1985 School Magazine

JAPANESE CULTURAL GROUP The japanese Cultural Group this year has been open to all students of japanese and their families. The president, Mrs Batt (nee Miss Long) has organised and co-ordinated various activities throughout the year. The highlight of Cultural Group Activities this year was the two delicious and thoroughly enjoyable evenings at the little Tokyo restaurant. Both of these were a resounding success. In june a party of girls, accompanied by Mr and Mrs Hancock and Mrs Duncan, travelled to japan to take part in the 60th anniversary celebrations of our sister school, Hirayama Gakuen. Everyone enjoyed the trip immensely and found it a memorable experience. In the next month we received a return visit from Hirayama Gakuen. Sixteen students accompanied by five teachers, visited the school from the 21st to the 24th of July. We sincerely hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we enjoyed hosting them. There have been some exciting events, concerning japan and the japanese language in Brisbane during the past year. There was a Kyoogen play at the Cultural Centre early in April, followed by a Zen painting exhibition at the art gallery. This was followed by a visit from a large group of young japanese children taking part in the first Australia-japan Children's Summit. A group of these children, accompanied by their guardians, visited Grammar and we were fortunate enough to receive a miniature shrine and a pair of binoculars (to watch Halley's Comet) not to mention lessons in paper folding and making vases.

JAPANESE EXCHANGE STUDENT Miho Tahata I came to Australia on the 30th March, 1985. I went on a bus trip from 1st April to 2oth April with other Rotary Exchange students. I went to Mt lsa, Ayers Rock, Adelaide, Sydney, and so on. I made many friends from other countries. This trip was very, very good. I came to Brisbane Girls' Grammar School after this bus trip on the 22nd April. When I came here, I felt uneasy about talking English, making friends ... At first I couldn't understand the running of this school. Because this school is bigger than my Yuzawa High School, it was so confusing for me. My school is different to B.G.G .S. For example, all japanese schools start in April. There are boys and girls in my school. About 45 students in a class, we have eight classes in a grade, and we have three grades. There are about 1000 students, and 70 teachers. My mother teaches at the same school. She teaches biology to us. We go to school from Monday to Saturday. We have 6 periods from Monday to Friday, but 4 periods on Saturday. Sometimes we must go to school on Sunday, when we are in Grade 2 or 3, because our school is a university preparatory school. But we don't study on Sunday, we go to school to do tests. I think it's a little bit strange. At our school we do these subjects: japanese, Social Studies, Maths, Science, English, P.E., Domestic Science, and Music or Art. One period is 50 minutes. After 50 minutes we have 10 minutes rest. There isn't a tuck-shop like this school's. Our tuck-shop doesn't sell sweets, cakes, etc. At first when I went to the tuck-shop, I was very surprised. When winter comes to our town, we have lots of snow. It snows from November to March. It is very, very cold. Sometimes it snows all day. When it is snowing I don't feel I want to go to school. In winter it is very cold and sometimes snow is very dangerous. It causes car accidents. I don't like winter, because it is too cold. But I think Brisbane's winter is better than Akita's winter, because Brisbane is warmer than Akita. Akita has such a cold winter, all the school facilities are under one roof, so we do not have to go outside the bui.lding to visit the library for example, or the tuck-shop. We could not exist without heaters in winter, but summer is very different. It gets very hot, almost as hot a·s it is in Brisbane's summer. I made lots of friends on the bus trip. Many kind teachers taught me a number of things, and I have lots of kind and interesting friends at B.G.G.S. My host families are very good. I think I am a very lucky girl. I think next March will come very soon, but I will make the most of.the rest of the time. 51

Our exchange student, Miho Tahata, has been a welcome addition to our classes. We hope she has learnt as much as we have and has had a great time in the process. Thanks for all your patience Miho. The japanese dancing group, with Mrs Batt as co-ordinator, has had a quiet year, but we hope to see them up and about next year. We would like to congratulate Mrs Batt on her marriage and wish her, and her husband, our best wishes for the future. I'd also like to extend everybody's best wishes to Mrs Duncan. "Thanks for everything in the past and best of luck for the future Mrs Duncan." Lastly I'd like to wish everybody studying Japanese next year all the very best: don't give up ... keep studying and have fun!!!

Kate Moreland