Shimane students and American students from East Carolina University exchanged differences of cultures while walking around Hiroshima and Miyajima on May 20. What impressed me the most was differences of cultures of the two countries.
I chatted with Remi and Tina from East Carolina University about their experiences in Japan. They said Japanese cities were really quiet, and to my surprise, they miss the siren of the American police cars. According to them their city, Greenville, North Carolina, is noisy because they hear police sirens almost every day.
Remi and Tina also said high school life is very different. American high school students do not have uniforms. They can color their hair. They can wear piercing. Tina had a pierce on her nose. Tina said, “American high scool students are crazy.” I was very intrigued.
Exchanging ideas about our cultures was so much fun.
At the end of the day, Remi introduced me to one of her friends, saying, “This is Ako. She is my best friend today.” I felt warm in my heart. We said good bye to each other at a JR station, hugging each other. The meeting with ECU students at Hiroshima and Miyajima was a wonderful experience for me.
Students from East Carolina University, Hiroshima University and the University of Shimane on May 20, 2018
Thirteen American students and 12 Japanese students enjoyed walking around Hiroshima on May 20, 2018, deepening friendship between United States and Japan.
The students are from East Carolina University, Hiroshima University and University of Shimane.
The cross-cultural exchange is part of a study tour of East Carolina University, led by Professor John Tucker, who organized the tour to provide his students the opportunity to study Japanese history and culture in Japan.
Since the ECU students had studied Japanese culture before embarking on this trip, they had known good transportation and small living quarters already, but some aspects of Japanese life were new to them.
Diamond, who majors in Anthropology at ECU, said that she noticed differences of behavior of people in shrines. She was surprised at Japanese people seemed nonchalant about the tourists taking pictures at shrines. For her shrines are a sacred place of worship and visitors should pay respect to the people who pray and worship.
Diamond also found Japanese students looked happier and content with their college life, while college life in the United States is stressful with a lot of term papers and exams.
Kazuki, freshman of the University of Shimane, took this opportunity to practice his English. He has prepared for this meeting by doing research about Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and effects of the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima. He was greatly impressed with the attitude of the ECU students who were eager to learn about Hiroshima, which further inspired him to study more about the perspectives of Americans toward the atomic bomb.
John Tucker, a professor in the Department of History at ECU, has coordinated the program many years. He said that while students can learn materials from books and lectures, experiences is one of the most valuable forms of education for young students. He coordinates field trips as well as videoconferencing for his students to get first hand knowledge from real people.
East Carolina University and the University of Shimane provides their students real time virtual meetings via videoconferencing, and the friendship were further deepened by this face to face meeting in Hiroshima.
The students gathered at A-Bomb Dome at 9:00 and introduced themselves each other. They strolled around the Children’s Peace Monument, Peace Bell, Memorial Cenotaph, taking photos and chatting each other. Then they moved to JR Miyajima Station and got on a ferry boat for Miyajima Island. They were greeted by deer and the enormous red torii gate. The tide was high and they were not able to get near the gate. They went through the shopping street, biting street foods, and worshipped at the shrine. At 16:30, they all hopped on a ferry back to the mainland. They said good bye to each other around 17:00.
