Semi-Sensei, Day 1

I am in Japan for the week with 12 Carleton students and 12 U of Ottawa students (and another 20 U of Toronto students for whom I am not responsible) as part of the Kakehashi program.  It is run by the Asia Pacific Foundation and the government of Japan.  They run many, many groups coming from Canada and the US (and maybe elsewhere).  The idea is to give Canadian students (our group is mostly grad students) a chance to experience Japan including a couple of nights staying at the homes of Japanese families.  It also involves briefings, presentations by Japanese universities, and tours of various places. 

We arrived last night--here's the before picture:

Landed, waiting for bags, students and
prof ready to get going.

Our first day begins in a few hours (yeah, I got up way early) with an orientation briefing and then a keynote speech by a professor from Yokohama National U: Dr. Kenji Hasegawa.  We get lunch and to see the Imperial Palace Plaza before taking the bullet train to Sendai.  After one night there and an exchange program with Tohoku University, the students meet their host families and spend two nights there.   I will be hanging out on call at the hotel and wandering around Sendai.  On Thusday, we see Matsushima and a temple complex.  On Friday, we return to Tokyo for some time to develop a report and present it, and then Saturday we see some gardens, the Olympic Museum, and the Honda Welcome plaza.  The last day involves a trip to the Edo Tokyo museum, the State Guest House, and Akasaka Palace before heading home.

Why did I sign up and what is my role as chaperone? Well, first, the students are supposed to call me Sensei, so that pretty much explains the first question.  Ok, that was a pleasant surprise last night on the ride from the airport to the hotel.  While I will not have a heap of free time, any time to explore Japan and re-visit some cool places in Tokyo on someone else's budget is so very tempting.  I have, not quite as problematically as Bert Cooper in Mad Men, developed a Japan addiction.  In my own trips, I never had tour guides, so I hope to learn more as I visit places I have seen, and I get to go to a city and a part of Japan I have not experienced before--Sendai. A lot of that area got torn up by the tsunami of 3/11, so seeing the recovery will also be most informative.  

My role mostly is to be a resource for the group leaders (one from each Ottawa school) and the students.  I was responsible for making sure all students got on the various planes and that none were ill.  One of the surprising things was that the group leader instructions include recording the temperatures each student takes each day.  Seemed silly when we first got the instructions, less so now with corona virus.  I think the idea is (a) a sick person can infect the entire group; and (b) we don't want to infest the host families.  So, one fever puts a student into a hotel room for as long as they are hot, missing out on the rest of the program.  

In the short time I have been here, I got to see a friend from my previous trips, ate some great dumplings, and had some horse sashimi (raw horse meat), a first for me.  I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked, but I am already having a great time.  While we will not have that much independent time, last night and the two nights at the end of the week in Toyko give us a chance to explore a bit.  Since I have seen most of the major neighborhoods, I don't know where I will go later this week, but maybe I will tag along and see Tokyo through the eyes of the students.

I got to have a great welcome dinner with
my favorite Japan Self-Defense Force
Colonel!

While it may have been a more efficient use of my time to stay home during our winter break and get work done (I have a paper I need to write for a late April trip), I am very happy with the choice to be less efficient.  

More reports from Steve Sensei later this week!

As always, Japan does everything with style--building near
our hotel in Tokyo.