On the last day of program activities, we had one of the most upsetting parts of the trips. We visited the Okawa elementary school. Okawa elementary school is about an hour outside of Sendai. Okawa elementary school was tragically struck and destroyed by a tsunami caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. 74 out of the 78 students were present died at the event, and 10 out of the 11 teachers died as well. Instead of running up the nearby hill, students were instructed to run up the river, where the tsunami came from.

At the school, we had a storyteller. She told us details about the school. She also had pictures of the school before the tsunami. It was unsettling looking at the before pictures and seeing the after damage in person. We started the tour at the front gate of the school. There used to be a wall surrounding the school, but it was washed away by the power of the tsunami. We then went around into the schoolyard and saw the back of the school. The back was destroyed by not only the tsunami, but also opened up by construction workers to look inside. We then made our way up the nearby hill where four students and one teacher ended up surviving. It was haunting trying to image what all the water and destruction looked like. Professor Ibaraki told me at the top of the hill that water came from the river and also from another direction from the ocean. The school was placed at the intersection of these two waves, creating even more destruction there.

While we were walking around the grounds, the story teller told us about the legal battle the parents of the students went through to get answers about what happened. The city tried to cover up what happened, since they could be held liable for the lack of preparation. In order for the law suit to go through, they had to name a price for their child’s life, which is horrifying to me. I could not imagine the pain of having the name a price for your child.

Due to the G7 Summit which was the same place and the same time as our stay in Hiroshima, we reshuffled the schedule and spent an afternoon in Miyajima. Miyajima is an island roughly an hour from Hiroshima. We took a bus, subway, and then a ferry to get to the island. The first thing we were greeted with was the deer on the island. We were warned to not make our maps readily available to the deer because they will eat them. The deer let us come up to them and touch them but was not interested in petting them.

We made our way to the Itsukushima Shrine, a Buddhist shrine made by the samurai around 1500 years ago. We strolled our way through while enjoying a beautiful view of its giant torii gate. I bought a good luck charm for exams and received a good fortune. We took pictures at the gate since it was low tide and we could walk to it. During high tide it becomes inaccessible since the water reaches up to few feet around the gate. This gives it an appearance like it is floating on the water.

We were given free time and it was not recommended we ascend Mt. Misen, the highest point on the island. With that in mind, me and two students decided to climb it anyway. We had to hurry and it took a long time. We only spent a few minutes at the top since we were low on time and had to walk all the way down. However, we were able to capture a few pictures. We were craving ice cream on the way down and ran so we could get some and make it to the meeting point on time. Although sweaty, it was a great experience, and I made sure to stay clear of any deer wanting my ice cream.

The Public Health Perspectives program provided a lot of information, collaboration, and opportunities to better understand not only public health in Japan, but public health as a whole. However, we were provided with plenty of free time outside of the program. Most days, the program activities ended at 5pm. So, we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted to do. Here are some of the activities the student group did outside the scope of the program.

The first weekend was super busy. Having an entire weekend without any planned activities and being in the biggest city in the world left us with endless options of what to do. It was impossible to see it all, but we wanted to see as much as we could in Tokyo.

Friday night, we went to see what the nightlife was like. We started off in Shinjuku, an urban shopping area. We went to try Mister Doughnut since Ibaraki sensei said it was his favorite. We then made our way to the Godzilla store. Since me and my friends are huge fans of the Godzilla series, I got us some shirts as souvenirs. Then, we walked to Kabukicho to see a different side of Tokyo since it was right next to where we were.

Saturday was one of the heaviest walking days of the trip, despite there being no program activities. We started out by going to the Asakusa Shrine. At the shrine I drew a bad fortune, but I could tie the piece of paper it was on to a pole and “leave it in Japan” so it does not come with me.  We then looked at some of the local shops in the area. After that, we ascended Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest building in all of Japan. Then, we went to the imperial palace grounds, which was neat, but we could not find the emperor. Finally, a few of us went out on the town and got drinks to end our day.iversity of Tokyo festival, which had live music, food, and full of art and science demonstrations by the students. We then walked to another shrine where they were also having a festival. We toured around the shrine museum and went to get dinner and called it a day.

There was so much to do in Tokyo, we could not fit it all into one weekend. So, when program activities ended, we tried to squeeze in what we could. For example, on Monday, we went to the Nintendo store since my sister wanted a souvenir from there. Nintendo is a Japanese company, so it made it more valuable to her. On our last day in Tokyo (not counting the final dinner), we went up Shibuya Sky, a tall tower in the shopping district of Shibuya and saw Tokyo at night. We then went to an arcade and played ping pong with Japanese students we met and University of Tokyo and Azabu University. Spending time with the other students was a unique experience and they were very helpful in telling us what we should do around Tokyo.

There were plenty of other activities we did outside of the program, with these being some of the highlights. I wish I could have stayed longer.