Travel With School Groups to Explore the History and Culture of Japan

For some young people, the opportunity to travel with school groups is the only chance they have to see other countries and experience new cultures. With travel becoming easier and easier, offering students the possibility to travel with school groups is now commonplace in many educational establishments.

The travel industry has embraced this niche in the market and there are excellent companies who offer great itineraries carefully designed to accommodate large groups of young people. The world is an open classroom and taking students to foreign places to experience their subject in context is an invaluable exercise. Students who have had the opportunity to travel with school groups often return home motivated, enthused and much more passionate about their field of study.

Not only an educational experience but also a cultural one, it exposes students to all aspects of a country’s society, history, politics and everyday life. These experiences are life changing and help young people grow and develop into more rounded people.

Japan for Students

If you are looking for a country that will offer your student group a completely unique school trip, but one rich in learning experiences and cultural exposure, Japan is a great option. From the fascinating city of Tokyo, the capital that never sleeps, to the incredible cherry blossom displays, and from the Atomic Bomb Dome to the wonderful Buddhist temples, Japan is rich in history, traditions and cultural diversity.
Tokyo is the perfect place to start and gives your students an excellent introduction to this fascinating country. Home to the oldest temple in the country, Tokyo is a city that has catapulted into the modern age. Reportedly the most expensive place to live in Asia, with its glittering skyscrapers and Tokyo Tower, bustling nightlife and constant hub of activity, Tokyo attracts people from all over the world.

Culture, History, Art and More

Religion and culture still play a major part in life in the city and the place is full of Shinto shrines and traditional temples. The Tokyo Tower opens its doors to tourists who want to climb to the top and get a breath taking view of the city in all its glory; Mount Fuji can be seen from here and students will get a real feel for the scale of this thriving city.

Visit the National Museum of Engineering Science and then head to the Edo-Tokyo History Museum for a complete contrast. Students can even have a go at Sumo wrestling, the ancient art of combat still so popular in Japan. No visit to Tokyo would be complete without a trip to the somewhat humbling site of Hiroshima, where the 1945 atomic bomb was dropped. This city has not forgotten its place in modern history and the place is full of memorials and monuments that mark this tragic occasion.

Kyoto must be included on the itinerary, as it offers students the chance to experience a more traditional side of Japan. The gilded buildings are beautiful and are home to teashops and workshops where artisans still perform the ancient art of calligraphy.

Travel with school groups must be educational, fun and memorable and a trip to Japan will definitely provide all in abundance

The Missing Pages Of American History Part IV

Through-out our brief history the United States government has either subconsciously or not perpetuated a level imbalances within our society. The consequences are profound. The inequality, the racial divides, and the level of corruption that has seeped into the very framework of our Democratic process have all succeeded in rendering our society almost incapable of bridging the enormous gaps of inequality in our nation today. In fact any attempt to rectify the crisis we face has always created yet another crisis.

A never ending cycle of preexisting conditions have always precluded governments attempts to resolve the crisis that our government helped create in the first place. In the end we can see that government is really now incapable in bringing harmony and balance into our society. History tells of the horrific struggles for racial equality and justice right here in the United States.

In all of American history no other period has had such a detrimental affect on American life than the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the reconstruction era following the Civil War. It was during this period that today’s racial tensions have yet to be resolved. The attempts to foster equality in our society have almost always proved futile. We can trace much of the root causes of the inequality that African Americans face today back to the tail end of the Civil war and the Reconstruction period following.

On December 9th 1864 just five months prior the end of the Civil War was and event that set off a chain reaction that could have had great expectations for every African American even to this day. Yet, the tragedy of what occurred at Ebenezer Creek on that December 9th has to be a reminder that America has a long way to go still to create a balanced and just society for every African American and all Americans.

Toward the end of the Civil War there were a great many Union Confederate sympathizers that have made life almost unbearable for African Americans. The reality of the late 1860′s was a period of racial tensions that continued straight through Reconstruction. Former slaves who were fortunate to flee to the North faired just a little better than those African Americas still in the South. But, the tragedy at Ebenezer Creek was probably the most significant incident leading up to what would have been a turning point for greater equality for generation of African Americans.

The long line of prejudice that is still rampant today took the lives of thousands of fleeing African American women, children and old men when they tried to cross Ebenezer Creek on that fateful day of December 9th in 1864. What Union General Davis and the Confederate Army did on that day where they both harbored extreme prejudice toward African Americans was a murderous crime against humanity. This led to an appeasement fostered by General Sherman when he met with leaders of the African American Community. The special field order No.16 was an attempt to bring some sort of balance for all former slaves. Hence the term 40 acres and a mule was derived.

This field order specified that former slaves were entitled to reparations consisting of 40 acres of tillable land and a mule to help plow the fields to grow crops. In other words to have the newly freed slaves able to be self-sufficient. But, when President Andrew Johnson failed to honor this agreement he instead awarded a sum of $300 to each Southern land owner for their loss of their property, their former slaves. A travesty that has had lasting ramifications to this very day.

To a large extent the racial prejudices that has existed since the end of the Civil War has created the imbalances in our society today. The racial divides that dominate the American landscape have only deepened the prejudices that too many have today. Had many of us been taught of our own history much of which portrays a travesty of what our government has done, covered up, deliberately sequestered, and falsely embellished we never would have allowed the imbalances and the racial tensions that we are experiencing to happen.

The racial tensions and prejudices that are dominating our judicial system is currently ripe with inconsistencies that constitutes there is no equal justice before the law for African Americans and every American. And, until all our children are taught we are all brothers of man regardless of race, color, or religion there will continue to be a growing divides that create the imbalances that foster racial tensions and prejudices that have existed through-out the world.

To make this happen government has the responsibility to create the economic, financial and social opportunities not only to bring balance in communities but the environment to make it all happen. We have to remember the Williams Theory Of Economic Evolution which states” having more people with enough disposable income to spend, save

The Vigorous Cactus Society of America

The presence of cactuses on the counters of every five and ten-cent store testifies to a public interest in these plants. There is also the vigorous Cactus and Succulent Society of America, whose members have shown remarkable ability to carry on a popular natural history program and still remain scientific. They offer to buy plants, sell them, classify them, and doctor them. They will do everything in their power to establish a happy relationship between you and the group of plants in which they assume you cannot help but be interested. We have a National Academy of Science in which, it is said, members try their best to present the latest thinking in the field of their specialization in such a way that the other members can understand. It is not certain that they always succeed in this admirable attempt.

Would it not be worthwhile, perhaps, to establish a National Academy of Popular Science, bringing together the more substantial Nature hobbyists, letting each try to convert the rest of the assemblage to a genuine appreciation of the outstanding importance of his own specialty. I can picture some of my conchologist friends giving up their hobby for some of my cactus friends, or either group giving in to the blandishments of those whose consuming interest is in bats, butterflies, fishes, snakes, orchids, willows, palms, thrips, geodes or Indian artifacts.

Whatever your hobby may be, there are many people who feel sure that it will fade into insignificance if you will only risk an acquaintance with the cactuses. Raised, as the writer was, in the Northeast and in the days before five and ten-cent stores, a cactus was something literally “out of this world” for many, many years. There was a decrepit Opuntia that decorated the window of a newspaper office, but it did little to stimulate any real interest in the plants. So it came as a surprise when we learned in high school biology that what we had thought were leaves were really stems.

There will always be systematists who wish to get their names in print after a name, or who have other motives for describing a new genus or species. Some of these are simply too lazy to look up the literature, or to examine collections to be sure that what they think is new has not already been described by someone else and cannot therefore be named again. This is all a part of the game of taxonomy in the field of biological science. There are those who think that it is the most important of all sciences, and they have arguments to prove it.

David is the author of many articles including Best Friend Quotes and also the author of Best life quotes

Scrapbooking – Making an Impact on History

Having studied sociology many years ago I have an enduring interest in society and history, and as one of millions of scrapbookers I consider the activity of scrapbooking to be nothing less than social documentation.

There are many themes and styles employed in the creation of scrapbooks and the keeping of journals, and sometimes there is apparently no theme at all, merely an interest in color balance, or found objects or an abstraction of some sort.

The creators of themed page layouts and books may concern themselves with the family archive: it’s history, specific members, events such as birthdays, weddings, births and deaths, pets and the recording of achievements in academia and sports. Work and related pursuits either in training or recreation, and hobbies from all areas of inquiry can be and are included in scrapbooks and journals – from ‘at home’ events like gardening including seasonal and planting observations, cooking with tips and recipes, needle arts and DIY home improvements… to notebooks recording findings and lessons learned on week-end retreats, educational trips and holidays.

In short, every aspect of our lives, loves and losses may be witnessed and preserved for a future generation to gain an insight into our individual worlds, all areas of our personal experience take expression in keeping notes,

taking photographs, collecting memorabilia and collating them into a cohesive whole.

But what does our work say about us? What will future generations see and read into our lives and the society we live in today? They will see a great need in us to be creative, there is something about the process of making something that absorbs us in a powerful energy, loses us in time and frees our minds, enriching our lives, giving us the opportunity to discover our own true original creativity. Conversely, I’m sure they will see a very commercial aspect, where caring people create books concerning their passions but will also witness a great similarity between the pages wrought by the multitudes of us who call ourselves ‘scrapbookers’. They may well be quite amazed at the huge industry behind the scenes of this domestic explosion, providing us with vast batches of printed matter to buy and use to make pages that are similar and formulaic.

So what will the sociologists and our future generations learn from us and our endeavors? Among other things they will learn about how we spend our leisure time, working singly, in family groups or ‘crop’ gatherings. Our individual works will reveal our interests and passions and fashions and our collective works will expose a wider picture for the sociologist to unravel. They will indicate our place in history, we do not stand outside of time of course, and so our works will be evaluted in world terms, i.e. – what events are (or were) considered politically relevant, economically attainable, environmentally important, socially acceptable and spiritually searching.

So – what do you want to say and what do your scrapbooking activities say about you?

Know more about raw scrapbooking… get on my mailing li

Older posts »