Tacoma Community College 2018 Japan Abroad

Japan Study Abroad Program | Day 2 | May 11 Ohayo, Konnichiwa, Konbanwa (depends on when you are reading this)!   Our second day started off with a meeting with the Mayor of Kitakyushu, Mr. Kitahashi, and Deputy Mayor, Mr. Umemoto, and International Policy Department staff. It was amazing; and we discussed the activities we plan on doing, including why we joined this program and future goals. We exchanged gifts, and we may be in the local news. We are so thankful for the great welcome by the city staff.  Next, we went to the University of Kitakyushu (UKK) Kitakata Campus, and met the University President, Dr. Matsuo and Vice President, Dr. Ninomiya. We were guests at a green tea ceremony (a first for most of us) in the class where international students at UKK attend to learn Japanese culture. We enjoyed meeting with students from various countries and learning about tea ceremony manners. We would like to thank Ms. Katsura who is the manager of the International ...

Good Morning, well at least it is for us. This is Shaun, just giving you a little update. The main daily blog will come later but as the time difference is 7 hours behind (it's really 16 hr ahead but 7 behind is easier to calculate) the evening blog will be at about 3am for you guys. We made it fine, although a little tired to Kitakyushu and then just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. We all went out to dinner for yummy Udon and then just crashed for the night. I'm not sure about the others, as I have not seen them yet, but I was wide awake by 3am. Giving up on sleep at 5am I decided to go on a little. I though I would show you where we are staying. It is a glorious day. This morning we are off to see the Mayor of Kitakyushu at City Hall, then later it's on the train to the University of Kitakyushu for an official welcome and tea ceremony. We will fill you in more on that later.

Japan Study Abroad Program Blog | May 9 & 10 Hey guys! Our group is composed of two professors and three students. The professors are Shaun Henderson and Namiko Bagirimvano; and the students are Jonathan Bautista, Blake Messmer, and Jason Hindman.  For the next 12 days, we will learn about different aspects of environmental science, and we will also learn about and experience the unique culture of Kitakyushu, Japan. We have cultural and educational events and activities planned for every one of the next 12 days. May 9th, we left SeaTac at 1:50 AM and had an 11.5 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. We arrived in Taipei at around 4:20 AM for our three-hour layover and got to work writing this blog. We are all fairly restless and a bit light on sleep (besides Nami).  We are really excited to fly into Kitakyushu later today and to begin our adventures, including trying some new foods! By Blake, Jason & Jonathan