The Japanese Exchange Article

 The Annual Japanese Exchange         

The William Allitt School

19th March 2015
By Rachel

Every year the William Allitt School takes part in an exchange trip to Japan. This trip involves 4 students from the school and one member of staff. The students and their families host a student from Japan for one week in September, and then the students spend two weeks in Japan later in October. The two week trip involves one week at a hostel visiting places of interest around Japan and another week staying with a Japanese family and attending school with the host.

 

 In 2014 students visited places such as Kyoto, Miyajima and Hiroshima Peace Park, led by a knowledgeable guide. The trip to Hiroshima is always memorable providing students with an accurate representation of the events following the atomic bomb that was dropped in 1945. The picturesque hotel on the island of Miyajima lies on the harbour front and gives students a taste of traditional Japanese life. Students kneel as they eat, sleep upon tatami mats and dodge the indigenous deer often found photo-bombing and stealing recent purchases.

 

In the second week students experience a very different culture in which they are expected to wear slippers at school and take part in cleaning classrooms after school. Each Japanese school taking part plays host to 2 English school, 4 students, and one teacher. In 2014 The William Allitt School was paired with Suenohara Junior High School where they were given the utmost privilege of being dressed by women who are usually dressing brides on their wedding day. It is an amazing experience and places are coveted, the application process for the 2015 Japanese exchange is currently underway.

 “I feel a lot more confident in myself. This trip has helped me to understand cultural differences and has given me friends on the other side of the world.”

- India