Confused about the title? It means Hello, Thank you, Goodbye in Japanese. Our gang has been obsessed with learning words and phrases in Japanese thanks to Xavierites- Neelakshi Moirangthem and Ananya Rao who just got back after experiencing a three month cultural exchange programme in Japan.
"Our trip began by us missing the first flight, isn't that epic?" complaints Neelakshi. Her partner in crime, Ananya talks about "crappy" extra luggage that she carried (and shed a lot of money for) uselessly. So my two batchmates, somehow, manage to reach Mumbai before they miss their flight to Bangkok. Phew. And then to Kansai. After being shown around the university, called the Oteman Gaukin University, they were taken to their temporary homes. The Japanese homes are tiny and traditional- they have a low seating and there are no chairs or beds. Everybody rides a cycle or takes a train/bus, unless they are going too far which is when they use the car.
Imagine going to an alien place, then going home, to your host family and trying to converse with them while none know each other's language. "Travelling all by myself, losing stuff and getting lost was my favourite part of the trip," asserts Ananya who lost her wallet, camera and many more things, AND got ALL of it back. "The Japanese go out of their way to help you and they have a lot of integrity," she reasons. On the flip side, she also faced some amount of racial discrimination. For instance, at times, when you sit in a train, somebody may just get up and walk away.
A part of their activities included school visits where school children asked them questions to know about India. They were curious about the weirdest things- bindis, elephants, Indian curry, the Indian habit of eating with hands and so on. In keeping with representing Gujarat, Neelakshi and Ananya performed the garba for the Japanese
