Seiritsu International Education

Annariina here,


On Saturday November 10, both my class and Jesse’s class (including Chase), went to pick potatoes in the morning.





We picked two kind of different potatoes, regular and sweet potatoes. It was my fist time picking potatoes and at first it seemed that everyone was bit unsure of what to do. After we started actually picking the potatoes the time flew by pretty quickly. My class also found a frog, a dead mouse and other little animals. It was fun, though I still wouldn’t become a potato farmer! (^o^)


After the potato picking Chase and I went to the Design Festa in Tokyo Big Sight. Since it took a while to get there we only had about two hours to explore inside the event. It had so many different kinds of arts, paintings, fashion, music, everything.





I wish we had more time to go around, though Chase had a hard time trying to stop me buying everything I saw (^^;)


So I just ended up buying few iPhone cases even though I don’t have one yet, genius!

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

Chase here,


On the weekend of November10-11 I went to the 37th Design Festa that was held at the Tokyo Big Site, a large exhibition area where many events are held.





The amount of interesting and diverse art forms was incredible. Things from cute little bunnies pictures to creepy marionettes, to knives made out of crystal. I was overwhelmed with the amount of things to see and do while I was there. It was so interesting that I went back for a second day afterwards because I did not have enough time the first day to see everything, and I still feel as I had missed some of the booths.


The art was not just limited to drawings and figures; there were also live performances, live bands, and a massive food court. One of the more interesting performances that I saw was a choreographed samurai fight between two groups of 5, one side women, and the other side men; there were also people playing music to go with the fight, even including a guy with a microphone making the sound effects to go with the fight.





Just as I was leaving, several guys with lucha libre styled panda masks stopped and asked if I wanted to take pictures with them with one of their panda masks on, which I immediately agreed to and donned the mask of the panda luchador for a few photos!

writer: staff  date: 8:03 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On November 3rd, the junior high school karate club competed in the 46th Annual North Tokyo Karate Tournament (Kitaku Karatedo Taikai).

It was the first time for the club to compete in this event, but the senior high school club has normally participated since the very first tournament was held in Seiritsu's old gym some 46 years ago. However, the last few years this event and the Tokyo High School Fall tournament (team) have always been held on the same day. There are now plans afloat for the North Tokyo event to move back a week to again allow the high school clubs in the area to be included again.

In terms of results in the junior high divisions, Chihiro won a gold in girl's kumite and a silver in kata, while Yuta won silver in both boy's kata and kumite. Some of the other students also had some near-medal finishes so good results overall.

Richard
(International Manager)

writer: staff  date: 8:10 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Jesse here;


On the morning of the 10th November, a Saturday, our three valiant exchange students, class 1C and 1D took the final journey for the year out to the school's fields in Washinomiya. This time, it was potato-picking season.



Seiritsu students enjoying the weather and hard work!


As we arrived, we weren’t quite sure what to expect, as none of us had ever farmed potatoes before. We received our shovels and marched over to line of potato filled dirt, making sure that we pulled the top section of the potatoes out properly. Then came the frantic digging, searching and laughing as we found potatoes, and sliced more than a few in half with our shovels. Not only did we harvest regular potatoes, but sweet potatoes as well.


After we had finished up the harvesting, everyone gathered around a colossal pot to, got our rice and curry, and ate the food of champions. It was at this point that the teachers brought out plastic bags, and said that we could take however many potatoes we wanted home. Even with most people taking over 5 kilograms of potatoes, there were still many left by the time we went home. All in all, it was a success, and our host families will be provided with a lot of potatoes for the week or so to come.

writer: staff  date: 9:14 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Here is the girl's soccer team at the recent Daruma Cup in Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, last month.

On Sunday, our girl's team beat Harumi High School from Chuo, Tokyo 3-0 in the Tokyo high school league 1st group, but unfortunately in September they lost a qualifer round for the upcoming Japan Nationals.

In terms of the boy's club, they unfortunately lost the second round of the Japan Nationals qualifier in the Tokyo division 1-3 on October 28 to Tokai High School from Akirunoshi, Tokyo.

Better luck in the Spring everyone!

Richard
(Department Manager)

writer: staff  date: 11:24 AM | Life at Seiritsu

On Saturday November 2nd Seiritsu's High School Karate club competed at the team qualifiers for the Kanto area winter tournament. The individual events were held the previous week at Hosen High School. As the event was held at Seiritsu, all the students arrived early to help with the setup.





For Kata, the preliminary rounds were judged by scorecards, with the best 4 teams selected for the final rounds in both boys and girls categories. Sadly, Seiritsu missed out on selection this time. The team Kata category was won by Setagaya High School for boys, and Tsuguraoka High School for girls. Hosen and Yakumo High Schools came second respectively, and all four teams are selected for the Kanto Winter Tournament. Congratulations!








For team Kumite, both Seiritsu male and female teams won in the first round, but faced strong competition in the second; the boys team losing out to eventual winners Setagaya, and the girls losing to second placed Tsuguraoka. However, their strong performance in the first round ensured the girls a Best 4 finish.





Final team Kumite standings were:
Male division - Winners: Setagaya, 2nd place: Hosen
Female division - Winners: Teikyo, 2nd place: Tsuguraoka.
These teams are now entered into the Kanto Winter Tournament.


Seiritsu's next Karate tournament will now be in April.

writer: staff  date: 9:42 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Annariina here,


Pop, a former exchange student in Seiritsu (from September 2011 to July 2012), came to visit Japan with her family. She stayed in Tokyo from October 23 to 29. We interviewed her to see what she has been doing since leaving Seiritsu!






What have you being doing after you went back to Thailand?
I've been studying second grade of high school. Trying to get good grades and prepare myself for university. Through studying at Seiritsu, I also got the highest score of my year for English!


Is the school in Thailand a lot different than in Japan?
No, it's almost the same, but in Thailand we aren't so serious about clubs.


Why did you decide to come back to Japan?

Because my family wanted to visit Tokyo. And I missed my friends in Japan.


What in Japan have you been missing the most?
Of course the school, especially the international department. I also missed karaoke and purikura a lot.


What have you done during this visit in Japan?
I went to Hakkone with my family, and we finally saw Mt. Fuji. I went to Nikko with Annariina and Jesse, also went to Disney Sea with Annariina and Chase. We had fabulous time and a lot of fun.


Are you planning to come back to Japan again, and if you are then why?
Yes, I'll come back next December. Because there are still places I haven't been and where I would like to go, and also I want to see my friends again.


Well, we are waiting for you to come back again. Study hard in Thailand.
I will study hard and see you soon (:

writer: staff  date: 8:00 AM | Life at Seiritsu

Annaiina here,


Pop finally came back on Tuesday October 23rd and we all went to Disney Sea with her family and Chase on Thursday. It was fabulous. The best moment of the whole day was when I got hit by a one yen coin...



source:https://www.disneyphotographyblog.com


Chase and I went to Tower of Terror together, while Pop waited us outside. The poor kid was too afraid to come with us.


We also had fun while singing “The Whole New World” on magic carpets (^ε^)♪ And the fireworks and the light show we saw were very beautiful. I want to go back soon.

After we left we bought fluffy Minnie phone accessories for Pop, Chase, Jesse and me. Just because we are fabulous (^_-)☆

writer: staff  date: 12:31 PM | Life at Seiritsu

On Wednesday all of us exchange students went to Edo Tokyo Museum at Ryogoku. What impressed me the most in the museum was ukiyoe, wood block prints.



A scale replica of what a print shop would have looked like in the Edo period.


Ukiyoe is made by carving the block of wood so the wanted part of the picture will stand out, this will be repeated as many times as there are colors to be used. The carving must also be carved mirrored to the desired image, so for example when craving a text in kanji characters it’s not hard only because it needs to be small, but also that it needs to be done the opposite way than normally written.


What is surprising is that ukiyoe wasn’t considered very precious, it was cheap and often used as wrapping paper. The ukiyoe artist needed to do tons of prints to get a decent amount of money out of it. It was interesting that something that was so difficult to make was considered to be cheap and common. [Peter- the cheap and common factor was that many of the woodblocks would be reused constantly. Interestingly, this reuse of printing material also featured prominently in the creation of anime, and in some ways still persists to this day!]

writer: staff  date: 9:16 AM | Life at Seiritsu