After a good preparation and a good flight through Seoul we started our adventure. For the team leader a less big surprise because of his working experience during former visits to this country. For all of us an absolute challenge because of the very special culture and habits.
The team was welcomed by almost all members of the GSE committee of district Osaka on the airport. A very warm welcome and for the first time we where confronted with the typical Japanese ritual of changing personal cards.
For the first time Osaka district organised an exchange for such a long time and they decided to choose for five host families during these more than five weeks. (Note by Shigeo Matsuoka: This is not correct. We had five-week exchange with D-7690 in 1991) During the weekends they hosted the team in New Otani hotel. A five star hotel. On the one hand an extraordinary luxury but we learned by the experiences that it had been a very wise decision. It gave the team the opportunity to recuperate after a hectic week in a intimate atmosphere. Besides we were given the time to exchange experiences and evaluate amongst each other. Every time it was heart breaking to see and to find out how enthusiastic everybody was. Different way of eating, different customs, diverse ways of living, the warmth of the host families, the experiences during the vocational days, the individual visits to Rotary clubs, various parties, the many presentations, etc. There was seldom a reason to evaluate because of a critical note because the program was extremely well organised.
In this paragraph I like to mention several subjects and experiences. I am not intending to be complete, because that would be too much. For a detailed reproduction of the whole program I would like to refer to appendix nr. 3 . It shows how much effort they made in the Osaka district to offer us a wonderful program.
The program was characterised by the "Sakura". The period that all Prune types started to bloom. And you have to know that there are many, many, many. The Japanese population get very impressed and it is the talk of the day. During the weekends many find a place under the blooming trees in the parks and they spend the whole day there, eating, drinking and talking. A wonderful phenomenon. It is also the start of the planting season of the rise, Japanese food no 1. You have to feel it personally what kind of impact it has on the Japanese society, returning every year, for many years.
Certainly in the beginning there was a very hectic program, later on more relaxing. The team did not get tired and enjoyed every minute all the highlights. In the beginning we also had to cope with the impressions of the ordinary daily things who were as I mentioned also very special. The small streets, the Japanese characters, the kimono's in the daily traffic, the mouth protection, the disciplined traffic, the typical rail traffic which worked very precisely and organised by various companies, the way of greeting by bowing, the funky people, the beautiful shops, the slot machines, the very high prices, the high technical development, the food but also the shrines and temples which have an essential part of the whole society in daily live. One of the first big events was being part of a gigantic sumo wrestling performance. Even many Japanese never had this experience live because of the extremely high prices. What about a visit to the municipality building of Osaka with a personal reception by the lord mayor of this city. The world trade centre, Aquarium, Asahi brewery and Newspaper, Suntory museum with a very interesting exposition of the French glass specialist Galle, the brand-new inceneration plant designed by the well known Austrian Hundertwasser.
We paid a visit to cities near by like Nara and Kyoto.Distinguishing marks are of course the many old temples, like the wooden Todai-ji temple, and shrines which give a good impression how shintoisme and buddhisme coexisted peacefully next to each other for centuries.
Hiroshima gives a moment of contemplation. The dome and monuments are silent witnesses of the disaster which took place. The near by situated museum shows in an impressing way what exactly happened on the 6th of august 1945. The remembrance of the disaster is kept alive by the younger generation bringing them by groups or classes to this place and placing guirlande of folded crane birds in many colours in front of the monument.
To get acquainted with the hot springs, followed by massage and a excellent meal while sitting on the tatami mat and karaoke, to enjoy the fun parks with tremendous roller coasters and a visit to the just opened Universal studios were part of the entertaining of the team. We took this setting with great pleasure…………..
We paid a visit to many of the involved Rotary clubs. Every time we were welcomed with a certain grandeur and applause. Without an exception as well as the Japanese, the Dutch and the Rotary flags were in top and while standing , all of us were singing the national anthem . Besides in many occasions the Rotary song was being sung, sometimes standing hand in hand. During the meetings they offered us terrific food, of course in many cases fish and mostly served in an artistic way. Many times a real eye catcher. Every time we got the full opportunity to do our presentation and after several times the team got very skilled at it. As mentioned before always translated by an interpreter in Japanese.
Our host families did one by one extremely their best to give us the feeling that we were mostly welcome. We have never had big problems. They offered a big variety of meals and concerning to the high quality once and a while we had the impression that it was not always the regular daily food. We enjoyed it very much although it was so different from the food they serve in Holland. In the beginning the host families accompanied us to and from the meeting points, mostly at a central train station. To travel in Japan for people coming from abroad is rather complicated. But after a while they allowed us to manage it ourselves. They provided us with the necessary tickets. If there was a problem we could also communicate thanks to the provided mobile telephones. As I said nothing to complain about.
