Day 12 - Seiwa Joshi Gakuin, Sasebo

  Sasebo, Kyushu-Okinawa, Japan
Monday, September 1, 2008

There is very little on the agenda today. Sasebo has been good, because it has been a chance to relax and let our bodies unwind after the past week of consistant insanity in Kyoto, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

We headed across the road to the shops for a short stroll in the morning, simply to get the girls out of the house. Got a lot of supplies from a few of the the 100 yen ($1) shops, where everything in the store costs 105 yen (due to the 5% Japanese sales tax). Still, it is surprising what 105 yen will buy in these huge stores. The bigger of the two is a 2 story shop!

After returning to the hotel, our room was in the middle of being cleaned, so we used the opportunity to check out the roof garden. Basically the entire roof of the hotel is grass, which is very unusual. It was however an excellent view across the harbour, and up to the observatory on the mountain summit to the West which we visited on the bus tour yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but I will get pictures from the roof before I leave.

Actually, it is quite weird for me to not be carrying the camera. I think it is the first time on this trip that I have broken the Holy Trinity as we have come to refer to my day trip kit: Money Belt + Casio Protrek Compass Watch + Camera = Holy Trinity.

At midday we headed out to visit the all girls High School which Veronica attended when she was an Exchange Student, Seiwa Joshi Gakuin (http://www.seiwajoshi.ed.jp/). We caught the bus up to the base of the hill where the school is perched, and then caught a taxi up the steep winding street to the School. I originally suggested that we walk it, but due to the pouring rain I relented, and I'm glad I did. It would not have been an enjoyable walk. $5 taxi ride: money well spent.

We were shown through the school by one of the teachers at the school. We were allowed into a classroom, which went from quiet learning to complete chaos when Charlotte and Angela invaded.

Angela is monstered by Japanese schoolgirls

A classroom full of girls fussed over Charlotte and Angela to the point of almost scaring the hell out of them both, but they eventually got used to the noise and having 15 girls each in their faces and played along with it.

Charlotte also lapping up the attention

Then the teacher led the class through a couple of songs on the piano, apparently in honour of our visit, which was a little weird, but we smiled and played along with it. Once again, a completely different culture to Australian schools, in which we probably wouldn't have even been shown through, let alone seranaded.

We eventually freed ourselves from the clutches of that class, and moved on. Apparently the school has greatly downsized since Veronica attended, both in students and staff. There seemed to be quite a few empty classes, as well as some classrooms with only 2 or 3 student in the class. We met one girl from Townsville on a student exchange, who seemed pretty happy to see another Australian.

One thing this school has going for it is an excellent position.

The view from a Seiwa classroom over Sasebo

It is perched about half way up the northern mountain range overlooking Sasebo city, and as a result gets superb views out of the classrooms, especially those on the higher floors.
Another thing about the school, which is apparently exactly as it was in 1995, is that the air conditioning is bordering on non-existent. Veronica says that the old mantra from the Sisters was that "it builds character". I'm not sure about that, but all I know is that every room that we went into in that school was damn hot. And this wasn't one of the hotter days.

After the tour we joined the senior Sister, Sister Hiro (standing in the group photo) for drinks and a chance for Veronica to catch up on all of the information about the school. We were very kindly looked after, especially Charlotte and Angela, as they were given drinks and biscuits, and offered lunch, which we declined as we had eaten not long before going up to the school.
Veronica's home room teacher (on the left in the group photo) amazingly was still working at the school, and she also joined us for more catching up. Then, another one of the teachers came in and introduced herself, and remembered Veronica, but Veronica did not remember her. It was not until later that she realised that the woman was not a teacher at the time Veronica attended the school, but a student, who was in Veronica's class for 1 term before leaving for a 12 month student exchange in Australia.

We exchanged gifts, and was given some beautiful handmade pottery which is apparently a method of pottery making unique to the Sasebo region. The girls were also given some very ornamental ceramic cups to take home, which was very generous of the Sister.

Us, with the Sister and V's homeroom teacher

All in all our visit lasted about 3 hours, but it was a good chance for Veronica to go back and have a look through the school where she spent a year of her school life, as well as to catch up with some people from her past.

Quaint little Sasebo backstreet

Tomorrow we have no idea what we will be doing. Huis Ten Bosch is an option, as is a day trip to Nagasaki, but we will probably just flip a coin in the morning to determine what we are doing.