After three weeks of studying Japanese in Fukuoka, Japan our Greenheart Travel student, Duke, shares what he will miss most (and not at all) from his travels abroad.
Check out his video below for this full review!
5 Things I Will Miss Most From Japan
1. My Japanese Host Family
They were so nice to me and allowed me to go and experience so much of Japan.
2. My New International Friends
I’ve met so many new people from all over the world.
3. Going on Field Trips
In Japan there were so many places to go and things to try out, like the Fukuoka Tower and the many shrines. It was just so cool to go to those places and so interesting because I don’t see that in Hawaii.
4. Freedom
Not that my parents are strict about me staying home, but when I was in Japan I had the freedom to go to a lot of places I wanted. That was because of the transportation systems in the country. In Hawaii you either have to take a bus, walk or ask your parents to drive you. In Japan I could meet up with my friends and go where I wanted on the train and that was a very valuable thing to to me.
5. Being Able to Talk to People in Japanese
Now that might sound strange since I’m just a beginner but being able to speak the language every day was a very great learning experience for me. I was able to improve my Japanese as well as to try and figure out what in the world everyone was saying to me.
5 Things I Will Not Miss About Japan
1. The Crowded Subway
I truly, truly do not miss the crowded subway lines. As I said in my first video, it is PACKED. It was so hot, and I don’t miss it; luckily though, I was able to figure out when to avoid the rush hours and go before those times.
2. The Weather
Seriously, it is HOT in Japan and really humid. Every day I was wearing a soaked shirt with sweat; I don’t miss that. I like being dry and not sweaty.
3. The Fact that They Don’t Have Root Beer
I love most of their drinks, but the one thing they don’t have is Root beer, and that is the only soda that I drink. I was looking for it for two, whole weeks before I found out that Japan actually hates Root beer. Apparently, the ingredient in Root beer is the same in some of their medicine and Root beer for them tastes like they are drinking medicine.
4. The Guidelines You Have to Follow
To be honest, I don’t know that much about Japanese courtesy and the guidelines for how they treat each other. So I probably broke, like, two of them. I know you have to be respectful of others but I didn’t know why I got in trouble for using my cell phone and still don’t understand.
5. The Monk Encouragement
If you didn’t see my first week’s blog post, this is a monk hitting me on the back very hard.
These are the five things I will miss and not miss about Japan. Overall, it was a very great experience to be able to speak the Japanese language, immerse myself into its culture and to be able to experience all these new things and make friends along the way. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
My daily routine in Japan is waking up at 7:30 a.m in the morning to get ready for school. During that time, I would finish any homework that I didn’t do the previous night, brush my teeth, text my friends and family, and prepare for school. By 8:15 a.m, I leave my homestay house to go to Fujisaki Station in which I take the subway to go all the way to Hakata Station. By the time I get to Hakata Station and travel to my school, it’s around 9:00 a.m in which I have 30 minutes to spare until class starts.
Check out my daily commute to the Japanese language school:
At 9:30 a.m, I have Japanese Language class all the way up to 1:10 p.m. There are 5-10 minute breaks between classes, but each class is around 1 hour long, so usually I try to bring a snack with me to eat during breaks.
At 1:10 p.m, I either go to the supermarket or a guy that I like to call “The Bento Guy” because he sells cheap bentos for only 300 yen ($3 in USD).
At 2:05 p.m., I have activity class that goes into either the culture class or the pop-culture class and we do fun activities until 3:50 p.m.
After activity class, I either go straight back to my station, or I go with my friends to a place that we want to go to such as an anime store, a CD store, or to the mall. Then I go home to meet Mahiru and Ms. Chikako to eat dinner. My favorite foods so far is chicken karaage, somen noodles, ramen, gyoza, and curry with rice and chicken katsu.
After eating, Mahiru helps me with my Japanese homework. Then it’s free time until 11:00 p.m and then I go to sleep and the day repeats. I have gotten used to commuting to school and have picked up some tips to share with future students.
Tips for Future Students
One tip that I can give for anyone who is wanting to travel abroad to learn a new language is try to prepare yourself beforehand. I know that a lot of the students who started at beginner’s level were still having a hard time even though they were just beginning. I think you should try to learn and master the basics before learning it during class, that way you have an easier time to adjust to the teacher’s pace and the classwork/homework that they give you.
Another piece of advice for anyone who wants to travel abroad to learn a new language is to speak out. I know that trying to immerse yourself into another country that speaks a different language than yours is going to be very difficult and challenging but try to communicate to the locals and other people around you. Don’t be afraid to speak whenever you feel like you need help, even though they may or may not understand you. Just don’t be shy trying to communicate in a language that you have little to no experience in speaking and just try your best to ask for help.
What I’ve Learned About Myself During My Time in Japan
I learned a lot about myself during my time abroad in Japan. I learned that I can actually handle public transportation a lot better than I expected. In Hawaii, I have never used a bus nor is there any subway stations. By going to Japan, I’ve had a great experience in using public transportation, that I probably wouldn’t have learned in Hawaii because I never use it.
I also learned that I truly enjoy making international friends from all over the world. Not only have I made friends at school and my host family’s home, I’ve been able to make friends from Japanese schools as well as some of Ms. Chikako’s friends. This has been a great and amazing experience overall and I feel like I’m going to remember this trip forever.
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
This was my final week in Japan for my language camp program. Read on to learn more about my experiences these last few days and check out my video highlights below.
Day 14 in Fukuoka:
Today, I went to Fukuoka Tower with Kat. During the subway ride, I was talking on the phone with one of my friends and an old man was staring at me weirdly. I didn’t think about it too much and I continued to talk to my friend. When I arrived at Meinohama Station, the old man grabbed me by the arm and started talking to me in Japanese. I didn’t really understand what he was saying, so I told him in Japanese that I don’t understand.
He pulled me towards a sign that said, “When crowded, turn off your cell phone near the priority seats.” I still didn’t understand because it was neither crowded nor was I in the priority seats. So I told him I don’t understand, but I’m sorry in Japanese. He then asked if I was from China or Portugal. I kept trying to tell him America, but he still didn’t understand and started saying something that I couldn’t understand in Japanese. I knew that there was no way I could communicate any further, so I said I’m sorry, and he finally left.
I was told later on that Japan has etiquettes that they follow all the time and I was breaking one of them. I now know to never call someone on the subway (even though I saw five other people who were Japanese doing it.)
After the traumatic incident in the subway, I met Kat and we walked to Fukuoka Tower to buy our tickets to go up to the top. There was actually an English tour guide who told us the facts and history of Fukuoka Tower, which was very cool to see that they were considerate of international people. We went up to the highest floor possible and got to see a stunning view of Fukuoka Tower. We spotted our own homestay houses as well as the places where we’ve been to and it was just an amazing sight to see.
We then went to the place where they sold crepes. It was very delicious and after eating we walked to see the city lights. It was amazing.
Day 15 in Fukuoka:
Today I had to say goodbye to Kat. It was sad seeing her leave because we only got to spend two weeks in Japan, but it was cool hanging out with her. I was able to say goodbye to her at the airport as she was about to go home. It was nice being able to talk to her one last time before I had to see her leave.
I didn’t really feel safe when I went outside of the apartment this morning because there was a lot of bad omen signs that just appeared out of nowhere. For example, I saw a tons of black crows on top of a dead tree with black cats lying around it. I usually don’t care about the supernatural stuff and all those ridiculous rumors about how bad omens could bring an end to you, but it just seemed so out of place. Luckily my host family and I were going to Dazaifu Shrine, so I thought that if this is a bad omen, hopefully the shrine will take care of it.
We parked outside of the shrine and we walked up towards the shrine. There were a huge variety of shops from food vendors and ice cream shops, to samurai toys and anime goodies. We went to the shrine to pray as well as look around the shrine. It was huge because there was a museum as well as a theme park. Sadly, we weren’t able to go to both of them because it was such a far walk, but we got to enjoy the sightseeing, as well as being able to buy some cool things from the shops.
Day 16 in Fukuoka:
Today there was going to be a new batch of students who were coming to the language camp. We had three new people in my class; Candace, Joshua, and Aden (I’m sorry if I spelt your name wrong). Aden and Candace are both Greenheart Travel students and Aden is a scholarship student which is the same as me! We sadly didn’t have enough time to talk, but at least we got to know that we were all Greenheart Travel students.
My friends and I went to a bookstore after class. We decided to go to a bookstore which was near Hakata Station. There we got to see a lot of cool things that we could buy. There were Yugioh cards, books, CDs, DVDs, guitars, pianos, etc. I would’ve bought something for myself or my family and friends, but sadly I forgot to bring my money, so I could only buy a book. But it was interesting to see all these things in one store which was cool. After going to the bookstore, we decided to call it a day and went back home.
Day 17 in Fukuoka:
Today I went on an anime/otaku map tour. We were going to go to different places where we could buy anime goodies. We first went to Mandarake, and it was a huge anime store. It had everything that you would want! It had action figures, posters, CDs, DVDs, cards, manga, light novels, etc. There was just a huge amount of anime stuff which was so cool to see!
We then went to a GEE! Store which actually had an event for one of me and my friends favorite anime. It was sad because we couldn’t believe that we missed an event for one of our favorite anime shows, but we didn’t let that spoil our fun when we were looking around the GEE! Store.
After going to all those stores, I decided to stay at school to work on my homework with my friend and then back to my homestay. After eating dinner at my homestay, I went for a walk to the beach, which was only a five minute walk, and I got to see something that I wasn’t expecting…Fireworks. I guess you could say that this was my very late Fourth of July Fireworks celebration.
Day 18 in Fukuoka:
Today, I went to Kushida Shrine after my Japanese language classes were over. We went before a festival, so we got to see all the preparations. My friends and I paid some money for a fortune teller (luckily there was an English version). My friend, Deha, got moderately lucky which apparently was the second best for fortune tellings. When I looked at mine, I got very lucky which was the number one for fortune tellings. I did a small fist pump in the air and quietly said “YES” because I got one of the best fortune tellings. My friend and I hung the fortune tellings and we went to pray to Buddha for good luck.
After going through the temple with all the shrines, as well as some shrine priests and priestess in their uniform, we went to Kawabata Shotengai. It was like a mall but it had a long walkway with different shops at each corner. We even found an Owl Cafe which was one of the things my Japanese language teacher in Hawaii told me about. After finding the end of the mall, we reached Canal City Mall in which we knew our way back to Hakata Station and we left to go back to our homestay.
Day 19 in Fukuoka:
Today I did a cosplay class and we learned the history of cosplay as well as our sensei’s cosplay past. It was so interesting learning the history of cosplay. In the past, cosplay wasn’t accepted in Japan due to a horrible incident. It was the 1989 incident of Tsutomu Miyazaki which had a huge impact on people’s views of anime, cosplay, or manga. After learning the history of cosplay, our class got to do our own cosplay. I cosplayed as the Prince of Tennis, but then I noticed that I looked exactly the same in real life because I always wear collared shirts that are sporty as well as long pants.
After class, I went to Makiko’s house to visit her one more time before I had to leave Japan in a few more days. I got to meet Daiki again and we got to play chess together. After playing chess, we ate dinner which was pork cutlet and it was absolutely delicious. After eating dinner, Ms. Makiko wanted me to try calligraphy, so she taught me how to write “Happiness” in Japanese and after a long, stressful, difficult time, I was finally able to do it. After learning how to write calligraphy, it was time for me to leave and go back to my homestay to meet two Japanese students who were going to America during the winter. Ms. Chikako wanted me to talk to them in English to help them with their English language. It was cool meeting Japanese students even though they were older than me (they were both 18 years old).
Day 20 in Fukuoka:
Today was the last day that I had to go to school at my language camp. It was sad to say goodbye to all the new friends that I made from when I first started school. My friends and I agreed to hang out after class to have somewhat of a party for the people who were leaving. I finished up class and I went to the ceremony. It turns out that I was the first person to give my speech. I started to get nervous because I was the first person to speak in a language that I’m still a beginner. There were times that I messed up, but I believe I delivered my speech in a way people could understand. After getting my certificate, I got lunch with my friend Deha and we waited for the people who were coming bowling with us to arrive.
Apparently, I forgot that sometimes students have different classes, some are in the morning and some are in the afternoon. My friends who were going bowling with us had classes during the afternoon, and it would take us 2-3 hours of waiting in the lounge before we could go anywhere. So my friends and I decided that we would go somewhere else besides bowling. We went to the station where our sensei recommended us to go and we had trouble right when we got there. We didn’t know what the bus looked like and none of us knew Kanji or that much katakana. We asked an old lady for help and she told us to wait for a while and the bus would come to get us. We waited and finally the bus that looked like the one our sensei described came and we went on. We waved goodbye to the old lady and she made a X with her hands and I started to freak out.
Luckily though, we were on the right bus and we went to the onsen safe and sound. We got to go inside and take a nice hot bath as well as style our hair. We went to eat dinner and dessert where I finally found shave ice after two weeks of searching.
Day 21 in Fukuoka:
Today I had to start cleaning up my room so that the next student who is coming tomorrow would have a nice clean room. It took me a while, but I’m used to cleaning my room because my mom wants me to clean the house every Friday.
I finished, and I started to get hungry, but I knew I wanted to go to Tenjin to look around the area. I told Mahiru about my plan and he said sure. After eating I looked at my phone to find if there was anything near me that peaked my interests and sure enough there was. There was a Tower Records store only ½ a mile away. I remembered that my dad used to talk about how Hawaii had a Tower Records store before, but then they closed down, so I decided to go there first.
I went there and to my surprise it was pretty packed with people from my age to my dad’s age. It was so cool to see all the music CDS and everything in one place. I got some goods to bring back to my dad and went to Medarake to buy something for myself.
I then went back to my homestay family to be greeted with another part of Ms. Chikako’s family; her daughter, Chiharu who just came back from Singapore. We talked for a little while and we ate dinner together and just talked about anything that came to our minds. After a while we knew we were all tired so we went to our rooms and slept.
Day 22 in Fukuoka:
Sunday was the day I was leaving Japan. I asked Mahiru where I could go to get snacks for my trip back home and he took me to a convenience store that sold pretty much anything; from clothes and suitcases all the way to snacks and electrical appliances. We walked all the way there to get the things we needed and we went back to our home. Then I waited for a little while before it was time for me to go. It was very sad to say goodbye to my host family, but I had a feeling I was going to meet them again one day. Ms. Chikako drove me to the airport and we said our final goodbyes.
After nine hours of watching movies and eating snacks, I arrived in Hawaii! When I landed though, it looked so unfamiliar to the point where I didn’t know if I actually went on the right plane. I followed the people in front of me until we reached customs in which I found out that it was Hawaii because there was a sign that said “Aloha!” I went through customs easily and grabbed my bags and headed outside to wait for my parents. My mom greeted me with a warm smile and a huge hug saying, “Welcome back son!” I was so happy to see my mom again and couldn’t wait to tell her all my experiences in Japan. We drove back home after getting me something to eat because I was starving and then I was greeted with a huge surprise.
My parents redecorated my whole entire room and it was amazing. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my room because it looked so brand new and cool that I was just speechless. I thanked my parents for everything and said I’m finally home! After unpacking and sleeping for six hours, we had a welcome home party with all my friends and family asking all about my trip in which I showed them the videos that I made and they loved it! I was sad leaving Japan, but thanks to my amazing loving parents, family and friends, they made me happy that I came back to Hawaii!
Get more insights into my final week in Japan and check out my video below!
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
My favorite aspects of my language program in Japan so far is making new friends from all around the world. I’ve made friends from Turkey, Sweden, California, Australia, China, etc. It’s just amazing to be able to meet with each other and to be able to learn the same language that I want to learn.
We also hang out during our free time as well as study the Japanese culture and the language together. It’s just a fun and amazing experience to be able to enjoy learning the Japanese language and culture while making friends!
Below is my second week of activities during my time abroad.
Day 7 in Fukuoka:
Today, I went with my host family to Yuusentei park. It was a very beautiful and well preserved place. It had a small waterfall, as well as a pond where there was a bunch of koi and small turtles inside the river. It was very beautiful to see the old Japanese palace. Especially the Ohiroma Hall, which was the formal room lifestyle of the samurai, as well as the Josuian (which was the tea ceremony room that was isolated from the hall).
After going to Yuusentei park, we went to walk on the Mochihama beach near our home and we went to Robosquare. Robosquare was a display place of all these very cool inventions. For instance, a robotic dog, a robotic baby, and a Hello Kitty robot.
It was so cool to see all these amazing, high tech robots in Japan because I’ve always seen some of them through videos on the internet. However, now I’m able to see it with my very own eyes.
Day 8 in Fukuoka:
Today, I went to the beach with Kat’s host family at Meinohama. I have never actually seen any other places besides Tenjin, Fujisaki, Hakata, and Fukuoka Airport, so it was cool to be able to go to Meinohama (Two stations away from mine).
We drove to a supermarket store to buy some food for a barbecue. We then went to the beach and the food that her host mom’s boyfriend cooked was delicious. After eating all of our food, we all went to the beach to swim.
We all stepped into the water, but it was freezing. For me anyways, Kat just dove straight into the water even though it was freezing. Even Niko, the host mom’s dog didn’t like the cold water either. But that didn’t stop us from enjoying the beach. We created a sandman as well as sand balls to throw at each other. It was fun!
After the beach, we were given one hour to explore the whole area. Kat and I decided to find an ice cream shop. We searched and searched and searched, but we couldn’t find a single ice cream shop. The only thing we found was a barber shop, a bike shop, a seafood restaurant that was closed, and more beach. We then just found a place to sit down and talk for a little while.
Day 9 in Fukuoka:
Today was when the new students in GenkiJacs were coming to class. I noticed that I didn’t have class till later on in the afternoon. So Kat and I decided to meet up at Hakata station to go to Canal City Mall. We went looking and exploring the mall because the last time we went, we didn’t see the 2nd to 5th floor of the mall. While we were exploring, we got to see a pretty cool water show every hour. They played different songs from like the Nutcracker and Indiana Jones. It was cool to see it installed inside the mall. After exploring the mall fully, we decided to sit down for ice cream from Baskin and Robins (again another American company).
After that, it was time to head back to school. We went back to school to meet another Greenheart Travel student named Aiden who was a scholarship winner just like me. Sadly, we were in different classes, but it was cool just being able to talk before I went to my class. After class, my friends and I didn’t have anything planned, so Kat and I went to the station and went back to our host family’s home.
When I went back, Mahiru had his friends over and we were having pizza for dinner tonight. It was cool meeting other Japanese students around my age and being able to talk with them. After eating the pizza, I guessed they had some crazy idea. They grabbed a duck mask and went out in the dark to do something. I didn’t join them even though they asked me if I wanted to, but I just couldn’t get my mind off of why do they have duck masks in the first place.
Day 10 in Fukuoka:
Today, we had a cooking class. We went to a place where we were able to cook udon from scratch. We hand-made the noodles by making the dough for it. After making the dough, we rolled it flat, and cut it into small thin pieces. When we were done with that, we cooked them and we got to eat it with the broth that the teacher already made. We all sat down and ate the udon together.
After the udon, we were to create our own temaki rolls of either egg or cucumber or even both. After eating our meal (and my friends finally coming to the cooking class), we left to go back to school and took our classes.
After class, Kat and I went to explore Hakata station’s mall because the only place where we got to see in Hakata station was the pokemon center and the supermarkets. We explored the remaining floors and finally found a place where it was amazing. It was a garden on top of Hakata station and it had a small train tracks with a shrine and a lookout place where you could see everything around Hakata Station.
Day 11 in Fukuoka:
Today, we had another activity class where I learned how to do Japanese gift wrapping. I learned three different styles of wrapping gifts as well as the difference between the Japanese letters and what each color of the string that was tied around the letter represented. Like for example, black is usually for bad news such as funerals, while red is like a sign of good news such as money or marriage, etc.
I also learned how to make a gift that look like a collared shirt with a neck tie, a way of wrapping omiyage with a piece of cloth (sadly I don’t remember the specific name for it) and a way to wrap small gifts. It was cool learning different ways of wrapping the gifts. We then cleaned up and went to class to learn more about the Japanese language.
After class, I went with my friend Kat to the movie theater together to watch a movie. We both wanted to see how the Japanese theater compares to an American one. We saw the difference immediately when we were buying our tickets. Turns out, we had to choose where we were going to sit in the movie theater. So we chose two seats near the middle of the theater and he gave us our tickets.
Apparently it was like girl’s movie night or something like that where Kat got her ticket price cheaper (lucky). The seats were very comfortable and we could easily find where we had to sit even though it was super dark. The whole movie theater looked very clean, especially the ground which was surprising to see.
We watched some movie trailers which had a Japanese voiceover of describing what the trailer was about (even though the trailer was in English). And during the movie, I saw the Japanese translations, but it went so fast, I couldn’t even read the first word before it switched to another sentence. I don’t know how they are able to read that so fast, but I guess it just means that I’m still trying to learn the language.
Day 12 in Fukuoka:
Today, we had another activity class where we learned how to do Japanese Taiko drumming. We all went to school, where we left to take a bus all the way the taiko drum place. There we got to see a live demonstration performed right in front of us. Surprisingly, the person who did most of the talking spoke very good English which surprised me. They said that they are international, so they travel a lot to perform in various places, so they picked up the English language.
They also were going to give us a live demonstration. We were lucky to see it because they said that they usually don’t do a demonstration for people, but since we were such a big group of students, they said that they wanted to do it for us. We got to see an amazing flute player and a taiko drummer do a duo and a solo right in front of our eyes which was amazing. It was awesome! After the demonstration, we got to do our own songs and learned how to play the taiko drums. It was cool learning how to play it as well as being able to see it performed by an expert.
After class, Kat and I went watch a movie at her host mom’s place because she had a tv that we could use to watch an animated movie. Kat doesn’t watch anime that much, so I wanted to show her what the “Classics” are like. We watched Ponyo and Totoro together and we created dumplings/gyoza for dinner. It was fun creating it from scratch with her and her host mom and we made a ton of gyoza for the three of us. After we cooked the food, we thank her host mom for the meal and we all dug in. It was very delicious.
We were able to finish all the gyozas that we made and we helped her clean up. We then started to do our homework because we remembered that we still had class tomorrow and we helped each other with our homework.
Day 13 in Fukuoka:
Today, Kat and I went to Canal City Mall again so that we could buy omiyage (presents) for our friends and family. We finally mapped out the mall on Monday, so we knew where to go to find certain things. We knew where we could get her mom some nice jewelry, for her dad, some snacks to munch on at home and for her grandma, traditional things that she could use back at home. It took a while to find the things that Kat wanted to get, but we were able to get them with another hour to spare.
We then went to the place where I had to go to get more snacks for my family. We then went to Cold Stone to buy some ice cream. We talked to each other and after eating the ice cream, we didn’t feel hungry, so we went back to school instead of eating lunch (in which we will soon regret later on).
When we went to the school, it was time for the ceremony again. This time I had to say goodbye to three of my friends. I had to say goodbye to Kat, Martin, and Viggo. It was hard to imagine that they were all going to leave this week, but sadly there was nothing that I could do to stop them from leaving.
After class, my friends and I had plans to hang out after school to say goodbye to them. Sadly, Martin, wasn’t able to come, but we still had a huge group of people hanging out with us. Our group was made out of six people, Deha, Kat, Viggo, Maja, Marcus, and me. We went to karaoke where we failed miserably with Japanese songs and English songs. We only spent there for about an hour or so and we went to the bowling alley.
Sadly, Viggo had to go after karaoke, so our group went down to five. We went bowling which turned out was very crowded because a company was doing a bonding experience with its workers. Luckily, we got a lane and we started to bowl for two rounds.
The first round went to Marcus who came in first place, Deha in second, me in third, Kat in fourth, and Maja in fifth. The second round, Marcus, Deha, and I wanted to try do trick shots, so we were doing all these weird shots while Kat and Maja took it seriously. I don’t remember the placing exactly, but all we knew was that Kat got first place with over 70 points (greater than what I got when I was trying).
We then went to eat dinner at a ramen restaurant and said our goodbyes to our friend and went back onto the subway. While I was walking home, I wished I had more time to spend with my friends, but sadly, time goes by fast when you are having fun. And truly, hanging out with them was so fun that I forgot that this was my second week in Japan; one more week before I had to go back to Hawaii.
Want to see more of my adventures in Japan?
Check out my video from my second week in Japan and don’t miss my recommendations at the end for where to buy anime and sites around Fukuoka Station.
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
I arrived in Fukuoka with a warm greeting from my host mother named Ms. Chikako. She showed me how to get to school and also how to get back to where her house was in case I got lost.
I also got to meet Mahiru, Ms. Chikako’s son which was awesome because I got to finally meet someone who lives in Japan that is around the same age as me. Mahiru can speak English fluently which really helps me to translate Ms. Chikako’s Japanese. Also he plays one of the sports that I used to play which is soccer. He even likes comics such as the Avengers, Iron Man, etc. It was an amazing experience to meet my host family and to be able to finally go to Japan after all the hard work to get here.
Day 2 in Fukuoka:
Today was the first day of school and it was crazy! I didn’t really know where I was supposed to go even though I received instructions from my host family. But thankfully with the help from a lot of people along the way, I got to where I needed to go. They helped me get on the subway which would take me to a station near my school. When I got there I didn’t know how to buy a subway ticket because in Hawaii, there are no subways, so I was completely new to this type of transportation. I asked a nice, kind lady and she showed me how to buy a ticket as well as where to go for the right subway.
When I was about to enter the subway, my jaw dropped. It was packed to the point where it was body to body. In a lot of animes that I watch, the subway scenes are always never packed and it looks empty all the time. My initial expectation was that it was going to be less packed, but in reality it was crowded! But I knew I had to get into it, so I went in squished to the point where I could hear the person next to me breathing.
It took a long time before I reached my station and by that time I thought I was going to pass out from all the body heat, but I survived. Luckily I found my school (by wandering around all over the place), I went through orientation at my school and got my class schedule. I got to talk to some people while I was waiting for my orientation and found out that most of them were from different programs other than Greenheart Travel. After all the chaos and figuring out when and where my classes were, I went back home, with a reminder that anime and reality are sadly not the same.
Day 3 in Fukuoka:
Today was the second day of school and I woke up early to make sure that I would miss the traffic that I encountered yesterday; I was able to get to school one hour before it started. However during this time I got to meet Megan (from Australia), Kat (from California as well as a Greenheart Travel Scholarship winner), Veego (from Sweden), Deha (from Turkey), Maja (from California), Marcus (from China), etc. It was so cool meeting all these new people who were from all over the world. Most of the people that I met, were in the same class as me and I got to know them even better.
After class was over, we had an excursion to the Zen temple. In the Zen temple, we had Zen meditation. We had a monk show each of us how to do the meditation correctly. The first five minutes was just clearing our minds to be able to hear the sounds of nature. That was the first stage. The second stage was when we learned what a true monk had to go through.
The second stage was like a simulation run of what monk trainees would go through during meditation. If you were a monk in training, and if you fell asleep or your posture was bad, you would get hit very hard by a stick. They called this “encouragement” because it’s supposed to not make you want to get hit again, so you should stay awake till the end. Even if you have good posture or if you’re fully awake, you could still get hit if the monk wants you to get hit. Being hit by the monk was optional, but I thought to myself, “Well, your back is usually very strong, so most likely it won’t hurt that much.” Boy was I wrong!
When it was my turn to get hit by the stick, I was confident in myself. When the first of the two strikes hit, I was wondering how could I make him stop hitting me. When the second of the two strikes hit me, I was already feeling my body getting bruised. I thought that he was being serious, but when the meditation was done, he said to everyone who got hit that he was doing “soft-touch” for us and that if it was for real, the stick would’ve broken.
I thought to myself “I don’t think I would ever want to be encouraged by a monk again,” but I must give credit to all the monk trainees in Japan because the pain that I felt was the greatest amount of pain that I have ever felt in my entire life. Also if that was supposedly a soft hit, I’m scared to find out what the hard hit feels like!
After the class excursion, I went to Ms. Chikako’s friend’s house. Her name was Makiko and she has a family in Hawaii. Ms. Chikako was talking to her about me and how I was from Hawaii and Ms. Makiko wanted me to come over to show me a casual tea ceremony. I went there after school and got to see tatami flooring as well as I got to watch how green tea is made. I also got to drink it which was awesome!
I got to meet Ms. Makiko’s son as well. His name was Daiki, and even though he couldn’t speak English, I was able to communicate with him through Ms. Makiko. In my opinion, Daiki was a younger version of me. He loves playing minecraft as well as playing other types of video games and invites his friends over to play them as well. He also likes reading manga (otaku buddies) and we got to talk a lot about my life as well as theirs. It was a fun experience to be able to use my Japanese language skills as well as to be able to talk to another Japanese family.
Day 4 in Fukuoka:
I got to create a character bento today and it was very interesting. Character bentos are bentos that are created with food that forms into a picture of a famous character such as Hello Kitty or Naruto. I have seen some of the character bentos on social media sites and have always wondered how to create them. Now I finally have learned how to make them and EAT them!
I also got to go to an anime store called “Animate” and it was so awesome! I’m considered to be an Otaku (a person who loves anime a lot) and just seeing so much anime merchandise in one place was like heaven. I was able to buy not only for myself, but for my friends back home as well! The best part of it was that it was super cheap compared to what it is in Hawaii.
Day 5 in Fukuoka:
I got to wear a yukata today and it was really cool to finally be able to wear one. I have seen it many times in animes, however I was never able to see one in real life nor have the chance to be able to wear one. Interesting fact: Yukatas and Kimonos are different.
Yukata is a traditional dress that is only one layer while as a kimono is two layers. Also there isn’t that much specific types of yukatas or kimonos, but there are different colors for the different seasons.
Day 6 in Fukuoka:
I didn’t have classes until the afternoon so Kat, Megan, Maja, Zane and I decided to go to Canal City Hakata to buy omiyage for our family and friends back at home. We met up at the school and “yelped” our way to the mall. We found the mall after a couple of minutes and when we arrived we thought that it was huge!
When we checked the information stand to see the whole entire mall, our minds were completely blown away. The part that we were at was only ⅕ of the mall and the mall had five different buildings with each building having five levels including a basement level. We knew we wouldn’t be able to go to each and every store, so we decided to just explore the first and basement floor to see what it had.
We were able to buy some candy for our family as well as anime stuff from a store called “Jump Shop” and ice cream at a very American shop called “Cold Stone.” After we ate ice cream, we went back to Hakata station to buy some food and went back to the school.
Sadly there was a ceremony that was held today for our school. It was a ceremony for all the students who were leaving the school this week. There were a couple of people who I have seen around the school, but I never got the chance to talk to them. However, there was one person who I had to say goodbye to. Her name was Megan and she only stayed here for a week. Even though it was a short amount of time, we acted as if we were best friends since forever.
It was sad to see one of my friends leave, but we enjoyed our last day with a blast by going to a pokemon shop called “Pokemon Center” and got to see awesome pokemon goodies. We then took our last train ride together and we said our goodbyes. It was nice getting to meet Megan and to be able to talk to her about anime and other crazy things.
These moments are the moments I truly enjoy, to meet new people from around the world and to be able to connect with them so much to the point where we feel very close together. Even though it was sad seeing her for the last time, I was happy I was able to meet her.
After saying goodbye to Megan, I met with my host family and we went to a supermarket mall to buy some food and groceries for Mahiru’s camp that he is going to tomorrow. After shopping, we went to eat at the food court. I chose to eat meat with eggs and rice at “Pepper Lunch” and it was so ono! After a happy yet sad day, there was a good meal to end the day!
Want to see more of my experience so far?
Check out my video from this first week in Japan and don’t miss the three important tips for travel at the end!
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
My first impression of Japan was how clean the airport was; I didn’t see a single speck of dust anywhere. I also couldn’t believe that there were English subtitles underneath the Japanese signs, which really helped me get to the places where I needed to go. What was also intriguing was that there were diagonal and horizontal crosswalks and they drive on the left side of the road instead of the right.
In Hawaii, there are no diagonal crosswalks and we drive on the right side of the road instead of the left. Also, we have a lot of homeless so the airport and most public bathrooms are very dirty.
My Japanese Host Family
My host family consists of two people named Ms. Chikako and Mahiru. Ms. Chikako is very nice woman and always asks if I’m okay. She doesn’t speak fluent English, but whenever she can, she tries to translate for me. Since I’m a picky eater (as my mom calls me) she asks me what foods I can and cannot eat and tries to adjust to my liking. She also allows me to hang out with my friends, so I can enjoy my three week stay here as much as possible.
Mahiru is younger than me, but we are born in the same year. He has helped me greatly for the first couple of days by helping me learn the rules around the house as well as helping me communicate better with Ms. Chikako. He speaks fluent English as well as Japanese which helps me be able to understand our conversation. He even has helped me with my Japanese homework whenever I’m confused.
I really am grateful for them for everything they have done to help me settle in as well as with my school homework. They are a very nice family and they remind me of my own family at home.
Rewarding and Challenging Experiences so Far in Japan
The most challenging experience that I had on this trip so far was finding my way to school on my first day. Even though I got directions from my host family as well as from Greenheart Travel, I was still very lost. I kept on asking people around me to help me find certain places to help me navigate my way to the subway. I didn’t know how to get a ticket to the subway and thankfully a nice, kind lady helped me get a ticket to the nearest station (Hakata Station) to my school.
The subway however was very unexpected. My original image of a subway was that it would have little to no people on it, just like how the anime movies I watch show it. However, I was completely incorrect.
When I got there, it was packed with people to the point where it was body to body squished into the subway car. I thought I was going to pass out from all the body heat around me. Thankfully I found a place where there were not that many people near me and was able to survive my very first subway ride. After getting off the subway, I had to ask a lot of people where I could find my school, and luckily a nice Japanese student helped me find my way.
The most rewarding experience I had was meeting new friends from all over the world. I met Kat who also is a scholarship student from Greenheart Travel and we are also in the same class with each other. She lives in California which is one of the places my family visits a lot which was very cool. I also met Megan who is from Australia who loves anime as much as I do which was a cool coincidence.
My other friends who I have met are from Turkey, Sweden, Australia, England and China. It’s so amazing to see all these people from all over the world and to be able to meet them in one place. I thought I would be learning about only Japan, but with the wealth of experiences from my new friends, I am learning about places from all over the world!
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
Greenheart Travel is excited to send a group of amazing high school students to language camps overseas as part of our 2016 Travel Correspondent Scholarship awards. To help introduce our inspiring writers, we will be doing a series of spotlight interviews to help you get to know a little more about who they are, where they will be headed and what inspired them to learn a new language abroad.
Read on to meet our first student spotlight on 16-year-old, Dakota “Duke” Takeno, our Greenheart Travel Correspondent from Oahu, Hawaii who’ll be traveling to Fukuoka for his summer language camp in Japan!
Favorite thing to do in your free time?
In my free time I like to listen to music, write stories, read books, hang out with my friends, play video games and sleep. I’m what you might call a “night owl;” I love to stay up late at night but I have a hard time waking up in the morning.
Have you traveled abroad before?
Yes, I have traveled abroad before with the People to People Ambassador program where I went to Australia. I have also gone to Canada, Mexico, Japan, Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New York, and the neighbor islands of Hawaii with my family.
Many of these places, I went to when I was really young so I don’t really remember a lot about them. If I had to pick my favorite place that I have visited, I would have to say it would be Australia. The country was really beautiful and it was the first time I travelled without my family to a foreign country. I felt very independent and free!
Four years ago, I went to Australia with the People to People Ambassador Program.
What got you interested in learning Japanese and traveling to Japan?
What first got me interested in learning Japanese and traveling to Japan was my friend named Koshin who introduced me to anime. After watching anime and listening to Japanese songs, I started to get interested in the Japanese culture, language, and it’s history. This year I chose Japanese for my language class and I really enjoyed it! After only one year of taking Japanese, I realize I have so much more to learn and I’ve heard that the best way to learn a new language is to go to there.
What are you most excited about experiencing during your language camp?
I am very excited to meet my host family and the other students who are going to be at the language camp. I’m excited to communicate with the local people there as well as learn more on how to speak, read and write Japanese. I want to experience the culture and learn firsthand about my ancestry.
Why do you feel it’s important to travel to a new place and learn a new language?
I feel that it’s important to travel to a new place and learn a new language because it really widens your perspective of the world. A lot of people want to explore space or the bottom of the ocean. However, I really want to explore new places and learn about their unique and different culture as well as their language and to be able to share my experience with my family and friends.
I also feel that there is only so much you can learn from books and videos. To really appreciate something, I really feel you need to experience it first hand. I believe that all five senses need to be activated to truly experience a new culture.
Duke at Disneyland in front of the Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel.
What are you nervous about during your language program?
I am nervous about not being able to find my way around Japan. I’m not very skilled in finding the places I need to go to (even at home), but hopefully google maps will save me! Another thing that I’m nervous about is not being able to connect with my host family and my classmates because when we arrive and see each other, we will be complete strangers.
How well do you speak Japanese at this point?
I have learned basic sentence structures, all hiragana characters and commonly used phrases.
How do you think you will change the most during your time abroad?
I think my love for Japan will increase during my time abroad because I’ve always wanted to go to Japan by myself. I’m excited to learn about my ethnic culture and language through the eyes of a student. By staying in Japan with the Greenheart Travel Program I believe that I’ll truly enjoy myself there and will want to come back soon!
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
Duke Takeno is 16 years old and lives in Oahu, Hawaii. His goal during his language program in Fukuoka, Japan is to “learn the language, connect with the other students in the program as well as my host family, and to enjoy what Japan has to offer. I can’t wait to begin my adventure!” Follow Duke’s adventures in Japan on his weekly blog post updates.
