Heading off to Japan for the first time on 7th May 2009;
It was a day to remember and a visit we could never forget!
As apprehensive as I was, I was still compelled to go to Japan in an endeavour to better understand the Japanese students that we will be hosting in the future. I had just spent the past year hosting students but was determined to do a better job. So it was off to Japan for an education, mainly.
If I had known that the trip would have been so amazing, breathtaking and mind blowing, I would have saved the anxiety for something worth being anxious about. 2 weeks seemed long enough for the first time, we’d thought, however in hindsight, we could have and should have stayed longer. We were not ready to leave when we did.
Our host family was truly delightful and a blessing to us both. A mother (Sumie), father (Koichi) and 4 happy and contented children; aged between 4 and 12 years – 1 girl and 3 boys.
The Oyama Family
Our Japanese Host Family!
Father – Koichi age 41 and Mother – gorgeous Sumie age 42
with their 4 gorgeous children
Sons:Keiju age 11, Shoma age 12, Ryuku Age 9
and daughter Anon age 4
Photo taken Sunday 10th May 2009
We were put in touch with the “Oyama” family by our very good friend C.J. Ellis who had hosted students from Japan for over 20 years. Koichi was his first student. Koichi subsequently returned to C.J. Ellis, some years later and stayed with him for 4 months;
at which time he studied at a University in Melbourne, worked as an assistant chef and also learnt English. Sumie, came to Australia for 2 years to Study English also and it was here in Melbourne that they met and fell in love. They returned to Japan to marry and start their family.
C.J. Ellis - photo taken December 2008 on his Ballarat farm.
Sumie and Koichi made our stay so very, very comfortable and enjoyable. Sumie in particular, made our visit just that much easier.
Our intention to go to Japan was to meet up with the students and their families that we hosted in 2008-2009. We met 11 out of 22 students. It was more than difficult to communicate with the students over the phone to arrange our visits.
Sumie willingly stepped in and conversed with all of the students that we were able to make contact with. She acted as an interpreter. If it were not for Sumie, we would not have met up with Yuka and Azusa and a further 9 students.
We also were surprised by the surprise visit from Yuka’s mother “Hiroko“(far left).
Yuka and Azusa walking to greet us at Kawagoe Station on – 15th May.
For her efforts, we can’t thank her enough. It was through her endless communications that arrangements could be made. As busy as Sumie was, she always made time for us. She took us shopping and sight-seeing whilst being busy with her large family. In Japan, families comprise of either one or two children, so a family of 4 children, is considered large.
Our Japanese room
We lived like Japanese for 2 weeks; sleeping on futons which were placed on tatami mats. We were fortunate to have a very comfortable private room. It was a traditional Japanese style room of 6 tatami mats (size). I did not think my back could cope with the travel or sleeping the traditional Japanese way; after 2 previous back operations and a further operation being avoided. However, to our surprise, I woke up the first morning with no pain to my lower back or neck. I was able to walk long distances and felt better than I’d felt in years. Back pain and loss of movement was my major concern and one of the reasons why I was so apprehensive about going to Japan.
(Left) A view into our modern bedroom from the staircase.
Anon’s room – Thank-you Anon!
Their home was modern, new and quite a good size. There was room for everyone in their home. We felt so very spoilt in such luxury. It was a little on the noisy side in the mornings, with children getting ready for school and kindergarten. Their pitter patter of their feet – up and down the stair case, was actually quite refreshing. I would get up early, lay on my futon and just listen to the children speak in their very sweet voices in their native language. I felt as though I was in heaven. I loved it that much.
The children with their parents in their playroom wearing some of their gifts from us – hats for the kids and Koichi, a nuno-scarf for Sumie and books for the kids.
We were like grandparents in their home and they treated us like family – with such love and respect. The children tried hard to speak to us in English as we tried so very hard to speak to them in their language. They did a better job of it than we did!
On the first morning, we accompanied Sumie to collect her daughter – Anon from her Kindergarten. Sumie thought she would be funny so she’d asked me to pick out her daughter from some 500 young children of the same age that were coming out of Kindergarten. She laughed and then we both laughed – they all looked the same! They wore felted grey hats, and maroon uniforms, they had black braided hair and almond shaped eyes and gorgeous chubby cheeks and were all about the same height. Well… did we laugh? I managed to pick her out of a crowd eventually and then expected my reward. There was no reward, but a big hug from Anon when she came running towards me. What a treat! That had made my day. Glyn even enjoyed the moment.
We ate like Japanese using chop sticks which we grasped right away. We mainly ate Soba, which is noodle.
Sumie prepared a traditional Japanese lunch box for us for our journey into Tokyo. We had always wondered what the students ate for lunch and they would always mention a “Lunch-box) but we couldn’t understand what they comprised of until now. A lunch box filled with healthy savoury treats.Thank-you Sumie!
We sampled food in their amazing and colourful shopping centres. The shops are massive in Japan. Well I guess they have to be as the population is 1.28 billion. The food is plentiful and low fat.
Photos taken outside of a shopping centre and restaurant
While we were driving from Narita International Airport on the evening of 7th May, we could only see the cities lights. We noted during daylight that the city never seemed to end. We drove for hours and just saw massive skyscrapers of apartments that house thousands of families.
There was nowhere else to hang their washing, but over balconies, apartment after apartment and building after building.
The streets were very narrow. We were in the suburbs of Kanagawa City – west of Tokyo. I could not imagine driving in Japan. Koichi said that if you can drive in Japan, you can drive anywhere in the world. I guess he was right.
Cars, bikes, bicycles and pedestrians, share the same narrow roads and all make the utmost effort to avoid colliding with each other. I didn’t hear any horns blowing like in other Asian countries. People never seemed to be too concerned about the traffic, or about being run over by a car or hit by other cars. I was told that there is no road rage in Japan – ever. Apparently it is rude to sound a horn and the only time a horn should be sounded was to warn other motorists or pedestrians of potential danger.
I was amazed when I saw, for the first time, vending machines that supply drinks and snacks on most street corners in these tiny suburbs. 
The vending machines were clean. They are never attacked by vandals – there is no graffiti to be seen.
We queried with our hosts, the crime rate in Japan. They replied that it is very low due to police presence. Police presence was clearly noted with police on just about every corner and small police manning stations. There are police everywhere in Japan and because there is high police presence, people find it safe to walk the streets at any time of day. Women and children also feel a sense of safety. I would feel safer living in Japan than I do, living in Melbourne.
There were market gardens everywhere; nestled amongst the homes. Beauty and congestion wherever we looked.
The streets were so clean. Each section of the community are provided with communal rubbish bins. The residents place their rubbish in the bins. These large communal bins are placed on a street corner within their community and every day, the bins are collected. Unlike Australia where we are spoilt. We all have our own bins which we place out the front of our property weekly. People actually go to extreme lengths in Japan to recycle; going way out of their way to take their clean juice, milk containers, meat trays etc. to shopping centres for recycling.
It was clearly noted everywhere we looked, that people were wearing white mouth and nose masks. We asked Sumie why this is so. She replied that when a person is sick in Japan, they wear the mask to protect the public so that they do not infect anyone with their germs. This I thought was really nice of the people to be so thoughtful. 1.28 billion people in Japan and they have less of an outbreak of Swine Flue than in Australia. 
I guess this is why! With the recent spread of Swine flue in Melbourne, people here don’t seem to be too concerned about spreading their germs to the public. The Japanese have grown up with using the face mask so it is the norm for them and they don’t feel embarrassed or out of place. No one is going to laugh at them. They don’t think they look stupid. There is no excuse for not going to school or work. If they are sick, they pop on a face mask and off they go. We are more concerned about looking “stupid”.
We also discovered that the number plates on cars are different colours on different sized cars. Why is this so, we asked Sumie. Well she said ” Cars with a small engine, displays one colour and each size engine, displays a different colour.
Cars on the road that are older than 10 years incur government taxes. Older cars end up off the road and exported to other countries. People are discouraged to keep their cars any longer than 10 years. A hefty tax is enough encouragement to make me want to trade-in my old car!
There are mainly new small cars in Japan because the roads and streets are so narrow that drivers struggle to pass each other on most intersections in the suburbs. The parking spots are so small every where we noticed.
The children can be seen playing quietly in the street and young mothers walk with their babies in slings. People are generally kind to each other. We were welcomed as tourists from Australia wherever we went. The Japanese people were always so excited to meet us and strangers would walk up to us and want to speak to us using their limited English.
There are no street names at the foot of each street. This was to our shock and amazement. We wondered how we were going to find our way around Kanagawa. It was a wonder that we didn’t get lost. When we ventured out alone, we were very careful to note landmarks so that we could find our way back home. The suburbs are numbered, the areas are broken up into sections and the houses are given numbers. Again, I stress that I could never drive in Japan; particularly without a G.P.S. but then again, it would be in Japanese.
Everyone seems to walk – hence why they normally do not have an issue with their weight. We returned home 3 kgs. lighter than before we left even after over eating. With such a good public transport system, people tend to ride their bicycles to railway stations, park their bicycles in bike parks and walk wherever they needed to walk. There were huge parks of bicycles near every railways station that we came across.
We visited shopping centres in an endeavour to compare prices of their goods with Australian prices and most faired the same – Australian beef, to our surprise, was about the same price per kilo, however Japanese beef was expensive. Fruit was extremely expensive. A small rock melon was priced at around $40.00.
The biggest shock was the price of cats and dogs. We visited a pet shop and noted that a kitten was priced at 298,000 yen which is equivalent to around $4,000 AU. These were just ordinary cats. We can’t give cats away in Australia!
The price of a pup was around $398,000 yen. 
They love little dogs in Japan and I suppose it is practical for them to have little dogs housed in their homes where space is so limited. Most Japanese live in apartments, therefore there are no back yards.
Photo taken with the Principal of Obirin Junior High School
I was asked by the principal of the Obirin Junior High School, what had made an impression on me whilst in Japan. “Well” I said “It is the gentleness of the people that has made such an impression on me”.
Shop attendants are so helpful. They smile and say “Arigato Gozaimasu” (thank-you ) when they take the money. They bow so politely. And if I said thank you, they would again bow and say “Do-itashimashite” (You are welcome) with a huge smile. Gosh….They seems to love everyone. They would do this time after time, customer after customer….. Everywhere we went. We are lucky to get eye contact from our shop attendants in Australia!
We travelled over 5 days on several trains each day to our destinations. Our students were all over the place and the only way we could meet up with them during their limited time, was for us to travel to them. They all were in the midst of study for their exams that were to be held the following week. Some groups travelled to meet up with us at mutual destinations so that they could take us sight-seeing.
When we needed help at some railway stations, there were some Japanese people who took us by the hand and helped us purchase our tickets. They then guided us to the correct platform. This could have meant themselves missing their own train. I don’t think we would see this sort of support anywhere else in the world.
Railway station at Yokohama
In Japan, people don’t need to wait for a train. Trains are always on time. People do become annoyed if a train runs even a couple of minutes late; therefore a great deal of effort is made to ensure that trains do run on time.
Yokohama (view from the bridge)
Generally, trains arrive every few minutes with very little time to wait for a train, if at all. Stations are named in Japanese and in English. This made it that much easier to know where we were and where we were going.
The trains are busy through-out the day but typically during the peak period – early morning and late afternoon when they are jam packed and people are pushed in by station attendants to make room for commuters boarding the train. More than half the people commuting will be asleep, whilst the rest of the travellers either play games on their mobile phones or read books. People do not make eye contact at all on the trains or in general. I was so amazed by the fashions and the beauty of the women, that I couldn’t help but stare. This was a bit of a shock to read in a notice later, that the Japanese find it rude to be stared at so they do not make eye contact or look around. I had just spent 3 days looking at everyone and everything whilst travelling on their public transport; just so excited about my surroundings – a real tourist I guess. By the fourth train trip, I kept my eyes glued on the exist signs above each door, so as not to offend anyone. I was quickly becoming aware of the cultural differences. Travelling on trains in Japan was something else. Really! I was very apprehensive about train travel, because I’d read earlier, that there are men, dressed in little white gloves, just ready to squeeze you into the train. Well I was right, but as I said, it was really just during the peak period and it was this period that I learnt quickly to avoid. Being a little lady of not even 146 centimetres tall and middle aged, I was more than concerned that I would get crushed, stood on or even bent out of shape. The thought terrified me. The cutest thing of all was when the doors were ready to close, a lovely short verse of music was played. The not so cute thing was when exiting the train, we were moved with the flow of traffic, very quickly along the platform and up the stairs. It was like a slow – short step movement forward. We learnt to travel in the late morning or early afternoon and to avoid (as a precaution) peak time travel, as I had said. People lined up to enter the trains; standing behind a designated green line and others lined up behind them. They stood aside with patience for people to exit the train and then they gently boarded the train. 
Children stood up for the elderly on most occasions, as we noted. On the subject of purchasing tickets, it was a very simple process on most occasions and something that Australia’s Public Rail System can learn from. When we did not know the fare, we would purchase the minimum priced ticket and adjust the fare at our destination – a handy hint that we noted from a short documentary that was run on our Jet star flight before we touched down in Japan. There were also several attendants on each platform that were willing and eager to help if we needed directions. Most could speak limited English.
5 very friendly ladies in their kimonos were waiting at the station for a train 
I wondered why people were so tired and would quickly close their eyes and sleep on the train. Sumie helped me to understand. She said that they catch a nap whenever they can because they work such long hours; not going home until the boss leaves. And the students travel in most cases for 2 – 3 hours to get to school. They would ride their bicycle, then take a train or several and then get on a bus and continue to walk the rest of the way to get to school. They, of course would do the same travel on their return home. I was stunned when I saw a woman actually asleep while she was standing. She was holding onto the hand rail above her head and would wake up when she was about to fall over. She did this for the entire trip of several stations. This was the most amusing of all sights, we thought. We noted people coming home from work as late as10:30 pm and perhaps even later (if we’d stayed out later). It is any wonder the Japanese enjoy their nightly baths so much. They are usually up at 5:00 am to make the same lengthy travel to school and work, hence why they are so stressed by their lifestyle. Even though they are so stressed, they somehow find a way to be polite to each other. They are generally happy and playful people and their children are always smiling.
The culture is so very different to that of the west. I had wondered why our students are so tired by the time they reach our farm. I do now understand. They travel to Australia on a night flight (a flight that we also took). Planes out of Japan stop at midnight as courtesy to their nation of residence, so that they are not disturbed. It is impossible to sleep on a plane unless sedated I thought. Breakfast is served at 4:00 am. People shuffle up and down throughout the flight.
The students get just 4 weeks holiday each year. They go to school 6 days a week and sometimes don’t get home until 7:00 pm each night or even later. Their sports activities are held usually after school and not during school time, as in Australia. They then retire to study and music practice. Students are usually musically orientated and learn their preferred instrument beginning at the age of 3. They are being taught to read and write also from the age of 3 and to my amazement, our host family’s daughter – Anon, can read at the age of 4. She is now learning English. Pressure is being placed on these young people and I’d wondered if they are better for it. I concluded that they are. They are put under so much pressure to perform. Their lifestyle is very regimented so they grow up to be very appreciative and well mannered people. All 11 of our students were obedient and well mannered to their parents.
There is a huge Western influence in Japan and billboards, street and shop signs displayed Japanese and English text. This of course made it much easier for us to find our way around and also to know what was for sale in each shop.
There were some students who approached us in groups with their teachers and asked us for our permission for them to speak to us in English. Another group of University students were studying English and wanted to hang around with us all day. There were groups of students with huge smiles on their faces who were excited about approaching English speaking tourists to request conversation with them. The tourists were more than happy to oblige.
Most of the time, the people were very tolerant of my ignorance and just smiled at me when I did something out of place. On 2 occasions I had gone into a shop – one was a general clothing shop and the other was a shop that sold only kimonos. On both occasions I’d noticed a pair of shoes just inside the entrance, so I stepped out of my shoes and into the shoes that were there. I had been doing this for days before entering the home of our host family, so it felt like the right thing to do. I’d subsequently stepped into the shoes that belonged to another patron. I was quickly, on both occasions, corrected by the shop attendants. When I realised what I had done, I began to laugh with surprise. I was not made fun of. They were not angry but they corrected me with such gentleness. I just melted with their kindness and then I began to bow to them. I was fitting in quite nicely by this time I’d thought. Bowing became a natural occurrence.
During our travels, we passed thousands of people. I noticed that no one wore clothing that was at all revealing. I questioned my Japanese friend – Sumie and she replied “We are not like this in Japan” – meaning that people in Japan are conservative in there dress and do not show cleavage- there is no cleavage to be seen anywhere, which actually was a breath of fresh air not to have a pair of breast in your face wherever we went. I also visited a number of clothing stores and all and I mean all, tops and dresses were either a high round or high square neck or they wore layers of clothing that would cover themselves up.
Now I also questioned the extremes in Japan. While the Japanese are conservative and very careful not to dress revealingly, they are quite comfortable to bath in public in mixed “Onsens“, (around 2,000 throughout Japan) without wearing a stitch of clothing. Can’t figure that one out and I suppose that was the biggest culture shock of all – not that I visited one, though we had been invited to go several times but we declined the offers. I replied to all our invitations “We are not like that in Australia”.
We did visit some amazing places though. Sumie and Koichi desperately wanted to take us to see Mt Fuji and they got their wish. We had a lovely day.
The gardens were beautiful.
Glyn looking with amazement at Mt Fuji
I have wanted to see a cherry blossom tree for months. I was thrilled.
To the Japanese, everything is “Kawaii”(Cute) or “Sugoi” (Great)”. A photo could not be taken unless they displayed a peace sign – this stems back from the 2nd world war, they say. We joined in whenever a photo was taken as not to look out of place. We were quickly marched into a photo booth to take photos on two occasions with 2 groups of students. They were young and they didn’t make us feel like old “Fuddy-duddies”, but loved and respected us and wanted to spend time with us and share their country with us by taking us sight-seeing. We just had a ball.
Our February 2009 Group Sunday 3rd May (Mother’s Day)
We visited “Asakusa” with the 4 girls - This group had done a “Farm-stay” with us just last February and it had been just 12 weeks since they’d seen us however, it felt like years. We’d met at the entrance of the Temple and they screamed with delight when they saw us patiently waiting for them. There were hugs and kisses all-round, for a good 20 minutes or so and they could not stop taking photos of us.
Natsumi, Yuki, Mina and Miku
We were invited to stay for the week-end at Kawagoe City with our very first student – Minami and her family. Her family were just so wonderful and couldn’t do more for us. We were welcomed with open arms.
Manami and Ayaka on Friday evening-15th May
These two students were our first group Farm stay in August 2008
Glyn, Manami, Mary-Rose and Kyomi
A feast prepared by Kyomi
- (Photo left) Manami‘s Father – Fumio and her brother – Shota - we all toast.
- (Photo middle) Mary-Rose displays how good she is with chopsticks – (Glyn laughs)
- (Photo right) A delicious dessert made and presented by Kyomi
Manami has played the organ since she was 3 years old.
She played several pieces for us – She played so beautifully, I just cried!
Thank you Manami!
Below -The girls then do my make-up and hair in traditional Japanese style before we go to eat out at a Sushi Bar.
Due to the language barrier, the family went out of their way to entertain us, so they made hats out of newspapers and we looked through the children’s baby albums.
Everyone wanted to take us out or have us over for dinner and there was never a dull moment.
Sushi Bar with Manami’s family and Ayaka on Saturday 16th May.
Kawagoe City – sight-seeing
with Kyomi and Shota (Minami’s brother).
Two Japanese ladies dressed up like Geisha’s for the tourists.
We also felt quite special and very spoilt when Koichi’s father offered to take us out sight-seeing for the day. We had a wonderful day out when we were taken on a train journey aboard one of the oldest trains in Japan. This particular train that we boarded was made in the 1940′s.
I could not believe the floor was made of wood.
This train took us to Kamakora.
When we arrived, there was a class of young students of an English class and they wanted to speak to us in English – so I obliged. It was fun and we laughed. They wanted us to take a photo with them.
Koichi’s father – Hiroshi is a remarkable elderly man. He is – well into his ’70 and he could out-walk a 20 year old. He collected us from our home.
We walked to the station and we were on and off trains several times to get to see some amazing sights of temples and Japanese gardens. We even did a little shopping to my delight. Hiroshi also treated us to a fabulous Japanese lunch and then escorted us home late into the evening. Thank you Hiroshi!
This photo was taken in the Park at Sagamahara,Kanagawa
(Koichi’s Parents – Hiroshi & Hideko)
One of the mothers – Mayumi Wada went out of her way to organise a visit to her daughter’s school “Obirin Junior High School”.
Mayumi had taken time off work to collect us from Sagamihara. She’d arranged for the Principal to meet us and take us on a tour of the school. We were flabbergasted. Thank you Mayumi!
Natsumi, Mariko, Risa, Mrs Mayumi Wada, Mary-Rose and Glyn
“The Wada Family” Dinner Japanese style; prepared by Mayumi at her home.
We were at Obirin Junior High School. This was a chance meeting with the same nurse that attended our farm last December ’08 to attend to one of the students who was apparently suffering from exhaustion).
At the bus centre at Machida on the day we were leaving to return to Australia.
On the plane returning to Australia.
It was an actioned packed 2 weeks. What really reduced me to tears was their emotions as they farewelled us with their good-byes.
The families that welcomed us, had become so attached to us. Such a warm and loving nation of people – a wonderful culture that we can’t help but fall in love with.
The experience wouldn’t have been so wonderful if we hadn’t stayed with such a wonderful Japanese family and shared our time with so many Japanese friends. If we had stayed in hotels, we could not have gained an understanding of the people and their culture that we so desperately wanted to learn about.
Gifts from our students and their families.
We vowed to return each year if it is at all possible.
Please visit our photo gallery on www.calsonpark.com to see more than 200 photos that we chose, out of 1,680 photos taken. (Photos that were taken by all our Japanese friends and placed on CD for us). Just another act of kindness!
