In April 2008 students and teachers from Sancta Maria College in Auckland travelled to Japan on Asia:NZ’s School Study Exchange Programme (SSEP). The two-week programme included homestays with families in Utsunomiya, where the group visited local high schools and cultural centres; several days exploring Tokyo’s various neighbourhoods using the city’s subway; a visit to Hiroshima Peace Park where the students presented 1000 paper cranes that they folded as part of the Paper Crane Peace Project begun in 2006; and a trip to Kyoto to explore Japan’s cultural centre, famous shrines and temples.

Below are some photos and student accounts of the memorable visit.

My Hiroshima Experience - Kimberley Leher:

Hiroshima was a beautiful city. Because of its history of the atomic bombing, I didn’t know what to expect, but visiting the Peace Park really opened my eyes to the importance of peace. The Peace Park was a five-minute walk from our hostel. The first thing I saw was a beautiful fountain; I later found out this was called the fountain of prayer. We went to look inside the museum first. After reading and listening to the history of the bombing I was of course saddened but mostly shocked. An entire cit was completely destroyed, innocent people were killed, families were torn apart…it was really quite emotional hearing some of the stories of survivors. It really reminds people not to take things for granted, especially simple things like clean water or your family.

After visiting the museum, we went looking at some of the monuments around the park. We saw the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb victims, the flame of peace, the remains of the Atomic Bomb dome and the very famous children’s peace monument. The story of Sudoku, the atomic bomb survivor, was a very heartbreaking story. Placing our 1000 cranes by her statue was a very moving experience. We all stood in a circle, symbolising unity and peace, and prayed together. During our time of prayer we really took time to acknowledge the tragedy of the bombing and try to empathise with some of the pain and sorrow of what some people had to go through.

The important thing that we all learnt and needed to take away from this experience was to strive for peace. Looking at the actual city itself, I honestly had a great deal of respect for Hiroshima. After the bombing it was left in rubble; in just over 50 years it’s grown and developed
into a wonderful city that promotes peace. Overall, this experience has just really opened my eyes to the bigger picture of war and how it may destroy humankind. This whole experience definitely had a huge emotional impact on our group. Our experiences together at this park really taught us a lot.

Japan Trip - Dore Chen:

The first place we went to in Japan was Utsunomiya. We met our host families and had two days of free time with them. Then we went to Utsunomiya junior high school, we experienced the tea ceremony, and wore the kimono. There were many differences between Japanese and New Zealand schools. The next day, we went to Tobu World Square and Nikko national park to visit Toshogu shrine and Kegon falls. We went to Tokyo Disneyland; we had a great time trying all the rides.

We left our host families the next day: my host family had been very kind to me. After Utsunomiya, we went to Tokyo. We went shopping in Shibuya, Ginza, Harajuku and Asakusa. We also visited the Tokyo tower. The third city we went to was Hiroshima. We went to the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park to donate one thousand paper cranes. There was a museum in the Memorial Park dedicated to the atomic bombing. I felt very sad when I heard the stories. We also went to Miyajima island: there were lots of wild deer. The last place we went to was Kyoto. We went on a tour around Kyoto and Nara. There were lots of old building in Kyoto. There were also lots of deer around the temples of Nara. I had a wonderful time in Japan and I won't forget it.

Photos: Sancta Maria College, 2008 Japan Study Tour (17 April-2 May 2008)