By Year 10 students Ashley Cook, Nandhitha Gopalakrishnan, Willsy Tierney and Lilly Sodeblom

A group of 16 Year 10 Japanese language students from Radford College had the wonderful opportunity to visit Japan and put into practice what we've learnt over the past four years. After a long flight and our last taste of Australian food, we finally arrived in Tokyo!

Our first stop was Takayama out in the Japanese countryside. Getting to Takayama included catching two Shinkansen trains, also known as bullet trains. Everything you’ve heard about these trains is true. You can't feel the speed of the train at all, and you can walk around while enjoying a bento.

Upon arriving in Takayama we were greeted by Obaasan and Ojiisan, who took care of us while we stayed in their minshuku, a family-operated, Japanese-style bed and breakfast. Throughout our time in Takayama, we participated in activities such as making soba, shopping in the old town, trying onsen (hot springs), fishing, and eating delicious Japanese meals prepared by our host, Obaasan. One of the highlights was singing a Wiggles song for a local kindergarten.

Back in Tokyo we navigated busy train stations and over the course of three days we explored Asakusa, Harajuku, Shibuya and Odaiba, where we shopped and ate and truly experienced the busy lifestyle in Japan. We also enjoyed a night of karaoke.

Next up was Nara where we spent the afternoon in the park accosted by free roaming deer. If you bow to them, they will bow back and accept your crackers. From Nara we travelled by bus to Kyoto for the day and visited the Golden Pavilion, the Imperial Palace and a temple on top of a hill with a view of the valley of Kyoto. We also visited Universal Studios, which ended in a truly terrifying Halloween parade.

Our next stop was Kure, about one hour outside of Hiroshima, where the home-stay part of our tour took place. At the welcome party we were treated to lots of different Japanese snacks and drinks and met our host families. From there, we spent a fun weekend with our host families exploring the region. Saturday night we all met at the Mazda Stadium for the Hiroshima Carps' last baseball game of the season.

During the week we attended classes on sustainability, Japanese expressions and language exchange. In PE we played golf, basketball, and badminton. On group excursions we went on a cruise, saw the navy museum, the Peace Park and nearby Miyajima Island, where we came across deer once again.

The Sayonara party on the last day was a lot of fun. We headed back to the school to farewell our host families before going to the airport and returning home.

We look forward to welcoming our Japanese sister schools to Radford College next year and repaying the favour. If you learn a language at Radford, you could also be part of the next study tour.

We’d like to thank Mrs Di Fitzpatrick and Ms Lisa Bourne for all their preparations and for chaperoning us on this tour.