Junten Junior High School / Senior High School

On Tuesday, February 7th, Junten Senior High School welcomed 20 students, aged between 16 and 18 years old, and two teachers from Buenos Aires Nichio Gakuin (Instituto Privado Argentino Japones en Buenos Aires.)  This cultural exchange was organized by the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Buenos Aires Nichia Gakuin is unique in that their students are taught a regular curriculum in the morning, but they have special language programs to study English and Japanese in the afternoon. The students from Nichia Gakuen had an excellent command of Japanese.

The Nichia Gakuen group arrived at Junten in the afternoon and were escorted to the auditorium to meet Principal Nagatsuka. The Principal gave a welcome speech.

After that, the group moved to the 1st and 2nd Year Junior High School students’ art class to try ukiyoe coloring. While Junten’s junior high school students were working on their own projects, the Nichia Gakuin students tried tracing an ukiyoe and adding colors to it. Many popular ukiyoe paintings were colored with new vivid and bright colors. It was very refreshing to see how a different culture can add their own unique twist to a traditional ukiyoe!

After the group enjoyed the ukiyoe experience, they went back to the auditorium to meet and chat with the 1st – 3rd Year Senior High School students. First, the Nichia Gakuen students performed a guitar and dance routine, then they gave a presentation on Argentina. Junten students gained some knowledge about Argentina. Both Argentine and Junten students were divided into small groups to get to know each other. By this time, it seemed that the Argentine and Japanese students had gotten to know each other better.

The last events for the exchange were the tea ceremony and a calligraphy lesson. At the tea ceremony, the members of the tea ceremony club introduced the essential information about the tea ceremony, made tea and served it to the Nichia Gakuin students. Some of the Argentine students had tasted matcha in the past, but one student gave positive feedback that made tea ceremony club members happy, “I had green tea in Argentina before, but the tea Junten students made is much better.”

At the calligraphy workshop, the Nichia Gakuin students wrote “Argentina (亜爾然丁)” in Japanese characters. First, Mr. Ebihara, the club’s supervisor, demonstrated how to write the kanji. The Nichia Gakuin students followed his instructions and started to draw it on blank paper. It was a short workshop, but all the students were able to complete the calligraphy and take it back with them as souvenirs.  

Students exchanged contact information, a great start to meaningful friendships between Argentina and Japan. The Nichia Gakuin students left comments such as, “We had a great time”, “Everything was great,” and “My favorite part was the tea ceremony.”

It is summertime in Argentina now, so the winter in Japan must have been tough for them. However, it seems everyone enjoyed their visit and had a great time.  Junten students had fruitful time and gained knowledge and interest in Argentina.