I've seen a lot of things in Japan (and all over the world anyway) but today was unbelievable.
As a part of our course, we went to a local elementary school.
There's 35 of us university students mostly from Asia and East Europe and we were supposed to create some posters showing something about our countries. Then the kids would show us around the school and stuff.
Well that was the plan and I wasn't really expecting much, but when we were approaching to the school, there were about 100 kids (10 years old or so) lined up at the fence and waving at us and they formed a corridor ond were greeting us as we entered the school... Like if we were some movie stars or even astronauts!
Then there was a starting ceremony in the gym, the kids greeted us both in Japanese and Engrish
They were divided into groups of about 6 and each group held up small sign with two names - they were responsible for these two foreigners to show them around and deal with them. I found my group quite quickly and the other foreigner was one Vietnamese girl - and we went with the kids into theire classroom.
I showed them my Czech poster and told them some stuff (but they had done some research about our countries in advance, so they knew quite a lot). They also asked us some question they had prepared ("Do Czech people really drink beer that much? Why are walls in Czech houses so thick?
)
Then they showed us some traditional Japanese games (like Rock paper scissors and some toys) They also prouldy went around the school with us, proudly showing us everything...
Lastly, we all gathered at the gym again and they all played flute for us. Imagine 100 Japanese kids playing some beautiful tune just for you... Some girls were crying, it was really moving... Then they sung a song for us! Again, something so deep... Even my eyes were getting watery.
And this was the end, we had to go - so again, they had formed a corridor and were waving at us and calling out our names and running around the fence to see us...
It really was unbelievable. I almost felt bad, because such amazing atmosphere should be reserved for someone who really deserves it, not just a random guy who happened to be chosen by his uni teacher to go to Japan
We were asked not to post any pictures of the kids online (so no one can molest them via the internetz), so you have to do with your imagination. But if you saw any anime from a Japanese school environment - it was exactly like that. Like, totaly the same thing. The corridors, the classrooms, everything.
Sorry for the long post, but it was really an experience that moved me and I wanted to share it with you!
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i got angry so i made a penis