Wednesday was spent listening to each group give a 15 (well, that was the time limit...but unlike a lot of student presentations, the teachers weremuuuucchhhh more likely to go over their allotted time limit, rather than under it) minute presentation describing their host city and the schools there. So, my job here is to condense their condensed presentation into one post. 10 list time heading from north to south.

Minamisoma, Fukushima is known for the July Soma Nomaoi Horse Festival which celebrates the tradition of the samurai class. Approximately150,000 people attend, even though the city only has 71,000 residents.

Iida City, Nagano is the 1995 birthplace of the Hybrid Synergy System, now used in seven Toyota models.

Hiroshima senior high school's philosophy is that “Students are little baby phoenixes.” The goal of the school is to help students grow into full adult phoenixes that will spread a message of peace around the world.

Senyo-Oneda, Yamaguchi's university offers chabu-dai dining around a circular table modeled after the family dining room. It allows for non-hierarchical interaction and fellowship as university students and professors informally discuss education and learning as they eat together.

Fukutsu, Fukuoka was founded on the ruins of a Chinatown that traces back to trade between Japan, China, and Korea beginning in the 12th Century. Main trade objects were pottery, ceramics, tools, jewelry, and coins. The elementary school is built on a site that has been excavated, and it contains artifacts from Chinatown.

Takeo City, Saga has the world's largest ascending kiln. It's fired once a year and takes 15 people and 7 days to fire up. It's so big that it can fire 140,000 tea cups at one time!

Unzen, Nagasaki is the home of Obama High School, a vocational school preparing 60% of its students to go straight to work after high school. There's a mock hotel, bar, and restaurant in the school, so that students can get practice for their future jobs.

Uki City's main industry is still agriculture. It's known for its hybrid mandarin oranges and it's super-sweet tomatoes that grow well in the salty soil.

Miyazaki is known for being the birthplace of the deities and the first emperor of Japan.

Tomigusuku is indeed much more casual than the prefectures. We didn't have the sweeping scale of mountain photos or the photos of steaming hot springs, but we also didn't have photos of teachers in suits and children in pressed uniforms. Also, everyone laughed when we showed a picture of our traditional "rustic" ryokan, probably the nicest beach resort I'll ever visit. (In order to keep ours moving, we recorded our impressions ahead of time, and one of our group members, an Apple consultant, made an I-Movie, ensuring that none of us would clam up or go overboard with description when standing in front of our colleagues. And the representatives from our host cities-yes,Tomigusuku flew a city official up for our presentation and our banquet. And he brought the miniature bottle of hairspray I had left in the hotel! That's the level of service here in Japan. Incredible!)


(FYI-Some people listed their blog address on the JFMF website before the trip. To get these photos of other regions in Japan, I just went to that site, went to the blog, and clicked to save the pictures to my computer. This is why you need to be so careful with what you post to the Internet. Anyone with basic computer skills and a connection to the Internet can do this!)