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From Vashon to Himeji, 2004

Update at July 7, 2004: *All* the Himeji 2004 photos!

And I mean *all*...

They're back: From Vashon to Himeji, 2004!

The first three sets of 2004 photos, received while the trip was underway:

They're home!

Sat Apr 24 13:29:24 PDT 2004

An email from Sensei!

From: "Maren Williams" <marenwilliams@------.--->
To: jsage@finchhaven.com
Subject: we're home (tadaima)
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004 17:45:32 +0000

Hi John,

After over 9 hours in the air and many more at the Kansai and
Vancouver airports, we made it home earlier than when we left due to
the time difference.

It was wonderful to see parents' smiling faces as we came up the
escalator to the baggage claim area at SeaTac.  I feel so lucky to
have had the chance to travel and experience so many new and exciting
things with such an amazing group of students.

Thanks John for all of your work creating the website. It looks great
and I know everone is really enjoying looking at it! Tina and I will
send you a few more photos and fill in some of the gaps of the trip
next week.

Have a great weekend and thanks again,  Maren

News! News! News!

Thu Apr 22 06:20:15 PDT 2004

An email from Tina! More of what they've all been doing!

From: "Tina Taylor" <tt@_-_-_-.--->
To: jsage@finchhaven.com
Subject: Latest installment of photos
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 22:24:58 -0700

On Tuesday morning we walked to Hirohata Kindergarten, with
Mrs. Tanaka, a Himeji Minami English Teacher, near the school. The big
kids had a great time playing with the little kids... The kindergarten
visit was most of the kid's favorite event. The kindergarteners
presented the Vashon kids with paper necklaces and we we really sad to
go. The teachers at the Kindergarten were very kind to all of us and
obviously love their students.

Next we took the train to the main station in Himeji and explored the
mile-long shopping street. After lunch we met to study Japanese
cultural events in the form of...Karaoke! The kids had a great time
singing!

On Wednesday Mr. Shioki, another English teacher, and Ann - an
American English language specialist, accompanied us on a trip to
Kobe. Since Kobe was mostly destroyed in the large earthquake of 1995
it is a modern city with distinct areas for business, residential, and
the port.

The kids had a great time exploring Sanomiya and Chinatown. It was fun
to eat fried rice and dumplings in the middle of Japan!

Near the port we visited the Kobe Earthquake memorial, part of which
was left over rubble from the quake. We also saw the Martime Musuem
and the Kobe tower.

After so many days of sightseeing and being on the run the kids are
enjoying a day at the High School today (Thursday). They have been
visiting regular Japanese classes and trying calligraphy. We will
finish up the day with a Tea Ceremony demonstration by the Tea
Ceremony Club and a farewell party with the homestay families and
teachers.

We'll be departing Kansai International Airport tomorrow and arriving
home the same day. The kids are looking forward to sleeping on the
plane! Teachers too!

We'll see you soon!

  - Tina
  

News! News! News!

Mon Apr 19 18:04:19 PDT 2004

An email from Sensei! More of what they've all been doing!

From: "Maren Williams" <marenwilliams@___.___>
To: jsage@finchhaven.com
Subject: Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 23:39:25 +0000

Ohayou gozaimasu.  Good morning!
 
We are off to Hirohata Kindergarten and then shopping and sightseeing
in Himeji.

After surviving a persistent torrential downpour yesterday, we are
enjoying the sunny, warm and dry weather today!

We are planning on going to a karaoke bokusu this afternoon (it isn't
really a box, but a private room we can rent for just our group,
complete with microphones, plush couches, and a phone so we can order
drinks and snacks from the kitchen).  I will let you know all the
details when we get back this afternoon.

Tina is working on sending photos right now....
  

News! News! News!

Mon Apr 19 07:30:52 PDT 2004 Vashon time

An email from Sensei! What they've all been doing! Messages from (some of) the kids! Sensei's quote for the day!

From: "Maren Williams" <marenwilliams@____.___>
To: jsage@finchhaven.com
Subject: weekend
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 06:48:00 +0000

We met this morning and had a great time exchanging stories about
where we went and what we did this weekend.  Many students went to
Kyoto to visit the shrines and temples.  Some went bowling, had
bar-b-q's, visited local museums, went to karaoke and dressed up in
kimono.  All of the kids are making connections with their homestay
families and some students have received marriage proposals (Jay has
three with one more in the works)!  Luckily Katja learned all the
vocabulary for dating and how to tell people you just want to be
friends this weekend and will teach it to all the other kids!

We had a great day getting soaked in a beautiful Himejij rainstorm and
exploring Mt. Shosha where parts of "The Last Samurai" were
filmed. The Buddhist temples were dramatic set against the forest in
the rain and mist.  We enjoyed a variety of delicious obentos prepared
by our host families.  From the variety and high nutritional value I'd
say our kids are being well taken care of.

On the way back to Himeji Minami we visited an ironworking shop
- House of Myochin Tongs - where many generations of artisans have
made metal tongs (they look like chopsticks) and furin (beautiful
chimes with four spiky tongs).  Some students got to try pounding the
hot metal but it's obvious that it takes years to perfect the process.

We ended up back at the school and the kids were happy to use the
computer lab - I'm sure that you'll get lots of interesting messages
today!

Here are some messages from the kids:

"Lost a leg.  Might be gangrenous.  Hope for the best."
    ~Kevin Mitchell

"Miss you all.  Composed a brief Haiku."

     The trees talk to me
     They say bad words in English
     Noone understands

    ~Betsey Winter

"Keepin' it real in the Land of the Rising Sun and cell phones."
    ~Bobby (^_^)

"They all seem to be disillusioned by the fact that I'm a rich,
sophisticated, mathematical genius. Hope they don't discover
otherwise..."
    ~Katherine

"Walk a lot.  Good mushrooms."
    ~ Alex

"I wore kimono and did lots of Karaoke!"
    ~Love, Robin

"I can't wait to come home and tell you all about it but I don't want
to leave.  Love you lots."
    ~Katja

"The Ultimate food experience!"
    ~Jay

"Nothing to say."
    ~Gennaro


We'll write again soon!
    ~Ms. Williams and the kids


Quote for the day:

"Wait Sensei, China's the land of the Rising Sun, right?"
    ~Kevin Mitchell, former Japanese student

News! News!

Fri Apr 16 07:39:49 PDT 2004 Vashon time

This is from Sensei! Messages from all the kids! Also: see below for "Tina's Japan Update"!

From: "Maren Williams" <marenwilliams@_____.___>
To: jsage@finchhaven.com
Subject: Messages to families 04/16/04
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 08:01:47 +0000

HI!  After 3 BUSY days in Osaka, Hiroshima and Miyajima, we made it to
Himeji and to computers!  Today we visited the beautiful Himeji-jo
Castle and the Kokoen Japanese gardens.

More on all of that in a minute.  Most importantly, everyone wants to
say hi to their families and friends at home.


"Mom and Goose, having lots of fun.  Love you lots!" ~Katja

"Hi!  I am having lots of fun, but I am really busy.  I will e-mail as
soon as possible." ~Love, Robin

"Hey Mom, Suz and Dad.  I climbed Mt. Misen!" ~Natalie
  (She was AMAZING!!! ~Sensei)

"Hey Mom, Donald, Clay, having lots of fun.  Love ya!" ~Betsey

"WHO WON?" ~KATHERINE

"Lost in Japan." ~LYSSA

"`LO" ~REBECCA

"HEY MOM, DAD, MEGAN! I MISS YOU GUYS. HAVING FUN, SAY HI TO MAC FOR
ME, CALL YA SOON." ~KEVIN

"HAD MUSHROOMS." ~ALEX (KAZAN)

"KONNICHIHA PAUL & FRIENDS AND FAMILY.  JAPAN IS AMAZING!  MY HOST
FAMILY IS VERY FRIENDLY.  TODAY WE RODE BIKES TO SCHOOL.  SEE YOU
SOON." ~SUSAN

"GOTTA CATCH `EM ALL." ~ANDREW

"I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really
think so." ~Gennaro

Hey doat! I like the things you do.
Hey doat! If I could I would be you.
You're the one and only deer slash goat.
With the one and only face.
With a taste that makes you say great.
(Sung to the tune of "Hey Tony," The Frosted Flakes Song (by GenDrew)

"My host brother and I dueled our Pokemon.  I won. Also, we say Barry
White." ~Bobby


More soon....

News! News!

Fri Apr 16 07:39:49 PDT 2004 Vashon time

This is from Ms. Taylor!

From: "Tina Taylor" <___@___.___>
To: jsage@finchhaven.com [and others]
Subject: Tina's Japan Update
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 01:11:30 -0700

Hey Everybody - I'm in Japan!!
  
The flight over was a little rough-we found out after the flight that
Air Canada was going to go bankrupt next week. So...we're hoping
that we get to fly United or something back or at least that they'll
clean the mung out of the seat pockets. We'll pack our own food
I think!
 
Japan is wonderful. There are lots of vending machines everywhere
with all kinds of stuff that are yummy and interesting. The sights
are beautiful and historic. We're following our itinerary closely so
today we went to Himeji Castle (it's Friday here) and Koko-en
garden...so beautiful! We're looking forward to a wonderful and
relaxing weekend in Kyoto. The kids have all kinds of exciting plans
with their homestay families. We may run into some of them in Kyoto.
 
Here's what we've done so far: We got up early on Wednesday and took
the bullet train to Hiroshima. We toured the peace dome and museum
and had lunch at an Okinomiyaki place. They cook a pancake kind of
thing -with layers of bean sprouts and noodles and other yummy stuff.
It's topped with a thick brown sweetish sauce and it was very good.
 
Then we took the Hiroshima street car to the ferry dock and rode a
ferry to Miyajima Island and explored the beautiful shrines. We
stayed overnight in a Japanese style lodge and cooked dinner together.
 
On Thursday we hiked almost up Mount Misen which is the highest peak
on Miyajima. We meant to hike to the Rope Way but...we got a tiny bit
lost and ended up hiking and scrambling up and up and up...We caught
the rope way at the transfer station most of the way up the
mountain. Once we got to a vending machine for water everybody decided
it had been worth it! The view from the mountain looks like the San
Juan Islands only the islands are a little bit pointier.
  
We had lunch delivered (beautiful Obento) to a park and had to eat
inside because the marauding goat-sized deer will mob you if you eat
outside. After lunch we did a little shopping-Miyajima is famous for
it's wooden spoons (I know you're all excited now). We went to the
Buddhist fire walking ceremony but the line was too long so we
couldn't walk only watch.

My Japanese is improving but mostly I say, "Sumimasen" (excuse me) and
"Arigato" (Thank-you) but I did make the speech at the welcome
assembly today and everybody said it was good. I lost one of my
ridiculous slippers on the way up the stairs so I did the speech in
one sock and one slipper. That was very funny!

We're all learning a lot and most of all we're finding that Japanese
people are friendly and helpful and soo impressed with the kid's
efforts to speak Japanese.

Look for another email on Monday and photos soon-we're having minor
connectivity troubles!

- Tina Taylor

News! News!

Thu Apr 15 19:59:18 PDT 2004 Vashon time

This is from Joanne Kicinski, forwarded from her father, who received an email from a family friend in Japan...

Dear John,

I haven't received any more emails from Katherine from Japan, but I
did get an email regarding a sighting of the group.

30 years ago my parents hosted a young Japanese woman who was studying
art at the University of Washington. They have kept in contact since
then.

We arranged for Yoshiko (our friend in Japan) to meet with the class
and have lunch with them. I got a copy of the email Yoshiko sent to
my father reporting on the visit.

As a parent who wants to hear that all is well with the kids, I
thought other parents might also like to hear that the VHS group had
been seen out and about in Japan. Feel free to edit and include on
your web page.

- Joanne

Dear Mr. Dawson.

Katherine and I have met successfully ! and I could join them in the
afternoon.

Ms. Williams was kind enough to invite me for lunch and I had much
more time with her than I had expected.

I was very happy to have had a chance to show her around in Hiroshima
and Miyajima Island.

Thank you so much for your gift for me (how do you find this is one of
my favorite) and thank Katherene for carrying this heavy Pancake mix
set fron USA to Japan.

I start working from March, which makes me so confusingly busy.

I will send you mail again this weekend (I may have to work on
Saturday!!).

Thank you again.

Love,

Yoshiko

So let's see. Hiroshima and Miyajima would have been Thursday, Japan-time, or (roughly) Wednesday here..

OK. Let's see..

(8:15 A.M Friday Japan-time would be 4:15 P.M. Thursday the 15th, here..)

16th (Fr)

8:15
Come with host student, and stay in dressmaking room.
VHS teachers meet with our principal in guestroom

8:20
VHS teachers meet with our school staff in the staff room
Our students will move to the school gym.

8:30
VHS teachers & students go to the gym with JTE

8:40
Welcome Assembly

9:15
Closing address
Go down the platform, and JTE will show around our school

9:30
Leave school by car for Himeji with 2 JTEs

Visit Kokoen Garden

Lunch at nearby restaurant, and go to Sannomaru Square

Visit Himeji Castle

15:00
Leave for school

16:00
Arrive at school, Join club activities if you want
Your host student will be with you, Go back with host student

News! News!

Wed Apr 14 15:31:10 PDT 2004 Vashon time

Dear John,

Thanks for getting back to me. I don't think Katherine would mind if
we posted her email to me. I think parents would appreciate hearing
that they had arrived and were doing well.

Thanks!

Joanne Kicinski

-----Original Message-----
From: ____@____.net [mailto:____@____.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:34 PM
To: Joanne
Subject: Re: Tuesday Greetings from Vashon

Mum,

Am in Hiroshima currently. Were going to go eat lunch soon, but we
saw an internet cafe so though id type a quick note. sorry for poor
grammar, but japanese keyboards are hard!

Air canada was really disgusting, so Sensei's hoping theyre out of
business so that we might be able to fly united back to the US.

After lunch were heading out to miyajima, its really beautiful.

Eek. Better go, my time is almost up

I can send more e-mails when I see my host family!

Love you
Kak

OK. Let's just say that it's 8:00 A.M. Wednesday morning April 14, here on Vashon (which it is, right now..) so, "Add four hours, and switch A.M. to P.M. or vice versa..."

So that would make it 12:00 P.M. midnight, Wednesday-Thursday April 15 in Japan, so, according to the itinerary they are on Miyajima Island at Tsutsumigaura Nature Park!

Thursday 04/15/2004

Breakfast

Leave at 8:30am hike to ropeway

10:10am ropeway to the top of Mt. Misen 

12:00pm obento lunch in Miyajima

Watch Buddhist firewalking ceremony

2:55pm ferry 

train to Hiroshima station

bullet train Nozomi

Hiroshima ~ Himeji

5:00pm

Meet homestay families and return home with them

Ms. Williams and Ms. Taylor to hotel

So by around 1:00 A.M. tomorrow morning, our time here, they should be back to Himeji and off with the host families.

(I think. This time zone stuff is a little confusing...)

So maybe Thursday sometime I might hear from Maren :-)

It's official:

"We are off to Japan April 12. To keep up with us while we are travelling, check out our website:

http://www.finchhaven.com/pages/himeji/himeji_minami.html

Thanks to John Sage for putting the site together and keeping it updated!"

Now I can't wait to hear from Maren, and get some photos!

Cool! I've just (03/25/04) heard from Williams Sensei (Maren)!

> From: "Maren Williams" <marenwilliams@_______.com>
> To: jsage@finchhaven.com
> Subject: Himeji 2004
> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 01:08:28 +0000
> 
> Hi. How are you? Thanks for doing this for us. It will be great
> for families and friends to be able to see where we are and what we
> are doing.
>
> I will send you the itinerary tomorrow from school. We will be gone
> from April 12-23 and will be travelling on our own for the first 3
> days. Some exciting things we will be doing for the first time
> include camping on Miyajima at Tsutsumigaura Nature Park,
> participation in an ancient Buddhist firewalking ceremony, taking
> the ropeway to the monkey park at the top of Mt. Misen, etc.

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Himeji Minami Senior High School, in Himeji city, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, is Vashon High School's sister school.

Each year a group of students travel from Himeji, Japan to Vashon Island, or from Vashon Island to Himeji, for a one- to two week visit, alternating each year.

In 2002, approximately 15 Vashon High School students will be traveling to Himeji, Japan, from April 15-24, 2002.

Himeji Minami Senior High School,
Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Himeji Minami Senior High School
Address: 191-5 Tenma Otsu-ku  Himeji  Hyogo  671-1143  Japan
Tel: 0792-36-1835

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About Himeji...

The Hyogo Prefecture Business and Cultural Center's got a *really* cool photo gallery of Hyogo Prefecture!

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Japan travel

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Japan News

Some of these links were quite happily stolen from Williams Sensei's homepage!

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Japan weather

Some interesting Japan-related links:

• The Japanese-English Dictionary Portal for Japanese Language Web Resources

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Vashon Island High School, Vashon Island, Washington, USA The Vashon High School web site Williams Sensei (Maren Williams') web page at Vashon High School

Go to From Vashon High School to Himeji, 2002

Return to Vashon Island High School

Go to www.FinchHaven.com

Go to Vashon Island links