I was one of the students who was going to homestay alone and I was really nervous. Questions like ‘How am I going to talk to them? My Japanese isn’t that good,’ and ‘What if they don’t like me?’ were running through my mind.

Turns out, I had a lot of fun! (Despite the fact that I left my wallet with Li Xuan for the entire homestay period and thus, had no money to spend.)


My homestay family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Aminaka and their daughter, Sunaho. They asked me to call them Papa, Mama and Su-­‐chan respectively, and I will use these names to refer to them as it’s shorter to type (hehe). They have a 20-­‐year-­‐old son who is living in Tokyo whom I only saw pictures of.

Their English is really good and I barely had to speak any Japanese to them (Lucky!). We went to some place (the name of which evades me -­‐.-­‐) where we were able to see Choshi City from a high viewpoint. In the very same building, there was a small painting exhibition being held and we attended it too.



And it was a good thing we did! The exhibition was for paintings that were painted in a special way on cloth, and all the artists are elderly people who paint during their spare time. My homestay family and I were the only visitors at that moment, and the artists actually invited Su-­‐chan and I to try out their style of painting!

It was really fun, especially since the way they painted was really different and innovative. An old lady was helping me with my painting and she and the other elderly artists were really interested with hearing about Singapore when they found out that I was a homestay student.

They helped paste my cloth canvas on a harder surface and insisted that I bring it with me as a souvenir for free. My homestay family bought me a frame especially for this painting.



There were some funny incidents that occurred after this (like Papa having his slipper fall into the sea – he’s a fisherman, and he was anchoring his boat in preparation for the typhoon – and entering the car with his slipper smelling really fishy), before we finally went home.

They had 2 houses, a main house and the house that they lived in. They also had 4 dogs, 2 for each house. The 2 dogs I was introduced to are Mac and Havana.

My homestay family was very understanding of the fact that I was not used to dogs. They lived in a 4 or 5 storey house, with the living room being partitioned off with small makeshift fences that prevented the dogs from entering places like the kitchen.

My room

We ate dinner at a sushi restaurant and went to UNIQLO. My homestay family bought a jacket for me, saying that it was going to be very cold and that I would need more jackets. By then, they had already found out that I didn’t have my wallet with me. I am forever grateful to them.

That night, we just relaxed and watched TV. I even brought my laptop down and my homestay family and I had a Skype session with my own family back in Singapore. It was really fun and amusing to watch two families of different nationalities interacting.

The Aminaka’s were pleasantly surprised when they found out that my family knew some Japanese phrases. They also talked about animes and Japanese dramas. When asked about what their favourite anime was, my younger sister shouted, “One Piece!” and Su-­‐chan actually gave me a couple of One Piece key chains to give to her as a gift. Overall, it was an exciting Skype session, with Papa and my youngest sister having a mini dance-­‐off (a story for another time).

The next day, we went to a small rice cake shop where we cooked our own rice cakes, and then to Aeon, a shopping mall, where we shopped a bit (they bought me a raincoat and a screen protector for my phone).



We had Mama’s homemade apple pie for lunch, and it was delicious. No joke.


Soon enough, it was time to leave for the farewell party. I was decked out in a kimono (it was Mama’s idea; she wanted me to surprise my friends) and we took a few pictures before leaving.


After the party (I had already changed into my normal outfit), I had a short farewell to my homestay family. Just a few hugs, and many thank you’s. It was dark and raining heavily outside and we all had to rush to the bus.

Lynn was the first one to start crying. Not long after, a number of the girls joined in. I hate to admit it, but I started crying too. It had only been about 2 days and a night, but my homestay experience is one I will treasure forever.