Day 4

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANI W.***June 27, 2013

      Field Trip

      Today we went to the Japanese Garden in Maymont, ,VA. We spent an hour tending to the garden in exchange for 4 hours of enjoyment and a tour. The sky was cloudy as we worked but became sunnier and perfect for pictures soon after. Then, we all went to Wal-Mart!! Students got items ranging from athletic shorts to Oreos to Trash cans (because there are none in our dorm rooms)
-Courtney O.

      On the field trip, we split into small groups and did one hour work of community service at the Japanese Garden. My group cut huge stalks of bamboo in order to make a clearing around a new memorial tree. We "Swamped" the green stalks up a small mystical entrance into a humid section of the vast bamboo thicket. We dragged the bamboo as far up as we could and made a massive pile that eventually encompassed the whole upper levels of our section of the majestic forest. Nonetheless all of us were dirty and sweaty and hungry for lunch once we finished our work.
-Andrea M.

      The Japanese garden was beautiful. The peaceful atmosphere, the koi fish swimming through the water, and the gentle breeze ruffling the leaves. IT was picture-sic. Many students were able to capture the gorgeous waterfall that occupies the garden. More adventurous students went climbing up the rocks to sit even closer to the waterfall. Our garden trip certainly was きれい！(Pretty).
-Amber S.

Itte Kimasu! We all ride the bus to the beautiful Maymont Garden. 

Afternoon Language Class

     We had a shorter class today because of the field trip. The beginners class was very たのしい (fun). We learned three new songs and the days of the week. The advanced and intermediate classes played a murder mystery together during class.
-Lani W.


Voices from Others students!!!

"I stepped on a yellow jacket's hornet's nest." -Brian

"Japanese Koi fish are actually mermaids from another world.."-Isabella D.

"It was great! I got to cut up bamboo and run up into a cool entrance into forest. We also made our own walking sticks out of the bamboo!" - Laura F.

"The volunteer work was hard, but it was a lot of fun!" - Katrina S.


 

Day 3

Morning Rajio Taisou! (Radio Exercise)

     Today is the third day of Rajio Taiso. Every morning, we get into lines with their company (student organization that organize activities.) and exercise for ten minutes. The exercite are simple and easy to remember. The exercise range from jumping-jacks, stretches and energize the students for the long ahead. These ten minutes make a big difference in the students morning routines and are an important part of Japanese culture.
-Adam

Language Classes

     We have language classes everyday. The beginner language class finished learning the hiragana alphabet and started learning basic grammar. We played Simon says with the new phrases such as "Desu", which means "It is~". We also practiced Japanese outside during study time!
-Lani  

*Film Class

     Today we saw something new on our schedule, Film Study. We started watching the movie "Seven Samurais" and it certainly wasn't boring. the movie, despite it being an old black and white movie, was highly engaging and the Sensei (teacher), made it interesting and insightful comments. It was about peasants finding samurai to protect their village and we're certainly looking forward to next class to continue the film.
-Amber

Recreation

     During our recreation time, some students played basketball. Others played tennis outside, swam in pool, worked out in weight lifting room.
-Liem

Culture Class

     Today we had the first day of Culture Class B. We had 3 choices of classes to choose from both A and B. Choices for group A were Japanese Wood Blocks, Japanese Holidays, and Japanese Theater. Group B includes Food, Japanese Religions, and Japanese Fashion. In food class, we watched a movie on a Japanese  food called Udon + had chewy Japanese Candies!
-Courtney

Today we went to our culture classes. There was a selection between fashion, food and religion classes. Luis Senpai taught the fashion class and we learned about popular Japanese fashion throughout the past few decades. Afterwards we made friendship bracelets out of origami paper!
-Andrea

Day 1-2

Nightly meeting to prepare for our next busy day.

Learning about campus securities.  

We have our nightly journal writing time to remember our long day!

A short game of UNO before bedtime. 

Studying outside! Several of the beginner students from Uchida Sensei's

class study their newly learned Hiragana underneath the beautiful summer sky.

I work out! Students do a number of different things for their first "rec 

time" in the Brock Gymnasium. Some students worked in the weight room on trendmills 

or with weights, while others played basketball and more still swam in the cool pool. 

Sones-Sensei teaching us symbols and motifs in Japanese Art.  

Dear 2013 Japanese Academy Students...

Welcome to 2013 Japanese Academy 

This is a brief schedule for tomorrow, Sunday June 23,2013. Please be sure to check-in at Andrew's Hall.

Schedule for Sunday, June 23

12:00 – 1:00: Student check-in (Andrews)

1:30 – 2:15: Opening Ceremony (Blackwell Auditorium)

2:30 – 3:00: Quick introduction &  brief announcement for the rest of the day

3:00 – 5:00: Icebreakers/Placement test (Andrews MPR)

5:30 – 6:20: Dinner

6:30 – 7:30: Campus tour

7:30 – 8:50: Introduction, candidates’ speech for company presidents (Andrews MPR)

9:00 – 9:30: Nightly meeting, candidates’ speech for company president election (Andrews MPR)

*Students and parents* If you have forgotten to turn in your insurance/immunization form, please be sure to bring them.

We are looking forward to see you all tomorrow!!