Seiritsu International Education

Hello !

This is my last webpost, as I have left Seiritsu a few weeks ago.

During these 10 months, I learnt a lot of different things that I never could had I stayed in Switzerland.

Tatiana with her Japanese Home Room on her last day. Everyone was a little tearful, and very sad to see her go!

In my homeroom and my host family, I learnt Japanese. It was my main goal when I decided to come to Japan, so I am happy that I could get better here.

In the international lessons, I also learnt how to express myself more clearly in English, which will surely help me a lot later in my life. For this I am really grateful to Richard and Peter! Thank you so much!

Aside from studying, I had the chances to experience a lot of things during this year in Japan; I visited a lot of different places in Tokyo, sang a lot in karaoke, saw amazing views and temples, and met many awesome people!

On my last week at Seiritsu, my homeroom, 3-D, had a little event together to say goodbye to me, and they gave me a cute teddy bear with handwritten messages. Since I have known most of these students since September, it was a little emotional saying goodbye to some of them!

Looking back, I enjoyed everything here, even in a way the homework and essays we complained so much about!

I’m really glad I chose to come to Seiritsu this year, I don’t regret anything and I will never forget it!

Tatiana applied directly to Seiritsu to take part in our 1 year gap studies programme and had a life-changing experience. With both short-term and long-term study programmes available, if you want to broaden your horizons and improve your language skills by studying in a internationally supported Japanese High School why not come to Seiritsu? More information on our gap studies programme, including how to apply, can be found here.

writer: staff  date: 8:22 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On Sunday July 29th Seiritsu's baseball team beat Kokushikan High School in the finals of the East Tokyo High-school Championships!

This books them a place in this year's National Baseball Championships, held in Osaka in August!

The late edition of the daily Yomiyuri national newspaper.

The Championships, also called Koshien, puts together the winners of all the prefecture competitions and is aired on national TV. To enter the tournament is a massive achievement, as it not only makes the school famous throughout Japan but also the scouts from Japan's major league baseball teams are there looking to sign new talent.

This is the first time that Seiritsu has qualified for Koshien, so a huge congratulations for the team, and good luck at the nationals!

writer: staff  date: 2:00 PM | Life at Seiritsu

Pop has been back in Thailand for a few weeks now, but before she left we asked her to write he last web post. This is what she wrote! - Peter

Pop being genki during her first winter snow.

Hello. Pop is here again, but this time is going to be last time for me to tell you about the awesome things that I’ve done. From coming to Seiritsu last September, it has been 10 months for me there. There are a lot of things that happened in my life during this year. The most interesting thing is that my English skill is so much better than when I first came here! (or not?) [it is much better! - Peter] and my Japanese has improved too. I had such a hard time learning a lot of thing at the same time when my English skill was so bad. I have to admit that the essays, which I had to do every 2 months, really helped me improve my English skill. Because I studied Japanese in English, Japanese is much easier to study too.

During this year I did a lot of other interesting things which I couldn’t do in Thailand. I went snowboarding and skiing, played with deer in Nara, took the Shinkansen by myself to Kyoto, saw the huge Gundam at Odaiba, went to some random station in nowhere of Kanagawa and got lost in Kamakura etc. These are my precious memories of things that I just cannot do in Thailand. But right now I really realize that the most important places in Japan for me, surely is first my host family home ;) and Seiritsu. This school gave me a lot of experience that I would never get anywhere else. I met a lot of people and I learned how to live with different people from different countries with different cultures.

Thank you to all the Seiritsu teachers and staff who always helped me during this year, especially Richard and Peter who were always my nice teachers, to give me such a precious chance to come here. I will never forget everything which happened here :) and I hope nobody there will forget me too ;)

writer: staff  date: 8:23 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On Wednesday July 17th Seiritsu's Baseball team managed to overcome Kanto Daiichi High School at the meijijingugaien ground near Shinjuku to reach the final 16 of the East Tokyo high schools baseball championship.





With the athletes program specifically aimed towards soccer and baseball players, the baseball team is both popular and important within the school- so all students and teachers alike were encouraged to go and cheer them on.



Although Seiritsu is seeded fourth overall, Kanto Daiichi is a very strong team so well done to all the players for an exciting match!



The challenge continues on Saturday July 21, when Seiritsu take on Toritsu Hiroo High School for a place in the quarter finals.

writer: staff  date: 5:53 PM | Life at Seiritsu

This month I had my first birthday away from Australia. It was tough, but thankfully my host family is super awesome, so it was a very nice day.





To celebrate, they decided to take me out with them to Asakusa, where there is the famous "Kaminari mon". The 'Kaminari' is like a gigantic paper lantern, and it is really something to behold. You enter through the gate, with the gigantic 'Kaminari' lantern above you, and then you see the hundreds of shops and possibly thousands of people crowding the street to the main temple and shrine. Most of the shops sell either Japanese food or "Omiyage" which are souvenirs.



Street performances line the busy tourist streets of Asakusa



After you make your way through the bustle, you arrive at the Buddhist temple. Now, depending on how holy you feel, you can throw money into a big box, and pray for something, be it good health, luck, or just good marks. Remember that at a Buddhist temple, you do not clap, unlike at a Shinto shrine, where you do before and after praying.


All in all, this combined made my birthday super awesome, and another successful month in Japan.

writer: staff  date: 9:26 AM | Life at Seiritsu

The lalalallalalal End.

As many at school might have noticed is that I have already had my last day. My year at Seiritsu Gakkuen was wonderful and I did a lot of fun stuff such as the Tennis club, Futsal Club, Art Club, Karate Club and all the different events during the year. I had a really fun and interesting time. I hope that one day I can come back to the school probably not as a student but at least see if it have changed a bit.

Also I would like to say thanks to my homeroom class which has been a real pleasure to be a part of during my year. They have helped me improve my Japanese a lot and I can’t thank them enough. Fujita-sensei have also helped me a lot by answering and asking questions to me in Japanese, which have helped me improve a lot. Then also all the fun times such as rice planting and Sports festival have been really fun.






Otherwise I want to say thank you to all the people that have helped me during the year and I have had a really great time being here and taken care of. Thank you everybody and come to Sweden anytime you want! :) Bye!

writer: staff  date: 3:48 PM | Life at Seiritsu

This Thursday, as a last trip together, Nicolas, Gab, Pop, Gab’s Swedish friend Joel and I went to the Fuji Q Highland amusement park.

Since it was a school day, and the weather was not very sunny, there were not many people there. So we didn’t have to wait long for each attraction, it was nice!

The rollercoasters were really impressive and scary! One of them, the Dodonpa, went as fast as 172 km/h, and another, the Takabisha has the world record for the steepest slope! I　constantly thought I was going to die!!

But even if the rides were scary, the worst of all was the haunted hospital. It is supposed to be one of the scariest haunted houses in the world. For me, it was the first time going to a haunted house ever, so I kept screaming during the whole walk through the fake hospital. There were zombies jumping out of doors and chasing us, and it lasted almost an hour! It was really awesome!
After riding everything, we had some time to wait before taking the bus back home, so we sat on a bridge and ate cheeseburgers while admiring Mt Fuji. We got weird looks from people who passed next to us, but it was fun!

It was also the first time I saw Mt Fuji (after more than 9 months in Tokyo... Quite a shame!)
We took our last group picture in front of it.

Yes, our last group picture! Nic, Gab and Pop have already left Seiritsu, and I will follow in less than 2 weeks!

Saying goodbye to everyone was very difficult, but we know that we are going to all see each other as soon as we can!!

writer: staff  date: 9:44 AM | Life at Seiritsu

To the awesome exchange students ♥


I can't believe that time has gone so fast, I've been here over three months already! It's just too bad that as time has flown past as Nick, Gabu, Pop and Tatiana will be leaving.
Today was Pop's last day at school, so we went to eat ice cream with everyone, except Nick. We were supposed to take the ice cream cake, but since Gabu and his friend needed to leave soon so we just challenged the triple - as we usually do! (´∀｀)


After having weird group hugs with Pop, Tatiana and splashing Jesse with water, we girls went to karaoke. Singing songs we have sang so many times, crying and hugging, we had amazing one hour, before we all needed to go. It was so sad to say goodbye to Pop at the station after taking some group pictures. ｡ﾟ(T^T)ﾟ｡


I have had so much fun with everyone, and I will miss them so much! I don't want them to leave Japan yet.. I want to see them someday again. Until then, I hope everyone has fun and don't forget me! I will miss all of the awesome people I have met ♥

writer: staff  date: 1:58 PM | Life at Seiritsu

On Sunday July 1st, Pop, Gabu and Nick (and Peter) Joined Thousands of other entrants for the biannual Japanese Language Proficiency Test ,otherwise known as the 'JLPT' or 日本語能力試験 - nihongo noryoku shiken.


The testing center at Dokkyo University



The JLPT is held in July and December every year in testing centers throughout Japan and also internationally, and is used to test non-native Japanese speakers on their ability to understand Japanese. There are 5 levels of the test, N5 being lowest and N1 being the highest. As a reference, the minimum level usually accepted for entrance into university or work in Japan is level N2.

All International students who attend Seiritsu are strongly encouraged to take the JLPT. It is a great goal to aim for during their studies, an official and widely accepted recognition of Japanese ability, and also great preparation for exams and tests in later life.

Planning to get to and from the testing location is also important, as Nicolas found out - he only just made it on time to his testing site, after riding the wrong train!

All results are delivered to the entrants in September. We hope everyone did well!

For more information in English about the JLPT, including where to take the test at international testing centers, visit their website here.

writer: staff  date: 10:27 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On Wednesday, the New Westminister Secondary School Girl's Basketball Team from British Columbia, Canada came for a short, but sweet visit. They are on a tour around Japan, and while they were unable to have a practice game with our girl's team because it is now term two's exam time, we were able to show our Canadian visiters the school and allow them a chance to talk to our students. As the pictures can attest, lots of smiles from everyone.

Here they met with some 15 & 16 year olds about to have a PE class.

There was a Japanese calligraphy class going on when the Canucks arrived so they were able to see students practicing different calligraphy skills. This team comes to Japan about every year so in 2013 we hope to have a few practice games, and organize some cultural events for them as well.

Thanks goes out to Coach Doug and the parents for organizing the trip and the visit to the school! We look forward to seeing you again next year!

writer: staff  date: 8:12 AM | Life at Seiritsu

This month, Seiritsu had a welcome visitor to the school!


Caroline Militello, 17, is from Missouri, America. She is in the Missouri state soccer team and US Olympic development program. She is in Japan for two weeks with her Dad, and has come to Seiritsu to train with the girls soccer team!



picture: stltoday.com



Caroline was born in Japan and lived here until she was eleven years old, so she is “perapera” in Japanese, although she has not yet taken any examinations in it since going to the USA. She says her family returned to America when her eldest brother was approaching university age, and the parents decided that he should go to university in America. She still visits Japan every summer, to keep her Japanese level up, and to play soccer. Through her soccer, Caroline hopes to get a sports scholarship to a high-ranking university in America, such as Princeton.


Caroline with the Seiritsu English Conversation Club, where she gave a small talk about herself!


According to Caroline, the way the Americans play soccer and the way the Japanese play soccer are quite different, so it has helped her to develop some new skills while she has been here. Seiritsu is glad to have her here, and hope she comes again soon!

writer: staff  date: 9:05 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Well, this year has just passed by. Honestly I am surprised that it went so fast. Anyway, my class (1C) invited me to school last Saturday so we could say goodbye.




When Jesse and I arrived at the school, we were stopped by 2 guys from my class, Kai and Takanobu, and finally after 5 minutes of taking random pictures I was given the promise to enter the class room. As I entered the class all the 1C students started cheering happily. In the class they had made a circle of all the chairs and on the blackboard they had wrote “ニコラスありがとう” (Thank you Nicolas).




We did different kind of games (including me singing a Danish song with my “fantastic singing voice”). In the end Seta-sensei (1C homeroom teacher) came and gave me a very nice bouquet of flowers and the pupils gave me a folder where everybody had written a message.


Last Sunday I did the JLPT, I think the test went okay although getting there included lots of running and a taxi.

writer: staff  date: 8:07 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Seiritsu graduate and professional footballer, Yuki Otsu, has qualified for the Japanese National Under-23 soccer which will compete at the 2012 London Olympics!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki_Otsu

Good luck Yuki!

Japanese news

writer: staff  date: 12:12 PM | Life at Seiritsu

On June 23 the boy's soccer club faced off against Jissen Gakuen in the final game of the qualifying tournament for the summer's Interhigh All-Sports High School Championships.

While the boys put up a good fight, Jissen came out ahead 3-1. However, simply to make it to the final in a tournament that included many strong Tokyo teams of a very high calibre is an impressive achievement.

Good work lads!

writer: staff  date: 10:12 AM | Life at Seiritsu