Biking, sightseeing, card games: Checking off a winter to-do list in Aichi, Japan

We woke up under thick fluffy layers of futon that early chilly morning. It was around 10 degrees outside, colder than the coldest temperature Baguio has ever had this year—and we were told the number was still going down.

 

For the first time in our trip in Japan, there was no pressure to rush. The night before, we had a hearty dinner of odeng, prepared by our hosts, and played pusoy and pares pares (they had Japanese names for the card games but the mechanics were the same) with the teens until we were sleepy.

Maki-san, our mother during the home stay, had one request: "please relax."


My roommate Jette and I spent two nights and days of home stay with our host, the Harada family, as part of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (Jenesys) Programme. Select Filipino students, most taking mass media and culture studies, were sponsored by the Japanese government for a nine-day trip. Our group of 28, together with two supervisors, were assigned to Aichi prefecture for most of the trip.

We were almost a couple hours away by bullet train from Tokyo, the center of Japan, where we'd later on gawk at the life size Gundam in Odaiba and try their busy yet efficient railway system. In Aichi, our group met new friends from Aichi University and checked all the 100-yen shops, convenience stores, and vendo machines that we could during free time.
 

We could hear the train from a nearby railyway as we stepped out of our room. A small hanging Santa Claus greeted us when we slid the door open. The sun was out, and but the icy breeze wanted to play.