Japanese homestay 2018

Two more years have passed since we last hosted a Japanese exchange student as part of Alex's primary school connection with ELS21 in Sakai, Japan. This time we welcomed an 18 year girl, Satoe, into our home.

This was Satoe's third and last time in Australia as part of the program and she was eager to improve her already good English.

During the first week we also looked after Hiromu and his host student Ollie, one of Alex's best friends, in the mornings and afternoons as the usual before and after school care wasn't available to the Japanese students.

Satoe was a fantastic big sister to Alex and a wonderful guest. On the second weekend we drove her to eat meat pies and bush walk at the recently discovered (for us) scenic Fitzroy Falls near Kangaroo Valley, the Famous Doughnut Van at Berry and the Blowhole at Kiama. Being a teenager we suspected she might prefer shopping so the next day crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the train to Chatswood, where she tried Malaysian cuisine (the laksa was too spicy for her). On the way back we stopped by Luna Park where she and Alex rode the rollercoaster and dodgem cars.

Okay it's not as impressive as Osaka's Universal Studios, but a retro amusement park was a bit of a novelty and makes for great photos for the Japanese Instagrammer. The young ones would have stayed longer but it was getting late so we caught the ferry one stop back to Circular Quay, this time heading under the bridge.

Each of the students we've hosted described their mother's role as "house wife". That felt like my position as, unlike B, I have the option to work from home so took on the duties of taking the kids to school, making lunches, shopping, looking after many of the dinners when we didn't eat out. And doing my regular job as well. Quite exhausting really, especially when it was three extra kids, although Satoe was really very easy to look after.

Alex hopes to have one more student before he finishes primary school and so do we. Unfortunately the program is a bit up in the air right now. In the intervening period since the previous visit our school got a new principal and she, in her first role, wants to do everything by the book. That means no older kids. Hopefully something can be worked out, maybe with the nearby high school.

To be fair, if this trip was any guide, things do go wrong. One student was involved in a car accident and another witnessed someone jumping off a cliff. And yes, there is some disruption to the students' learning programs. But I really feel they all get a lot out of these visits. Anything to break down this horrible insularity and racism that has reared its head so viciously in the media right now. The only reason I didn't feel more embarrassed by the nightly news was that I know Japan has its own governing politicians who say the most awful things as well.

May our kids not grow up sharing the same views as many older people who should know better.

The farewell assembly at school was full of emotion, with both Satoe and the ELS21 principle reduced to tears. Fortunately for Alex and the rest of us the parting was not so sad as we look forward to catching up with Satoe, Mayumi and Machiko again in a few months time when we visit Osaka. Until then we have plenty of happy memories and gifts of Japanese treats to enjoy!

Japanese homestay 2016

Every two years the ELS21 English language school in Sakai, Japan, bring some of their students across to Sydney for a two week stay with families from Alex's primary school.

Our previous student, Miyu, had left the school to focus on her high school studies so this time we hosted 13 (almost 14!) year old Momoka. Only for one week as they wanted to house the students in pairs and Momoka's friend was allergic to dogs. By the second week they were confident enough to stay alone with the host families.

We had also hosted teacher Machiko for the second week last time, but principal Mayumi wanted teachers to stay together this time. Poor Machiko had to leave early anyway due to her father having an accident.

Momoka arrived at our house feeling a bit under the weather with a cold so we decided to tone down the activities from last time and let her recover. I don't think she minded too much. Obsessed with Harry Potter, she asked to watch all of the first three movies of the series and tried to read her brand new English copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child that the previous host had given her.

She also thrashed Alex at Sonic All Stars Racing on the PS3 and matched him on Just Dance. Don't mess with the Japanese youth when it comes to computer games!

Outings were a bit restricted by regular activities and other duties, plus Momoka's need to take it easy. We dragged her off to the America Travel Expo at Sydney Showgrounds at Olympic Park, feeling somewhat guilty for doing so, though needing to see if we could find any deals to salvage the points bookings we hold to the US.

We failed to find anything much useful at the Expo, but the trip turned out not to be such a waste. With the 2016 Olympics currently on in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil and the next Olympics to be held in Japan a visit to the old Sydney 2000 Olympic site was rather appropriate. Plus Momoka and Alex enjoyed the free climbing wall at the Expo and the playground outside. She certainly showed him how it's done.

We had a few food issues. I don't think our cooking was always popular and the Chinese restaurant visit saw her eat mainly rice. With more time I'm sure we would have found some better dishes for her. Momoka seemed to subsist mainly on strawberry jam with the odd sushi roll. She didn't like Vegemite (me neither!) but did like Jaffas. Plus, like me, she doesn't like mushrooms or octopus, which is difficult for someone coming from the Kansai area where takoyaki is king. Momoka tells me that the alternative is cheese filling. Must try!

Farewells were very sad. Momoka was a delight to have around the house, a very nice big sister to Alex and a very clean and polite guest.

Hopefully we can catch up with the folk of ELS21 again next time we visit Japan. And there's always two years from now...

Of Hiroshima and war

While we are on the topic of Hiroshima I recently read one of the books we bought from that city's Peace Memorial Museum on the atomic bomb.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War American journalist John Hersey visited Hiroshima and interviewed some of the survivors of the devastating nuclear bomb blast that destroyed the city. His account was published in The New Yorker and then as a book, Hiroshima, which is still in print to this day. It is freely available online.

I urge everyone to read it, so that they may understand the horrific consequences of using nuclear weapons and of war itself. And if you can visit the museum in Hiroshima so that you can see it with your own eyes.

I cannot regard war as noble and glorious. Soldiers should be seen as firemen, not tools of politics and power. People we respect for risking their lives to defend us from an event that the sane among us would never wish to occur. Just as nobody should unleash a destructive fire so too should we condemn those that would inflict war upon the world.

Japanese homestay

My love of Japan is a well known fact so I leapt at the opportunity when Alex's primary school sent out a call for local families to act as hosts to a group of visiting Japanese students.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't the first time for me. Twice when I was in my Central Queensland high school studying Japanese my family hosted Japanese exchange students. Neither worked out particularly well, but older, hopefully wiser, more familiar with Japanese culture and being a parent, I hoped that this time would be different.

Considering that Alex is in kindy (his first year of primary school) we were somewhat shocked to be told that our assigned students was female and fourteen years old. However upon meeting Miyu any fears were quickly dispelled.

She came across as shy and quiet. Questions were returned as single word responses. But through games with Alex like Uno and Twister her cheeky side, a quick smile and a little laugh, emerged.

The yukata was a gift from Miyu

We quickly discovered that she loved chocolate and she hungrily gobbled up snacks like lamingtons, Tim Tams and chocolate ice cream. She took quickly to Alex and B's new fad of loom bands, even though the instructional YouTube videos were in English.

On the first weekend we took her by ferry to Watson's Bay for a disappointing meal of Doyle's fish and chips. Miyu surprised us during that first week by sleeping for about twelve hours a night. She was kept up late one night by the need to meet a cousin from Singapore in the city for dinner.

Friday saw us meeting up with other host families to go bowling. It was fun to watch the normally placid Miyu chatting away with her friends and in high spirits with them at the McDonalds dinner afterwards.

For the second week we were joined by one of the teachers, the effervescent Machiko. We met up with other families at Stanwell Tops, then drove down to Kiama, stopping to watch the tide flow over the rocks at Austinmere and to get lost in Wollongong. That evening we too Miyu and Machiko to eat Malaysian food at Albee's Kitchen in Kingsford. We've seen very few Malaysian restaurants during our travels in Japan. In fact, I can only think of the place in Kanazawa where they serve "raksa".

Machiko and Miyu at Stanwell Tops

At Austinmere

We were too exhausted to go to Featherdale Wildlife Park with the others on Sunday, so instead we visited the closer Symbio Wildlife Park, where there were the ever popular koalas, kangaroos you could hand feed and a wombat that Miyu stroked to sleep. Interestingly a separate Japanese school group were also visiting. Machiko got her taste of meat pie at nearby Helensburgh, where we mucked around at the park, playing Miyu's sport obsession of volleyball.

The only time I've seen volleyball on television in Australia was during the Olympics, but we once spotted an Australia- Japan match in the latter country.

Miyu prepared us a very tasty beef stew for dinner, while the following night she and Machiko made us nabe, a Japanese hot pot dish. Both were perfect for the cold weather.

As the week wound down Miyu spent more time with us in the evenings. She showed me her house and school on Google Maps, so different to here.

We discussed a child's life in Japan, contrasted it with their experiences here. No outdoor lunches at recess, no canteens. Japanese students clean their classrooms twice a day, wiping the floors with towels. It's difficult to imagine something similar here. And they study so late, attending cram schools until 10 pm, barely interacting with their families.

No wonder they didn't want to go back to Japan!

Whilst we have spent at least a week or two in Japan each year and another few elsewhere for the last decade, in working Japan they get very little opportunity to take vacations. Apart from public holidays time off work is difficult to obtain. Rather than using the Japanese to decry the lack of Australian productivity in comparison, I prefer to highlight the contribution that leave makes to our travel and tourism sector, not to mention the psychological benefits.

Normally I find house gets very stressful, but Miyu and Machiko were an absolute delight to have around. Very helpful, courteous, neat and tidy and independent. I felt quite sad when the last night of their stay arrived.

At the school farewell assembly on the Thursday before departure I was so proud to see Miyu amongst the three selected to speak in front of everyone. She did a wonderful job and probably spoke more English words than during her stay with us!

Then a final morning tea and sad goodbyes on the Friday as a coach drove to the city for a couple of nights.

I hope that we are in a position to take on a student again when they return in 2016. And of course we want to see them during our annual (or more frequent) visit to Japan next year. I can't wait!

100 Famous Views of Edo

While browsing the Kinokuniya bookshop in Sydney I was taken with the Taschen publication of Hiroshige's 100 Famous Views of Edo. These are gorgeous woodblock prints of famous sights in Edo (now Tokyo) during the mid 1800's. You can see poorer quality copies of the 100 views online along with his other works (above image courtesy of the site).

Unknown gripped poop

A Google automatic translation of sightseeing spots are Yanai in Japan.

I know I can't wait for a very much dry detention because I axed my mother first, gripped by unknown poop.

An Asian weekend

On Saturday we were doing a rare shopping trip to Bankstown when we discovered the Lunar New Year festival celebrations. There were crowds, stalls and dancing display with the event compered by the popular comedian Ahn Do (pictured below). Had a very enjoyable Vietnamese lunch at the My Canh restaurant, along with many other parents and strollers. They serve the best tomato sauce rice that I've tasted.

This afternoon I had my first Japanese tutorial with Noriko. Learned to talk about likes and dislikes, along with family. One of her Japanese friends lives very close to us. It was interesting to find out that we have seen so much more of Japan than they have.

Never again

I was searching for information related to our upcoming trip to Japan when I came across the following photo:


It's a photo by Shogo Yamahata (©) of Tanaka Kio trying to breastfeed her 4 month old son as he lies dying. They were victims of the atomic bomb blast over Nagasaki. Seeing this and the other photos of Ms Tanaka and reading more about her story brought me to tears. The thought of experiencing something like this with our own son is horrifying.

I have not visited Nagasaki before, perhaps we will this time. We did go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum back in 2006. The memorials, the stories, the models of schoolchildren with their clothes burned off their backs, they affected us deeply.

War is not a game and atomic weapons are not tools that anyone should contemplate using. I hope no child will die ever again through a nuclear bomb.

A cup of tea

I've never been much of a tea drinker. I didn't drink it at all until our third trip to Japan, in 2006. We were wandering around Okayama's beautiful Koraku-en gardens, beneath falling cherry blossoms, when we came to a stall selling green tea from the small rows of tea plants within the garden's bounds. Purchasing a cup of matcha, the whisked powdered green tea and a small plate of "sweets" we sat outside the stall and rested our legs.

Later on in that trip, in Kanazawa, we had stopped by the Nomura Samurai house, with it's gorgeous garden and carp streams squeezed into a tiny area. Upstairs, in a room overlooking the garden matcha was served for a small fee. We rested on the straw tatami mat floor in front of a heater warming our cold hand and sipped the bitter green tea. The flavour itself was not of great importance to me. It was the sense of calm, of weary feet rested, of warmth both inner and outer.

Since then I have learned to enjoy a cup of green tea when offered during trips to Japan. Nibbling on Botchan Dango sweets with a cup of tea after a soak in Matsuyama's Dogo bathhouse and sitting on the tatami flooring in a teahouse in Takamatsu's Ritsurin-en gardens , listening and feeling the warm breeze flowing through the open shoji screens while sipping tea were two of the highlights of our last trip.

I recently purchased a Japanese teapot and cups, porcelain with an iron clay exterior decorated with cherry blossoms, from a Japan City shop. For weeks now I have hoped to snatch some time away from Alex, work and sleep to brew the fine green tea leaves we brought back from Kyoto. Finally this evening I found that time.

I have never brewed tea before, only used teabags, and that was for the benefit of others. I followed the instructions, poured the tea into the cherry blossom teacup and sat down at the table with a rice and red bean sweet bought from a Japanese store in the city. As I sipped the gentle, sweet, pale green liquid I watched the rain falling across the grey and gold evening sky and the white cloud fish swimming between the lucky bamboo in the globe on the table. And I felt relaxed, in another place where babies only smile, emails are calligraphy on scrolls and deadlines are when the water has boiled.

A holiday in a teacup.

Monkey tragic!

It's not just eyeVio that I am using to watch Japanese video. I just bought the boxed set DVD's of Monkey from the ABC Shop today. Now, at long last, I will be able to realise my childhood dream of watching the entire series. And maybe share a little of my childhood with my own child (I also have a boxed set of Goodies episodes). That is, if they can cope with the old fashioned special effects!

Check out the lyrics of the theme song to the series: Monkey Magic.

Born from an egg on a mountain top
The punkiest monkey that ever popped

The grass and the train

More like this from Hiro Y.

Why I want to return to Japan

Cherry blossoms in Springtime. Just one of many reasons to return to Japan!

New Narita Express

The Narita Express, or N'EX, is one of my favourite trains. It was my first experience of Japan outside of the airport and it was always a welcome chance to relax after a long flight or the last minute rush of shopping that accompanies a final day in Tokyo.

Now I read that the current 253 series trains will be replaced by the new E259 series late in 2009. In most parts of the world the current trains would already be considered exceptional. I'm going to miss the original N'EX, on which I have travelled seven times. At least I will still have my little N-scale version running around the desk at home!

Videos of Japan

EyeVio is Sony's competitor to YouTube. It's Japanese only at this point and I discovered it through an RSS feed on my MyLO. The video quality is often extraordinarily clear, though I find the high definition option is too slow even on the fat bandwidth of work.

Amongst the wild and wacky videos of synchronised Rolly dancing, a puppet's guide to Kawagoe and a Japanese Christian band with tambourines(!!!) are beautiful clips of Japanese festivals, views out of hotel windows and normal Japanese street scenes. I love these simple reminders of Japanese life. Listening to the announcements on a train, the sound of the walk signal across the road, they remind me of Japan, make me want to return.