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On Friday the 13th of November, the Year 9 Japanese Class were given the opportunity to obtain an insight of various aspects of the Japanese culture. The main elements were the Japanese Film Festival and lunch.
To begin with, at 8:00am students were required to be at school, as we had to walk to Marayong railway station. Two teachers took part in this eventful day, Ms Mizukami and Mr Roseby. It was clear that judging by the expressions of the participants we were all eager to see what awaited. The train trip to our destination was easy. Everyone was occupied by communicating with their friends, thus there was never a dull moment.
Around 9:45am, we arrived in Town Hall and walked to Event Cinemas. A range of schools from the Sydney area attended the Japanese Film Festival, too. I wasn’t aware of how busy it would be. The staff of Japan Foundation, Sydney who hosted this event were very interactive, energetic and kind. Before starting the film, the Japanese teachers played a game where they had to name the prefectures in Japan. Unfortunately, Ms Mizukami was defeated.
The film that we watched was called “Wood Job”. If I am honest, my first opinion was that the movie looked poor. “Wood Job” falls under the comedy and drama genres. When the movie commenced I was proven wrong. The movie is based around a teenage boy named Yuki, who fails his university entrance exams. He sees a recruitment ad for a logging company and makes a decision on an impulse to apply. This gives him a yearlong traineeship in rural Japan. Yuki learns more than just the finer arts of forestry, he also takes away the villager’s old style traditions. I highly recommend that you watch the movie. It is definitely catered to teenagers and strengthens morals.
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After the film finished, we walked to Darling Harbour for lunch. Ms Mizukami generously arranged for us to have a special Japanese lunch called Obento from one of the top Japanese restaurants in Sydney. Obento is a Japanese lunchbox, traditionally packed in a partitioned lacquered box. The Obento was organised into sections based on food groups. It consisted of rice, deep-fried prawn, deep-fried chicken, beef, tofu and some cooked vegetables. The Obento was so delicious! During lunchtime, we were able to go to local shops such as Starbucks.
At 1:30pm, it was time to head back to school. We caught the train at 1:51pm. While we were on the train despite the phenomenal weather beforehand, it started to rain and hail. Mr Roseby quickly phoned to school to organise a school bus. When we arrived in Marayong Station, the school bus was waiting for us. Mr Said kindly picked us up and drove the bus back to school.
The Year 9 Japanese excursion would have not been possible without the teachers who assisted in making this day a success. The excursion ran very smoothly and every student was cooperative. We are all very grateful and recognise the hard work that Ms Mizukami put in to organise this excursion for us. We would like to say thank you to Ms Mizukami and Mr Roseby for organising and taking us to such a great Japanese excursion. We look forward to another great Japanese excursion next year!
Year 9 Japanese
Emma Riviere