb in the feet and we had pins and needles all over our bodies. We rung a huge bell with a palm tree trunk attached to some rope and two chains. At the temple there was also a cemetery with the ashes of the people who died in the first world war.

By Jacob Gates

Meditating moments: Viki Kane

Sitting cross legged, silent and still for 20 minutes sounds easy...not. This year's Taminmin challenge surpassed previous records - with our first time try out turning in to a marathon 20 minute meditation as we were so good during the practice that our tutor kept the session going (half an incense stick).  We got a chance to ring the bell as well. A fantastic experience.

Now that's a trophy!
Koumori kouchou sensei proudly showing me Kamitonda JHS monument to their baseball team which won the regional championship 3 years ago. There is a similar one won 2 years ago as well.
Sports are taken very seriously. Every afternoon students stay back after school and train from 3.30 to 5.30.
Every student must play a sport. The training sessions are typically run by the captain of the team and the training is full on. The captains take on extra responsibility in the school. The boys baseball and girls volleyball captains stand at the gate welcoming students to the school in the morning with the principal and they are treated with a high level of respect. Hard to believe these are middle school students!
Morris Pizzutto

Tuesday 27th

Ohayo Gozaimas (Good Morning)
The Principal,  Koumori sensei  welcoming every student into the school with "Gozaimas" as they arrive. Students reply Gozaimaaas and bow slightly. This is done every morning.

Great way to start the school day!
Morris Pizzutto

Monday 26th continued ...

Hot from the press ...shots from the class with the Judo club. 

 

more Monday 26th

Kamitonda is a beautiful suburb and the weather is amazing. The school is pristine and the students delightful to hang around with. This is a picture of the school's bike racks (bottom right hand corner) and also the freshly grown rice fields.
- Kate and Shakiah

Kamitonda Junior High

Bec Wing - The Kamitonda Junior High School is very friendly and happy to meet us. I had one class so far with them (sport) and everyone was excited that we were there and were all sharing.

Andrew Gardener - the mountains are awesome and are better than the mountains at my house in Australia and there is a lot more here in Japan.

Monday 26th

Well we are back on line and nearly through our first day at Kamitonda Junior High School. We have had an amazing time already with a visit to the Kamitonda Council  to meet with the Mayor Koide ChoCho who explained a lot about the Kamitonda area.





The official welcoming Assembly was amazing we felt like rock stars walking down the aisle with every-one clapping. 

By the afternoon we were hot, a bit sick of walking and overawed by towering buildings and massive malls.
We had traveled by express train, monorail, light rail, electrical car and walked miles.

Later we found some musical stairs - just like the ones in Sweden. 


 







And some groovy floor tiles. ...










Then we got very very very tired.

Day 1: Sleepless in KL

We made it 2 teachers and 14 students survived KL.
 

Our room, we are tired but want to explore KL!