HUGE THANK YOU

Piri with the Aizawa family, his Japanese hosts

My name is Piri Wihone and I was among 23 other 12 and 13 year olds from Masterton Intermediate School that had the fantastic opportunity to have been chosen for a 10 day cultural exchange in Osaka Japan.

We left on the 27th September and returned on the 7th October. We were hosted by families where we went to school which started at 8.35am six days a week and didn’t leave till 6pm. Half a day on Saturday. We had to wear Uwabaki (Japanese slipper) on our feet while at school.

Osaka has more than 2 million people and they travel by train most of the time. I loved the Japanese food and my host mother cooked lovely meals. I did get sick of eating rice though. I did try octopus, Japanese ice-cream, Salmon, Japanese chocolate and lollies.

We studied and took part in Judo classes, calligraphy classes and Japanese classes. We visited Osaka castle, Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, Nara park, shrines, Universal Studios which was fun and got to shop at the hyaku yen shop. (like our $2 shop). 

Thank you to everyone who bought raffles, sausages and wood to make this trip possible for me. It was a trip of a life time. Thank you also to my mum and dad.

honto ni arigato gozaimasu
Piri