We were welcomed by the school and were, yet again, impressed by their hospitality.
Our first task for the day was to attend a music class where the Japanese students performed two pieces. The first was as a group using recorders, whilst I did not catch the name of the music it was extremely well timed and rehearsed. This was students of about 8 or 9 years old. Their second was a song which was extra ordinarily cute - the English students were impressed and in awe of the Japanes skill.
It was then our turn!
We had to clap along with the rhythm which was presented to the whole class. (Fortunately, we can understand clapping and rhythm.) Each part was labelled A, B or C, each with their own complexity - interestingly enough, C felt the easiest of the three. Once the class had gone through several practices, the teacher moved them on to working in groups. Students were required to selects one part of the three and then each section was played either individually or as a pair. The final point had all three groups clapping together.
The English staff were very impressed with what was produced by the whole group.
The heat wave was continuing yet we were required to do PE - it was only some dancing, how hard can that be? The Japanese students performed the dance and the English students joined on the second showing. We can see why the Japanese are so fit! The second dance that was performed was a traditional Japanese festival dance - this is often performed for more than one hour. The students were paired up and were shown how to dance in the traditional Japanese manner.
Afterwards, we performed our dance and showed them how to perform the "One Direction" part. They were very impressed.
The Junior High students then helped with the origami class where three items were made: the traditional paper plane (thrown around from various places in the school), a ninja throwing star (a great one for the younger boys) and a paper crane (very difficult to make but extraordinarily pretty).
Afterwards, we enjoyed an delicious (ouishi) lunch, where some of the younger students performed a dance. They were very cute and were well coordinated.
During the afternoon, we visited a Japanese Shrine. Firstly, we climbed many stairs to get to the building - think gentle slope rather than Rocky montage. They allowed us to join one of their blessings, where Mrs. Collingwood had to take part and we copied from our seats.
Afterwards we were due to go up the mountains on a Gondola Ride, however wind and maintenance prevented us from doing so. Instead, we visited a shopping centre in which McDonalds called. The game arcade was also highly tempting, luring in many of our students. There were a lot of cuddly toys won - Luci was so impressed with the softness of her "Seal Cat" that she cuddled it all of the way home.
Reinvigorated by this sudden winfall, the following day awaited at Mikawa Junior High School.
