Top 10 Things to Do in Japan in 7 days

Japan is, due to its remoteness and quirkiness, a dream destination for many Westerners. Common opinion is that, to fully experience wonders of the land of the rising Sun, one should plan for at least a ten-day long vacation. However, I still think that a week-long trip to Japan is a great idea for a spring or autumn break.

I traveled to Japan in the fall of 2018 when the weather was just perfect with almost no rain and the temperatures between 20 and 25°C. Itinerary wise, I chose to do the best of (and ideal for the first trip to) Japan: Osaka – Kyoto – Tokyo tour, flying to Osaka and leaving from Tokyo, and I would like to present you the 10 highlights from my trip.

Japan

  1. Visit the Osaka Castle

Depending on where you are located, it is good to go visit the Osaka Castle first, and during the day, as it is situated a bit separately from other tourists’ sights. This is a pre-Edo era fortress and a castle with a large moat, fortified with wonderfully executed stone wall. The castle itself is an architectural eye candy rising in the middle, that you can climb and get a view of Osaka skyline for as cheap as 600 JPY (5 USD).

  1. Osaka City Center in the night: Dotombori, Takoyaki

In the evening, I suggest you hit up the Dotombori area for a postcard worthy picture of the Moving Crab or the Swimmer neon poster. Take a stroll down the main shopping street that is so lit up with LEDs and neon lights in the night that you will lose every impression of the night sky above. This is a great place to try Takoyaki, the Japanese seafood balls that originate from this area. The big (moving) models of crabs, octopuses and squids are to indicate the kind of food that the restaurant is serving, so use them as a guide.

  1. Walk the Shinsekai in Osaka, The Tsutenkaku Tower, Kushikatsu

Shinsekai is an old, colorful, part of Osaka ironically called the New World. Well, once it was new, in 1920s that is, when it first emerged. The area was modelled by New York and Paris of that time, with the Tsutenkaku Tower dominating the neighborhood in the middle. It allows for another great view of Osaka skyline, but also to the Shinsekai from above. This area is famous for Kushikatsu –panko covered, deep-fried skewers made of vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese and the mixture of it. It is suitable for vegans as you can select only vegetables on your menu.

  1. Go to the Osaka Aquarium

The central tank of this aquarium features a couple of whale sharks and that alone is a big reason to visit the Osaka Aquarium located in the eastern part of the city and easily reachable by the subway. Apart from the sharks, which is the aquarium’s main attraction, this place showcases not only a huge variety of marine life from the world’s seven seas, but rivers, creeks and lakes as well such as otters, birds and even penguins!

  1. The Imperial Palace of Kyoto

Kyoto is Japan’s old capital and hosts the second active palace of the Emperor – The Imperial Palace of Kyoto. Enjoy the free tour of walking the vast courtyard with traditional Japanese architecture and gardens with lakes and bridges, posing for some fantastic photo opportunities. Located centrally, it is easily reachable from every part of the city.

Japan

  1. Kyoto downtown: Nishiki Market, Gion district and The Yasaka Shrine

If you are in for some shopping, check out the center of Kyoto – The Nishiki shopping area with both high-end boutiques and Asian covered bazaar markets. On a walking distance from there stands Gion, the old, geisha district of Kyoto. Stroll down the romantic streets on of Gion heading east and you will reach the Yasaka Shrine, a popular tourist spot. Before you enter the Shrine, I advise you to try Pablo’s cheesecake tarts which stand just a couple hundreds of meters on the left side of the entrance.

  1. Kyoto – Kodaiji Temple, Fushimi Inari Shrine, and climb the mountain for the views

For a more spiritual experience, walk south from the Yasaka shrine and experience the Kodaiji Temple, the ceremonial Japanese garden where traditional weddings happen and walk the mini bamboo forest that they have in the small hill behind the temple. The entrance fee is 600 JPY. Then you can take a train south from there to Fushimi Inari Shrine, (the main shrine of the god Inari) which is represented on most postcards from Kyoto: an array of orange arches called Torii leads towards the top of a hill where you may feel as a pilgrim, but the top promises you some great picture worthy openings.

  1. Tokyo – The Centers: Shinju-Ku and Shibuya

Take a bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo for a great traveling experience. Taking about 3 hours to reach it from Kyoto, Tokyo is a gigantic city, so one should not even dream of seeing it all in 3 days, but it is definitely enough to scratch the surface. After the traditional Kyoto, you may be hungry for some futuristic views. Head to Shinju-Ku in the evening and Shibuya in the night and experience the lights of Tokyo at their prime.

  1. Tokyo – Akihabara and the Kitchenware district

Akihabara is the electronic and gamer’s town of Tokyo – “Otaku district”. For all the geeks and anime lovers, this is the right area to browse vintage video game stores, comic and toy collector stores, maid cafes and other quirky stuff. Not far away from there is the Kitchenware district in a street of Kapabashi. Here you can find any kind of kitchenware, but most of the people come to purchase a Japanese knives, known for their quality, precision and durability.

Japan

  1. Tokyo – The Imperial Gardens, Roppongi and Akasaka

Scratch the surface of the cultural experience of Tokyo by walking the Imperial Palace garden. Only East garden is open for public admission, while you can preregister for an organized tour of the palace itself. You can have an afternoon tea in a bar of the Imperial Palace Hotel which is an attraction of Modernism architecture in itself, offering numerous restaurants and luxury shopping experience. Hit Roppongi and Akasaka for some excellent eats in the evening. Both of these neighborhoods are located close by and are in a walking distance from each other. They offer great bars, restaurants and cafes for you to enjoy and relax after this amazing and trip.

Bonus tip: Try to book a hotel with a Japanese spa in Tokyo. It will help you unwind at the end of every day full of experience, and the sauna and hot water of the spa will do miracles for your tired feet!

Widening Education Accessibility Through Experiential Learning International Programs

International Programs
(Students participating in Knovva Academy’s Model G20 Program accept their awards on the final day of the international experiential learning program)

While so-called traditional teaching methods focus on structured lectures and readings that prepare students for testing, experiential learning, on the other hand, focuses on learning by doing. With this method, tests are often replaced by a reflection period where students evaluate their own decisions and outcomes. Here, success isn’t necessarily defined, but determined more by what learners take away from the experience.

Before it was a staple in educational verbiage, experiential learning was something that everyone had …well, experienced – but may not have been able to define. Before Jedd Cohen, Knovva Academy’s lead academic curriculum designer, earned his M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he recalls dabbling in experiential learning before he could attach a name to it. “In 4th grade, we did a mini-society where we elected government and we had a marketplace where we made and sold things. It was very exciting to think about what I wanted to sell and make,” he said.

He credits his mini-society in helping him and his classmates learn about the basic principles of economics, how democracy works, how elections were run and even the art of persuasion at such a young age.

While Jedd sees the value in this teaching method, he also sees a place for traditional teaching and believes that experiential learning is complementary but not replacive. At Knovva Academy Jedd and his team of academic designers have worked for nearly 4 years to develop the perfect mix of the two methods with their Model G20 Program. The program, which started in Boston and now reaches high school students all over the world, combines a G20 simulation event with a full curriculum that reinforces and builds key competencies, theories, and practices that students will use during the final summit, the true experiential component of the program.

Now that there’s a name attached to this learning style, a new generation of teachers who took note of their own experiential learning growing up are looking for ways to bring it into their classroom for their students.

“Students really want this, they are tired of being fed this idea that you learn and then your life starts. That’s just not how the world works and they’re getting wise to this and want experience,” said Marth McMorran who also holds an M.Ed. from Harvard School of Education and is the lead online course creator for Knovva Academy.

While it’s clear that experiential learning is a valuable tool for students, many schools and teachers are unclear on how to work it into their classroom. “Most schools are trying to adapt to all the 21st-century education goals and are trying to produce global citizens. They all want to do that, but whether or not they can logistically do that is part of the question,” Jedd notes.

International Programs
A Model G20 student works on his position paper during a workshop portion of the experiential program.

Since teachers don’t always have the time resources, freedom or energy to give their students access to this influential method, 3rd-party programs are becoming a valuable tool to educators. Knovva’s Model G20 Summit program offers teachers access to an international learning platform and can be fully integrated into classroom curriculum thanks to its inclusion of self-supported online classes that ready students for the experiential part of the program. The whole program enables students to think outside their own box and gain new perspective as they analyze and act on certain situations using the information they learned in class.

“Teachers have been planning their whole class around this program, and now we’ve been able to support them by creating an easily integrated lesson for the classroom,” said Benson Chang, Knovva Academy’s global co-founder. With the Model G20 now in 9 different countries and international classrooms, Jedd, Benson, Martha and the rest of the Knovva Academy team are sure to inspire a whole new generation of experiential learners and global leaders.

This article was submitted by guest author Rachel Lemieux, Marketing at Knovva Academy. Knovva Academy is an international education organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Through our comprehensive online and experiential learning ecosystem, we nurture students’ ability to think critically and engage with real-world challenges. We want to see a world where young people are empowered to pursue their own actualization personally, academically and professionally, while engaging the world with a committed sense of social and global responsibility.

Universities with the Most International Teachers

Students are often taught that when they study at schools abroad they are opening their mind to new opportunities and lessons. In fact, there are plenty of universities that benefit from a diverse culture when they accept students from all over the world.

International Teachers

It isn’t just students that make up a diverse culture, though. Having a diverse panel of teachers from all over the world also plays a huge role in helping students learn from different points of view.

If you are interested in going to a diverse university, where should you go? What are the most culturally varied universities in the world?

It’s important to remember that a large part of looking at the universities with the most international teachers are often the most advertised through international programs for students. With more international students, though, you are likely to find more international teachers to match.

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

The first university we will look at today is the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne or, in English, the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. As is told in the name, this university is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.

This means that students and teachers are a cultural center in this French-speaking section of Switzerland. After all, they are studying and working in the heart of Europe with France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Liechtenstein all bordering the country making them close and ready for exploration.

As far as the university itself, it specializes in natural sciences and engineering. Interestingly enough, this is one of very few universities that run a nuclear reactor, a fusion reactor, a Gene/Q Supercomputer, as well as P3 biohazard facilities all for research and teaching purposes.

The university also runs a number of exchange programs. As a result, they are home to a diverse student body hailing from 112 different nationalities.

University of Hong Kong

If you are looking for a particularly diverse university, the University of Hong Kong should definitely be on your list.

International Teachers

This university has the goal of becoming “Asia’s Most Global University”. In practice, this means that by 2019, they plan for 50% of their undergraduates to study internationally. By 2022, every undergraduate student will have the same opportunity making this a university rife with the possibility for each student to expand their horizons. Even at this point, diversity is a high priority with 40% of the University of Hong Kong being international students.

For professors, this is a great chance to build your career as this is a research driven university. In fact, 111 of the professors at this universities have been ranked within the top 1% in the world by Essential Science Indicators.

For students, the University of Hong Kong will help you graduate with a highly valuable degree. Throughout the last 11 years, they have boasted a 99.4% graduate employment rate.

National University of Singapore

If you decide the University of Hong Kong isn’t for you but you still want to work or study within Asia, you should consider the National University of Singapore. The National University of Singapore is actually considered one of the best universities in Asia, so students and professors alike can expect a lot of value out of their time here.

For students who are looking to travel, the National University of Singapore has plenty of overseas colleges that students can attend during overseas programs. These include chances to travel and study in Beijing, Israel, Munich, Shanghai, New York, Stockholm, Silicon Valley, and Lausanne. The National Universities of Singapore also works closely with two of the best American universities – Yale University and Duke University.

As a student, you would also have the chance to work towards double degree or joint degree with exchange programs with other leading universities.

University of Geneva

The University of Geneva is not only known as one of the most diverse universities in the world, it is also known as Switzerland’s second largest university.

International Teachers

While studying or working at the University of Geneva, there are more than 280 different degree programs and over 250 continuing education programs. This, paired with the fact that they have an average of 16,000 international students from more than 140 different countries, makes the University of Geneva a place rife with opportunities for both students and teachers.

This article was submitted to us by ISC member and guest author, David Smith.

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