English version

22nd January 2010, Friday . Finally the time has arrived: after the last recommendation by friends and family we are ready for our trip. The 14.45 plane will take us to Japan, a country that is completely different from ours in language, traditions and culture. A place where our adventure begins. In our last year of Secondary high school we will have a unique experience: we’ll have the chance to visit a fascinating country, one that is so far away from ours under several points of view. We are ready! The plane leaves and we’re ready to fly over the whole continent to reach our destination.

23rd -24th January 2010, Saturday 10: 55h – local time. After a 12 hour flight, +8 GMT , we can finally stomp our feet on the ground: even at the airport we can already notice the meticulousness of employees that have neatly put our luggage in an accurate line. We are also surprised by the staff’s extreme kindness when they show us the exit. We all feel at bit nervous: behind the sliding doors we will greet our host families! We feel dizzy after the long journey but at the same time we’re so exited : soon we will be separated and each of us will spend a whole weekend with Japanese strangers!. But for some of us it is still not time to go home: the first glimpse of Japan is at Akihabara, one of Tokyo’s world famed technology districts,. Despite the fatigue , we can’t avoid entering its amazing colourful shops and buying the first little souvenirs. Later, at dinner, we use the typical Japanese chopsticks (called hashi) for the first time: we menage with some difficulty, to finish our first Japanese dish, consisting of rice and meat . It’s very good , it doesn’t disappoint us. It's time to go home: as soon as we go in the family remind us to remove our shoes and to put them neatly in the entry hall, as this is their tradition. Some homes have still the typical tatami floors, made of straw mats, while most have the typical western floors. Each one spends the Sunday together with their partner and host families. We are all moved by how welcoming and affectionate the Japanese are. They do their best to teach us something about their life and culture. They are so kind that we adapt to such a different lifestyle very easily.

January 25th, Monday. On Monday we started school at 8.30 after a long trip by train ( we had to change the train 3 times!!!) and we took part in a Japanese lesson…we learnt the history of their strange writing and we tried to paint some ideograms! It was pretty funny!! After the lesson we went to Asahi Shimbun Company, the second most popular Japanese daily newspaper. Ms ono, a very famous Japanese journalist, welcomed us and showed us around We also went on top to see the landscape and from the Company helicopter some reporters took us a very nice picture! During the visit we had our lunch-break and we had our “OBENTO” for the first time, the original Japanese lunch box containing Japanese food! In the afternoon we went back to school where the Japanese students organized a Welcome Party for us…they sang their national songs for us and they showed us their habits: we ate typical snacks, we tried to make origami and we wore Kimono…we looked like real Japanese guys!! Finally each one went back home with their Japanese partners and spent the evening all together!

January 26th, Tuesday. In the morning we met at the school in order to reach Edo Museum, one of Japan’s most popular museums where the country’s glorious past is displayed through works of art, documents, photos and typical traditional objects. After that, we headed for Asakusa, a district famous for the shopping streets where we found a lot of small different shops. There we visited the Nakamise Temple and the five storey pagoda.. After a brief meeting with some Sumo wrestlers, willing to take a picture with tourists. We spent the afternoon with our partners as we wanted.

January 27th, Wednesday. We spent the morning at school where we had the chance to experience a completely different kind of organization. First we attended a great music lesson where thanks to Mr T. we sang along with some Japanese students both Japanese and Italian songs! Then we enlarged our knowledge on the history of Japan and on the temples and shrines we were scheduled to see on the next day in Kamakura. After that we discussed about similarities and differences between Japan and Italy with some very nice students mainly from abroad (The Philippines, Korea, China etc) attending the Social course for foreign students. Finally after lunch we went shopping to one of Tokyo's best shepping districts: Harajuku.

January 28th, Thursday. A day out in the old Samurai city of Kamakura!There we first visited the Great Buddha Statue (Kotoku-in ) once housed in a large wooden building which was probably destryed by a tsunami. But we can admire some more treasures: the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine and the Kaikozan Jisho-in Hasedera, a Buddhist temple, with a beautiful lookout on the Pacific Ocean !

January 29th, Friday. On Friday morning we all met at Tokyo Station, where we said goodbye to our Japanese partners. We caught the world-famed Shinkansen, a high-speed train. On our way to Kyoto we could enjoy the wonderful sight of snow-capped Mount Fuji. When we arrived at Kyoto Station, a volunteer guide led us to our hotel. After the check-in we took a Japanese bus with our kind Guide, Mariko-san, to Kannon Temple, built around the XII century, inside which we could admire a thousand of religious statues in gold lacquered wood. After visiting the Temple we walked through the traditional Kyoto streets with houses made of wood and panels, a completely different view from Tokyo, among which we could see one of the oldest pagodas of the country. We headed to Kiyomizu-dera, from where we could admire amazing Kyoto by night. Even if we were very tired, we went to Gion District, where we had the opportunity to see a geisha and a maiko (a young geisha). Finally, before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at a local restaurant to have our “loved” okonomiyaki, and then we went to sleep in order to be ready ready for the following day.

Sabato 30 gennaio. Abbiamo lasciato il tipico hotel Ryōkan per prendere il treno che ci ha portato a Nara, un’ora distante da Kyōto. Lì abbiamo notato immediatamente come la nostra guida ci ha detto che i cervi erano davvero considerati animali sacri, erano infatti lasciati liberi di girare per tutto il territorio del parco, abbastanza ampio, e nessuno era sorpreso di camminare a fianco di uno di questi animali. Dopo aver visto il parco con i cerci e varie pagode e templi, abbiamo visitato Tōdai-ji, il più grande tempio in Giappone, in cui abbiamo visto una grande statua del Buddha fatta in bronzo. Questa causò una crisi economica per l’alto bisogno in bronzo. Mangiando a pranzo sul treno, siamo tornati a Kyōto e abbiamo visitato la spettacolare Pagoda Dorata, conosciuta anche come Kinkaku-ji o Rokuon-ji, un meraviglioso tempio di tre piani fatto di legno ma ricoperto d’oro dal secondo piano alla sommità del tetto, dove erge una statua con una fenice cinese. Abbiamo anche passeggiato per i giardini verdi e rilassanti che circondavano la zona. Per la nostra ultima attività in Giappone siamo andati a visitare il Nijō castle, ora un luogo mondiale eredità UNESCO, che doveva essere usato dallo Shogun nel XVII secolo. Abbiamo attraversato le stanze della grande costruzione, dove i visitatori era concesso mettere piede solo in base al rango sociale che possedevano e alla fiducia che lo Shogun aveva in loro. Dopo le stanze ci è voluta un’altra mezzora per visitare i suoi grandiosi e perfetti giardini, e questa è stata l’ultima volta in cui abbiamo seguito la nostra veloce guida. Infine felici e coscienti che quella fosse la nostra ultima attività in Giappone, siamo andati a mangiare tempura in un ristorante con la nostra guida anche per ringraziarla delle esaustive spiegazioni sui bellissimi posti che ci ha mostrato.

Saturday Jan 30th. We left the typical Ryōkan hotel to take the train which brought us to Nara, an hour away from Kyōto. There we noticed some deer grazing around. Our guide told us that deer considered as holy animals. That’s why they are left free in the park and gardens close to temples and shrines. After that , we went to visit Tōdai-ji, the biggest temple in Japan, in which we saw the great bronze statue of Buddha. Then we had lunch on the train and we went back to Kyōto where we visited the breathtaking Golden Pavilion, also known as Kinkaku-ji or Rokuon-ji Temple, a wonderful temple of three wooden floors covered up in gold-leaf from the second floor till the roof top, where a statue of a Chinese phoenix settles. We also walked through the green, relaxing, peaceful garden which surrounds the area. Last but not least we visited the Nijō Castle used by the Shogun in the XVII century, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We went through the different rooms of the great building where visitors were allowed in only according to their social class and on the basis of how much the Shogun trusted them. After the visit we spent half an hour visiting its great gardens. That was the last time we followed our very fast walking guide. In the end we all went eating tempura in a specialized restaurant where we thanked our guide and celebrated both the end of the beautiful day and our stay in Japan with gorgeous giant cakes!

Sunday January 31st On Sunday morning we departed from Osaka Airport, a huge building designed by Renzo Piano. We were happy with the incredible experience we had had the opportunity to enjoy, and also of the fantastic people we got to know, and that we hope to meet again soon.