Monday morning and everyone was sad as Mrs Watanabe had to fly home to go back to school in London.

GOODBYE Mrs Watanabe Sensei!!

So we cheered ourselves up by going SHOPPING!! 

On the Nakamise-dori we bought lots of Japanese gifts and tasted lots of free snacks!! Finn is our chief taster-he is brilliant and will have a go at anything! Top marks Finn! These little cakes are filled with sweet bean paste and are made in a funny little machine in the shop-it was like something from Charlie and the Chocolate factory.

Then we were off to the Tokyo Sky Tree!!

We waited in a queue worthy of any Disney theme park at the height of summer then a super fast lift whisked us up into the sky.

When we got to the top the views were breathtaking!

The best was the glass floor! 350 metres down to the ground didn't stop the boys from putting on a glass floor show! 

WOW! It was amazing!

After eating we took the JR over ground train line to Harajuku. There we visited the famous Meiju Jingu- a huge shrine and temple in the centre of a forest in the middle of Tokyo!! We washed our hands in the traditional way before entering.

The temple grounds are enormous-set in a huge square.

We all paid our respects at the temple by giving an offering of money, bowing twice, clapping twice and bowing again.

After the temple came SHOPPING!! In Harajuku we walked down Takashita Street with lots of unusual Tokyo shops including a 100 yen store-the cases will be bulging!!

We also visited the Japanese Bazaar where the teachers bought most of their gifts-we just sat on the steps outside and 'people watched'!!

Next came 'Kiddiland'! 6 floors of toys and mechanical gizzmos!! A paradise for children and adults! However Morgan and Nathan just wanted a cuddly teddy-no room in the cases !

Finally we headed for Shibuya where the lights are ultra bright and the crossing is both scary and hilarious all at once-thousands of people all crossing the road together but going in different directions!

Then we rounded off the day in a Japanese karaoke bar. Everyone sang their hearts out and 2 hours just whizzed by. Mrs Wigg-I'm sorry but Mr Coates beats you hands down for out of tune crooning that makes everyone cover their ears!!

On Sunday morning we had a long lie in but were still out on the Tokyo road by 9am! We travelled by underground and the JR line to Mitaka on the west of Tokyo to visit the famous Ghibli Museum. The Ghibli is a Japanese animation centre dedicated to the art of cartoon and film making. 

We visited many parts of the museum including the roof top garden with the gigantic robot. We watched one of the Ghibli's animation films in the theatre and had a great time climbing around the huge Cat Bus. Unfortunately photography was banned inside the museum but watch this space because Mrs Fellowes-Prynne bought a DVD of some of Ghibli's finest works including the Cat bus-to be shown in school next half term!!

After the Ghibli Museum we walked to Kichijoji-the park there is very beautiful with an old shrine and a lake full of huge carp fish.

We had lunch in a small Japanese restaurant-we had to buy a ticket for our meal from a vending machine before we went in! Most of us had curry and rice or soba noodles.

Saturday arrived and our last morning was spent having fun with our homestay families. Mrs Fellowes-Prynne was invited to the Graduation Assembly for the Amaji Kindergarden class and spent a super morning watching their fabulous performance-singing, dancing and playing instruments to a very high standard.

After this ended Mr Matsumoto took her and the Nursery staff for a quiet lunch at a beautiful, tranquil golf club in the country. As soon as she sat down she heard a huge racket! When she looked around the corner there was every child from Chopwell and all of their homestay families!!! They had arranged a big farewell party of their own for all of the children and parents-a very generous end to an amazing week for our children.

At 1.30pm everyone met at Amaji station to see us off. There were hundreds of people-parents, children and teachers-waving, hugging, crying.........

.....and shouting as Morgan managed to drop his toy samurai sword onto the train line! Luckily one of the Amaji teachers rescued it for him. The local train came and we all climbed easily on to travel to Himeji Station for the bullet train.

We strolled through Himeji Station and were all set to say a fond farewell to Mr Matsumoto and his wife BUT.........

someone didn't check the train times properly and when we got to the top of the escalator the shinkansen was already pulling in!!!!! 30 seconds to get 10 children, 5 adults and 15 suitcases loaded on!

To make it worse we were in carriage 15-about 200 yards along the platform! 

Mrs Fellowes-Prynne sprinted like a gazelle closely followed by Mr Coates. Morgan tripped and did a full army roll sending all of his homestay gifts across the platform including the toy samuri sword! The children dived on one door with Miss Dobbin, Mr Coates and Mr Matsumoto threw suitcases into another door and we managed one quick handshake before the door snapped shut and we were off like a bullet!

If Mrs Wigg thinks that the last time was traumatic-think again!!! 

Mrs Fellowes-Prynne needed to lie down after all of the excitement!

On the train we waited patiently for the spectacular moment when 

Mount Fuji would home into view.....

Unfortunately it was very, very foggy so the poster on the train had to do!!

At Tokyo station we had a 30 minute journey on the JR line and the underground to get to our hotel-9 escalators down and 7 back up again! 

Morgan managed to drop the samuri sword yet again (down the escalator this time) causing even the very placid Mrs Jackson to threaten to put it in the bin!

 But once in Tokyo we all relaxed and got really excited. After a walk around Asakusa to see the fabulous Sensi-ji temple we had an evening meal and headed home for bed!!

 Tokyo lights-a taste of things to come!!

THANK YOU MR AND MRS MATSUMOTO for getting us onto the train safely!!

In the afternoon we all went to the gym for a final Farewell Assembly.

Nathan was our spokesperson and gave a little speech to thank everyone for our wonderful experience and to tell them what had been the best bits of our week at Amaji. Well done Nathan-very brave and a brilliant speech! 

Everyone had their photo taken together.......

and then we left through a cherry blossom tunnel!

Then it was PARTY TIME!! 

We organised a good old English party with 'Pass the Parcel', 'Flap the Kipper' and other party games followed by cakes and juice for our party tea. 

Everything had a thoroughly British theme including Mr Matsumoto's 

and Mr Coates' outfits!!

We all had a brilliant time..............

....singing and dancing.....

.....eating and drinking.....

...but it was also very sad as it was our last activity together

 before we left Amaji.

Finally Grade 5 played 'Land of Hope and Glory' on their recorders as a farewell song and we all headed home for our last night with our homestay families.

 At lunch time we ate in the class with the children. Finn went to Grade 1.

In Japan the children serve the meals, clear the dishes and tidy away all by themselves! These children were only 6 years old.

Shannon, Aaron and Riley ate with the older classes. All the Chopwell children were brilliant with chopsticks after 3 months of practice back home in the dining room.

Mr Matasumoto had given the children a present of a lunch bag with chopsticks, knife and fork set and serviette. Riley and Aaron showed off their neat little kits to the other children.

After lunch came the cleaning! In Japan there are no school cleaners and so the children have to do it all!

Megan got on with the dusting while Finn got going on his 'broomstick'!!! Shows how much he knows about cleaning!!

Chloe and Annabel did a good job polishing the classroom floors but Nathan was definitely not impressed with the experience!

Thomas enjoyed it and I suggested he definitely should help 

his Mam more at home!!!

And once again Morgan is terrified that his Mam sees this picture proving that he does know which end of a brush to hold and therefore could get stuck in with the housework!!

A very useful lesson to them all!