230308 (Sunday) - Soka University Open House
I woke up at 9.30am in Hiroki's house and bid farewell to him as I walked to San-chan's house.
It was a 20 minutes walk and as this was the first time I'm walking, I actually missed the turn at the junction and went straight! Haha... I noticed something is wrong as I walked to the entrance of the highway and made a U-turn back. :)
Along the way, Keito called me and I was stunned to see her riding a bike! She parked in front and I ran up to meet her. She is now in the midst of moving out of Hachioji to downtown Tokyo and came to pass something to her junior. We took some photos together and had a brief chat before she left. Cool! I never know she could ride a motorbike!
I reached San-chan's house at 11 plus and packed all my stuff.
Balcony view from San-chan's apartment - Can you see the Main Building on the right?
Way cool!!!
We left San-chan's apartment at 12 noon and headed to Soka University, which has a Open House opened to all Junior High and High School students today. I went around taking photos and went to meet Yuhi for a final farewell. As he was a committee of the IP organising group, he was busy answering parents' question when I went to find him. Hence I went to meet other people from other clubs and then went to Ikeda Auditorium for a Open House talk. This was my first time entering the hall and it was really big! I thnk it is even more bigger than our own Auditorium. In there, there were graduates performing, sophomore sharing her testimony and also the school president giving a speech. We stayed till 2pm when San-chan has to leave for his part-time job.
Me at the main entrance of Soka U...
Behind me are all the Sakura trees and it will be very beautiful when the trees are in full bloom in two week's time (around April 4th in Tokyo)
The magnificent Ikeda Auditorium...
The inside of Ikeda Auditorium...
San-chan and I bid farewell to each other in the school and then I went over to find Yuhi. As he was still busy, I walked around the corridor and noticed a photo on the board. It was this year's IP trip students to Singapore! From the picture, I can see that they enjoyed themselves in Singapore, which is good.
The IP students that visited Singapore this year...
Then I stood outside the tutorial room waiting for Yuhi and as he was still busy, I started a conversation with the student helpers outside the room, who are welcoming the parents. Apparently, 4 of them were in the trip that visited Singapore this year and I shared with them my experiences with the Soka U students. I also encouraged them to come Singapore for a one year exchange and it will really benefit their growth and broaden their perspective of things as they experience living in a different country with the different cultures and international friends they will make. And not to forget the Gakkai activities that SSA and SD has to offer!!!
Yeah! Yuhi wearing our SD shirt!!!
Interacting and encouraging the Year 1 freshmen to come NTU for exchange!!!
And after 10 minutes, Yuhi came out and I presented him with our SD shirt and we took photos together as well as with the freshmen. With this, I waved good bye to everyone and wandered around in the campus for half an hour before going out to the Makiguchi Memorial Hall to take some pictures and taking the bus to Hachioji Station to take the train back to Tokyo Station.
Having one last look at Soka U before leaving...
Makiguchi Memorial Hall...
An up-close look...
And from this trip, I really appreciated everyone's help and sincerity and I would like to leave a quote:
"Friendship is a priceless treasure never to be bought or sold - it can only be cherished."
A photo of San-chan, Yuhi and me taken in NTU 2 years ago...
I really cherished the friendship formed with the Soka University students and I will never forget those times when we encouraged and helped each other out. There were laughters, struggles and I was really touched when all of them came to my help when I am in Tokyo. It was really a very wonderful chapter and touching memories that will go deep down inside my memory lane.
And to all the Soka U seniors who have just graduated, all the best on your future endeavours and to those in Singapore currently preparing for the exams and final year students, please take care, study hard, encourage each other and together we will achieve victory!!!
皆さんは 一緒に 頑張りましょう！！！
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It took me one hour by train to reach Tokyo Eki at 5.20pm (in the train, I saw an interesting advertisement by the Singapore Tourism Board. It shows a Merlion in someone's house and kept spraying water until the person was drenched and his house flooded! haha...) and when I came out and saw the control station, I said to myself 'Wow'! This is so cool! There are so many people and so many different platforms! Think I spent 30 minutes walking around inside the control station exploring all the different platforms and exits before finally got out through one of the exits closest to the bus terminal.
The pipelines of JR map. Now do you realise Singapore's network is too simple? Haha...
But since the time then is only 6pm, I went to explore other parts of Tokyo Eki and aimlessly walked into other shopping centres. But as I was too shagged from the whole day of walking with my backpack, I returned back to the bus terminal and waited from 7pm onwards for my 8pm bus to come.
My night bus boarding platform. 中国 means Chuugoku region of Japan's Honshu Island and not China! Hehe...
My bus back to Hiroshima. Think it's the same bus that I took to Tokyo. Haha...
After that, I took the 11 hour bus ride back to Hiroshima. (I'm starting to miss Tokyo although I have stayed there for only 3 days as the warm and hospitality of the Soka U students really touched and encouraged me to go even further and challenged myself.)
And really, this is one trip that I will never forget...
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