My friends and I had an opportunity to share ideas with American students in Hiroshima on Saturday, May 20, 2018. We had fun with students from East Carolina University, but this experience was shocking, too, because I realized how ignorant I am about Japanese history and culture.
While we stroll around Hiroshima Peace Park, I was asked many times by the American students like that “Have you been there before?” or “What do you know about Hiroshima?” I had thought I knew about Hiroshima but I was not able to explain my knowledge well because my understanding about Hiroshima was very superficial.
We took a ferry and arrived at Miyajima in the afternoon. American students and I went looked around souvenir shops, and there were many cat figures which are called manekineko, meaning “welcoming cat.” I wanted to explained the meaning of the welcoming cat, but I was not able to talk about it sufficiently.
Then we entered the main building of Itsukushiam Shrine, and I only washed my hands, when an American student pointed out that I was supposed to purify myself by cleansing my mouth. I was very ashamed of my ignorance.
During the short exchanges of the American students I learned being raised in Japan does not mean I know Japanese culture explicitly. I felt I need to make effort to understand Japanese culture so that I could explain Japanese culture to people abroad.
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.
