Home Stay
I woke up at 6:30am to get ready for our trip to Nagasaki. No one else was awake so I kind of got ready on my own and hung out. It turned out that the host parents overslept so we got out on time at 7:30am but didn’t have time for the planned Japanese breakfast. Instead we grabbed sandwiches at 7-11 for breakfast. How’s that for an American experience?
The trip to Nagasaki took about 2.5 hours. I kept nodding off while driving even though I was trying to keep awake. I felt kind of guilty, but there was nothing I could do about it.
We only had a short time in Nagasaki, but I’m so appreciative of the effort it took to get us there. We walked through the peace park and took the Atomic Bomb Museum tour. The closest experience to it in the United States would be the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. There were really powerful
photographs and videos taken on or immediately after August 9, 1945 showing the devastation, child corpses and all. There was also great information about how the atomic bombs worked, the decision making process of the American leaders and so on. It turns out Nagasaki wasn’t even the primary target that day. It was another city in the area, but smoke and cloud cover forced them to move onto Nagasaki, the secondary target.
The museum tour and the two books I purchased at the end
covered the events neutrally explaining both sides of the story pretty fairly. The two books are Nagasaki Peace Guidebook (A handbook for peace studies at the Atomic Bomb Museum and related sites) and Nagasaki Under the Bomb (Experiences of young college girls). They should come in useful when developing my Follow-on Plan for this program.
The trip to Nagasaki took about 2.5 hours. I kept nodding off while driving even though I was trying to keep awake. I felt kind of guilty, but there was nothing I could do about it.We only had a short time in Nagasaki, but I’m so appreciative of the effort it took to get us there. We walked through the peace park and took the Atomic Bomb Museum tour. The closest experience to it in the United States would be the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. There were really powerful
photographs and videos taken on or immediately after August 9, 1945 showing the devastation, child corpses and all. There was also great information about how the atomic bombs worked, the decision making process of the American leaders and so on. It turns out Nagasaki wasn’t even the primary target that day. It was another city in the area, but smoke and cloud cover forced them to move onto Nagasaki, the secondary target.The museum tour and the two books I purchased at the end
covered the events neutrally explaining both sides of the story pretty fairly. The two books are Nagasaki Peace Guidebook (A handbook for peace studies at the Atomic Bomb Museum and related sites) and Nagasaki Under the Bomb (Experiences of young college girls). They should come in useful when developing my Follow-on Plan for this program. No pictures were allowed inside the museum so that's why I don't have a lot to post.
Before we left the city, we stopped in Chinatown for some traditional
Chinese food. For those that love American versions of Chinese food, this is so much more amazing. We had to wolf it down because of time constraints, but I had a great noodle dish with shrimp, other seafood, pork and vegetables. I also had some pork served on a roll that was amazing.
I slept much of the trip back to Yukuhashi. We did about five hours of driving for 1-2 hours worth of activity. It was so nice of this family to go through that much trouble for me. I really
appreciated it and so I hope they realized that.
3:30pm: Meet at city hall
When we arrived at city hall, our guide Keiko asked me to make a speech on behalf of the group as we left the city and our collective families. Here’s what I said:
“Konnichiwa. On behalf of our group of twenty American
educators, please accept my gratitude for the hospitality everyone in Yukuhashi-city has shown us over the past week. We leave your wonderful city having gained personal relationships with students, teachers, and, most importantly you, our host families. From the bottom of my heart, domo arigato gozaimas.”
3:45pm: Depart city hall
As we departed many of the families were crying as were some of our group members as they related their stories of their experiences with the host families. Some real good connections were made so that was a cool part of the program for all of us.
5:30pm: Arrive ryokan and check in
The ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, is real cool. It’s modern in the lobby with numerous hot springs. The rooms have tatami mats for sitting and sleeping, much like the home I stayed in last night.
Evening: Dinner at ryokan
Dinner was set up traditionally as we entered and sat on the tatami mats on the floor and had women in kimonos serving us a number of courses. It was more modern as karaoke was available for two hours as well. Only a few people were really participating in the singing so it wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t want to sing myself. We had a good time at the dinner/party, though, overall.
After dinner my main Yukuhashi group (Karen, Rachel, Roger and Kevin) and I all hung out in one room talking, laughing and having a good time. While it seemed like we were going late into the evening, it really wasn’t all that late. This has been a them throughout the trip. The prefecture portion of our program closed in grand style and now it’s time to get back to Tokyo.
Before we left the city, we stopped in Chinatown for some traditional
Chinese food. For those that love American versions of Chinese food, this is so much more amazing. We had to wolf it down because of time constraints, but I had a great noodle dish with shrimp, other seafood, pork and vegetables. I also had some pork served on a roll that was amazing.I slept much of the trip back to Yukuhashi. We did about five hours of driving for 1-2 hours worth of activity. It was so nice of this family to go through that much trouble for me. I really
appreciated it and so I hope they realized that.3:30pm: Meet at city hall
When we arrived at city hall, our guide Keiko asked me to make a speech on behalf of the group as we left the city and our collective families. Here’s what I said:
“Konnichiwa. On behalf of our group of twenty American
educators, please accept my gratitude for the hospitality everyone in Yukuhashi-city has shown us over the past week. We leave your wonderful city having gained personal relationships with students, teachers, and, most importantly you, our host families. From the bottom of my heart, domo arigato gozaimas.”3:45pm: Depart city hall
As we departed many of the families were crying as were some of our group members as they related their stories of their experiences with the host families. Some real good connections were made so that was a cool part of the program for all of us.
5:30pm: Arrive ryokan and check in
The ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, is real cool. It’s modern in the lobby with numerous hot springs. The rooms have tatami mats for sitting and sleeping, much like the home I stayed in last night.
Evening: Dinner at ryokanDinner was set up traditionally as we entered and sat on the tatami mats on the floor and had women in kimonos serving us a number of courses. It was more modern as karaoke was available for two hours as well. Only a few people were really participating in the singing so it wasn’t a big deal that I didn’t want to sing myself. We had a good time at the dinner/party, though, overall.
After dinner my main Yukuhashi group (Karen, Rachel, Roger and Kevin) and I all hung out in one room talking, laughing and having a good time. While it seemed like we were going late into the evening, it really wasn’t all that late. This has been a them throughout the trip. The prefecture portion of our program closed in grand style and now it’s time to get back to Tokyo.
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