Today, we traveled to Osaka! Our day began in Utsunomiya where we said (emotional) goodbyes to our host families from the previous few days and sang our traditional sending-off songs at the train station. We then had our first bullet train experience.

The first train was from Utsunomiya to Tokyo, where we boarded our next train to Osaka. The city of Osaka is west of Tokyo and sits right on the bay, making it a large port city. After meeting our new tour guide and loading the bus, our first Osaka experience was at the housing museum, a recreation of an Edo period street- read all about it in Jo’s blog post! From there, we went to the Osaka Castle. This castle has a rich history and a beautiful view. Originally the center and symbol of a unified country, the Osaka Castle has been destroyed and rebuilt or remodeled four times since its construction in the sixteenth century.

Although the castle alone is definitely impressive, the surrounding garden area and double moat that guards it was equally as interesting to me. Six hundred cherry trees line the grounds and I can only imagine how beautiful they must have been just a few weeks ago. We were able to spend about an hour at the castle, giving us just enough time to climb eight (EIGHT!) flights of stairs and experience the view from the top, check out some of the museum, and explore the shops in the nearby buildings.

From the short time we had in this place, I know it is somewhere I would love to return to. I can’t wait for more wonderful opportunities to explore the beauty of this country as we enter our last week of tour!

On August 6, 1945, the United States released an atomic bomb onto the city of Hiroshima. The powerful bomb killed over a third of the population within 30 minutes of detonation.

Today, we had the opportunity to explore the wonderfully haunting city of Hiroshima, as well as the Peace Park Memorial that was established to honor the victims of the A-Bomb. 

Leaving Osaka in the morning, we boarded a bullet train to ride to Hiroshima. Once we arrived in the city, we headed straight to the Peace Park Memorial. The views driving through the city were stunning and the thought of the destruction that occurred in the city almost 74 years ago seemed incomprehensible. 

As we drove up to the Peace Park, the A-Bomb Dome was clearly visible, with the metal frame protruding out of the city scape. We first got up and close the to A-Bomb, clearly seeing the destruction of the building.

We then walked over to the Children’s Peace Monument, which is a statue that honors Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukemia ten years after the atomic bomb dropped. The monument was stunningly beautiful, and the Wind Ensemble was able to share our talents as we sang “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” around the monument. Singing that beautiful blessing around such a powerful piece of art was truly a touching moment in my life.

We each left a paper crane at the statue, which represents wishes coming true, and shows our hope for world peace.

Walking towards the museum, we passed the eternal flame that burns 24/7 to symbolize the effort to eliminate nuclear power. The flame will burn until such weapons of mass destruction have disappeared. In a straight line behind the eternal flame is a cenotaph that contains the names of all of the victims of the bombing.

Looking through the cenotaph, there is a straight line where a fire erupted after the bomb detonated, and one can imagine the path of destruction that would have plagued the area.

The Peace Park was created by the city of Hiroshima to promote the abolishment of the usage of nuclear weapons and atomic power. “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” was the perfect blessing song to convey the compassion and sympathy that the group felt as we experienced the tragedy that unfolded in Hiroshima.

Despite the devastation that occurred at Hiroshima, the city has bounced back from the destruction into a beautiful city with a heartbreaking history.

The world famous Itsukushima Shrine is located on the island formally known as Itsukushima. Its popularity comes from the shrine’s unique location. The Itsukushima Shrine and its torii gate are constructed over water and they appear to be floating when experiencing high tides. Due to the shrine’s attraction, the island of Itsukushima is rightfully known by most as “Miyajima,” which means “shrine island” in Japanese. (Japan Guide)

Our expedition to Miyajima began with a ferry boat ride to the island. The ferry boat ride was quite smooth and provided a great view of the island before arriving. As we were arriving, the tides were quite low so the foundation of the Itsukushima torii gate was entirely visible and people were able to walk up to it.

Once we arrived on shore, we spent nearly an hour walking through a marketplace. It was a fairly typical Japanese marketplace with shops and seemingly endless amounts of food. After our time in the market, we moved to view the Itsukushima Shrine from a better angle. The tides had risen slightly at this point so people were no longer able to approach the torii gate. However, the sight was still an amazing one to behold.

Our next activity was the rope way, which was a gondola ride to the top of the island. During the ride up the mountain, we were able to see all of the wonderful nature the island contains. Though that was beautiful, the view at the top was absolutely breathtaking. I was able to see mainland japan, countless mountains, and other surrounding islands.

Finally, before departing the island, we looked upon the Itsukushima Shrine once more. By this time, the sun was much lower and the tides were higher. The sight was quite awe-inspiring. The locals say that it is one of the most beautiful sights to behold in all of Japan and, from what I have been able to experience so far, I agree.

Overall, this was a truly amazing experience and one I will never forget. I imagine that anyone else who witness such a sight will feel the same.

Source:

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3450.html

Today after arriving via train to Osaka, we had the chance to explore the Osaka Museum of Housing, which is a museum dedicated to depicting life as it was in Osaka in the past. The museum includes models of many historical landmarks and a full city-wide depiction of Osaka in the late Edo Period, as well as life-size recreations and buildings accurately reconstructed to demonstrate the lifestyle of those living in Osaka in previous years. This experience was especially eye opening and interesting for me, and I particularly enjoyed exploring the full scale recreation of Osaka in the late Edo period. The differences in architecture and daily life differed greatly from my understanding of culture in the United States around the mid-1800’s, and I especially appreciated getting to interact directly with some of the toys and artifacts associated with the time period. Please enjoy several pictures taken in the museum, as well as other highlights from the day:

Today was a wonderful day filled with awesome historical sights, delicious food, and my second impromptu ferris wheel adventure of the trip. While we only have a little over a week left in Japan, I can’t what to see what new experiences are yet to come during our remaining days of exploration!

Today was an action-packed day filled with lots of new and exciting experiences, including a bullet train ride, Osaka Museum of Housing and Living, Osaka Castle, and the Dontonbori district. My favorite parts of the day were exploring the castle grounds, observing the city from the top of the castle, and trying new foods at Dontonbori. The most interesting food I tried was a battered and fried octopus ball, which contained an octopus tentacle and various vegetables. It was certainly interesting and chewy to say the least! I’m very glad I tried it, although I might not seek it out eagerly again. Dontonbori is a very famous shopping street with dozens and dozens of places to get food. Particularly of note were several large animal signs advertising food on buildings, including a crab and a cow to name a few. There is also a famous bridge at this location which is famous for being a spot where single Japanese men ask pretty girls on dates! It was busy, but not too busy today and was overall a very good time!
I spent the evening with a fun group of friends finding a good place to eat. We ended up at a Japanese Italian restaurant, where we were given terrace seating. The view was fantastic and the Japanese pizza was even better! From there, we rode one of Osaka’s several Ferris Wheels, where we observed some amazing views of the whole city. It was a little scary for me, but overall very worth the ¥600 it cost to ride! Today was an amazing day full of new experiences in new and interesting places. Osaka is a beautiful city with so many great memories to offer!

Utsunomiya is the capital of the Toshigi Prefecture with a population of roughly 520,000 people. It is the center for business and culture in the prefecture. It is a famous tourist destination known for its Gyoza and rice fields.

Before the concert I was really excited to get to play with the musicians of the Sakushin Gakuin High School. Their talent, passion, and energy is infectious. Their abilities on their instruments is astounding.

The concert program consisted of the Sakushin Gakuin School playing first, followed by the Wartburg College Wind Ensemble, and then we would gather for a finale between the two bands.

The hall in which we were playing was beautiful and much more acoustically pleasing than the gym we had played in previously. The amazing thing about this place was it’s ability to blend the whole band, but also showcase soloists and let them ring throughout the hall.

The Sakushin Concert was filled with energy and excitement. Their pieces really showcase the liveliness in which they play. They played many “jazzy” pieces. One of which was Spain. The jazz band played that at our last concert of the year, and to see it played by a concert band was nothing more than impressive. Their crispness and togetherness is hard to replicate.

Another aspect of Japanese bands is that they often like to add dancers or added “flare” to their performances. As someone who is not a particular fan of distractions I was entertained greatly. The dancers performed with such intensity it was hard to ignore. Their enthusiasm was felt through the whole concert hall. They performed Clarinet Candy by Leroy Anderson. The precision of the clarinets was astounding. It’s amazing how clean they can be as an ensemble.

Next up was the Wind Ensemble! Our concert order was Festal Ballade, Riffs for Lenny, Song for Natalie, and Semper Fidelis. The energy we played with was amazing. However, an obstacle we were faced with was the heat. Many of us players were struggling with playing our instruments. Which leads to intonation problems as a whole. We started off really well, but as the concert kept going, people got more tired, thus we started to get flat.

One of my most favorite pieces Song for Natalie hit just a little harder for me today. The sorrow in that song is immense. It really likes to pull at my heartstrings. All I could think about during that portion of our concert was my mother. With it being Mother’s Day, it was hard not to think of her. Later on, my host mother would comment on how moved she was by that song. Music really is a universal language.

When it came time for us to perform all together it was starting to get really warm. However, that did not stop us. The program for all of us was March April Leaf, Spring March, Takarijima, and Stars and Stripes Forever. The concert went over very well. The mixture of the two bands really blended well. I think playing with the High School was a humbling experience for some. As a huge fan of Stars and Stripes I loved playing with this highly energetic band.

After Stars and Stripes it was time to end as we traditionally do with Nearer my God to Thee and The Lord Bless You and Keep You. The euphoniums were today’s conductors. They both did amazing job and we will miss them dearly. It was very emotional for me because I have gotten to know them closely by sitting next to them almost everyday for the past year. I am happy to call them a permanent part of my band family.

Overall, the concert was AWESOME. My host family said they fell in love with the songs we played. They were changed by our music. And in return we have been forever changed by the loving care that was found in Utsunomiya. Truly a life changing experience.

Today was our last day in Utsunomiya. It was filled with joy, laughter, and tears as we made memories that will last a lifetime and said goodbye to our host families.

After the concert today we exchanged gifts and took pictures with our sections, thanking each other for the time that we have shared. The bond that we were able to build in such a short period of time is one that I will never forget. After just four short days these students have become our friends and our band family. We shared traditions, experiences, memories, and emotions.

Among the many experiences that we share was the traditional ending to WCCB concerts. Students shared in our joy and our tears as we said our goodbyes to two of our seniors as they conducted. Sharing the end of concerts has been one of the very unique experiences of this tour, it has helped to create a connection deeper than that of just making music together, it connects our hearts.

Not only did we connect with students, but with our host families. For many of us, dinner following the concert was the last time that we were able to spend with our host families.

After a fun dinner at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, my host family walked me back to the hotel and we said a heartfelt goodbye. With tears in our eyes we wished each other the best, hugged and struggled to actually walk away. I couldn’t have asked for a more welcoming and loving host family to have my last home stay with.

My memories from my time in Utsunomiya will stick with me for the rest of my life.

-Sarah Yotter (Class of 2019)

For my free day with my host family we went to Kanuma City. Before that, we had breakfast and picked up their friend to tag along with us. For breakfast I had fruit and onigiri, which is a Japanese rice ball. My host mom taught me how to make it and helped me a little bit when it came to getting the right shape, which was a lot harder than I thought. After breakfast we drove to Utsunomiya University, where my host family’s last foreign exchange student was now studying at. After that we headed to Kanuma City, which is also known as Strawberry City! We went to a place called Strawberry Kingdom and had thirty minutes to pick and eat as many strawberries as we wanted. 

After we gorged ourselves on strawberries we headed over to a museum. This museum includes tons of information about the Kanuma autumn festival. The festival includes traditional music, taiko drumming, and things called yatai, which are intricately carved wooden floats. These massive floats are paraded through the city during the autumn festival. Three of these floats were being stored in the museum so we got to see them while we were there. The people who worked there were very friendly and seemed excited that we were learning about Japanese culture. They gave us pamphlets and informational books that were in English so we could understand some of the history better! They even let us into one of the rooms the yatai was stored in so we could see it up close, even our host family was excited to see it!

After the museum we headed over to a local restaurant for some soba, which are buckwheat noodles that you dip in sauce. We also had tempura, which is deep fried meat or vegetables. 

After we had our fun in Kanuma we headed back to Utsunomiya only to hit the road again. My host mom teaches flute, so we headed to a school where she plays in a flute choir. Haley plays the flute so they invited her to practice along with them as they were rehearsing the music for their summer concert. A few hours later when the rehearsal was done, we went to a restaurant for dinner. At dinner we all had something called tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is a dish usually consisting of a deep fried pork cutlet and cabbage. I really enjoyed this meal and I was very glad this meal was the last dinner I got to experience with my host family!

Today Cambria and I had a free day with our host family from Utsunomiya. Our family lives an hour and a half away from Utsunomiya so when we brought up Nikko they said it was to far away so they brought up a few spots in Tokyo we hadn’t been to yet. We got up around 8:15am and had breakfast at the house with our host daughter. We had coffee and toast with butter and honey for breakfast. After that we headed out on the road the the train station.

Once we got to the train station our host dad dropped us off and then it was just us and our host daughter, we took about a half hour ride to the Tokyo Skytree. We got to the Skytree, bought our tickets, and headed up in the elevator. It was gorgeous! Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so we were not able to see Mount Fuji. We then went to go stand on the glass floor and look down below us. Next we bought another ticket to go up to the highest point of the Skytree. This was really amazing to see all the buildings that make up Tokyo. There were so many more buildings than I was expecting, it is a very full city.

After, we grabbed lunch in the Skytree. We had crepes and they were very delicious!

On our way to the train we stopped to do a photo booth together. It was very fun to do but there was not enough time to pose between pictures so some of them are very awkward. 🙂

Next, we made our way to Asakusa. There we adventured through all the small shops and visited the temple. We got fortunes with our host daughter and unfortunately we all got bad luck. So, to make the bad luck go way we had to tie our fortunes up on a rack.

For our final destination of the day, we made our way to Ueno Park. We wanted to go to the zoo, but by the time we got there it had closed. We decided to make our way to Shinobazu Pond. We walked around the entire pond looking at all the koi fish on our way and pointing out every dog to each other. When we got close to the end we took a swan paddle boat out on the lake. We had so much fun paddling through the lake in a giant pink flamingo that we named Kirk.

Finally, we grabbed some noodles for dinner from a stand in the park and sat down on a park bench to eat. Once we were all done with dinner we made our way back to the train station to head home for the night. It was a very fun day!

Reflection:

I continue to be amazed by the kindness of the Japanese culture. I had a cough last night and this morning when we went to breakfast they had three different cold medicines lined up for me to use. ☺️

Something I have realized by being here is how thankful I am for the ease of communication back home. I don’t know what we would’ve done with out google translate. Our home stay does not speak much English, so we rely heavily on google translate to communicate and to have a conversation and bond with our host family. When traveling with our host daughter it was very nice to be with someone who could read the bus/train signs and help us figure out where to go.

Overall, Japan has been an amazing and eye-opening experience! 🇯🇵

I started the day with my host family at 9:00. We left their home in Utsunomiya for a one hour drive to Nikko. My host family was very excited to show me the town and the many, many places Nikko offers.

The road to Nikko was incredibly beautiful. Along the road, there were many views of the surrounding mountains. During our drive to Nikko, my host family wanted to know my favorite genres of music. We listened to classics like “September,” by Earth, Wind, and Fire and “Africa,” by Toto. I really appreciated the small gestures of kindness and hospitality they made, and I think these simple moments are what I will hold onto most.

We first visited Tosho-Gu shrine, which was built to honor Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the three unifiers of Japan. The artwork and decorations around the shrine were breathtaking, and it was interesting to learn about little details of the shrine that have cultural significance. For example, one pillar on the shrine’s gate was purposefully built upside down so that the gate couldn’t be completely built. This is because it is considered bad luck of the gate was built to completion. Once we walked through the shrine, we were able to visit Tokugawa’s grave. His grave was built out of a mixture of gold, silver, and copper in the shape of a traditional pagoda. This was meant to revere Tokugawa as someone who is spiritually and historically significant.

After we went to Tosho-Gu, we walked to the Shinkyo bridge, which is a world-renowned landmark and one that attracts many visitors. My host brothers and I walked across the bridge. As we left Shinkyo bridge, a traditional Japanese wedding was getting set up. It was very interesting to learn that the Shinkyo bridge is considered to be a holy site in Japanese culture.

After crossing the Shinkyo bridge, my host family and I went to a ramen restaurant. This was my first time trying Japanese ramen, and it was infinitely better than the ramen back home.

Following the ramen restaurant, we went to various sites around Lake Chūzenji and Mount Nantai. My host family was very excited to share the history and legends surrounding each place. Their pride for the history of their home was inspiring.

To say that today’s trip to Nikko with my host family was great would be an understatement. Today was one of the most life-changing experiences I could have. Being able to make these memories with a family I didn’t know two days ago is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life.