My experiences in Japan!

By Nathan Hachey

First off, being asked to write about our experiences is actually quite a
difficult task at hand. There were so many life changing experiences that we as
"Barrie’s youth ambassadors" were exposed to, that it’s so hard to remember them all! That is why I managed to tape everything onto my 8mm camera. It was truly a life changing experience on so many levels. It opened our eyes, not only to a different culture, but rather a different way of life. One so traditional, peaceful and so full of prosperity and happiness that it made us never want to leave. The people of Japan were phenomenal! Absolutely the nicest people I have ever meet in my entire life. I feel personally that the fashion and manner of which different cultures peoples carry themselves is just as important as the many awesome temples and shrines that we visited or anything else that we experienced on this trip . I really feel that I have never seen such amazingly beautiful women in my entire life. The women in Japan were just beautiful, a simple comment on their amazing beauty as well as the manner of which they carried themselves and their highly evolved fashion sense! They looked ten years ahead of us fashion wise. Everything just seemed so advanced to me, the sights, the sounds, everything! They were such an amazingly traditional and diverse nation it was impeccable and everything was treated with such a profound level of respect, especially us! It was amazing, when we first walked into city hall we were greeted by hundreds of people giving us a standing ovation, it gave me chills! It was hard not to walk into a room without individuals clapping at us. I’m not comparing the good and bad parts of our cultures in any way, shape, or form. I am merely teaching my experiences to you, the reader of this essay. But common! How often do teenaged Canadians walk into a room and get greeted with standing ovations? It was just so different and so amazing that it is actually hard to not compare. For instance, our watermelons are somewhat oval shaped, where as in Japan they were a perfect round ball of sweet, sweet tasty goodness. I guess it must have been the hot weather but the fruit and vegetables were amazing. They were so fresh and so tasty that it was hard to stop eating them!

Being a student of the Martial Arts for over eight years it had always been my dream to go to Japan, to one day see the origin of the martial arts that people all over the world dedicate their lives to. The shame is most of those people will never get to see the birthplace of Japanese martial arts……. But guess what...I DID! and it was amazing!The four highlights of my trip would have to of been:

1. The Iaido temples and the Karate demo ~ So amazing! It was like
my destiny finally being fulfilled. But the fact that I actually got
to participate and sit with the sensei was phenomenal.

2. The Home stay ~ I miss my family, but I had the most
fantastic time in the world. My family was awesome, they were so
nice and so kind, I really felt at home. "DOMO ARIGATO!"

3. THE Tokunai Festival! ~ That was the most amazing and the most
intense feeling I had ever experienced in my whole entire life!
The energy was amazing and everyone was so incredibly nice to us,
it was fantastic. Even though we were "pretending" to know what we
were doing it was the best time I’ve ever had!

4. THE PEOPLE! ~ They were the most kind and generous people I
have ever met and I miss them so much! I will be back, oh yes, I
will save the money.

And a huge thank you to the city of Murayama, Japan for making
all this possible.

"DOMO ARIGATO GOZAIMAS!"