Today was our final day of the joint conference. This morning we all presented our work from the past few days and the ideas we have for joint projects between the United States and Japan. It was very sad saying goodbye today as this was the conclusion of our journey as a whole group. The educators from the U.S. have gotten to know the Japanese teachers very well from our time with them in San Francisco and Tokyo. They are an amazing group of educators that are passionate about students and learning. It is also sad to be saying goodbye to my colleagues from the United States. When I met them in San Francisco I knew they would be great partners for the experience in Japan. We have been together day in day out for two weeks. Not only are all of the people in this program (from the U.S. as well as Japan) some of the smartest and interesting people I have met, they have also become good friends. I will miss everyone very much.
Pictures from the final meeting today.
June Ubukata (above) is the Director, General Affairs for the Japan U.S. Educational Commission (Fulbright Japan). She has traveled with us through this entire program and has been our liaison every step of the way. She has been incredible in making this experience memorable for all of us and I know I can speak for everyone when I say we cannot thank her enough. All of us have made many new friends in Japan but June has been especially wonderful to us.
Here are two other amazing gentlemen that have been with us from day 1. Kenji Matsui on the left and Masaaki Hatagami on the right have been our translators for our entire journey. They have never left our side. The success of this trip would not have been possible without them.
Pictured above from left to right are Saeko Fujimoto, Yuriko Yoneshima, Hiromi Fumoto, and Seigo Saito our new friends from ACCU the Asian Pacific Cultural Center. Their organization has been great. They have done many of the behind the scenes arrangements for us and have been right there for everything we needed.
After the joint conference today a couple of the Japanese teachers had offered to take a group of us to Kyoto. Kyoto is the former capital of Japan and visiting the city was a great way to spend our last day in Japan.
To get to Kyoto we took the Shinkansen. This was an experience in itself as these trains reach speeds of 200 miles per hour. It is about 300 miles from Tokyo to Kyoto but it can be done in just over an hour on the Shinkansen.
Our trains to and from Kyoto.
The route from Tokyo to Kyoto.
Kyoto did not disappoint. We only have the day there but it was incredibly easy to get around (thanks to our Japanese friends) and there were many sights to see.
In Kyoto we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine.
We also visited Arashiyama bamboo grove.
A major treat of the trip was going to make traditional beads. One of the Japanese teachers had organized this experience for us with a friend of his that is a master of this kind of bead making. He makes the beads for several of the temples around Kyoto.
Finally we had a great yakitoti dinner in Gion. Gion is an older district of Kyoto and was the setting for Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha. We did not get to spend much time there because we had to catch the train home but what we saw of the area was very neat.
After dinner we headed back to the station to catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo and said goodbye to our friends from Japan.
My plane back to Chicago leaves at 10:30am. With any luck I’ll be back in Chicago by 9AM on Sunday. I can’t wait to see my family and get back to Deerfield. There will be one more post coming in this adventure. Stay tuned.