2011 Study Trip for International Students at Kumamoto University
From February 15th to 16th, 117 international students from 20 countries along with a tutor visited Shimabara, Unzen, and Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The goals of these yearly study trips are to strengthen international friendships, and deepen Kumamoto University's international students' understanding of Japanese history and culture.
On the first day of the trip students travelled by ferry from Kumamoto Port to Shimabara Port and visited the Mt. Unzen Disaster Memorial Hall, Shimabara Samurai Residence and Unzen Jigoku. Many international students were very surprised as a large flock of seagulls flew very close to the ferry as it departed. At the Mt. Unzen Disaster Memorial, Hall students participated in an interactive volcano simulation and learned lessons about natural wonders as well as natural disasters. Students then visited a former Edo Period style Samurai house located on the west side of Shimabara Castle, and enjoyed walking around Unzen Jigoku, an area filled with many high temperature hot springs that constantly erupt from all over the place, spewing volcanic gases and gushing large clouds of steam everywhere.
On the second day of the study trip, students travelled from Unzen to Nagasaki City and visited Glover Garden and Dejima. Students explored Glover Garden, which still has the atmosphere of the end of the Edo Period, and Dejima which played a major role in the modernization of Japan as the only point of contact opened to the West at the end of the period of national isolation. After learning about Nagasaki's history as a trade base and Japanese culture and traditions in general at the end of the Edo Period, students returned home.
Although at the time of departure the weather was mixed with rain and drizzle, the rain stopped upon the students' arrival in Shimabara, and the rest of the trip was blessed with fine weather. This trip allowed exchange students to gain a deeper awareness of Japanese history and culture, as well as strengthen relationships between fellow international students from other faculties they would not usually have a chance to interact with. Students were heard saying that they are looking forward to the next study trip.
