07.06.16 – 07.08.16
Overview
Last weekend, Dartmouth students visited Nihonmatsu-shi in Fukushima. Nihonmatsu is Hanover's sister city, and it is also home to Kan'ichi Asakawa (朝河 貫一). Asakawa-sensei was the first Japanese person, by birth and citizenship, to study and graduate with a BA from Dartmouth College (class of 1899). He went on to get a Ph.D. from Yale University studying history. In addition to becoming a professor at Yale University, Asakawa-sensei was an advocate for peaceful US-Japan relationships, speaking out against the growth of militarism in Japan.
Dartmouth students visit Nihonmatsu every year to pay respects to Asakawa-sensei, and we are thankful that the citizens and mayor of Nihonmatsu give us such a warm welcome. We even have the opportunity to do a two-night homestay!
07/06 (Friday)
We met bright and early at 7:30am at Tokyo station to catch the shinkansen from Tokyo station to Koriyama Station in Fukushima, where we were greeted by officials from Nihonmatsu’s city hall. From there, we took a bus to Asaka History Museum, which is part of Asaka High School. This was the school Asakawa-sensei graduated from. The staff of the museum led us on a tour, showing us the well preserved schoolhouse and explaining Asakawa-sensei's history to us. In high school (junior high school in the old Japanese system), Asakawa-sensei would eat the pages of an English dictionary as he memorized the words. Once he finished the dictionary, he buried the cover under a cherry blossom tree, now called "Asakawa Zakura." We got to see that cherry blossom tree and took a picture with it.
After visiting Asakawa-sensei's Alma matter, we went to Adachi High School and received a warm welcome from the teacher and students. (My home-stay sister, Mei, was there!) We ate a bento box with the students, and then had the opportunity to try doing calligraphy. The students wrote beautiful kanji, and we tried to copy them. We also had the chance to watch the kendo club and try the sport out ourselves.
Afterwards, we said good-bye to the Adachi High School students and got on the bus to go to city hall. We were greeted by many officials clapping as we walked off the bus, and then by the mayor when we went up to the city council's top floor conference room. There, the mayor give us an overview of Nihonmatsu - its sights and history, and welcomed us to the city. Each Dartmouth student also gave a self-introduction, using as much keigo as they could. After meeting the mayor, we took a photo together, and then visited the grave of Asakawa-sensei and his wife to pay our respects.
We then walked to the reception area, where we rested for a while before meeting the middle school students who will be visiting Dartmouth, Yale, and NYC in late July. They showed us the games they were going to present in the United States, and then we got to speak with them in small groups. Afterwards, we changed out of our sweaty clothes to get ready to meet our homestay families and eat dinner with them.
Before eating a wonderful buffet dinner with our homestay families, the mayor of Nihonmatsu and Dorsey-sensei gave inspiring speeches. After the reception and food, we went home with our respective homestay families.
That night, I really bonded with one of my homestay sisters over manga. We had read a lot of the same things, and both loved the manga series Kamisama Hajimemashita and Akatsuki no Yona! She even gave me some of the Akatsuki no Yona merchandise she got from buying magazines. I feel really lucky to have met her.
07/07 (Saturday, 七夕)
On Saturday, everyone spent the day with their homestay families.
My homestay family took me to Furusato Mura, where we looked around a museum and made uchiwa from washi paper. We also bought some of Fukushima's speciality snacks. It was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we went and met up with Autumn's homestay family and had nagashi somen. We also wrote our wishes on tanzaku and hung them on bamboo to celebrate Tanabata. My homestay sisters showed off their amazing singing voices, and we also partook in a Japanese tea ceremony. The green tea and snacks were delicious!
After, we went shopping and then we went home. I took a nap before we all started making gyoza (pot stickers) together. After eating dinner, we went outside and did senko hanabi as well as other types of specialty fireworks. It was so much fun, and definitely an unforgettable two days.
07/08 (Sunday)
We spent one more morning with our host families, and then all the Dartmouth students met at Nihonmatsu Station. The homestay families came with us to the station, then all the way to the platform, where they watched us board the train and waved good-bye. The good memories we made over the weekend made it very difficult to leave.
We got to Tokyo by lunch, and some of us walked around Tokyo before going back to our Chiba homestays. A student even went and got a haircut in Tokyo!
Although it was just for a weekend, we were all touched by the kindness and hospitality of the Nihonmatsu citizens, especially our host families. We hope to continue this relationship between Nihonmatsu and Hanover that Asakawa-sensei has started, as well as strengthen the one between US and Japan.