2007 Exchange Program/Sightseeing Tour
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| Sightseeing Tour | Ikata Homestays | Red Wing Homestays | Message board |
The Kansai Tour was the first part of the 2007 Exchange Program between Ikata and Red Wing. See what the Red Wing student group did for the first five days of their stay, from July 18 to 22.
- To leave messages for the group, please see the Message board.
Contents |
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Tour route
- View an interactive flyby tour of the group's travels in Google Earth!
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Useful links
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July 18
Today's schedule:
- Arrive at Narita Airport
- Fly to Itami Airport
- Bus to Kyōto
- Taxi to hotel
- Sleep!
Notes
- The students' flight was delayed leaving Chicago, but is scheduled to arrive at Narita early.
- Aaron and Ryoko will head at 2:45pm to greet the group at Itami. We're very excited to meet everyone!
- Everyone arrived on time and with all their bags!
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July 19
Today's schedule:
- Bus tour of Kyōto
Notes:
- We had a "Western-style" breakfast of ketchup-covered omelettes and corn soup at the hotel
- Our private bus met us a couple blocks from the hotel and headed off...
- To Sanjūsan-gendō, a temple with 1001 statues of Buddhist deities!
- Then we headed to Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion. It has beautiful sand gardens, and a view overlooking the entire city.
- We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that served a variety of things. Some had thick udon noodles; others had curry with pork cutlet.
- Next was Kiyomizu-dera, the "Pure Water Temple", one of the candidates for the New 7 Wonders of the World.
- On the way back we walked down a hill lined with nice shops. The boys all bought katanas!
- Finally, we walked through the Gion neighborhood, a very traditional area of Kyōto where historical dramas and movies are often filmed.
- We haven't decided what to have for dinner yet, but we're sure it will be new and different!
- Update: We ate at Zawatami, an izakaya-style restaurant with lots of different dishes, some Western, some Japanese, and some a fusion of different styles. They made a mean pizza, and a great sashimi plate, though some were a little hesitant to try the latter.
- After dinner we strolled around the Shinkyogoku covered outdoor mall, then headed back to the hotel.
More info
- Kyōto on Wikipedia
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July 20
Today's schedule:
- Bus tour of Kyōto
Notes:
- We started off today with a leisurely 8:30 breakfast.
- Our first stop on the tour was Nijō Castle, the former seat of power of the Tokugawa shogunate. The most interesting part was how the floorboards are designed to squeak, alerting guards to the presence of assassins!
- Next we went to arguably the No. 1 most famous tourist spot in Kyōto—Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. It's even more picturesque in person than it is in the guidebooks.
- We then headed to Arashiyama, a quaint little suburb area with serene mountain and stream scenery, and of course lots of gift shops.
- For lunch most of us had pork cutlet covered with egg over rice, with a small portion of udon noodles on the side. Two black sheep went for a tempura-over-rice dish.
- After lunch we went to Tōei Studios' Movie Village, a theme park with old, Meiji-era buildings and displays. They were actually filming a period drama there, and the ninja show we wanted to see was canceled so as not to interfere! The ninjas will just have to wait...
- For dinner we're going to try nabe-style cooking, where ingredients like fresh vegetables, thin slices of beef, and noodles are cooked in a big pot right in front of you at the table.
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July 21
Today's schedule:
- To Hiroshima by Shinkansen (Bullet train)
- To Miyajima
Don't worry, everyone!
- You may have heard on the news about radioactive material leaked from a nuclear power plant in Japan following a recent earthquake. The location in question is in northern Japan, far away from our tour route, so don't worry!
Notes:
- Today we had a Japanese-style breakfast with grilled fish, rice, pickled vegetables, seaweeds of various flavors, miso soup, and patties of pressed white fish meat. Everyone was wowed by the variety, and whipped out their cameras to take it all in.
- We taxied straight to the JR Kyōto station and got on the Shinkansen (bullet train). Boy was it fast! We got a nice variety of scenery, from dense industrial cityscapes to rural rice paddies.
- Now we're taking a break at the hotel in Hiroshima. After lunch we'll head to Miyajima, a small island off the coast of Hiroshima with the world-famous "floating" red gate.
- Though Miyajima is known for oysters and eel, most people chose Japanese-style curry & rice with pork cutlet for lunch.
- After some downtime at the hotel, we went to the food court of a high-rise department store and let everyone roam freely. Where did the students elect to dine? At McDonalds, of course!
More info:
- Local time and weather in Hiroshima
- Miyajima on Wikipedia
- Hiroshima on Wikipedia
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July 22
Today's schedule:
- Hiroshima Peace Park
- To Matsuyama by Superjet
- Bus to Ikata
- To homestays!
Notes:
- Oh no, it's raining!
- ...but it didn't rain that hard. We borrowed umbrellas from the hotel, but didn't end up needing them most of the time.
- We rode the streetcars to the Atomic Bomb Dome, the ruins of a former convention center that survived the blast mostly intact.
- We then walked through Peace Park and stopped to look at the Children's Peace Memorial, a statue erected in memory of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died of leukemia after surviving the atomic bomb blast.
- After that we went to the Peace Memorial Museum, which tells the story of the bombing, its history and aftermath, in great detail. It was very moving, and put the group in a somber mood.
- Then we went off to have a unique lunch experience—okonomiyaki is a Japanese dish that you have to experience to believe. The Hiroshima style is layered: Some batter, cabbage, bean sprouts, soba noodles, pork, and egg are stacked on top of each other and grilled in front of you. Then add a splash of special sauce and a dash of seaweed flakes, and you're golden!
- Following lunch we returned to the hotel, picked up our bags, got back on the streetcars, and headed for Hiroshima Port.
- We sailed the Inland Sea on a high-speed ferry known as the Superjet! The waves just whizzed by.
- At Matsuyama Port we were greeted by Mr. Hirose of the IIEA and some of the host families.
- People wasted no time in getting to know each other—the bus was full of chatter on the way to dinner, which was a set of tempura and cold udon noodles.
- Everyone seemed tired by the time we got to Ikata, but the big crowd there to greet us livened our spirits.
- After some brief words of welcome, everyone split up to join their host families.
Everyone made it to Ikata safe and sound! From now until August 1st the kids will be busy making new friends and memories. We won't be able to update this page with each family's activities, but we'll keep you up to speed on our group activities as they happen on the 2007 Exchange Program page.
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See also
- Interactive virtual tour for Google Earth
| Sightseeing Tour | Ikata Homestays | Red Wing Homestays | Message board |
