Wakayama: DAY 5 (Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016) – Exchange Program at Seirin High School

On Monday, August 3^rd, 2016, we, the Overseas students had the chance to go to Seirin High School for an exchange program.

We arrived in Seirin High School in the morning after a 10-minute walk from the bus stop. As we were entering the hall of Seirin High School, there were surprisingly groups of students standing with flags of the 20 countries on their hands. Some of them were also clapping their hands, showing their warm welcome to us.

Seirin High School in Wakayama

 We were seated at the front where we could see a series of blue-shirt students holding various musical instruments in their hands facing to us. Yes, we were also greeted by outstanding performances of orchestra of Seirin High School.

Orchestra of Seirin High School

After the welcoming ceremony had finished, we were directed to a classroom in which a student representative from Seirin High School gave us a brief informative presentation about her school.

A presentation by student representative

Afterwards, the club activities started. First, we, the group of girls (boys were in different group), had a traditional Japanese music lesson. After the students of this club had shown a harmonious performance, we had the chance to learn how to play Koto, a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument. 

The instrument consisted of 13 strings. We wore and used finger picks to pluck the strings. Tutored by the club member, I was able to play a simple but nice Japanese song titled “Sakura Sakura” quite good.

Koto performance by members of the club

Trying to play "Sakura Sakura"

The next club activity was Japanese Tea Ceremony. This activity involved the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha (powedered green tea) that were shown by a number of Seirin female students guided by their sensei (teacher).  We also learned to apply the manner of tea gathering like bowing to the person that served us manju (a Japanese confection with anko/red bean paste as the feeling) and bowl of matcha. At the end, we also had the chance to try how to blend matcha.

Matcha and Manju 

Blend matcha guided by a beautiful sensei

At the afternoon, all of the Overseas students were gathered with some students of Seirin High School in a classroom for lunch.  We happily had great chat and fun time while we were enjoying yummy bentos and bottled green tea together.

Lunch in Seirin High School

After lunch, we left Seirin High School to tour several different places outside the school. Some members of the student council accompanied us.

The first destination was recycling factory of Matsuda Shoten Corporation in Wakayama-shi. As the factory proactively hosts visitors from elementary schools, we were greeted by a video of Kururin, the mascot of the company. Kururin is a robot and it's built to ask and help humans to clean up the city. It's believed that if a pile of garbage is left as it is, bad odor and poisonous liquid will flow out which produces monster "Mazegomira".  So, to avoid threatening "Mazegomira" to be born, we should separate garbage properly and recycle them.

Meet Kururin!

Then, we were shown the production of ecologically friendly and microwavable colored mug which was surprisingly only made from around two 1-Liter plastic bottles. This visit gave me important lesson about the importance of recycling as to protect our world.

Workplace for separating cans and bottles

Colorful eco-friendly mugs

Machine to produce eco-friendly mugs

The second destination was Wakayama Marina City. There were Kuroshio Market, Porto Europe, and Kinokuni Fruit Village. Kuroshio Market was a fish market where we could eat and buy fresh Japanese fish. We could get a delicious portion of tuna sushi for around 600 Yen. Near Porto Europe, a theme park, there was a souvenir shop that sold merchandise such as Doraemon bags, Hello Kitty pencil cases, Happy Melody pens, and Rilakkuma keychains that were mostly only for sale in Japan. While Kinokuni Fruit Village was a shop where we could buy fresh local Wakayama fruits and vegetables, food souvenirs, sweets, and shaved ice cream. I bought a pack of Mikan orange cookies. Before we left, we did not forget to take pictures of the breath-taking ocean scene of Wakayama Marina City.  

Wakayama Marine City

Inside the Kuroshio Market, the fish market

Fancy Sanrio souvenirs

Local products sold in Kinokuni Fruit Village

Our last destination was Wakaura Tenmagu (Wakaura Temple). This temple was located on a hill where we had to climb a steep, crude stone stairs to go there. But, once we reached the top, the tiredness was suddenly replaced by wonder as we could see a magnificent view of Wakayama. Our talented friend from Thailand skilfully captured incredible pictures of us.

In the evening, although we did want to spend more time together, we had to say good-bye to our friends from Seirin High School that had kindly accompanied us during the tour.

After our memorable last dinner in a Chinese restaurant, we also had to say ‘see you soon’ to some of our friends who had to fly back to their countries at that night. It was ‘see you soon’ because we believed that we will meet again in the future or at least still keep in touch.

Knowing that this was the last night in Wakayama for the remaining of us, we spent the rest of the night by enjoying snacks that we bought from convenient store nearby , laughing, chatting, confiding personal matters, and sharing stories together. What a wonderful friendship.