Day 1 - We assembled and checked in at Changi Airport on the 4th before midnight and departed from Singapore on our 6-hour flight towards Fukuoka, Kyushu.


Day 2 - On Day 2, we went to Fukuoka Citizen’s Disaster Prevention center where we experienced all the different types of disasters that occur frequently in Japan in order to gain an understanding on how to react during times of those disasters. These disasters include earthquakes, typhoon, and fire. We learnt many things from this visit, including how to use a fire extinguisher. We were taught the steps on how to use it and even had a virtual simulator to try our hand at. It was very beneficial as we learnt how to use the extinguisher and also to aim at the source of the fire and not the areas where it has spread. This skill will be highly applicable anywhere because a fire may occur at any place. We also learnt to hide under the tables during an earthquake or to hold onto something sturdy during a typhoon. Though these disasters do not occur in Singapore, it can prepare us for when we go overseas. 

Taking cover under a table during an earthquake simulation.

Experiencing the strong typhoon simulated winds! WOOSH.

After that, we went to Robo Square where there was a wide array of robots which were all very intelligent. We even managed to catch a performance whereby a miniature samurai robot performed the traditional tea ceremony. It was an entertaining show as the robot was very lifelike and it showed us how much technology has advanced.

Next, we went for the traditional comedy show performance where the men cross-dressed and performed and danced for us. It was a new experience for all of us as firstly, in Singapore, there are no performances that require men to cross-dress and secondly, it is a traditional performance and thus we have not seen it before. One thing we have learnt from the performance was the expression they make. It was so vivid and strong, it made the performance so much more a joy a watch.

Lastly, we went to Dazaifu Shrine. We learnt about the traditions of the Japanese, of the fortune letters and the wishing fences. Some of us even bought the fortune letters. We also had a go at the customary washing of our hands and mouth at the pond outside the shrine before entering it. Also, we prayed at the shrine, doing it the way the Japanese traditionally do. We learnt more about the culture of the Japanese from this visit.







- Peishan


Day 3 - On Day 3, we had breakfast in the hotel and had a good look at the Japanese’ morning life in the city through the huge windows of the restaurant. Many were rushing to work and surprisingly, we saw numerous men in business suits cycling on the streets. This is very different from what we see in Singapore because most of the working adults would either drive or take public transport. After breakfast, we left the hotel and embarked on our journey to visit Yoshinogari Historical Park. Over there, we learnt how villagers from the past lived their lives and also how they defended themselves from enemies or outsiders. The whole village’s outer perimeter was surrounded by dried up moats that looked like this:



Next, visiting the “Yayoi” Pavilion, we also learnt and viewed their agricultural products, 




how their villagers of different classes dressed like (leaders in red), 




and also what they did in the past in their everyday lives.
We even got to try out their traditional attire after being given a short demonstration on how to wear it. Everyone was excited to try out something new like this:



After which, we learnt their traditional dance being taught by one of the instructors there. It was very different from the dances that we usually do and it really was an eye-opener for all of us. Overall, we had lots of fun learning the new type of dance even though it was rather tedious at first.
Following which, we had time to explore the village ourselves. We saw many huts of the similar built and it was especially cooling inside regardless of the hot and scorching sun. They looked something like these:



The details of the insides of the huts were also not overlooked:




After a long walk, we finally reached our destination: the tomb museum. We were all shocked that they put corpse in huge porcelain vases before burying them underground. The remains of the tomb looked as if they were dinosaur shells:




After lunch, we visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. Numerous photographs and precious relics of the atomic bomb are preserved in this institution and we had a chance to go around taking pictures and understand more of what exactly happened during that time. That unforgettable incident was carefully recorded and explained in this bomb museum with useful English language signage on each exhibit. The dialogue session with one of the Atomic Bomb survivor also left us thinking deeply about what happened and made us have deeper convictions about national education. After the tour, we went on to visit the Peace Park and Ground Zero site.



Although the place has been renovated and no signs of damage could be seen already, it still felt important and special to be there on the same ground where that fateful incident happened. Over at the Peace Park, we ran into a group of most probably secondary school students having a school excursion to the park. We were dumbfounded by their discipline. They were able to form lines and keep silent for the whole time we were there because they were listening to their teachers or the leaders of the group. This kept us thinking why we could not be like them. Although they were younger than us, they were more well-mannered and respected whoever was talking. Finally, before leaving we managed to get a picture with this giant statue at the Peace Park:



That marked the end of our day as we head back to our hotel for dinner.


- Xiangmin


Day 4 - The day started off with a Japanese-style breakfast. Some of us tried rice with raw egg and it surprisingly tasted pretty good. After that we moved on to make our own bento sets! Making your own bento isn't as easy as you think. When making your own sushi/handroll, you have to gauge the amount of rice you have to put in it. Having too much rice will cause you to not be able to roll it up properly. When making the sushi, you also have to be sure that it's rolled together tightly enough so that it doesn't fall apart when you pick it up with chopsticks. We most definitely should not underestimate sushi-making. As easy as the chef made sushi-making seem, it actually is pretty difficult!

Result of a self-made bento set.

After making our own bento sets for lunch later on, we made our way to Syogyo High School. Upon our arrival, there were several Japanese students in their classrooms of the second floor who opened the window and waved enthusiastically at us. When we walked to the entrance of the school building, there were many more Japanese students standing there, welcoming us and waving the Singapore flag. We felt very welcomed and were touched by their hospitality.
We proceeded to a room in the school and there, we did a gift exchange. After that, we moved to the school hall where we watched several performances by the Japanese students. They performed a traditional dance, the Nonogo, and a modern dance by two girls. The Principal of the school also performed a magic show for us! About the traditional dance, the Nonogo is danced with two small dishes in each hand. The dance uses mostly the hands and legs, which requires a lot of coordination. The students performed the dance enthusiastically and in sync. Whenever their dishes clacked, the sound produced was spot-on.


The magic show performed by the principal was also an eye-opener! He did two tricks. The first one was the can of coke trick! He poured all the contents of the can of coke into a glass and finished it. To prove that there was nothing left in the can, he turned it over. After that, he somehow managed to refill the can with coke by... Magic..... The second one was a tool that could cut stuff. And Sholihin had been sacrificed to volunteer his hand of the slicing! But of course he still is in one piece.

The last item that was presented to us was the modern dance performance by the two girls. They dance with a lot of energy and facial expression. With just the two of them, I think that it requires a lot of courage to dance in front of so many people.

After watching all the perforances that they had put up for us, it was our turn to perform. We were taken aback by their encouragement. Throughout the whole performance, the Japanese students cheered and clapped lively, even shouting compliments! Every one of us was compelled to put more energy into our dance. When we finished performing, they requested for an encore and so we performed our dance item another time. Then, it was time we learnt the Nonogo dance. The way that the Japanese students danced seemed so simple, but we were taught not to underestimate things. It was pretty difficult to catch! Lucky for us, the student "instructors" were very patient and nice. Some of us could not do the Nonogo properly and there they were, patiently teaching us step by step.


The dancers with our Japanese friends/teachers.

Then it was lunch time with the students! We had our self-made bento sets and the students had their own self-brought lunch boxes. Being able to interact with them was such a rare chance and many of them were really friendly! After lunch, it was time for us to take our leave. They waved us goodbye and we were off to take a ferry!

The ferry ride was something new. Especially since our entire bus boarded the ferry which made things so much easier for us as we managed to avoid the trouble of unloading our luggages. We headed out to the open deck and the wind was really strong and cold. It was an enjoyable experience since we don't get to experience this in Singapore.

We then went to our last stop of the day before dinner! We went to Hitsuyukan High School! The Taiko team (Japanese drum) performed three pieces for us. Initially, when they first started, everyone was shocked. The students displayed a lot of spirit and the drumming was very loud and in sync. When they shouted, it was full of power too. We all had goosebumps. They really are that good! We definitely should learn from them and put in all our energy and spirit into anything that we do! Especially into our dance. It would be spectacular if we could give our own audience goosebumps too. Also, when they were drumming, they played with levels. All of them moved together, when one went lower, the rest followed suit. They would also hit the drum the same way(angle, etc), not like when we tried. We looked just messy even though we drummed the rhythm together correctly!




Our long day ended with a delightful shabu-shabu dinner.


- Junyi


Day 5 - The day started with the tour group visiting a large, well-fortified, mostly reconstructed, site: The Kumamoto Castle.




The ancillary wooden buildings belonging to the original castle retains the charms befitting one of the three premier castles in Japan. Within the castle complex itself, thirteen structures are accoladed as “Important Cultural Property”. The guided tour, conducted in English, educated us on the rich history of the castle; in terms of its occupants and significant events that occurred within the complex itself. We also dabbled lightly into the architectural aspects of the building. The bulk of the discussion about the architecture of the castle revolved around the signature curved stone walls.

The walls, products of ideation, had additional security features to it – the curved wall itself, wooden hangs and rock falls – all of which were great deterrents to the trespassing of the castle.
The castle had role-players roaming around, making the experience more authentic, something which Singapore may want to adopt into our attractions to be even more appealing to the general public. However, that’s not all to be taken away from this brief tour. During the tour, the guide had compared and contrasted for us the difference in stature between the Samurais and the commoners back in the past, the discrimination and disincentives of being a no-body in society were seriously appalling. Discrimination, thankfully, is not something widely practiced here in Singapore and has built it me a greater sense of belonging to our country. The discriminations back in Japan cease to exist, as it is in Singapore where meritocracy is one of the fundamental virtues upheld by the Singaporean legislation. The simple concept of advancement based on individual ability or achievement, creates a huge difference and is something I would practice as a leader in TPJC. Another important lesson that I have learnt through the tour is the importance of ideation. As seen through the curved stone walls, pre-existing inventions are usually not perfect yet and can be further improved on. The Economist wrote in August 2011 that “Innovation is today’s equivalent of the Holy Grail…and business people everywhere see it as the key to survival”. Innovation takes many forms, but all involve creating new ideas, whether it’s the “big idea” or several strategic and tactical initiatives. It takes a lot to have an eye to suss out such things out and make improvements on it. Although daunting, it can be applied back to school, for example, the way we prepare our notes can be deviated away from the conventional to better suit it to us. Also applicable to our CCA, innovation and ideation can be beneficial during the planning and organising events and possibly even with our dance moves. In short, there should be creative liberties taken for continual development instead of being content at the comfortable state one is in.

Next, we took a ride on the Shinkansen after the short trip on the local City Tram. The Kumamoto transport infrastructure is greatly commendable due to the seamless experience it provided us seamless and comfortable journey in a short time. All of which are the expectations commuters have while on board public transportation.

The experience on the shinkansen was not only enjoyable and awe-striking, it made me ponder on the recent lowest point in our Mass Rapid Transit history. Singapore used to have quite the reputation for an efficient transport infrastructure and network. However, as of late, things are hardly looking up. For that split second, I saw the need for Singapore to learn the ropes from the Japanese counterpart which lead me to my next point on complacency. A very bad attribute to have is complacency be it in school or for any other commitments. Singapore’s SMRT being a state-owned monopolistic firm has the dynamic efficient capacity but does not fully capitalise on it due to the probable lack of incentives from doing so. Surely, it is undoubted that SMRT is trying hard to improve their services through the on-going construction of the Downtown line, its performance during the actual journey has dipped seeing overcrowding issues etc. While it does not necessarily mean that SMRT is complacent, complacency should not be practiced and best avoided altogether. I believe in order to tackle the issue, we can inculcate in ourselves the desire to seek continual self-improvement. This will ultimately stretch us to our greatest potential and allow us to soar to greater heights. In our CCA itself, we have seen how complacency yielded a waste of efforts once we slackened our trainings. We became complacent after being praised and did the same move not long after at a less than acceptable standard. It is also applicable to our studies, being complacent due to our CA1 results can actually lead to the downfall of our SA1 performance.
Following that, we went to Izumi City to visit a Samurai House and have a feel of the Japanese Tea Ceremony while being clad in our traditional wear – the Yukata.

The trip has allowed me to grow through various aspects – as a student, leader, a citizen of Singapore as well as a member of the global community.

After the Soba Making, we went to Kurume City by coach to experience blueberry picking at an orchard. The blueberry picking session also got us excited as we’ve never done it before. We had to pick blueberry with our bare hands, and we were also taught how to pick the blueberries and what types of blueberry to or not to pick. Although it sounds like an easy job, it is not really very easy as it requires patience. Many of the blueberries that day had been picked by other tourists earlier on; hence we had to really look closely to pick our ideal blueberries. The blueberry picking requires patience and effort, and if we put our heart into picking the blueberries, we will definitely pick out big and black ones. 

We transferred back to Fukuoka City by coach thereafter, had our dinner at a Yakiniku Buffet restaurant and went back to our hotel for the night. We thanked the bus driver for his hard work for the past six days, and we bid our goodbyes.

Day 7 - After our breakfast at the hotel, we took the coach to the airport for our flight back to Singapore. Our tour guide explained to us the procedure of the check-in, and also assists us for our check-in. Before entering the transit area, we bid our tour guide goodbye, and thank her for all the time that she had been with us and all the help that she had given us. 





We took the flight back to Singapore and landed safely in Singapore. We bid our Singapore tour guide farewell, said our goodbyes and headed home sweet home! It was a really fruitful trip for us as we’ve gained much from it and also learned more about their culture and their people. We will definitely hold on to all the memories we created as well as our experiences there in Japan.


- Theresa