Japan Day 16

My adventure in Japan was almost to a close as Day 16 came up. This was a long work day with all 10 groups doing presentations about their experiences in Japan and specifically in their home city. Our group did a top 10 presentation which highlighted the generosity of the people that we met and the wonderful children we encountered.

The other groups also put together some great presentations. One particular presentation that struck me were the groups that went into the earthquake stricken area of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. It would have been totally understandable if the host cities would have cancelled since they suffered a massive 7.2 earthquake just the day before the host city trips. Instead, both cities still took in our teachers and went out of their way to take care of them while in the midst of emergency procedures and rebuilding. The mayors still met with the teams despite having to coordinate search and rescue operations and having to worry about basic functions in the cities. The families still opened their homes and took the teachers around the area. Also, the schools still went on with business.

After the presentations, we had a Sayonara (goodbye) Reception. Lots of great food was present and their was even a special Aikido presentation. Aikido is a martial art that focuses on using the opponent's energy and momentum to help defend the practitioner. Aikido is beautiful but efficient. It is about balance and leverage. Instead of conflicting with the enemy, it unifies the enemies energy with your own.