Twenty-eight students and staff from St. Augustine School travelled to Japan and Korea during the recent spring break.
On March 21, the group flew out of Calgary to land in Osaka on March 22.
“We then moved on to Kyoto where we participated in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony and explored the many temples of the city. We then transitioned to rural Japan visiting the mountain communities of Takayama and Shirakawa-go in central Honshu, Japan’s main island,” said teacher Brad Normandeau.
“We then moved to the city of Kanazawa on Japan’s west coast where we got to make our gold-leaf chopsticks, visited a feudal Japanese Samurai castle, and wandered a traditional, Japanese garden in kimonos just as Japan’s famous cherry blossoms began to emerge for the spring,” he said.
From Kanazawa, the students experienced a 300 km/h bullet train ride back to Japan’s east coast and the capital of Tokyo.
The train reduces a drive that normally takes six or more hours to two hours, said Normandeau.
In Tokyo, the students crossed the Shibuya crossing with about 4,000 other pedestrians and visited the Harajuku and Akihabara districts where a group visited one of Tokyo’s cat cafés where patrons sip coffee or tea while cuddling with the café’s feline hosts, he said.
“We also visited traditional sites in Tokyo including the Meiji Shrine and the Asakusa temple.”
The group’s time in Tokyo was capped off with the Japanese art of karaoke where Normandeau performed the Backstreet Boys classic I Want It That Way.
On March 30, the group flew to Seoul, South Korea.
“On the first afternoon in Korea, we visited the Hyundai Motorstudio in Seoul which included a VR race car simulator, and explored Seoul’s World Cup Park constructed for the 2002 FIFA World Cup before enjoying some Korean fried chicken,” said Normandeau.
On the second day in Korea, the group was treated to a tour of the Korean demilitarized zone, the area of land that has been overseen by the UN since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Here, the students learned about the history leading up to and following the Korean War.
The final two days in Korea included visits to palaces and fortresses of the country’s former monarchy where the group was treated to a traditional Korean changing of the guard ceremony.
“We also got a panoramic view of the city of 12 million people from the top of Namsan Seoul Tower and learned to cook traditional dishes such as Korean barbeque, Bulgogi beef, and Shabu Shabu.”
