Japan Study Abroad Program | Day 8 | May 17

Konbanwa!

Today was our quiet day to hang out and relax! Hina, Kie & Shimpei who just returned to Kitakyushu from TCC in the end of March showed us around. We walked to Kokura Castle and were able to spend a few hours walking around the castle grounds and viewing the exhibits in the castle. On top of that, we were also able to tour the Kokura Castle Japanese Garden and the Matsumoto Seicho Memorial Museum. Matsumoto Seicho was a writer that was born in Kokura in 1909 and wrote hundreds of books.  After that, we went to lunch. Hina and Blake went to a sushi restaurant while Jason, Kie and Jonathan went to get beef katsu (Shimpei had to go back to the school for his classes...!). In the afternoon, Blake went with Hina and attended a Japanese-English translation class. Meanwhile, Kie attended her class and Jason and Jonathan were able to relax in the International Student Lounge to have conversations with other international students who study at UKK.

Later, we were able to have fun dinner with the 19th Cohort of the Global Discovery Program (GDP) students (GDP is a 6 months program for UKK students to study at TCC)! It was fun to experience Motsunabe, a specialty dish in Fukuka. It was great to see how the UKK students had adapted back to Japanese culture after being in the US for 6 months.

At the end of the day, Hina said "I feel like the 6 months program changed me in many ways. I am more open-minded, more curious to learn and more motivated to be at school. I am glad I have studied English and the program helped improve my language skill - it allows me to be able to communicate with guests from other countries like this."

Good night, everybody!

Beautiful day to visit Kokura Castle

Motsunabe time!

Fun conversations and reflecting back on experiences at TCC

Thank you, everybody, for a fun night! 
By Blake, Jason & Jonathan

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