Towards the end of 2019, I discovered that I had been accepted for a scholarship, which would give me the opportunity to travel to Tokyo Japan, stay for two weeks, and experience the student life.

Full of Joy, I spent a few weeks preparing all of the basics, from clothes, to studying what to and what not to do during my stay in Tokyo. 

Upon arriving at the Japanese Airport, mildly tired but full of excitement, I met the son of the host family I would be staying with, Kotaro. Kotaro and I talked until we arrived in his home city by train, where his father ShinJiro was waiting to pick us up.
Once we had arrived home, I unpacked and instantly felt like part of a purely loving family even though I had not known them for long.

The Father (Shinjiro Kanaya), Mother (Reiko), Son (Kotaro), and daughter (Juri) would frequently take me out either shopping, or exploring the surrounding town. Everyday I would ride with someone from the family for at least an hour on different trains, whether we were going to school, sightseeing, or shopping, we would have to take a train most of the time to get there.
Some of my favorite things to do in Japan included walking through the city and sightseeing, shopping, going to the Ueno Zoo and looking at all of the animals we don’t have in NZ, going to different restaurants, walking through the Edo Tokyo museum and seeing artifacts and information from hundreds of years of Japanese history.

On top of travelling, I loved spending time with the family, talking about our lives and different cultures with people my age, and adults was a very eye opening experience to how large the world around me was. My favorite experience was going to the Hoyu, the Japanese sister school to Roncalli, where I was fully immersed into the Japanese cultural experience, and got to meet hundreds of students who treated me like family from the get go.

All in all, Going to Japan opened me to another world, and excites me for any future travelling opportunities to come in life. 

My heartfelt thanks to:JTC New Zealand Ltd for providing the scholarship;Hoyu Gakuin High School for welcoming me as a student;and to my Japanese family, Shinjiro, Reiko, Kotaro and Juri Kanaya

ありがとうございました
Arigatou gozaimashita