岡崎市 Okazaki-Shi

Recently I have discovered where I'll be staying in Japan. My city of both my host school and family will be Okazaki. Okazaki-Shi (shi = city) is located in Aichi-Ken (ken = prefecture or state). There is one big city near Okazaki, and that is Nagoya. The distance between Aichi and Tokyo is 250 km or approximately 1 time Belgium. Okazaki isn't all that big, it has 368 201 civilians, which is 100 000 less then Antwerp. It has a peaceful river and 1 quite important ancient castle. It lies about 20 km from the coast. Okazaki is the largest firework designer and manufacturer in whole Japan. A large fireworks festival is held every year near the Okazaki Castle, which people from all over Japan come to see.


My Host Family
岡田　The Okada Family

My host father is Hiroshi, he is an electric engineer and is 63 years old. My host mother is Keiko, she is a house wife and she is 59. Both my host parents like golf. My host brother won't really feel like a brother to me, since he is already 38 years old. His name is Hirofumi, he followed his father's footsteps and also became an electric engineer. Noriko is 35 and the oldest daughter. She and her sister Yoko, who is 33 years old, both are office workers.
In general I have quite an old family but in a lot of ways this is good I think. My parents don't have to be responsible for their children anymore, so they might have more time to devote themselves to me. And it seems they already had 8 AFS students at their home before! So I will be the 9th host student who has lived at their home. Conclusion: They are pro's at having AFS students. xD


My Host School
岡崎城西高等学校
Okazaki Jousei Senior High School

When I got my file about which school I will be attending, it came along with a note from the principal himself!
"You have several things you can decide when you come to school in Japan. We're looking forward to seeing you."
Probably the thing I'll get to decide is which club I'll join. (more about that below)
My house is 2,5 km away from school. I have already managed to find its website and look around a bit on it. I have quite a big school I think, though they don't have many pictures it still looks all very nice. Since 2002 they have a renewed cafeteria with very large windows and 300 seats! Here they have at least 30 menu options to choose from. The school even has its own dome, with a gigantic telescope for the astronomy club. Their sports hall is 4000 m², has 3 stories and it contains a dojo for Kendo and Judo, fields for volleyball, badminton and table tennis and a gym. Then outside they also have a very large tracking field which supports rugby and soccer, and another couple of outside tennis fields as well. They also have a library, and of course, never to forget their own swimming pool. ^^
But what interested me most is my school's uniforms. And I REALLY like them! Here they are:



Clubs

Students in Japan also do activities besides school, just like in Belgium when we go to play tennis after school, like 1 time a week or so. In Japan all those kinds of activities are held at school! These activities available at school are called clubs. There are all sorts of clubs available, depending on how large the school is, and what the school can offer as clubrooms. These clubs include sports as Kendo (Japanese fencing), Soccer, Tennis, ... But also other things as Calligraphy, Flower arranging, Astronomy, ... It is expected from the students to join at least 1 club, and in most cases it stays at 1 club. Because you will have club meetings, lasting 2 hours after school, and almost every day! The clubs I was hoping to join were the Kendo and/or Go club. And my school has both!

剣道 Kendo
Kendo, meaning 'The Way of the Sword', is Japanese sword fighting. Kendo is about disciplining your character through the principles of the sword. With Kendo your mind and body becomes 1, and you gain a vigorous spirit. I have been practicing Kendo myself here in Belgium for about 1 year now, and I really like it.

囲碁 Go
Go is a strategic board game for 2 players. Originally it's originated in China, but has spread to Korea and Japan where it gained a lot of popularity. The earliest written reference of the game is in 548 BC. Go and Kendo are in a way similar, and I like them both just as much! I have been playing Go for a year and a half now. I hope I can play just as much Go as I can practice Kendo in Japan, so it would be very lovely if I were to be able to join both clubs.