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World School - Tokyo, Japan
A report from Kirsten, Abby, Amelia; our World School Ambassadors.
21 – 24 October: Katsuura
On Sunday, 21 October, after much anticipation and hard work, we finally left for Tokyo, Japan. We arrived at Heathrow airport at around 1pm, where we were all very excited to finally set off! We boarded the plane and settled in for the long-awaited flight, which was a tiring 11 hours but worth every minute to start our World School adventure!
After we collected our bags at Narita airport, we were greeted by the wonderful staff and students from Kanto International High School, the founding member of World School. While we waited for a bus to take us to Katsuura, our home for the majority of the trip, we met some of the delegates from Russia, Canada and France and, despite the jet lag, spent a few hours getting to know each other.
When we arrived we had all of the Kanto staff waiting for us with welcome signs! We were shocked with how enthusiastic they were when we got off the bus, but greatly appreciated such a kind and warm welcome. We met our new room-mates at dinner and, after lots of excited conservations, finally headed to bed for a much-needed sleep.
The first full day flew by! Breakfast was a very animated occasion as it was the first time all of the delegates were together; it was great to meet everyone and start sharing information about our lives and countries. During the opening ceremony we heard speeches from the World School organisers; Natsuki Kitayama, Marian Rosenstiel and James Harman, Principal of Kanto International High School. We then took a photo of everybody outside together and played some ice breaker games to introduce ourselves to everyone. After lunch, we started our country presentations in which each delegation presented on their country and the food and waste situation in it. These were very interesting and allowed us to see the similarities and differences in our cultures and homes.
On Wednesday the country presentations continued. After lunch, we had an excellent talk from our keynote speaker, Mr Koichi Takahashi, the President of the Japan Food Ecology Centre about how the centre works and how they are tackling food and waste in Japan. The rest of the day was spent getting to know our new friends more, and packing for our 4 day trip to Tokyo.
25 – 28 October: Tokyo
After a very early start and a two and a half hour drive, we arrived at Kanto International High School. We were greeted by a crowd of students waving and cheering at us – a very warm welcome! The students had prepared some games for us so we got into our 5 seminar groups and then did a warmup. The activity was a jump rope game where you had to run in and out of the skipping rope. It was hard but really funny to watch! We then had lunch where we got given a variety of Japanese foods such as tofu, rice and red bean snacks. We had to use chopsticks for this which was tricky but enabled us to practice before our home stays. After lunch we went on a walking tour of Shinjuku, trying some interesting Japanese sweets along the way! After the tour we met our homestays – we felt very nervous, but they were all lovely! We all enjoyed a great first evening getting to know our new families.
Some of the Kanto students have to travel up to 2 hours to get to school every day, so it was an early start for many of us on Friday! After arriving at school, we set up our booths for the school festival over weekend. We then had a chance to go and see all of the other countries booths and collect badges and stamps from them all - they were fantastic! They also had some food to try including a lot of sweets which were delicious. In the afternoon we went on a walking tour to Harajuku. This area was amazing and very different to any in England. It was very busy and had lots of quirky shops and lots of people dressed up. We bought a huge cotton candy and some milk tea drinks, explored the shops and took a strange collection of photos in a photo booth with our lovely Japanese guides! In the evening, we went out with our host families, visiting places like Asakusa and the beautiful Senso-ji temple and Tokyo Skytree, with its amazing view!
On Saturday, we had a very busy day at the school festival. After a quick briefing, we headed to our booths and before we knew it the room was absolutely packed and we were telling lots of people all about England and Invicta. We managed to work in shifts so that we could get lunch and have a look at the other booths around the school. Once again, we all had wonderful evenings with our homestay families, trying sushi, exploring the city and seeing the sights.
The festival continued on Sunday, and we had to change into our performance outfits when we arrived at school because as well as being at our booth all day, we had to perform our dance to the school and its visitors. When the time came for us to perform we were so nervous as everyone else was really good! It was so scary performing in front of all those people but we did really well! In the evening, some of us were lucky enough to visit Tokyo Disneyland where we watched the fireworks, bought Disney inspired Japanese food and managed to go on a few rides before heading home very tired!
29 October – 3 November: Katsuura
The week began with a farewell to our host families; all of the students and teachers gathered at Kanto International High School to say their goodbyes. There were tears shed between several pairings and it proved how spending even just a short amount of time with someone can bring you so much closer together. Once the Kanto students waving hands were out of sight, we travelled to the Japan Food Ecology Centre (J-FEC) and received a tour from Mr Takahashi, the President of J-FEC. Due to the building's compact and well-organised layout the tour took ten minutes and we were given plenty of time to ask any questions. There were questions asked all around the room and from both teachers and students; it was useful to gain knowledge in preparation for making our own realistic solutions to the problems of food and waste.
Following the J-FEC centre tour we travelled to Asakusa for a tempura lunch and free time to discover the area for ourselves. Taking photos in the sun in front of the beautiful gates, finding out our fortunes (both good and bad), trying local snacks such as melonpan, saying a prayer at the Senso-ji Temple and buying gifts for family were just some of the activities that took up our time there. Then we continued back to the Katsuura campus where we settled back in like we had never left. It was lovely to be reunited with our roommates once more!
Tuesday began the seminar preparations as we dispersed into our groups and started to work on our own Call To Action - a video used to motivate people to start taking action to solve a problem. The session was one filled with creating and refining our ideas, which were already slowly forming since our research for the information booklet began. After presenting our ideas to our teachers, we received feedback and improved our work before designating a different section of the presentation to each member of the group. Once this was decided, script writing and editing could begin along with designing a presentation to accompany the speech. These processes were carried out over the sessions on Wednesday and Thursday with Friday being the chosen day for filming. To ensure our presentations were as successful as possible in front of the camera, we were also allowed time to present to our fellow delegates and receive feedback from them.
However, the second week was certainly not only spent working as the Kanto students arranged several activities for us to enjoy. For example, on Tuesday and Thursday they set up the tables and organised the international snacks in their appropriate countries; we were given time to ask the delegates about their snacks and give them a try. There was a wide variety of appearances, ingredients and flavours ranging from shockingly sour sweets to chewy Australian mints.
On Tuesday evening the performance night for all of the countries took place. The Kanto students were as enthusiastic about the performances as the delegates and this enabled a wonderful atmosphere to be created. It was an evening full of singing, dancing, swaying and cheering which ended with a group sing-a-long of 'We Are The World', the song of the World School Forum.
Wednesday began with an early beach walk but, surprisingly, the 5am wake-up call did not scare off many of the delegates and the stunning view of the sunrise from the beach was enjoyed by almost all of us. Later in the day we were also treated to a sports competition between the teams consisting of an obstacle course, tug of war and a few games of football. The overall winner was the blue team and their screams of success rang through the campus for many minutes after it was revealed. Due to it being Halloween on Wednesday, yet more screams filled the North Hill lobby in the evening as we settled down to watch 'Insidious' as a group. Terrifying for some but hilarious for others, the evening was great fun.
On Thursday the Kanto student staff invited us to enjoy an evening of Japanese culture: we played games such as koma and kendama, and practiced our skills in origami and shodo (calligraphy). It was presented wonderfully and it was a truly interesting and enjoyable evening for all.
After the filming on Friday morning was completed, we spent time gathering signatures, messages and photos. Following lunch time and packing, each school group were given the chance to contribute to the World School tree planting ceremony. The farewell ceremony came soon after and by the end the restaurant was full of tears and hugs. Receiving our own certificates, enjoying an incredible last Blueberry Hill dinner, hearing heartfelt speeches from teachers and fellow delegates Alan and Mara, and watching performances from various countries and the Kanto students brought home the importance of the forum for a lot of students. The bonds we have formed and the great times we have shared made it all the more difficult to hold back tears. The Kanto students and staff, however, knew exactly how to lift the mood and the next couple of hours were spent dancing, singing and jumping together to music from all around the world in the North Hill lobby.
Saturday was the dreaded day. Despite it being an early 4am start, most delegates were up and keen to give hugs and gifts to their friends. Again, a lot of tears were shed and the atmosphere on the coach was quite the change from the fun-filled, noisy one from a mere week ago. The two weeks truly flew by and it feels like madness to think that it has already come to an end.
From the bottom of our hearts we would like to thank all of the staff, students, delegates and teachers who made this possible. We hope that our Call To Action videos will make a difference in the world; it is not the end, it is only the beginning.
