Teaching in Mishima, Japan

Hello blog! For full transparency, this post was a private journal entry now turned into a public post. Welcome to a wild combination of secret information about our excursion as well as thoughts about my experience.

After a fantastic week of teaching in Nagoya, our little group broke up and headed to the Shizuoka prefecture for Week 2 of English Camp. We were teaching in the city of Numazu, a quaint rural town nestled at the base of Fuji San (Mount Fujii.) The city has a beautiful stream, and our morning view is the massivem ountain itself. Children are always playing in the river, the cicadas are chirping. We were ready to begin our Week Two.

After having a wonderful week before, I was concerned that this week would have a lot to live up to. But it sure did. From meeting incredible kids, to having a good laugh with staff, we departed the venue on Friday with lots of heartfelt goodbyes, photos, and even a few tears.

Before we left, however, we asked the students what we should do with our next free day. One of Lawrence’s students, Hina, told him about a large suspension bridge, the “Skywalk,” in the neighboring town, Mishima. After hearing the bridge was the largest suspension bridge in Japan, had an amazing view of Mt. Fuji, and had a special fireworks show coming up, we were sold. The next day, we took a half hour bus ride from our home to Mishima Skywalk.

After stepping off the bus, we first hit the gift shop at the Skywalk gift shop. “Gift Shop” is too simple of a word to explain a beautiful, handcrafted array of food and goods complete with a flower archway. To make things even better, there was a stamp station outside the gift shop that my friend Mark geeked over. We wandered around the shop for a while and explored the various stalls. I ended up buying sea salt for my family. My friend Adam bought tea, and Mark bought a carved wooden egg. I also had my first mochi experience! Mishimi apparently has some infamous strawberry mochi. Verdict: unexpected texture, but solid for sure.

We left the gift shop with our various food and smiling eggs and went to get tickets for the fireworks show. On the way, I went to the bathroom. Normally, I would not blog about the bathroom. But this bathroom is worth blogging about. The Skywalk bathrooms, for some reason, is even suggested to visit in their travel guide. Everything about it screamed boujee from the massive throne-like arm chairs to the bamboo garden inside.

Then, I had my first a taste of yuzu, which tastes like lemon and orange had a baby. It’s now one of my favorite fruits. On the way to the fireworks, we stopped to see the city lights and Suruga Bay, Japan’s deepest bay. There was also a zipline, but we had come too late in the day to try it out.

We then went to an owl cafe where Mark was able to capture a video of the owl winking at him. We all lost our minds. The second shop, Tree Tree Tree, was all Skywalk themed. We learned many facts about the bridge, including that it’s Japan’s first ever privately constructed large-scale suspension bridge and that it was created so Mishima would be “a little more than just a checkpoint on the map.”

Before we walked back on the bridge for the firework show, we were all given orange glow sticks and were instructed to crack them at 8:15.

The show was incredible. Japanese fireworks hit differently. There were so many varieties and colors, like a neon blue shower, and one that had small circles. It’s impossible to explain, so please look at my pictures. With each firework, the four of us genuinely gasped in aw.

Watching fireworks off a beautiful suspension bridge in Japan is a moment I will never forget. I am so thankful for this program for not only allowing me to have this experience, but for also bring such amazing people together. I really miss my mates post Global English Camp.

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Written by Marisa Sashti, Global English Camp 2019 intern, UCLA

Edited by Paige Goetz, Director of Communications