05. Taiwan Project Feed

September 25, 2016

The last day in Taiwan

All the students gathered at 5:00 am to take the plane to Kagoshima. They looked very sleepy, but no one was late.

They checked out the hotel and had breakfast in the bus.

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In the bus

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The bus driver, Mr. Go. He's been our driver since the first day. Thank you!

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was very crowded. No one knows why it was so crowded.

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It took a while but they checked in at the airport. Students said good-bye to our guide, Mr. Ka. They really appreciated his great support during this study tour. Thank you, Mr. Ka!

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At the airport

You need only two hours from Taipei to Kagoshima. Students seemed to have experienced all the tour again in their dreams. Soon, the airplane got to Kagoshima airport. 

They passed immigration and customs. At the exit, their parents and teachers welcomed them. 

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Parents and teachers at Kagoshima Airport

Closing ceremony was briefly held and Ms. Maesako, the vice student leader, made a speech. She showed her gratitude to parents, teachers and alumni who had supported them for the tour.

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Ms. Maesako's speech 

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Welcome to "Japan" speech by the principal

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The last groups photo

The study tour successfully ended with the help from many people. The leading teachers are thinking that the main purpose of the tour has been achieved. 

Next, students summarise the things they have learned in Taiwan and present their ideas in every opportunity they will have. The study tour has finished but this is also the another "start" for them.

Thank you for reading.  謝謝!!

The seventh day in Taiwan

Seventh day started with nice weather. Students visited the 228 museum with Mr. Hagiwara. On the way to the museum, students walked through the memorial park and experienced the "reflexology walk." 

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Mr. Hagiwara and students

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the reflexology walk

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An objet d'art in the park

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a squirrel

After the memorial visit, students met volunteer guides with whom students conduct fieldwork.

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Meeting volunteer guides

In the fieldwork, all the student groups conducted interviews and questionnaires with which students would make a report "How to attract more tourists to Kagoshima from Taiwan."

Students used all the afternoon. They gathered at the dinner table at 5:30 pm.

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With volunteer guides

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Dinner tables (Dim sum)

After dinner, some students visited the biggest night market in Taipei with Mr. Hagiwara and leading teachers. The last evening passed and students packed everything.  They had to gather at five next morning to catch the airplane to Kagoshima. Almost of all the students were reluctant to go back to school ;)

September 24, 2016

The sixth day in Taiwan

Unfortunately, it was rainy today, too.  We checked out the hotel in Yilan and moved to Taipei where we had stayed for the first three days.  Before we went to National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), we stopped by the hotel we would stay tonight to drop our big luggage.

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NTNU

We were welcomed by Professor Kuo, who had given us big support when we had the exchange program with students in Lanyang Girls High School.

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Today, students introduced Konan High School and Kagoshima to university students in Mr. Kuo’s tourism class.

As soon as we got to his class, he gave us such a nice opening ceremony.

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Opening Ceremony

The leader of this group, Ms. Kume made a speech and told them how much we thanked them for hosting us.  It was such a nice and impressive speech that we were all proud of her.

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Ms. Kume's opening address

Before our presentation, we listened to Mr. Kuo’s lecture with students at NTNU.  The lecture he gave us was about how to build the image of tourism destinations. 

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At the lecture by Professor Kuo

Next, finally our turn!  Students seemed to have practiced a lot last night.  All three groups had really good introduction presentations.  The practice really paid off!!

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Presentations by Konan High School students

Students at NTNU listened to the introduction about Konan High School and our living city, Kagoshima. They seemed to be interested in our school and the city.

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In their presentation, one of Konan student groups gave some quiz.  When listeners got the right answer, they received wonderful gifts!

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Receiving some gifts!

After their introduction, university students showed one of their research projects, eco-tourisms to Konan High School students.

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Ms. Ota, one of their leading teachers, represented the group and stated the best gratitude for Mr. Kuo and his students.

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Students presentations were longer than they had planned, so the class couldn’t finish on time. We were so sorry about that.

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Mr. Ochi, Professor Kuo and Ms. Ota

After they ate lunch, they had B&S program, which stands for "boys and sisters program". College or university students in Taipei voluntarily took Konan students to the places where they would carry out fieldwork.

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Before leaving NTNU for B&S program, students took so many pictures with the college students.  Students looked so relaxed without any worries since they finished presentations!!

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B&S program finally started.

Usually their bus took them to every visiting place, but today, students had to go to the restaurant for dinner by themselves. Leading teachers were a little bit worried about their safe arrival at dinner tables on time, however, they all made it before time.

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Saying good-bye to the volunteer students!!! We all appreciated their kindness! 謝謝!

Students had Mongolian BBQ for dinner. It was their first time to have this kind of BBQ. Mr. Ka, our guide, explained how meat and vegetables were to be cooked in Mongolian way.

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Explanation by Mr. Ka

On our way to hotel from the restaurant using MRT, the subway, students gave a brief visit to the streets of "Night Market" in Taipei. 

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Students were safely guided by Mr. Ka, Mr. Hagiwara and the leading teachers in the market.

Tomorrow, students will carry out their fieldwork for all day long.  It will be the very important activity to solve the aging problem of Japanese society. One of the solutions could be more active sight-seeing. Students should remember the topic; “What can we do to welcome more tourists from Taiwan.”

Our trip is coming to an end.  Hope students will have quality time until the last day in Taiwan.

再見♪

September 23, 2016

The fifth day in Taiwan

t was raining today. Acutually, in Yilan, rainy days are not so uncommon.  

Today first, students visited Lan Yang Museum. It looked like a fallen pyramids.

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The look of the museum

 

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Hand Ticket (No paper ticket)

The building had four floors. First, students took a escalator to the fourth floor.

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The fourth floor (Forestry in Yilan)


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The third floor (History in Yilan)


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The second floor (Fishery)

Next, students visited the Memorial Hall of Foundation of Yilan. Saigo Kikujiro, a son of Saigo Takamori used to live in the building when he was the governor of the region. Mr. Lee, the volunteer guide explained about the hall in Japanese. 

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Mr. Lee's explanation and students

The hall used to be a house, so it finished quickly. Students visited the bank Saigo embanked. Dsc_0696

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The bank

They took lunch at the popular restaurant in Yilan, Du Xiao Yue Restaurant. The foods were tasteful and looked good. 

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Lunch

In the afternoon, students experienced tea picking. They visited one of the best farms that Mr. Gi recommended. The farm was growing award-taking, high quality tea. 

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Tea-picking clothes

Students listened to the explanation; They have to pick up three leaves with and the core (the youngest leaf) at the same time, usually using three fingers

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Time-limit: 20 minutes

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Rain started just after they finished picking.

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The group photo

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Picked leaves were fired in the pan and then rubbed quickly. The quicklier, the better. 

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A big tea drier

While waiting for the leaves to be dry, students made tea candy; "Dragon's beard candy", which is a handmade traditional art of China. Students worked hard to thread the chewy material.

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Teachers also challenged, but... Please don't ask the results...

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Craft works

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Tea tasting

Dried tea

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After the farm visit, rain started. The next activity, visiting "forestry" was canceled because of the rain. 

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After the meeting, all the groups worked hard to make their presentation better. It must be paid off tomorrow!

再見♪

September 22, 2016

The Fourth day in Taiwan

After checking out of River View Hotel in Taipei, students moved to Yilan.

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The bus ride

On the way to Yilan, Mr. Hagihara and Mr. Kuo, a professor in National Taiwan Normal University, joined us. Professor Kuo worked so hard to realize our exchange program with students in Lanyang Girls High School.

It took about an hour to get to Lanyang Girls High School.  As soon as we arrived at the school, we got a warm reception.

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Pictures taken at Lanyang Girls High School

At the welcome ceremony, the principal, the PTA chairperson and the people in the alumni association in Lanyang Girls High School gave us a word of welcome.

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After that, students in Lanyang Girls High School introduced their school to us.

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Next, students in Konan High School introduced Konan High School and our living place, Kagoshima in return for their introduction.

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Later, students listened to the introduction of Yilan city presented by the students majoring English and Chinese. They spoke very good English!  They kindly provided students sweets made in Yilan.

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After eating lunch together, students went to P.E. class. It was like a dancing class, and there they enjoy dancing with students in Lanyang.

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Next we had a chance to see the percussion performance, and in return, students performed "Ohara-Bushi" in Yukata, which was the traditional dance in Kagoshima.

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The day for exchange program passed so quickly.

Thanks to both teachers and students in Lanyang Girls High School, students had a wonderful exchange experience that they would never ever forget.

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By the way, boys were very popular among girls in Langyang!

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Students were really reluctant to leave.  謝謝!!!!!

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After leaving Lanyang Girls High School, students visited the world famous whisky factory, KAVALAN.  Of course, students only saw how whisky was made.  They promised each other that they would visit there again and drink a glass of whiskey when they are over 20.

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After that, they had dinner and stayed at the hotel in Yilan.  At dinner table, they had a local Yilan dishes, which were milder than ones in Taipei.

In the hotel, each room had one really big bathtub.  So students enjoyed soaking in a hot spring in their own room.  Fantastic!!  Their tiredness would be completely washed out.

Please look forward to the next report!  再見♪

September 21, 2016

The third day in Taiwan

Today students visited so many fascilities, but in some areas, it was prohibited to take photos. Thus, explanations are only available in some reports today. Thank you.

In the morning, students went to the office of the President, ROC. Assistant Professor Hagiwara from Takasaki University of Commerce and Mr. Lie were kind enough to be with us.  We greatly appreciated it.

Students had to show their passports at the entrance gate, and they had security checks like they do in the airport in order to enter the office.

There, we met Mr. Ma. He politely explained about the office in fluent Japanese.  Thanks to his explanation, students understood the office was constructed in the same way as Tokyo Station. He also explained the history of Taiwan, as well as the relationships between Taiwan and Japan.

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Group photoes in the buiiding (We also took a picture with new prime minister Cai Yingwen …sorry, of course not! ;))

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The ROC building from the outside of the office. It looked just like Tokyo Station!



After the ROC visit, students were supposed to visit Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, however the office was so crowded with so many visitors than we had expected that we couldn’t get out of the ROC office on schedule.

So, students just watched the museum from the outside.

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Taipei 228 Memorial Museum

After the quick look at the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, students went to Legislative Yuan, which was like the Japanese Diet. Mr. Gi took our group to the inside of the building. 

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In front of the assembly hall

After that, the students went inside, and listened to the assembly.

Although it was prohibited to take pictures, we saw the portrait of the Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen and the national flag of Taiwan.

Thanks to Mr. Gi, we had lunch in Legislative Yuan.

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lunch in Legislative Yuan

Students had an excellent opportunity of meeting the secretary general of the Legislative Yuan and the chair of the Legislative Yuan.

They suddenly became Japanese high school student representatives. They also received a special souvenir.

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Dsc_0325Leading teachers and the secretary general of the Legislative Yuan

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Ms. Kume, the student leader, the secretary general of the Legislative Yuan and Mr. Gi

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With the chair of the Legislative Yuan

After lunch, students also received the chance to talk with a councilor, Ms. Chin, at the Diet Members' office Building.

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Next, students went to National Alpine Association of Taiwan. Mr. You and Mr. Gi of Taiwan Nation Allowance passionately lectured them about the relationship between Taiwan and Japan and how it should be from now on.

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Scenes of lecture, active questions and asnwers and the group photo

Students were originally expected to go to Yangmingshan, but they couldn’t make it, due to time constrants. Instead, they enjoyed their dinner time longer than planned.

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Dinner time

Tomorrow, students will move to Yilan from Taipei. They will have great exchanges with students in Lanyang Girls High School.

再見♪

 

September 20, 2016

The second day in Taiwan

Students were still very energetic at the breakfast table without showing their signs of any tiredness.  They enjoyed an all-you-can-eat buffet, getting full of energy for today's schedule.

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Breakfast at the hotel

Students visited National Palace Museum first.

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Exhibition of fine collections of Asian art made students forget about the time.  They all attentively listened to the explanation from Mr. Ka, who was their tour guide. There were so many beautiful artworks in the museum that they would probably stay there all day long if they were allowed. 

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Students listened to the explanation by Mr.Ka, the tourist guide.



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Collections of the museum (There were too many beautiful works!)

At lunch time, students had stone-pot food. The restaurant was very crowded with a lot of tour groups. It must have been a very popular restaurant.

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After lunch, students visited Shihfen Old Street. They enjoyed a water fall, a rope bridge and rows of houses in the old town.

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After the walk, students flied sky lanterns.  Another name of a sky lantern is a wish lantern.  Students wrote their wishes on their lanterns which was like big paper balloons. 

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...Everyone wrote their wishes seriously hoping they would come true.

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After writing, they took a photo and finally flied lanterns!! (Can you see they are standing on the railroad tracks?)

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Next, they visited Jiufen. Students slipped into the world of "Spirited Away" in Jiufen that they had been looking forward to visiting!

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On the same streets as in the movie, everyone was greatly excited! 

Everyone enjoyed taking a walk and later, at dinner time, they had Taiwan local dishes.

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Students never showed any signs of tiredness.

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Leading teachers were not like students and needed some rest ;)

On the third day, we are going to the office of the President, ROC, Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, National Alpine Association of Taiwan, and Legislative Yuan.

See you!!

September 19, 2016

The first day of study trip in Taiwan 2016

The second year of Konan High School SGH program in Taiwan left Japan to Taiwan today.  Although everyone was very worried about Typhoon Number 16, students all arrived at our destination safely.

At the departing ceremony, Akiko Kume, the leader of students, made a speech to those who gathered to see them off.  In her speech, on behalf of the other students, she showed their determination to absorb everything they could learn in Taiwan and their appreciation to the people who have ever helped them.  After that, students took a group photo.

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As soon as they arrived at Toen International Air Port, the study trip started.

Lungshan Temple:

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Xingtian Temple:

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Students were still energetic even at the dinner table, even though leading teachers were so exhausted ;)

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Tomorrow, the group will visit National Palace Museum, go on a trip to Shihfen to fly sky lanterns, and slip into the world of Spirited Away in Jiufen!

September 22, 2015

Welcome back, the first "Taiwan Project" members!

At 11:00 today, 15 students who visited Taiwan as a SGH project and Mr. Horikiri, the teacher who went to Taiwan with them came back safe and sound.

They met their parents at the Kagoshima airport. Mr. Komaki and Ms. Kodama, who were the representatives of the members made a short speech to everyone; "We studied a lot in Taiwan. We really thank every single person who has enthusiastically supported us; the school alumni, our teachers and last but not the least, our parents. We'd like to visit Taiwan again. We will make more efforts, so please keep on supporting us." 

We relieved, seeing the students coming out of the door after finishing their entry formalities. They seemed to grow up. They seemed to gain skills and knowledge, such as cooperation skills. They will surely play an active role at school after this. 

We, teachers in Konan, also really appreciate all the supports from various people such as people in the school almuni.  Thank you very much. 

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Taiwan Visit 8

Last report from Horikiri Sensei arrived!

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Leaving for Kagoshima

We left the hotel around 6am and arrived at the International airport at 6:30 am. It is very crowded! It seems that it would take about an hour to go through departure formalities. Students look sleepy but well. Now they are lining at baggage check-in, eating their takeout breakfast.

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Students said goodbye to the guide. They passed through the passport control. Now we are boarding 8:15 airplane CL118. We will fly to Kagoshima. Let's see at the airport soon!

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Our Principal's comment: Eight days passed so quickly! Now, I'm leaving here to see them at the airport.