Seiritsu International Education

Students at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo. Angel is on the far right in the Gap shirt.

I've already stayed in Japan for 4 months! In these four months, I've meta lot of Japanese people and I had a very good time with them. I went to Tokyo tour trip with the International Department too. It was really good because I learned more history about Japan. I hope I can speak very good in Japanese next year. And I want to keep in touch with my friends, as I don't want to forget all the things that happened this year. Lastly, I just want to enjoy my last six months in Japan!!

Angel

writer: staff  date: 8:56 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Hello everyone!

My name is Evelyn Stautzenberger. My nickname is Sakura, which means cherry blossom. Everyone calls me Sakura because I used to like a character named Sakura in an anime show.

I am 16 years old and I am from Oxnard, California, USA. Oxnard is the 21st largest city in California. Oxnard is also famous for its delicious strawberries.

My hobbies are drawing, playing the piano, dancing, acting, singing, shopping, badminton, traveling, games, learning new things and making new friends.
I am a shy girl at first, but I will eventually open up and I will start talking to people more.

The reason why I chose to study st Seiritsu is because I want to study and improve my Japanese in a Japanese high school and graduate from a Japanese high school. My older sister is living here in Tokyo and so that is another reason why I wanted to come to Japan to study.
I thought this school was good for me because it has an International department attached to it and I thought it will be more easy to get used to the school life with English around.

I was very happy when I finally found the Seiritsu International website and read many exciting posts about what is going on at Seiritsu.

I certainly believe that the next three years will be a happy school life for me.

Evelyn

writer: staff  date: 8:53 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Hey readers!

December is finally upon us and its time to get ready for a New Year! I'm really looking forward to this New Year as it's a chance for a change and time to look on to the future. But meanwhile the Winter Break here at Seiritsu has now started, and for me it has started off very well as I had a friend from Australia come visit for the week. It was a good chance to talk about the old, new and plans for the future. I'm really interested about what this New Year will give us, what new adventures to be had. Well I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and best wishes go out to my mother back in Canada too!

Fraser

writer: staff  date: 8:48 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Me standing by this awesome statue, on the famous Nihonbashi bridge in Tokyo.

Hello everyone!

I am back in Japan again. I missed this place so much, so I’m really glad to be back.
Though I didn’t get to keep my old host family, so I got a new one instead. I was a little sad about leaving the old one behind, but my new host family turned out to be very nice! I am very glad to have met them!

Being back in Denmark for almost 2 months was really boring. I had to stay inside our house, almost all the the time, because there were so much snow! I do love snow, but not being able to go outside, was kind of annoying. The good part was that I could talk to my old friends and family, when the snow wasn’t so bad.

Last week, the international class and I went to Tokyo! That was really awesome! We saw things like the Emperor’s palace and the Imperial Hotel. I really liked the hotel, because it looked really cool and fancy. I’m also glad that another member to the international class has been added - Evelyn! She’s very nice. Now we’re 3 girls. Yay!

Camilla

writer: staff  date: 8:43 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Students at the Imperial Palace's Otemon Gate. Matti on the far right, black jacket

This month our group of foreign students went on a tour of Tokyo. I'd never been to the central areas of Tokyo too often and walking through the city was an interesting experience. The city had a fresh feeling to it, unlike other big cities I've been to in the past.

We went to see the Otemon gate of the imperial palace and after that walked to the statue of Ota Dokan, the man credited for creating Edo, which is now modern day Tokyo. It was a small statue in a corner of a large building, making me wonder just of how much importance he is to the Japanese.

After the tour of the city we headed to Ryougoku for lunch. We ate a delicious meal of chanko nabe and discussed our regrets of the past year and aims for the year to come. As this is December have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Matti

writer: staff  date: 8:35 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Student's at the rice growing presentation center just north of Tokyo station. Eskild is 3rd from right, striped sweater.

Hello!

This month has been a very good one. We got a new international student, Camilla came back from Denmark, and the international department took a day trip to Tokyo!

The trip to Tokyo mainly consisted of trains; Nihonbashi, with the highway over it; the Imperial Palace, although we only saw the gate and a watchtower; the Imperial Plaza, which is the best hotel in Tokyo; and a quick stop at an indoor rice field, which is meant to show the city people how they get food...(Although the should know already)

I also have to mention the delicious lunch we had, chanko nabe, which is supposedly real sumo food.

As for Christmas eve, I'm not doing anything special. I'm going to a small Christmas party at the EF office on the 25th of December, and on the 26th I'm going on a night bus to Innoshima, Hiroshima. And I must say, just figuring out the bus stop it's going from was a difficult task. I will stay there with my natural mother's acquaintance until the 30th of December, and I will be home in the morning on the 31st.

I'm really looking forward to getting out of the city for a few days, as I'm kind of missing the calm quiet life out on the countryside.

That's it for today, so I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
- Eskild

writer: staff  date: 8:29 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Students in front of the main meeting point at Tokyo station, Gin-no-suzu.

Last Friday the international department rode into the massive Tokyo station to begin a historical walking tour for the morning, followed by a delicious chanko-nabe lunch.

Recently the students have been studying the history of Tokyo so the walk was a chance to go
see famous places explained in their textbooks, to touch and feel history up close so to speak.

Nihonbashi, once the main area of Edo and from where all the Tokugawa roads distances were calculated from, with it being point zero.

Mistukoshi Department store, beside Nihonbashi, about a 5 minute walk from the east side of Tokyo station.

Near the Imperial Palace on the west side of the station. The day was perfect for walking around being bright and cool.

We also visited the Imperial Hotel for a quick break, then went exploring for the statue of the founder of Edo, Ota Dokan, in the Tokyo International Forum. From there we quickly took some trains over to Ryogoku for traditional sumo food, chanko-nabe. As per any year-end party, everyone took terms speaking about their year now passing and the new year about to begin. It was truly an enjoyable day and way to end the school year.

writer: staff  date: 1:39 PM | News

Richie, Mattie, Angel and Eskild in front of a traditional store at Boso no mura.

On December 8, the international department met at Keisei Narita station in Chiba prefecture, about 90 minutes from Tokyo just near Narita Airport. We hopped a bus for 15 minutes from the west side of JR Narita Station to a fascinating outdoor museum called Boso no Mura, where last summer's Japanese Experience 2010 students had also visited.

The property is quite large, being several recreated feudal farms connected by little villages which have different arts and crafts classes and products. There are also numerous ancient tomb hills covered in grass and tress that are many hundreds of years old.

While we spent half the day there, one could easily spend several days taking in all the activities. Simply walking around the whole property can't be done in a day since it is very large which makes it an ideal place to bring us city folk to see nature close up.

https://www.chiba-muse.or.jp/MURA/e/index.html

Afterward we walked a few kilometers in the nice sunshine to the local JR train station and caught a ride back to JR Narita, where the students went exploring through the stores and temples as old as those in Kyoto.

writer: staff  date: 1:03 PM | Life at Seiritsu