MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN 1 JAPAN HOMESTAY BATCH 27

REPORT FOR JAPAN HOMESTAY

MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN MRSM Pontian Batch 27 / January 2012 Tokyo, Japan

MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN 2 JAPAN HOMESTAY BATCH 27

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

First of all, I wish to express my gratitude to Allah SWT for His guidance and also for granting me the strength and good health throughout the homestay program (9 January 19 January 2012). Alhamdulillah.

I would like to thank my parents for financially supporting and providing me with the opportunity to be where I am. Without them, none of this would be possible. They have raised me up to be a proactive, caring member of society, and to treat others with kindness and respect.

Also not forgotten to my host family, Tsutsumi-san, for giving me such a good hospitality and treating me as part of the family. My host family are wonderful. They made me feel very welcome in their home, and planned a week full of wonderful activities for me.

My deepest thanks and gratitude go to the coordinator of Japan Batch Homestay 27, Muhammad Khairul bin Mahidin for guiding us throughout the program.

Any attempt at any level cannot be satisfactorily completed without the support and guidance of my friends who helped me a lot in gathering different information, collecting data and guiding me from time to time in making this report.

Last but not least, I am very thankful to everyone who all supported me, for I have completed my report effectively and moreover on time.
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INTRODUCTION

Hiroshima International Club (www.hiroshimainternational.com)

The Club was registered on 28th November 2008 with the Registrar of Society (ROS) and has sustained development until today. The club was appointed by the Ministry of Education Malaysia to conduct official International and Local Homestay Program due to their technical know-how and vast experience in managing student, teachers and government servant. Up to date, the club has managed to successfully conduct more than 20 batches of Homestay program in Japan, Australia and UK. In the near future, the club is planning to expand the program to New Zealand and Germany.

In the homestay program, young people from outside Japan can stay in Japanese homes for a few days. They will be able to meet Japanese people in an informal environment while
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spending time with them as a member of the family. It also means that the host family gains an access to a new culture through their young guest.

All host families are carefully selected, and most have some English ability. Families host because they are interested in sharing their lives with a new family member. The Japanese hosts are members of the Hippo Family Club; an organization they have joined in order to learn languages and meet people from around the world.

Before meeting up with my host family, I had already received a very nice mail from the club as well as a picture of my host family, but still I was pretty nervous as to whether I would like them or vice versa. Fortunately all worries were quickly washed away as the whole family turned out to be very, very nice. My host family always took good care of me, cooked great food, introduced me to their families and friends and took me out for interesting trips. I loved to play games with my baby brothers. They made my stay in Tokyo enjoyable and helped me learn not only more about Japanese language but also the Japanese culture and their family life.

My Details: Muhammad Nabil Lanang bin Aliman MRSM Pontian Diploma in Nautical Studies, Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM) nabil_mkjb@yahoo.com

Program Coordinator: Muhammad Khairul Bin Mahidin Has years of experience in coordinating this program Participants called him sensei (teacher)

Participants: 7 boys and 11 girls 17 years old All participants had just finished their studies in secondary school

MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN 5 JAPAN HOMESTAY BATCH 27

KAZOKU MY FAMILY

1) 2) 3)

Foster Father (Otosan) Tsutsumi Kentaro Public employee Love gardening Foster Mother (Okasan) Tsutsumi Mamiko Housewife Enjoy having Japanese teatime Foster Brothers (Ototo) Tsutsumi Kensei (6 years old) Tsutsumi Kazuma (2 years old)

4) Email : jolierina@mail.goo.ne.jp

MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN JAPAN HOMESTAY BATCH 27

ORIENTATION

To be in another country, we should keep ourselves well prepared with some knowledge of what to expect and ideas about the country we are heading to. During the orientation, we were briefed about the Japanese culture, their daily live activities, some basic words and greetings, religious matter, dos and donts and et cetera.

The activities were as follow: course Parents briefing Ice breaking Games Report task Travel plan briefing Nihongo (Japanese language) crash

MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN JAPAN HOMESTAY BATCH 27

FIRST DAY

My watch showed 6.40 am when the plane touched the Narita Airport. (Japan is an hour ahead of Malaysia). Farhana, whose foster family stayed near the airport, went first to be with her family. The rest kept on moving after saying goodbye to her. We went to Chiba by bus. Before we proceeded to the undersea tunnel, we stopped by at an island. The artificial island is known as Umihotaru and the highway project goes by the name of Tokyo Aqua-Line, combining central Tokyo with southern Chiba prefecture. Umihotaru is a parking and rest area which was designed as a tourist attraction jutting out from the waters of Tokyo Bay. The tunnel from the Tokyo side is the longest undersea tunnel in the world at 9.6km. Connecting Chiba prefecture with Umihotaru is a bridge of about 4.4km. The whole thing took 31 years to finish. The view was magnificent. As the place is at the seaside, the cold wind was blowing the mass of clouds off toward Tokyo Bay, too cold for us to bear. Then, we went to a building at Shibuya, Tokyo. There, we met Hippo Family members. We had ice breaking and were given lunch there. They served us with so much food that we could not finish them all. How generous were they! Then, we learned some origami and played
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games with them. I used my paper money (money bill origami) and transform them into hearts, flowers, and more. Folding money is a quick and easy way to make a gift. Then, we shopped at a mall nearby the building. At 4.30 pm, our host families came to fetch us. Okasan and ototo came, while otosan came later as he was still at work.

MUHAMMAD NABIL LANANG BIN ALIMAN JAPAN HOMESTAY BATCH 27

SECOND DAY

Early in the morning after we had our asagohan (breakfast), I followed okasan took Kensei to kindergarten, just a walking distance from our home. Okasan, Kazuma and I then visited a museum in the West of Tokyo: the Tokorozawa Aviation Museum. Tokorozawa played an important role in the development of Japanese aviation technologies. It was in 1911 when the first airfield was built in Tokorozawa and flight practices were held. The old airfield is now the Aviation Park and the museum, which was opened to the public in 1993, is a part of it. Some of the planes are outside the museum. Various types of helicopters and planes are presented in the exhibition hall. I entered some of them to take a look into the cockpit. Kazuma was very excited and he led us all the way. Kawai! (cute). A Japanese garden is in the center of the park, with a pond and a teahouse. We fed the ducks and had lunch besides the pond. On the way back home, I bought an adapter plug at Kojima

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Electronics Store. At 3 oclock, Babasan (grandmother) came to our home. We had some snacks and learnt syuji (Japanese calligraphy). Like most artifacts of Japanese culture, writing entered Japan from China about 1,500 years ago, and the art of calligraphy was one that was practiced by members of the imperial Court, by monks, and, later, by warriors. It was closely associated with the writing of poetry. Shuji is the skillful writing of certain characters in a way that gives them balance and expression. It is not just writing a character on a piece of paper though. It is much more than that. Each stroke has a proper way to begin and end and there is a correct order and path to follow. It takes lots of time and practice to master, and it is essential to focus. The slightest lapse in concentration will show in ones work. It was rather difficult task for me but fun; I learnt something new today. Moreover, Babasan is also an English teacher and her English is impeccable! She is also a good cook. She let me tasted her homemade apple pie and sweet potato. The pie was so delicious, soft and sweet. She did not stay for a long time. After dinner at 1830, she said goodbye to us. Otosan did not join us for dinner as he had his with his friends outside. At night, my foster parents and I had some discussion about my program at the school tomorrow morning.

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