Hey Adriene

JAPAN!

Konnichi wa!

So my Nippon Maru travels have finally taken me to the Land of the Rising Sun. We berthed at Yokohama port about a week ago.

I have a Japanese name, Sakura. It means cherry blossom. One of our programme administrators calls me Sakura Chan because he learnt that I was born in spring, and he said that in Japan, everyone young and old loves sakura.

TOKYO

During the first few days, we stayed at a hotel in Tokyo. We had an institutional visit to the National Theatre to watch kabuki (Japanese opera). The entire play is in Japanese, but I followed the story using the English audio translation kit provided.

It was during an action sequence of the kabuki when the chairs started shaking, and we were thinking Wow! This theatre`s so modern that the seats are equipped with MotionMaster! Until one of our Japanese Youth Ambassadors jumped up and said "Don`t panic! Don`t panic!" to us all.

It was a mild earthquake, measuring 5 on the Richter scale. Coolness!

We've had the honour of meeting Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino at a reception dinner.

During our free time, which is usually in the evenings, I've been exploring the Tokyo subway system with friends. Visited the shopping areas Shibuya, Shinjuku, Okachi Machi and Roppongi just to have a look see.

Also went to the fish market at 4.45am one morning which was fantastic!

KUMAMOTO

I'm currently on homestay in Kumamoto, Kyushu Island. I have a otosan (father), okasan (mother), two sisters and a dog (S chan).

Kumamoto's about an hour and a half's flight from Tokyo. It's considered as a rural area by the Japanese. And so it is because it has the most gorgeous mountain ranges around, and lots of farming areas. Very different from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.

But even so, I would call Kumamoto a city, only with less people, because it has a big town area, big suburbs and a population of approx 200,000.

Today, my fellow Filipino youth ambassador and I went to our sister's cram school to meet her students. It was a small class of just 6 students, which was really good because that allowed us to interact more with them. We talked to them about Malaysia, the Philippines and ASEAN. We showed them how to play our traditional games like batu seremban (jacks), Chinese knots and getah (jump rope made of rubber bands). We showed them our SSEAYP cheers. And they sang the Doraemon theme song for us.

After that, my host family took us to Mount Aso which is an active volcano. Unfortunately, today, visitors were not allowed to get close to the crater as it was spouting dangerous levels of sulphuric gas. We could see the big white "clouds" coming out of it. We got some fantastic photos.

After that, we went to Kumamoto castle which is one of the grandest castles in Japan, visited a 100 yen shop and had dinner at Japanese restaurant.

We fly back to Tokyo tomorrow... sniff sniff. Homestay is one of my favourite parts of the programme. I`ll be sad to leave my new found family. They've been very loving and kind. But I know it'll also be great to see the other youth ambassadors again and hear about their homestay experience.

I`ve been blessed with some really good friends through this programme. They come from all over ASEAN and Japan and yet we connect. It still amazes me how people from such different backgrounds can come together in solidarity.

In the face of today's trying times, SSEAYP is a call for peace and hope.