Playing rugby in Japan was an eye-opening experience for Wainuiomata High School's First XV, but it was experiencing the culture and generosity of the locals that really impressed the team.

With help from a Foundation sports grant, the Tall Ferns and Tall Blacks basketball teams took time out from an intensive 10-day training camp earlier this year to experience some Japanese culture.

Looking down on Tokyo from the top of the 634 metre Tokyo Sky tree was one of the highlights of their time in Japan for a group of young Kiwi golfers in the country for a competition in August.

Rowing NZ high performance coordinator Michele Munro writes about taking the New Zealand Junior Rowing Team to Japan.

With only one person out of a group of 32 having travelled there before before, Saint Peter's College First XV's trip to Japan was always going to be an incredible learning experience.

Hamilton Boys' High School First 15 coach Logan Asplin writes about taking the team to Japan to in April where they played local teams and billeted with Japanese families.

Nine Auckland teenagers experienced the dream of all young judoka (judo practitioners) when they got to live and train at the spiritual home of judo, the Kodokan Institute, in central Tokyo in April.