Flat land and endless open skies are often taken for granted by prairie residents. But as 10 Manitoba 4-H youths discovered when they ventured to Japan last month, wide open horizons are rare in the land of the rising sun.
“Everywhere you looked there was a building in sight or a power line or the mountains,” said John Mabee in an interview after returning from Japan, where the delegation had travelled July 2-18.
Mabee and his family also hosted a young Japanese man in their Selkirk, Man., home from July 27-Aug. 13.
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Shaun Gallagher, a 4-H member from Lorette, Man., said space was limited in the small island country and every inch was used to its full potential: “If there was a piece of land on the top of a hill, they’d have a rice field up there.”
Mabee agreed: “Their primary crop is rice. If it’s a one acre lot or two acre lot, there’s going to be rice in there growing.” He added another popular crop was buckwheat, used to make soba noodles.
The 4-H Home Stay Program between Canada and Japan started in1987, in part as a result of agribusiness contacts between Manitoba and Japan. It was established to foster an international spirit among the youth of Manitoba and Fukushima prefecture (province).
The Japanese York-Benimaru Foundation, the Manitoba 4-H Council and Manitoba Agriculture sponsor the program.
Although Japanese students are hosted in Manitoba every summer, the opportunity for 4-H members to travel to Japan occurs only every second year.
To become one of the lucky members, applicants are put through a rigorous selection process. If selected, a member can travel only once.
The first week in Japan saw the Manitoban delegation tour the Fukushima prefecture.
A feature for the youth was visiting an old Japanese village and living as people would have in Japan hundreds of years ago.
The 4-H members made clay cups with a famous potter and slept and ate on the floor, eating traditional Japanese foods, including a whole smoked fish from head to tail.
Participants also ate raw horse meat, and all said they would do so again.
“That was probably my most favourite food in Japan, surprisingly,” said Amie Melnychuk, a 4-H member from Gunton, Man. “It was really good. It tasted kind of like a mix of venison and beef. But you have to dip it in soy sauce.”
In their second week, the 4-H members lived with their host families, attending high school and taking part in everyday Japanese activities.
While the Canadians experienced some difficulty learning math and science in Japanese, they enjoyed the cooking, calligraphy and martial arts classes and were quick to offer help to their counterparts in their English language classes.
At home with her host family the Yazawas, who Melnychuk described as an “amazing, fun-loving, average Japanese family,” she was struck not only by the way the Japanese eat their meals in a series of small bowls rather than from one plate or how they always bow instead of shaking hands, but also by how they wear different shoes for nearly every room.
“It’s constantly keeping things divided in the home or business,” she said.
Gallagher noticed another trend both at home and at school: “One of the big differences was probably people showing a lot more discipline and respect. That was one of the real noticeable things.”
Melnychuk said the Japanese cultural identity is much more well defined than Canada’s.
“Everybody (in Japan) is so much more familiar with traditions of their own country. They know so much about their own culture that they’re ready to share it with you. Where in Canada, we don’t really have a set culture because we’re so diverse.”
Some have caught the travel bug for good.
“You get more respect for other cultures. A lot of us actually want to go back to Japan now,” said Gallagher.
When asked to pick a highlight of their adventures, the participants were hard-pressed.
“The whole trip was fantastic and amazing,” Mabee said. “If I went there again, there’s no way I could duplicate a trip like that because you’re with friends your own age, and their energy feeds on yours and you just get so excited about doing new things.
“It was so much fun, and it was a trip of a lifetime.”
