It was our first day at school - and there were a few nerves as we met before the welcome ceremony. A very formal occasion, the whole school gathered in the gym. The principal Mr Maeda spoke as did Mr Lilly. On behalf of the Brentwood students, Nicole and Jacqui gave a speech in both English and Japanese. They did a wonderful job speaking in front of nearly 1000 people. After the welcome ceremony, we were interviewed by Kobe Newspaper for an article about our visit.
Brentwood students then went to regular classes with their hosts and participated in a variety of classes including PE, English, maths and science.  After lunch all Brentwood students joined with a second year (Year 11) PE class for a range of activities. There were some challenging tasks based around sumo and judo training exercises. Everyone tried really hard and had a lot of fun!
At the end of the day, it was off to ESS - English Speaking Society - for the first taste of club activities. Clubs run from about 3:30 to 6pm every day. At ESS a range of English games were played to work on speaking skills, finishing off with a game of Mafia - dominated by Allison and Sheryl!

After visiting the temple, we headed down the shopping street - doing some shopping of course - and headed into a famous tofu restaurant for lunch. A beautiful, traditional Japanese lunch was served with tempura, sashimi and many other delicacies. Finished off with a sweet treat!

After lunch is was back on the bus - heading across town to Kinkakuji - the Golden Pavilion. The main hall, covered in brilliant gold leaf, shining above its reflecting pond is truly spectacular. It is a very famous tourist spot and of course a great place for a selfie! After an ice-cream in the rain, it was back on the bus again, heading home to another wonderful night with host families.

Today was out last day of travelling in Japan. We started our morning early checking out of our hotel in Hiroshima. We caught a local train from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi station - a 25min train trip. After a short walk we boarded at the ferry to Miyajima Island. The small island of Miyajima is a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of Japan's most visited tourist spots. Its star attraction is the oft-photographed vermilion torii (shrine gate) of Itsukushima-jinja, which seems to float on the waves at high tide – a scene that has traditionally been ranked as one of the three best views in Japan. Unfortunately, the tori gate is under repair at the moment and completely covered in. However, the shrine was still a lovely place to visit. After our visit to Miyajima, we reversed our morning route and arrived back in Hiroshima with enough time to grab lunch before catching the Shinkansen (x2) a local train and then a bus to finally arrive in Ono!
This is where the nerves kicked in for many of the students - it was time for the welcome ceremony and to time to meet the host families! Both Mr Lilly and the principal of Ono Senior High School, Mr Maeda, gave a speech. Yoonus also gave a short speech in Japanese - representing Brentwood very well!
Finally, it was time to mingle and then head off to hosting homes for the weekend! Good luck everyone!

The day began with all of us wishing Crystal a happy birthday (we love you, Crystal <3). We left our hotel and set our sights on Hiroshima castle, a historic structure that was rebuilt after the devastating effects of the atomic bomb back in 1945. After our usual group photo, we entered the castle and were greeted by stair cases each leading to different rooms that contained traditional attire worn in the feudal times we took this opportunity model the outfits And see how we’d look if we lived during those times. We also got see novels, poems, war costumes and weapons that had all been preserved to modern times. At the top of the castle we could view the rest of the park with ease. As always we had plenty of laughs as well as being reminded of both the beauty of feudal Japan and the destruction that occurred during Japan in World War II. 

The Memorial Peace Park is a sacred site dedicated to informing all who visit about the horrors that occurred during the atomic bombing that took place during world war II In Hiroshima. The Atomic Bomb Dome (formally the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall) was a very significant building for the Hiroshima citizens, even before the bombing of Hiroshima. So after the bombing occurred, many people didn’t want the building to be demolished, and therefore being kept as a reminder of the tragedy. After looking at the Dome, we went and visited the Children’s Peace Monument Statue, where the story of ‘Sadako and the thousand cranes’ is told and cranes from around the world are sent there to honour the children that were effected and killed in the bombing.
​A quote by Sadako states:
“She was told, if she folded 1000 paper cranes the gods would grant her wish, she wished to get well, … she ended up folding 644 cranes before she died.”
 
Next we visited Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Museum. What was presented was overwhelming for us, and brought some of us to tears. The information and stories written about the victims of the bombing were interesting, but also confronting. 
It was an emotional and reflectional trip for all Brentwood students, the message that we took from the Hiroshima events is that we should strive for a world without nuclear weapons, and making the world a better place. 

Following the two leaders, the group left the Peace Park with sadness within after the confronting emotions faced during the museum. Sheryl and Kyla powered through the streets with determination with the group following, in order to reach our next destination, a shopping centre called 本町 (Honmachi). Although there for a short time, we spread out and shopped the rest of our remaining energy out. There were 100 yen stores to dog cafes which brought joy back to our day. After regrouping, everyone made there way towards our well-deserved dinner - Okonamiyaki! We spotted the ‘Okinomi-mura’ building with passionate eyes and split up with meetings decided and joined arms with our fellow comrades to order our dinner. We jammed out to TWICE while watching our food be made right before our eyes and finally began to eat. It was delicious. All sixteen of us finally came together after filling our hungry stomachs and headed towards Mister Donuts, where we bought sweet Japanese... donuts which perfectly ended this tiring, emotional roller coaster-like yet satisfying day.

​Today Sammi, Jacqui and Nicole were the guides.

We checked out of Shiba Park hotel and took a train down to Sensoji Temple. While shrines are for Shintoism, temples worship Buddhism. The first thing we did when we arrived at the temple was take a group photo at the Thunder Gate. Afterwards we went through the shopping stalls and bought some souvenirs. 
Later we went to the main temple and took another photo. A few of the students drew fortunes at the Omikuji. 
When drawing a fortune you insert ¥100 into the stand and pray while you vigorously shake a hexagonal can. A stick comes out from a hole in the can which has a number on it and you draw a fortune from the corresponding box. When a bad fortune is drawn, the paper can be tied onto a rack known as ‘musubidokoro’. Traditionally, the tying of a bad fortune reverses it into a good fortune.
Most of the fortunes were good, however a few were bad. An anonymous student -who wishes not to be named- received a bad fortune and later broke their glasses. 
When we were done at the Sensoji Temple we took the Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Hiroshima. Before boarding, we stopped at a convenience store to buy ekibens (station bento boxes) for the trip. The Shinkansen can reach up to 320km/hour, and the seats can be spun around to face each other. On the way we managed to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji! Upon arrival we had dinner out in the streets and checked into the hotel.

On Tuesday, we visited Disneyland. Our approach to the leadership for the day was allocating the 3 parts of the journey to a different combination of our team. Arriving at Disneyland was a test of our leadership skills as we had to navigate through the crowded Tōkyō Station. There was a whole other city underground in the station, you thought you were almost at the platform until you turned a corner or went down more stairs to discover another passageway. The green jumpers were a real help, allowing us to quickly count and identify people while we were in the station. We exited the train and started the short walk to Disneyland amongst the hundreds of visitors in their Disney character headgear. After our group photo at the Mickey Mouse flower display, we split into groups of boys and girls, and were finally free to explore Disneyland.

In the spirit of Christmas, Disneyland had been decorated with millions of fairy lights and festive ornaments. The highlight of the decorations was the enormous Christmas tree with sparkling lights and baubles. Later at night the shopping district and Christmas tree were transformed by a light show. Animations were projected onto the shop fronts and the Christmas tree’s lights illuminated beautiful patterns. The group of girls also saw a Hip-Hop duo by Disney’s cleaners, who spontaneously started dancing right in the area we were sitting.

Unlike the boys, the girls chose to browse around the various gift shops and buy souvenirs for their families and their friends, as well as go on many rides. We had the experience to enjoy the attractions of Disneyland such as The Pirates Of The Caribbean, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, It’s A Small World, and Splash Mountain, which was the group’s personal favourite. Meanwhile, the boys repeatedly rode a continuous streak of fast and thrilling attractions.

At 1:25pm, us girls stopped and watched the Dreaming Up daytime parade. The loud music and inclusion of iconic and popular Disney characters such as Peter and Wendy, Alice, and Mary Poppins attracted a captive audience. Later at night, we all met up to watch the Dreamlights Nighttime Parade which included Christmas and holiday themed floats that lit up. The best part of the parade was trying to capture the performers’ attention by screaming their names and waving aggressively, which we finally achieved when Flynn Rider winked and flicked his hair in our direction.

Disneyland was a fun bonding experience for the group and an opportunity to use our Japanese, as we asked for assistance with directions and taking photos. We all had an amazing day, which proves Disneyland is truly the ‘Happiest Place on Earth!’ ❤️

-Lelaina, Allison and Caelinr

Today, Crystal, Derek, Yu and Yoonus took charge of the group, planning for the day on the previous night.
Derek and Yu, as the leaders of first half of the day, led the group to Shinodome station, where everyone learnt how to purchase train tickets. Through the Yurikamome line the group arrives at Odaiba, an artificial island. At first, the group went to Miraikan, where we explored the latest technologies.
After, we visited the 19.70 meters tall Gundam model. Throughout the day Yoonus had hyped up the statue but it ended up being quite underwhelming. Leadership was then passed onto Crystal and Yoonus.
Aquacity is a mall filled with international shops as well as shops that are specifically unique to Japan. This consists of familiar brands such as Adidas and Wendy’s and eccentric such as CocoLand and a ramen expo with no ramen?Afterwards we performed the tradition deed of taking photos at famous landmarks including the fake Statue of Liberty and the rainbow bridge with no rainbow? Following this, we went back to the hotel and next made our way to Tokyo Tower. Alongside the beautiful night life of Japan, Tokyo Tower’s view made it an unforgettable memory. We took a slight detour on the way back home where we found a German Christmas Market and had dinner there.

Day one dawned cold and beautiful- a chilly 4 degrees. After breakfast we headed off to Meiji Shrine - a beautiful Shrine in the heart of Tokyo. We then headed to Harajuku for the teen culture street, Oriental Bazaar for shopping and then to shibuya to see Hatchi statue before shopping and dinner.