This article describes the experience of Mr Yamada, a first-year university student who did a one-week homestay in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, in April 2022!
Mr.Yamada’s profile
Age: 19
From.Kanagawa Prefecture Occupation: 2nd year university student
Period of stay: 1 week stay
About the host family: Fukui City, Fukui Pref.
Introduction of the host family HP: https://familyinn.jp/en/hosts/puchiizyu_shizentaiken_hukui/
Host Family’s Name: Mr. Kato
Why did you use FAMILYINN?
I used FAMILYINN because I wanted to move to a rural area.
When I was a senior in high school thinking about my future career path, I wanted to leave home, become independent and test myself.
Now that I am a university student, I wanted to get out and about and for the first time I used FAMILYINN’s homestay service to experience rural migration.
I hope to work in a welfare-related job involving children at my new place of residence.
Did you have any concerns before your homestay?
I work part-time as a nanny for primary school children, so I thought I would be fine working with children. However, as I don’t usually have the opportunity to talk to people around 30 years old, I was anxious about whether we would get along.
My impressions of the hosts and the city as I felt it throughout my stay
My host was a person who liked to socialise and welcomed me very warmly.
The hosts had been abroad when they were students, so the family had a strong positive attitude towards going abroad!
My host’s friends who came to visit the host family include a person who belongs to a theatre company called “Common Beat” and a person who is involved in an interesting activity called “A FU RI KA”, which is to build houses in Japan that look like African houses. There are many connections with people who are involved in interesting activities.
We were also able to build a bonfire in the grounds of the house. I heard that the cherry blossoms were beautiful at night, so I attended the cherry blossom festival at Ashibayama Park! There were lots of customers and food stalls.
Around the house, the nature was very beautiful. There was a school in the neighbourhood and on the road there were rice fields, so it was a MANGA-like landscape. In the picture below, we had a farming experience at KURODA farm!
What was your experience like?
The children were friendly to me from day one, look! Play! and invited us to do many things. They showed me around the house and showed me the children’s rooms and the roof top.
We had hot sandwiches by the fire together in the garden of the house and they showed me around the city and took me for a walk. I decided to see Fukui myself and visited the zoo and a restaurant where I was introduced to local cuisine by my host, where I could eat all I wanted for 1,000 yen!
Because my homestay was in early April, I photographed their children in their school uniforms for their entrance ceremony. And we also greeted each other off with “itte rassyai, take care”. It was also a very first time for me!
I also enjoyed all the other places I had never been and all the new experiences I had!
It was a week, but the schedule was tight lol.
It was only a week, but my schedule was tight.
I found out that to move to a rural area we basically need a car.
From now on, I want to find an area that fits me.
My message
I am the type of person who acts on the spur of the moment, and I think it was very right that I went on this migration experience on the spur of the moment.
I have never done anything like this before and it has broadened my life. I enjoyed connecting more and more with my host family and their friends and their friends. I didn’t expect the circle to expand so much. I was able to exchange contact details with everyone and after my stay I was invited to online events.
It was good to be able to engage with different generations as well, and to see up close how the hosts interacted with their children. It was good to see the different experiences they had. If I was only involved with students, I would take for granted the student-only world, but I realised that it is only a small part of the world.
I’m interested in things I’ve never done, so from now on I want to make more and more connections with people and experience a lot. I can only see job opportunities on the internet, so I want to learn about things that I can only find out in the real world.
About Familyinn
We believe that you only meet people on a journey once in a lifetime.
There are times when you can touch a place, a person, but can’t connect deeply with them.
If it’s just a place with information on the internet, it’s not enough.
If we could spend a little more time together.
I feel we could help you to become more, deeply aware and discover a new you.
FAMILYINN is a community whereby you live in the community.
We hope that by living in the community, you will become more integrated, more connected and more aware.
And we offer you moments of encounter with yourself.
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