A follow-up on Newstead’s student exchange trip to Japan.

On 23rd October, twenty one students from Newstead Wood School took part in the foreign exchange programme and spent eleven days in Japan. They stayed with families living in Kanagawa and Tottori and were able to do lots of sightseeing around Tokyo and Kyoto, the old capital of Japan.

Over 5,700 miles away, the students flew to Japan for a tiring eleven hours (and thirteen on their way back!). 

The students found that the lifestyle in Japan was extremely different to the UK. A noticeable difference is that the families would always say ‘itadakimasu’ before they eat a meal, which means ‘let’s eat now’, as it is a required table manner which people have been taught since they were children. They also realised that food in Japan was very different. Students discovered that green tea is a highly popular drink there and with every meal, came a bowl of rice.

During their stay, the girls at Newstead had the opportunity to go to Kinkaku-ji, a famous Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. The temple attracts many tourists every year because of its beautiful scenery and the highly decorated and grand temple.

Overall, Newstead’s students thought that the families were really lovely and extremely polite, ‘they gave us so many presents; the gifts took up nearly half of my suitcase!’

Aamena Hussain, one of the students who partook in the exchange programme, said, ‘Japanese lifestyle is so different to what we are used to, here in the UK, but we all had a really great experience and learnt so much about their culture. We really enjoyed staying with our exchanges and I hope that in the future, I will be able to go back to Japan.’

Sadly, the Japanese students will not be paying a return visit to the UK, however all the students are eager to keep in touch with each other via social media and hopefully they can continue to learn more about each other’s culture and language.

By Alice Xu, Newstead Wood School