Japanese Cultural Experience

On Wednesday 1st November, 78 students from Years 3-8 (along with 10 parents and two teachers) took part in the Japanese Cultural Experience at Greerton Hall. This was organised and hosted by Japanese Students from Morimura Gakuen Junior High School.

Morimura Gakuen Junior High School is a private co-ed Junior High School situated in the city of Yokohama, Japan. Every year this school sends all of their third year students (equivalent to year 10) to New Zealand for a “Farmstay experience” whilst taking part in a cultural exchange with our local schools. This year these students hosted their own cultural day in Tauranga to introduce Japanese culture to local primary school students. Tauriko School was lucky enough to be one of the three local schools selected to be invited to this event.

Our students were welcomed very warmly by the Japanese students as they entered Greerton Hall. We enjoyed watching three wonderful performances of Karate, traditional Japanese dance, and a contemporary Pop dance. This was followed by the students being able to choose from 8 different activity stations -  such as Origami, card games, calligraphy, cup and saucer game, and trying on Yukata (summer Kimono).

This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to experience a ‘taste’ of the Japanese Culture, without having to travel the world. Having international students in our schools and in our region offers our students a unique invitation to network and become friends with people from all around the world – our students have the ability to start new friendships. Forming and maintaining long-lasting, genuine international peer relationships is at the heart of one of the things we aim to achieve at Tauriko School, and we are so pleased that so many of our students were able to take part in this experience.

Laura Fleming (International Manager).