Hello! I’m Kaishu Ishiharada, a 3rd-year student. It’s already been over a month since I arrived in New Zealand. During the past month, I’ve experienced so many things that I could never experience in Japan. I want to share as many as possible with you. I hope you enjoy reading!

Driving with My Host Family

My host family is big, including a host father, host mother, host sister, host brother, a dog, and a cat. Everyone is so kind, and every day I feel very lucky to stay with them.

On the morning of my second day here, I went to the beach with my host mother, host brother, and our dog. I’ve never had a pet before, so this was the first time in my life walking a dog. The view from the beach was much more beautiful than I expected, and it already made me feel that coming to New Zealand was worth it. I heard there are other beaches in Dunedin, and people go swimming there in the summer. Although it’s starting to get colder now, I’m already looking forward to summertime!

Camping

Thanks to an invitation from Ikki Hashimoto’s host family, my host family and his went camping together. We tried some unique activities there, like ziplining and rappelling down a cliff using ropes. My host sister and his host sister really got into ziplining, so I went along with them. After that, I enjoyed playing soccer on the grass with my host brother. After dinner, all the kids, including Ikki and me, played hide-and-seek around the campsite. Ikki and I hid together, managed not to be found, and won the game! Maybe our experience playing hide-and-seek back at the Hakusanroku campus helped us win.

Once the host sisters were in bed, Ikki and I looked up at the stars outside. The starry sky was incredibly beautiful. In the night sky of New Zealand, you can see the Southern Cross, which can only be seen from the very southern parts of Japan, like Ishigaki Island.

 

Exploring the City

Dunedin, the city we are staying in, has a population of about 120,000, which is roughly the same as Hakusan City in Ishikawa Prefecture. The downtown area spreads out around a central place called the Octagon. I explore the city every weekend.

The other day, I visited the world’s steepest street “Baldwin Street”, which is located a little outside the city center. Before going, I thought, “It’s probably not that big of a deal,” or “The hill near my house is steeper.” But once I arrived, I realized it truly deserves its title—it was incredibly steep (my apologies!).

Shuntaro, Soma, and I decided to run to the top. As we started running, the tourists around us cheered us on, shouting “Come on!” It really made me feel, “Wow, I’m abroad!” However, since it is the world’s steepest street, my legs gave out halfway up. I want to become fit enough to run all the way to the top before I return to Japan.

I hope you all enjoyed this journal! Look forward to the next one. See you soon!

P.S. I’m talking about more stories that I couldn’t fit into this blog on the radio. It airs every Monday and can be heard in Japan, so please check it out!

Click here for more details:https://x.com/ICTradio_Lounge

Kaishu Ishiharada