On the 17th September 2010 at 11:30 p.m, 18 Pukekohe Intermediate and Pukekohe High School students took off for Japan. It was an 11 and a half hour flight, But it seemed like forever! When we landed in Osaka we were all hyped! We grabbed our luggage and went on the train to Hiroshima. We took a couple of train to get there, 1 of them was the bullet train!! On the first night in Hiroshima we had Okinomayaki ( a traditional Japanese dish) and the second night we had a Italian buffet where we met some really nice Japanese girls! We did many activities when we were in Hiroshima such as shopping, visiting Miyajima Island and visiting Hiroshima Peace Park. We stayed in Hiroshima for 2 days then headed for Kyoto. When we arrived in Kyoto we went to 3 shrines/temples, then went back to the Youth hostel where we were staying. The next day we visited heaps and heaps of shrines and temples! One of them was Todiji Temple where you have to crawl through the buddaj's nose! When we had finished are shopping and visiting temples we headed for Hara Mura! It was a 5 hour trip but it was worth it! When we arrived in Hara Mura we were welcomed by most the village, then we went inside the town hall for the welcoming ceremony. Then when it had finished we got to go off with are host families to there house. My host student was Chiaki! We stayed with them for a week and did many activities whilst there such as visiting Ida junior high school, visiting the elementary school in Hara, Go to school and do many activities with are students! At the end of the week it was evry hard to say goodbye, but we had to! Next we went to Tokyo the last place on are trip.
We went shopping, visit more temples and do even more shopping! When we finished are two days in Tokyo it was time to say goodbye to Japan :( and hello to New Zealand. We had a awesome time in Japan and I deffinatley want to go back!
