East Asian Languages and Cultures

TRIP Japan 2002

TRIP Japan 2002 Itinerary (pdf format). To view the Photo Gallery, see below.

The Japanese program conducted a TRIP (Traveling Research Immersion Program) to Japan in summer 2002. Participants were Hisae Kobayashi, Sayumi Nishio, and eight students who successfully completed JPN 101-102 successfully.

There were five purposes of this trip; 1) to communicate with native Japanese speakers; 2) to have cultural experiences in Japan; 3) to visit historic sites and learn Japanese history; 4) to observe pop-culture and high-tech society; 5) to experience everyday Japanese life.

The schedule was arranged to fulfill these purposes. Highlights of the trip included; staying in a ryokan (Japanese traditional-style inn); taking a hot spring bath; home stay with a Japanese family; visiting a local elementary school; visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. During this trip, students were required to keep a journal every day on both the Japanese language they had spoken and/or heard and things they had noticed in Japanese culture, society, history. All of the participants had a great time and this trip apparently made the students more motivated to pursue a higher level of fluency in Japanese.